Why Did Theta Close?

I heard it was just poor retention/membership

No, and starting or repeating such ridiculous rumors just make you look like an idiot. Why would any university pay $1.5 million to a sorority to make it pull a charter? What the hell are you smoking? The university begged Theta to reconsider closing because they were a great group of girls who were active in many campus organizations and student leadership positions. The decision was made by their nationals due to low recruiting numbers and declining membership which was deemed to not change significantly enough to be a sustainable chapter. It is always so sad whenever this happens to a fraternity or sorority on any campus. They had a strong sisterhood and were the absolute nicest girls you will ever meet. They came on in I think 1970, and Theta has good nationals, so they were an established chapter, but sometimes this happens on a campus when a couple of bad rushes start a downward spiral at the wrong time and can't recover it quickly enough. The Greek community at Ole Miss, including alumni, are very judgmental and very stuck on Greek letters as status symbols. Theta may be back some day, the option is open for a couple of decades actually, who knows.

Theta closed Ole Miss and a chapter at another school the same month because numbers were too low to cover expenses.