UC Berkeley NPC Expansion
 

So, I was looking for something on the CAL greek site and saw this:

http://www.calgreeks.com/2010/12/uc-...npc-extension/
The bulletin won't open so I can't post more info.

If anyone has anymore info, feel free to post it here.

University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, Calif.

The NPC Extension Committee has received minutes evidencing the Panhellenic Council’s vote to open for extension. There are currently twelve (12) NPC groups on campus: Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, and Sigma Kappa. The chapters range in size from 115 to 141. Chapter Total is 127. There are thirty-five (35) chapters in the Interfraternity Council, five (5) chapters in the National Pan-Hellenic Council, and twelve (12) chapters in the Multi-Cultural Greek Council.

All NPC chapters are housed, and chapter houses are owned by their local house corporations and employ full-time and part-time staff as house directors, cooking and cleaning staff, and/or maintenance. Other amenities include, but are not limited to, bedding, living space, study lounges, meeting and ritual rooms, and recreational areas. All chapter houses are located off campus and house capacity between 48 and 71 members.

Located in Berkeley, California, the University of California, Berkeley is a public institution which enrolls 25,540 undergraduate students, 52.9% of which are female. The University of California, Berkeley offers baccalaureate degrees in the traditional liberal arts and sciences, interdisciplinary studies, and professional schools, along with Master’s degrees in several specialized areas. For more information see the University’s website: www.berkeley.edu.

Panhellenic Council at UC Berkeley has not extended since 1948, and we are excited to announce the opportunity to welcome a new NPC organization to our CalGreeks community, a rich tradition at UC Berkeley that has been in existence for over 140 years.

Applications for the possibility of colonization will be released in January 2011. The Extension Committee will be sending detailed packets of information to the NPC member groups who are not currently on campus.

Questions can be directed to: Maria S. Iglesia, M.Ed.
Program Coordinator, Fraternity and Sorority Life

(personal contact info redacted)

My mom was a Zeta at Cal in the fifties. At that time, there were over 10 NPC chapters. Alpha Gam, Delta Zeta, Alpha Xi Delta, Kappa Delta and Phi Mu are among the NPC's that were once at Cal. I wonder if any of those chapters would consider re-colonizing?

Correction- I meant to say that there were more than 20 NPC chapters at Cal!

I'm currently a student at Berkeley, and being in a position where I've had to work closely with the Greek Life Office, this is something I'm aware of.

It'll be exciting to see such a significant change in the system. It's been almost a decade since the PHC community has last changed, and another sorority will introduce a lot of the much-needed diversity.

I hope I'm not saying too much, but I personally have a strong feeling that AGD may recolonize because their housing corp still owns the house, there's an alumni organization around, and last I knew, a regional chapter that was renting the house recently decided to shut down its operations.

Having our Omicron Chapter come home to Berkeley would be such a blessing.

My Chapter Advisor from my collegiate days is a member of Omicron and I remember the day she let us know that her chapter closed. It was obviously very tough for her.

The evolution of the Omicron house can be found here: http://www.alphagammadeltahouses.com...-berkeley.html

Also, AGD has chapters at SF State, and Sonoma State.

This is wishful thinking... but I would LOVE for AST to colonize there. We only have one other chapter in California. I don't think it's very likely though...

I can't even imagine how much it would cost to build a house there. Our house is on such prime real estate with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, that I cannot imagine what the cost of that land would be in today's dollars. I haven't been out to see our house, but it's definitely on my list.

Wow -- I had no idea that was the AGD house. I wonder where alpha Kappa Delta Phi would move if AGD came back.

The sorority houses are Berkeley are beautiful, old and large. I have no idea where a new one would go -- you'd have to buy an apartment complex or co-op or something. Or, maybe other groups still own their houses too. For example, until I googled it just now, I never knew the Tau house was called the Tau house of AEPhi. I wonder if they still own that...

I would think that AGD would have a great opportunity to come back, since they still own their house. As for aKDPhi, I didn't think they were still on campus? They're not listed as recognized by the school anymore.

Less than 5 years ago, there were still rooming houses. They might be an option for a sorority ultimately to purchase and renovate. I doubt the BSC would be willing to sell any of their houses at this point.

Off-topic...

Sucks for aKDPhi considering Berkeley is their Alpha Chapter. Did they completely dissolve the chapter or are they just not recognized by the school?

FYI, alpha Kappa Delta Phi is a national sorority.

Thanks Sen!

Yeah, building a house in Berkeley is ridiculously expensive. My chapter is in the process of acquiring a permanent house, and it's been extremely difficult. The average 15-room house would cost ~$3mil, if there is one for sale. As for land: it certainly does not exist, but there are several (expensive) buildings that are not up to code that you can demolish: getting a permit to actually rebuild is a nightmare though.

As for aKDPhi: in the past, the Berkeley chapter was not listed as active on their national website. However, it appears that they've come back.

Berkeley's rent control laws are strict, so a housing corp can't just kick everyone out of the house and then rent it out to actives. There are ways around that (eg. remodeling), but that is a multi-year process.

It's because of things like that why I wasn't sure if I said too much. In either case, I'm excited.

