The College announced its re-recognition of Phi Delta Alpha as a fraternity Tuesday, after four years of punishment stemming from several incidents in the late 1990s, including a 1999 fire at Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity.
The house had been recognized as a "colony" by Dartmouth for over a year, since January of 2003. Colony is the Greek term for a house during a probationary period during which it must show that the organization can meet the expectations of the College.
The house, however, already enjoyed many of the privileges and rights that full fraternities enjoy, so much so that Phi Delt President Graham Rasmussen '05 could not point out a concrete difference between the house before and after recognition other than an emotional feeling for house members and a new name.
Additionally, the movement from a colony to a full fraternity means that if Phi Delt is found guilty of minor violations, they will only be subject to regular school rules and will not face the possibility of full derecognition.
Rasmussen said he felt ecstatic and euphoric over the news, even calling the announcement "a spiritual validation of all the things we've been doing since being derecognized."
"It's been a progression up until the point where we had everything that a Dartmouth fraternity has except a title," he said.
It was also an emotional moment for Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman.
"In some sense, it's a formality, but to the members of the house and the College, it's a big deal," Redman said.
"It was kinda like watching your kid graduate from high school," he added of his personal feelings towards Phi Delt's rerecognition.
The news came in a rather dramatic fashion Tuesday night at the Order of Omega recognition dinner in Collis Commonground.
With tears in his eyes, Redman announced the news as George Faux '84, President of Phi Delt's corporation, was being given the adviser of the year award. Redman said it was intention to notify Phi Delt of their re-recognition via a formal letter, but when he learned of Faux's award, he decided to surprise the audience with the decision to re-recognize.
The path to re-recognition was an arduous one.
Four years ago, the CFS Judicial Committee found Phi Delt guilty of serving alcohol to underage students, tolerating drug use, "dirty" rushing, providing false information to the College about rush and failing to take action when four of its members broke into Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity, stole property and started a fire in December 1999.
The College derecognized Phi Delt in spring 2000, giving the house the option to apply for re-recognition in fall 2002, an option they accepted in January 2003. During that term, the current Class of 2005 became first to go through the rush process, which had to be run by alumni, as the house had no student members at the time.
A large issue for the membership was the ability to once again live in the house. The College originally leased the house from Phi Delt to house graduate students, but that plan was scrapped after a year and the house remained empty. During that time, the house fell into disrepair, with repairs needed on the boiler, roof, windows and toilets.
With the physical labor of a small membership and the help and financial support of alumni, the house was repaired by summer 2003. By the end of the summer, the house was given the privilege of using the College for billing and insurance purposes, a step that is often the last, Redman said.
In fall 2003, the house was allowed to host its first registered social event. Although the house was technically dry for much of their post-derecognition existence, they could hold non-registered events when members turned 21. Any minor violation during their "colonial" period, however, could have resulted in full derecognition, Redman said.
Both Rasmussen and Redman praised the other's efforts. Rasmussen said that the house is indebted to the administration, while Redman said he was "proud" of the members.
Redman singled out the work of Phi Delt alumni as well. For their first and second years of rush, over thirty alumni from classes dating as far back as the 1970s returned to participate. This type of commitment from alumni, he said, is almost unheard of for a College organization.
Redman could only remember one similar situation in recent College history in which a Greek house was derecognized for a time, that being Zeta Psi's year and three-quarters long derecognition 16 years ago. The only specific offense committed that he recalled was the same one that caused Zete's permanent derecognition in 2001, an offensive in-house publication.
He said that there have likely been other instances of temporary derecognition in the long Greek history at Dartmouth, but he could not give another example as he has only been at the College for five years.