Membership woes force Beta Theta Pi to reorganize

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. The Beta Theta Pi fraternity has decided to do exactly that. The house won Fraternity of the Year in the annual Greek awards ceremony in 1991, but the last decade has seen interest wane and membership lag. The chapter, down to a mere two members on campus, is now working directly with its national chapter to restart itself at Penn. The fraternity's two brothers currently live in the house at 3900 Spruce Street and rent out all the vacant rooms. The national Beta officials decided it was time to take charge. "The chapter had experienced low membership in recent years, so we're basically starting over," said Martin Cobb, director of Beta's Men of Principle Initiative. This is the organization within Beta at the national level that seeks to implement plans and strategies for increased success. Wharton senior and current Beta President Brian Godfrey explained that the chapter will continue to be active at Penn, and that its current brothers were still members, but that new members would take the fraternity in a new direction. The existing brothers would "allow the new members to work on restarting the chapter," Godfrey said. New members will assume the status of "founding fathers" within the fraternity: They will be the first members of the reconstituted chapter. The two current Beta brothers will continue to live at the house, and will remain members of the fraternity with alumni status. The national chapter is sending educational consultants David Rae and Vince Mikolay to live at the Beta house from September 23 through the month of October to attract recruits. These representatives regularly travel to Beta chapters across the country to educate and train members in chapter management. At Penn, the consultants will conduct activities to make Beta an attractive choice for those wishing to pledge a fraternity and want the chance to help build a new chapter, according to Rae. "We're looking for students that are wanting to create their own fraternity experience," Rae said. Rae hoped that the recruitment would draw 40 to 45 new members to Beta. Scott Reikofski, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, noted that Beta's restarting would likely allow upperclass men the unusual opportunity to join and immediately assume a leadership role within a fraternity. "Certainly this is a great opportunity for men to really mold the fraternity experience they want that they may not be seeing in the existing chapters," Reikofski said. Cobb said that the new members will have to take on special responsibilities to make the chapter's revitalization succeed at Penn. "The founding fathers will need to be very active in the reorganization effort and exemplify the fraternity's goals of leadership, friendship, service, academics and campus involvement," he said

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