Quote:
Originally Posted by LaneSig
Phi Mu has been at the University of Arkansas three times. IM (IFC guy) O- looking at the dates, it would appear that groups that waited a longer period than 4 years have been the most successful when recolonizing. (Not always the case, but sometimes.) Also, when did RFM begin to be implemented? That could also affect the success of a recolonized chapter in the long run.
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RFM began in 2003 as a pilot on 10 campuses, then implemented wide-spread in the following few years which means Tri-Delt at UA was under RFM for many years. Not sure how many years between Tri-Delt's closing and re-colonizing but I think it was about 4 years. Just not long enough to "break" up the image of a weak chapter, no wonder many chapters open and close and close again if re-colonized too fast; I don't understand a national's thinking on that.
I got curious about Arizona's chapters re: founding dates/closures. The majority of strong houses were founded in 1920's - Pi Phi, Gamma Phi, Kappa, Theta, Chi O, DG and Alpha Phi. No surprise, usually the chapters founded earliest are the strongest. Tri-Delt was founded in 1946. Other chapters founded in the 40's were Alpha Epsilon Phi (still there, but smaller house), ADPi - which did well but closed at some point and has re-colonized; and AOPi - no longer there.
Delta Zeta and AXO founded in the 1950's, but DZ is no longer there and AXO has re-colonized twice. Sigma Kappa came on board in the late 1970's and to my knowledge has done well. I think Phi Mu was there, but closed in the 1970's.
What's interesting is how a chapter becomes a struggling chapter when sororities founded much later - like Sigma Kappa - succeed. I guess by then the image of a struggling chapter is so embedded that it's hard to turn it around whereas if a new chapter comes on board with great support, it can be more appealing to PNM's.
My question is this: when a re-colonized chapter starts struggling again, what can national do that really will turn things around? To my knowledge, Tri-Delt struggled for decades re: quota and recolonizing didn't change things or didn't change them enough.
