KSTUAA Votes to Organize an Effort to Preserve the Chapter House for a Future Restart

The closure of the chapter (see our previous post) creates a challenge for the alumni and the Theta-Upsilon Housing Company (TUHC), namely how to stay solvent while the chapter is dormant. The TUHC does not have the financial reserves to continue paying taxes, insurance and other holding costs, nor does it have the funds to make the repairs to the Stone House to make it rentable to generate some income. Frankly their only option without alumni assistance is to sell the houses.

How did the housing issue come about?

The current situation is in large part due to “well intentioned” policies enacted by Miami University that mandate that students must live in dorms for both their freshmen and sophomore years. When the Greek system complained about the financial impact on the fraternity houses, Miami created a policy of the “sophomore exemption” that permitted fraternities to apply yearly for permission to house sophomores. That right would not be granted if the chapter failed to fulfill certain mandates or if the chapter broke the campus organization rules regarding parties or hazing.

The policy also contributed inadvertently to the development another trend among freshmen to sign off-campus leases for their Junior year by February of their FRESHMEN year.  For Fraternities, this meant that most freshmen pledge members were signing leases to live off-campus before going through the pledge program.

Obviously, this puts the burden of financial stability on the alumni volunteers of the Housing Companies and one the alumni of each fraternity when things go wrong and the sophomore exemption is lost. ALL fraternities at Miami have been impacted by these two trends and have struggled to maintain adequate occupancy rates. For Kappa Sigma, it has meant that the chapter house that once held almost 50 members would bounce between 5 and 14 residents each year for the last decade. Last year the facility housed just three members.       

What does KSTUAA recommend the alumni do about this?

The KSTUAA Advisory Board has been actively observing the situation for the last four years. They have met with officials at Miami and spoken with fraternity leaders at Miami and from other campuses to better understand trends and approaches used elsewhere.

On June 11, at its annual meeting during Miami’s Alumni Weekend, the KSTUAA Board deliberated and approved a motion stating that “in regards to the closure of the chapter this May 2016 the KSTUAA Advisory Board recommends to our Alumni at-large and to the Theta-Upsilon Housing Company Board their support for a plan of action to preserve access to the current, strategic location for an anticipated recolonization in the next 3-5 years and develop and pursue those plans immediately” The motion was made by Brother Varnum, seconded by Brother Elder and approved unanimously by the members present. 

The board had considered 3 different options before electing this course of action:

1. Recommend never restarting a chapter AND selling the chapter house and dispersing the proceeds to support Kappa Sigma.
2. Recommend an extended period without a chapter  AND selling the chapter house and holding on to the proceeds to purchase property at another locations in the future
3. Recommend organizing a return in 3-5 years AND attempt to preserve access to the current location for a future chapter

The decision was not arrived at quickly and the Board spent most of the morning and afternoon discussing and debating the merits and challenges of each of the options before arriving on the motion for option 3.

Where does Kappa Sigma Headquarters stand in all this?

Some executive officers on the SEC and in the headquarters have expressed support for a recolonization of Theta-Upsilon. Miami University is a well known, leading university and Kappa Sigma would like to have chapter in Oxford. Theta-Upsilon’s legacy has been mostly positive for 49 years and mostly a credit to Kappa Sigma. When the time is right, Kappa Sigma HQ will assist in restarting a chapter by recruiting some local volunteers and by sending an Area Recruitment Manager to jump start the recruiting process. There is a colony process that the recruits will go through. Muskingum University, Capitol University and the University of Cincinnati have all gone through this process within the last 3 years.

Where does Miami stand in all this?

All indications point to Miami remaining committed to having a vibrant Greek System and continues to affirm its historical legacy as the Mother of Fraternities. Miami like most universities, see Greek Life as a feature that attracts students to its campuses. (Can you really picture Miami without a Greek System?)  As Kappa Sigma is the largest fraternity in the US and a well respected organization, we do not expect Miami to oppose an eventual return to Miami. Again, Theta-Upsilon’s legacy has been mostly positive for 49 years and mostly a credit to Miami University.

What was the rationale for the KSTUAA Board?

While not all the Board Members could be present for the vote, everyone participated in conversations and emails before the meeting. All three options were advocated and discussed seriously. In the end, the board recognized that it was likely that Kappa Sigma HQ and others would one day want to restart a chapter at Miami whether they voted against it or not. In addition, the property currently owned by TUHC is very unique and the location is strategic, located prominently on one of the two Greek Rows, located near many academic buildings like the business school. Evidence of this is that there are numerous investors that have come forward interested in buying the property so they could build student housing in that location. However, if TUHC sells the property it would be doing so in distress and the proceeds would not be enough to purchase other property outright at another location and certainly Kappa Sigma could not expect to secure a similarly prominent location on a Greek Row.  By deciding to return, Kappa Sigma would be like Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Nu, Phi Kappa Tau and others that have been closed within the last 5 years and that are making plans to return.

What is next?

The KSTUAA is asking for any alumni interested in helping to register your interest by filling out this survey. We will hold informational conference calls to provide you with more information about how you could get involved to see Theta-Upsilon return to Miami.