Although current members of Zeta Psi fraternity have remained relatively silent since their house was officially closed early this winter, as per a re-recognition plan, they are not necessarily pleased with the decision in which they had no say.
During the six-year period of de-recognition, Zeta Psi remained on campus as a fraternity independent of the College. When the house was officially closed this Winter term, Zeta Psi agreed to undergo a dark period -- it will not accept any new members and will stop functioning as a Greek organization -- until the fall of 2009, as part of the College's re-recognition process.
The members were notified last Fall term that the dark period would begin this winter or sooner, and those who were planning on living in the house have since found housing both on and off campus.
Though the College cannot prevent individuals from associating with each other, under the contract the brothers are not allowed to hold meetings or organize events of any kind during the dark period -- in the house or elsewhere.
"Right now, we do not have a place to congregate. Generally, when we do get together, it is in small groups," Zete member Will Ryan '08 said. "We are more like a bunch of close friends than a fraternity at this point, now that we do not have our own house."
While Ryan feels the circumstances of Zeta Psi's re-recognition are unfortunate, he understands the alumni association's actions.
"Their priority is to ensure the long-term survival of the house. I am comforted to know that I can return to the house one day as an alum and find it alive and well," he said. "However, I cannot say the same for the College administration. They have insisted on getting revenge on Zeta Psi, even though none of us in the fraternity now had any connection to the events surrounding our de-recognition."
Dean of Residential Life Marty Redman explained that ultimately the fraternity's alumni association made the decision to move in the direction of re-recognition and in doing so, they accepted the dark period. He went on to say that the College has no personal vendetta against the current members of the fraternity.
"They were de-recognized; they are not on any of our lists," Redman said, referring to membership records for Greek organizations. "I don't need to know who they are. They chose to join an unrecognized house and their alumni organization decided to gain re-recognition."
Some members of the house criticized the length of the dark period because it will last until all the current brothers have graduated from the College.
Redman explained that in 2009, the Zeta Psi alumni association and the College will be, in essence, starting a brand-new group with no preexisting members of the fraternity on campus.
"[The alumni association] intended to purge all of the current members and we had no part in these negotiations," Mike Malakian '08 said. "We were just told they were going to be done. They were very secretive until the deal was signed in early January."
T. Clark Weymouth '79, president of Zeta Psi's alumni association, made it clear that although the undergraduates did not participate in the negotiations with the College, the undergraduate leadership was kept informed of the status of negotiations. He added that during reunions and at Homecoming, he met with interested undergraduates who were on campus and explained the situation.
The members of Zeta Psi have not been too vocal about their current situation, and responses to the dark period vary among the Zete brothers who, as of the start of the dark period, now have alumni status.
Jimmy Chiang '07 was perfectly content being de-recognized and said that the situation surrounding the dark period was unfortunate. Still, he recognized that the dark period is simply a standard part of the College's re-recognition policy and that re-recognition will be better for the fraternity in the long run.
Malakian, another Zete member, disagreed.
"Perhaps I have become disillusioned but I don't see the point of sacrificing yourself for people you have never met," he said.
Malakian also compared losing the house to being shot.
"It was horrible, it was my house," he said. "I don't care about the alumni association or the College. I care about me and my brothers. I care about the fact that they have been hurt by this."
When Malakian and Chiang joined Zeta Psi, they assumed that the house was de-recognized indefinitely and re-recognition was not a possibility; They never expected to be part of a dark period or to lose their house.
Ryan, on the other hand, said that he would not have pledged Zeta Psi if he did not think it would be eventually re-recognized.
"I joined the house because I liked the brotherhood; de-recognition didn't deter me for a moment," he said. "I am not at all surprised that we got re-recognized, but I am surprised that it happened so soon and so quickly. The dark period has been a part of the agreement since day one, and the administration would not compromise," Ryan said. "I am willing to sacrifice my undergraduate fraternity experience if it means that Zeta Psi survives, but we should not have been forced to make this choice."
While many of the brothers consider the situation less than ideal, they are nonetheless working to keep the fraternal bond strong and move past this.
"Given the circumstances, I think we are surprisingly close, and I hope that we continue to stay that way," Ryan said. "Zeta Psi has always been a very tight-knit house."
Weymouth credited the current brothers with supporting the decision to go dark and abiding by the rules of the agreement with the College. He knew from the alumni association's perspective, that agreeing to the dark period would mean balancing the interests of the relatively few undergraduates against those of the fraternity as a whole: including both the alumni and future generations of Zetes.
"From the beginning and in the end, the College insisted that we would have to accept a dark period, though they ultimately agreed to one that is shorter than they had originally proposed," Weymouth said. "The undergraduates believe, fairly, in my view, that they are being punished for the acts of others, had no real say in the negotiated re-recognition terms and will be the ones who bear the brunt of the dark period."
Zete was officially de-recognized by the College in 2001 and that same year the Zeta Psi alumni association and the College began a dialogue about gaining re-recognition. The alumni association made serious headway in negotiations with the College once the moratorium on new single-sex Greek houses was lifted in 2005.
"Since the College de-recognized Zeta Psi, membership has dwindled and the physical plant has deteriorated," Weymouth said. "The consensus among active Zete alumni was, and is, that we should strive to bring the chapter back stronger than ever."