For everyone's convenience (from Irishpipes' thread):

University of California Berkeley, CA: August 27 - September 2, 2010
Quota=39
Campus Total=127
Quota last year=28
***************
Kappa Kappa Gamma Pi 1880-1885/1897
Kappa Alpha Theta Omega 1890
Gamma Phi Beta Eta 1896 (45)
Delta Delta Delta Pi 1900
Pi Beta Phi California Beta 1900
Alpha Phi Lambda 1901 (40)
Chi Omega Mu 1902
Alpha Omicron Pi Sigma 1907 (40)
Delta Gamma Gamma 1907 (39)
Alpha Xi Delta Omicron 1909-1969
Alpha Chi Omega Pi 1909
Sigma Kappa Lambda 1910
Alpha Delta Pi Psi 1913 (39)
Theta Upsilon Alpha (Founding chapter) 1914-1961
Zeta Tau Alpha Upsilon 1914-1969
Alpha Gamma Delta Omicron 1915-?
Delta Zeta Mu 1915-1969
Phi Mu Eta Alpha 1916-1971/1980-1990
Kappa Delta Phi 1917-1969
Phi Omega Pi California Alpha 1919-?
Beta Phi Alpha Alpha (founding chapter) 1919-1941 National absorbed by Delta Zeta 1941
Alpha Epsilon Phi Tau 1923-?
Alpha Delta Theta Iota 1924-1934 national merger with Phi Mu
Phi Sigma Sigma Mu 1926-1966
Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Zeta 1948-1969


What was the change approx. ten years ago? I started advising in 2000, but stopped when I moved to LA around 2006. Maybe something changed right before I came to Cal or maybe I forgot something :o

Good catch! I don't know what I was thinking, but for some reason, I thought 1990 was 10 years ago :/

Look at those colonization dates! That is amazing. What a tradition and history.

It would be great to see more NPC groups come back to Berkeley.

And something else I never knew (for those of you familiar with Berkeley's campus):

The College Women's Club, a group of Pan-Hellenic women, constructed the Bancroft Hotel building in 1928 as a private clubhouse. Inspired by California's Mediterranean climate and vast landscape, noted Bay Area architect Walter T. Steilberg, an associate of Julia Morgan, created a distinguished example of the area's internationally known Arts and Crafts movement. After hosting the Phi MU Sorority (1960-1990) the building was closed for refurbishing and retrofitting. Four years later the Bancroft Hotel was opened. The Hotel is a National Register Landmark.

http://bancrofthotel.com/history.html

Wow, an office for one of my startups is located in the Bancroft Hotel. Quite surprising that the building formerly housed Phi Mu! I always wondered where it was.

One of my friends was a Phi Mu at Berkeley -- I'll have to send her this link. Thanks for posting it!

YW:)

And those single letter chapters! DPhiE is the only inactive (current NPC) double letter, and all the active chapters are singles. Not sure about the order for Pi Phi since they do it by state, but given the date it's likely in or near the single letter category.

Looking at that list of closed chapters, it's interesting to me to note that 3 of the closed sororities were merged with Delta Zeta prior to the DZ chapter closing (Beta Phi Alpha in 1941, Phi Omega Pi in 1946, and Theta Upsilon in 1962). I'd love to see DZ return to Berkeley b/c it's on my daughter's top 3 list of where she'd like to go...

Alpha Gamma Delta has been selected to present on March 29th!

:) My daughter has added Berkeley to her "look into" list for schools (before this news). So far, UMich is the only school with an Alpha Gam chapter that she is considering.

Do you know when Alpha Gamma Delta closed at Berkeley? It would be awesome to see 2 single letter chapters recolonized (Alpha along with this one) in such a short period of time! Good luck to Alpha Gamma Delta and all those selected to present! :)

I'm not positive but I've seen some things to indicate that it was around 1986. I was a collegian then and not very in tune to what was happening with the overall Fraternity.

Julia Morgan is a Kappa Alpha Theta from UC Berkeley.

One of the members in my alum club is listed as Omicron (U C Berkeley) 1993. So it was at least after that.

I think it was around 2000-2002? It had to have been around my days as a collegian because my chapter advisor was devastated when she found out her chapter was closing.

I was thinking 2002-2003, so I pulled up the Lost Sisters from Omicron. I'm going to toss out the anomaly 2007 that is on there, but it shows two initiates from 2005, and one each fro 04, 03 and 02. The last year it really looks like there were initiates was 2001.

Does Alpha Gamma Delta still have a house?

Hmmm, I was and adviser for DG from 2000 through 2006 and I don't remember anything about them closing, though it could have happened in 2000/2001/2002 when I was first there... I am going to email someone who might know, so if I get anything "official", I will let you all know.

I'm pretty sure it closed sometime before Fall 2004 (when I went through recruitment). They definitely were not participating in formal recruitment at that time. I was at Cal from 2002-2006 and don't remember anyone ever mentioning AGD, but I wasn't paying very close attention to the Greek system my first year.

Yes.

Just can't wait to see what will happen. This is really starting to feel somewhat like a recruitment story.

I'm excited, I wonder who else is presenting?

Presentation today
 

I'm heading to Berkeley for the presentation. I can't wait to see it.

I looked on the AGD website the other day and it looks like the chapter initiated people in the 1998-1999 school year. There were no listings for the year 2000 and after. My guess is that they cleaned up the errors while contacting people about presentation.

Still no word on anyone else presenting?

DoubleRose

Maybe you can find out when you attend the presentation who else is presenting?

The extension vote took place in February. Let me see what I can find out.