This coming May, Pi Beta Phi sorority will be shutting down. The decision to shut down was due to chapter challenges and issues.
A long time Greek chapter on the University of Wyoming campus closed its doors last month while new Greek organizations have been working to gain a foothold in the face of membership decreases.
Three chapters have lost their charters in the last four years — Sigma Nu closed in 2009, Farmhouse in the fall of 2012, and Pi Beta Phi, which celebrated its centennial in 2010, closed just a few weeks ago. And this decline is not in line with national trends.
“Unfortunately, the trend we are seeing is kind of opposite of what is happening across the country, but Wyoming is a little behind on everything. I know we are going to get there, we are not seeing the growth other campuses are seeing, but we are putting things in place to see that change,” Greek Life Coordinator, Kate Steiner said.
The news is not all bad for UW Greeks, however. Steiner did say that any Greek community will see an ebb and flow of membership, particularly with fraternities, because of the colonization process.
Any fraternity is welcome to come to the University of Wyoming and attempt to set up membership with the understanding that they will have to split resources with the current organizations already on campus.
This formula has worked well for fraternities new to UW including Phi Delta Theta, which hopes to charter in the fall, and Pi Kappa Phi, which chartered in 2010.
“They’re all doing really well. Pi Kappa Phi has found a great niche in service on our campus, they are well known for ‘Spread the Word to End the Word’ when they do their scaffolding in front of Ross Hall, they have a strong brotherhood,” Steiner said.
Sigma Nu’s upcoming return also bodes well for the community. When they lost their charter in 2009, they kept ownership of their house and maintained it with renovations, Steiner said.
A national consultant has recently been on campus to gain interest and recruit.
Pi Beta Phi may be able to do the same in the future. Members of the chapter were unavailable for comment.
In order to help the Greek community on campus grow, the administration and Greek Life Office have begun working on new programs particularly in terms of marketing Greek Life to students and their parents.
Recently, Greek Life brought in TJ Sullivan to give his talk, “Motivating the Middle.”
“I was really intentional on ‘Motivating the Middle’, we need to encourage our members to motivate people to join,” Steiner said.
Additionally, the Circle Back initiative also will be on campus the first week of May.
The initiative will focus on recruitment and retention, risk management, and alumni and advisor relationships.
“It has taken 20 some years to see the decline we have so it is going to take a couple of years to get back to where we were. We certainly have support from administrators to make sure that long haul happens,” Steiner said.
