New Expansion

[modorney]

Officially, we have colonies at Washington State, Toronto and Texas Tech.

Coming up (unofficial, don't know all the details) is Trine, Vermont, University of Iowa and Michigan (our Alpha - technically "Aleph" - house).

[Tom Earp]

Hey CONGRATULATIONS to Acacia for starting to look toward expansion. A long time in coming right modorney!

[modorney]

This puts at about 40 chapters (and colonies). I'd like to see us form a "tiger team" that goes into an area and starts (or restarts) three chapters in that geography. Likely areas are LA (Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA are inactive chapters), San Francisco (San Jose State was a strong chapter, and there are a few new greek schools nearby).

Oregon and Eastern Washington/Idaho, Colorado, Arizona come to mind.

DFW has a bunch of possibilities (along with 2000 alums!) - SMU, TCU, UTA, NTSU, UTD, ETSU (now something different, but our only inactive north Texas chapter).

We really need 2000 undergrads to staff national adequately. Sixty houses with 35 men each is a reachable goal.

I really feel for those nationals with a dozen or two houses, and no vision for mentoring/Balanced Man programs. Two serious risk management incidents and they are gone.

[greeky]

A group of Texas Tech men are forming a fraternity on campus that was originally founded by Freemasons.

Acacia Fraternity, an organization built on the ideals and principles of Masons, was founded in 1904 at the University of Michigan, said Erik Gonzalez, founding member and rush chairman for the Tech chapter.

Although members of Acacia are no longer required to be Freemasons, the organization’s ties to the Masons still exist through donations and support, said Gonzalez, a sophomore theater arts major.

“Masonry is a fraternal organization that arose in the 16th or 17th century,” he said. “Masonry exists in all different forms around the world; it has many members around the world.”

To Gonzales, Freemasons are a group of men who enjoy sharing the virtues of honesty, morality, integrity and tolerance, he said, and contribute to their community.

Gonzales became a Master Mason—the highest degree in Masonry—last year, he said. He is a member of the lodge in his hometown, Brownsville, as well as the Daylight Lodge in Lubbock.

Cameron Carter, another founding member, has a long family history of Freemasonry: great-grandfather, grandfather, father and himself.

Carter, a senior geography and history major from Wilcox, Ariz., said one of the reasons the men want to start the fraternity at Tech is to give students an opportunity to join an organization other than Greek fraternities.

“We want to have a group of guys who want to have a good time but aren’t necessarily partiers,” he said. “Acacia seemed to fit those morals and guidelines.”

Currently, Gonzalez said, the organization is recruiting members and building alumni support. Members who join before spring rush will be considered part of the founding class.

The founding members of Tech’s Acacia chapter are planning the organization’s community service possibilities, such as Habitat for Humanity, for the spring, Carter said.

“It’s always good to stay connected with the community because we are here thanks to Lubbock,” he said. “If Texas Tech or any groups have a bad reputation around the community, it hurts Texas Tech when it tries to deal with the Lubbock community … It helps people in general. It’s good to give back to the community where you live.”

Acacia members are required to participate in all community service projects the chapter is involved in, founding member Kevin Reed said in an e-mail response.

Reed, a senior managerial information systems major from Austin, said the type of men the organization needs is gentlemen who value community service and academics and want to make a difference in the Lubbock community. Acacia also is looking for leaders to train, since one of its national slogans is “Creating Leaders since 1904,” Reed said.

Those interested in joining Acacia Fraternity can e-mail Reed or Gonzalez at [e-mail] or visit the national website, www.acacia.org, Reed said.

One of the forces driving the men to establish the organization is the thought of what they will leave behind at Tech.

“It’s a great way to leave a legacy behind – to start a fraternity,” Gonzalez said. “We can leave a mark at Texas Tech University, and I wanted to do something good and give back.”

One of Carter’s goals is to set up a stable fraternity that will be around years from now, when he returns as an alumnus, he said.

“I hope to get it started to where it will be around years down the road,” he said.” It’s hard to start something new and get that tradition going. It’d be good to leave it with a strong foundation where if I ever come back for my 50th anniversary, it will still be around.”

www.dailytoreador.com/lavida/article_5c126f9e-f5bb-11df-9841-00127992bc8b.html

[greeky]

Nov 19, 2010 22:49:44 GMT -5 modorney said:

We really need 2000 undergrads to staff national adequately. Sixty houses with 35 men each is a reachable goal.

Many don't agree, or think differently, but you'll be better off with 35 chapters with 65 men each. A 35-man house is not competitive or a long-term survivor on most campuses.

