Phi Delta Alpha fraternity appears well on its way to regaining recognition if the trends of the past few months are any indication.
Phi Delt, the large, white, pillared house on 5 Webster Avenue, has been taking all the appropriate measures to regain full recognition by the college, fraternity members say.
The house, which is technically considered a "colony," is essentially recognized by the College, but only on a trial status. Under the arrangement, Phi Delt must live up to the same set of expectations as the other fraternities on campus.
However, the house does not yet have the privilege of being able to host registered events at which alcohol is served.
Phi Delt alumni returned to campus this winter to recruit a new pledge class for the first time since the house was officially derecognized in March of 2000. Nineteen bids were sunk during winter rush and an additional six were sunk this spring.It is now the responsibility of the 25 new '05 members to insure the permanent status of the house, according to Phi Delt corporation president George Faux '84.
Faux is confident that the '05s are up to the task. "We have the right group of people to bring the place back," he said.
"Those guys have taken a real ownership of the place," Faux said. That sense of ownership is apparent in the planned revival of the annual Phi Delt Green Key kickoff party, he said. In the past, bands such as Toots and the Maytals and The Meters have played on the Phi Delt porch in what tended to be one of the largest parties of the year.
This year, "Strangefolk," a band with a sound that's a mix of rock, folk, blues and bluegrass, will be performing on the porch. "The Green Key party will kick off the weekend on frat row as soon as classes end on Friday," house president Rob Freiman '05 said.
The music of "Strangefolk" will be complemented by a barbeque on the Tabard lawn.
"The Tabard has been enthusiastic about our return to campus and has been essential to the resurrection of the Green Key party," Freiman stressed.
The resurrection of the Green Key party was one of the two major goals that the new brothers of Phi Delt set for themselves. The second goal is to become residential by Summer term. Currently, no one lives in the Phi Delt house.
"We've been working with Residential Life extensively to not only meet immediate standards for occupancy this summer but to meet long range requirements for handicap accessibility and fire code regulations," house manager Ted Finnerty '05 said.
Improvements have been made to many different areas, but in particular, brand new bathrooms have been installed in the house.
These renovations have been made possible largely through alumni support. "Without alumni support," Freiman said, "the house would have never returned to Dartmouth."
Freiman has been given a non-voting seat on both the Inter-fraternity council and the Greek Leadership Council. "Other houses have given us a lot of support and have told me they're glad to see Phi Delt back," Freiman said.
Phi Delt will be forming an action plan -- a student-created, house-specific set of regulations which each fraternity creates for itself -- this term, and then will begin to follow it this summer. After one cycle of successfully following the action plan, Phi Delt may be fully recognized as a fraternity.
In January, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman warned that it could be years before Phi Delt regains full recognition by the College.
He said that it will take a strong effort to fully reintegrate Phi Delt into the Dartmouth community. "It's going to take a period of time for them to regain our confidence that they can function as a good, solid group that can add something to Dartmouth," Redman said, but emphasized that the Office of Residential Life would help support Phi Delt in its bid for recognition.
"We'll certainly do everything we can to help them be successful," Redman said. "I think that if they're truly committed, they can make it happen."
Ben Steele '02, a former president of Phi Delt, said that "As the class most affected by derecognition, the '02s were especially pleased with the new pledge class; it showed that all the hard work put in by the alumni, from the corporation on down, paid off."
Faux reiterated these thoughts saying, "We're thrilled at the progress that's been made. I couldn't have hoped for anything more and that's reflective of how our board feels and how our alumni feel. Those guys are the ones who are going to write the next page of Phi Delt's history."
Rob Freiman and the current Phi Delt brothers couldn't agree more. "Phi Delt has a history of over 100 years at 5 Webster Avenue," Freiman noted, "and, hopefully, we'll be around for another hundred years."