[Tom Earp]

Ah greeky, who is they?

As you and I know, the more chapters there are, it is more cost effective to have IHQ reps to visit chapters if they are closer at hand and not spread so far apart.

If you look at the normal size of colleges, not the flagship schools the memberships are @ 35-40 give or take.

The thing that always bothered me is that GLOs with 100+ members never actually know each other.

That seems more in the Sorority realm of chapters not IFC chapters.

[macintosh]

Dec 1, 2010 13:50:12 GMT -5 Tom Earp said:

If you look at the normal size of colleges, not the flagship schools the memberships are @ 35-40 give or take.

The thing that always bothered me is that GLOs with 100+ members never actually know each other.

That seems more in the Sorority realm of chapters not IFC chapters.

The great Wilson Heller said (or maybe it was Jim Logan or Eric) said "Size solves all problems." Show me a problem which can't be solved with a 30-man pledge class.

If large 100-man (or woman) chapters are so bad, how do they stay large?

Most who think 35-member chapters are great come from chapters with 35 members.

[Tom Earp]

Again I ask with more empsis who is they?

Also you did not mention the size of schools? If a Flag ship school, chapters will be bigger while smaller schools will of course be of smaller chapter sizes.

Sorority's will be bigger as they have a silly idea of membership size before they expand as opposed to Fraternities. But of course who am I to tell them how to run their organizations! ;D

[anncoulter]

As much as we ridicule sororities (Do they really have to have an old alum's permission to poop???), I wish our fraternities all had even one involved alum advisor. Sororities do well because they don't leave major decisions up to teen age guys - alumnae advisors are involved in everything.

Take a look at the next GLO mag you get, and compare the number of members vs the campus enrollment. There are a lot of large strong chapters at places only fools would call "flagship."

"They" - I think - are the ones who gave the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

[Tom Earp]

LOL, looking forward to new magazines and will scour them as usual.

I consider Flag Ship Schools as Major State University or extra large private schools.

Ridicule may be a harsh word but maybe true for Sororities but they do run a very tight ship with expansion. While I may not agree with them, they do not listen to my rantings! ;D

I basicaly be leive in expansion of the Greek system on campi.

If the do not, then the do not know what they do or can do.

[modorney]

> Many don't agree, or think differently, but you'll be better off with 35 chapters with 65 men each. A 35-man house is not competitive or a long-term survivor on most campuses.

I agree with you totally, but we have many chapters that aren't close to 35 men. And, I would agree that 45 men is the minimum sustainable chapter size. Right now, we have a lot of 25 man chapters, and getting them up to 45 is a priority. I think, as boomer alums retire, there will be more involvement.

Alpha Sigma Phi has done some research and their long term plan has interesting statistics toward the end:
www.alphasigmaphi.org/images/stories/docs/news/2005%20-%202010%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf

150+ chapters = 8 member organizations
75+ chapters = 14 member organizations

NIC member organizations with 74 and fewer chapters are averaging ½ the number of pledges as the other two tiers.

[Tom Earp]

Would this not vary with the size of a school?

Say for example:

PSU (my school) or say Oh.St. Un.

Or Flag Ship Un's. compared to either State College Un's. and private schools such as William-Jewel/Baker Un/etc.

[Tom Earp]

True, but are they an exception as some others are?

Nothing is ever set in concrete.

But over all Flag ship schools will have more GLO's but as you say some like Miami-Ohio is a true exception, ergo-Miami Triade.

[tex]

Apr 5, 2011 12:44:08 GMT -5 T J Gordon said:

From a stricly business viewpoint, the 65 man chapters are much more sustainable than the 25 or 30 man chapters...

Before I can even consider petitioning for a charter for the colony where I'm a chapter advisor, we need 50 current members in good standing. Anything less is an automatic NO.

The Tekes used to require that a colony's manpower be equal to the campus average (or larger), while I saw other nationals chartering with 15-20 guys. They should also consider the membership by classes - requiring that half to 2/3s be returning the year after chartering.

[Tom Earp]

T J you are correct and I am sure TKE and others agree.

Size should be with in memberships to qualify for Chartering as we do.

Here again, the size of school and how GLOs are on campus.

Nothing can be set in stone for size as again depends on school and feelings for GLOs.

Each should be on merit among many other areas.

True, from I have seen that some GLO's Male usualy will go in on a campus when the time is not right. Example is TKE on my campus. They re opened and were closed within two years. Little Alumni backing or IHQ backing. No housing whe all others did.

Pick the battles to win first. Then go for the win.