IFC votes to admit new frat

The Interfraternity Council voted to approve the return of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, absent from campus since 1972, at its first meeting of the year last night. The IFC endorsement joins Greek Alumni Council and Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs recommendations to allow DTD to start forming a chapter. The IFC approval was the final hurdle for the new fraternity, which can now begin recruiting. No students are involved in the new fraternity yet. The move to bring the fraternity back to campus was initiated by local alumni and the fraternity's national office. David Wagner, vice president of the Eastern Division of DTD, presented his organization's plan for the fraternity to the IFC last night. He said he hoped to make the fraternity an alternative to other Greek houses. He said it would be for "people who said 'no' to you [other fraternity groups[" because of established house traditions or a distaste for the Greek system. Wagner said that DTD would begin publicizing its effort in the middle of March. After representatives gather the names of interested students, DTD will begin a week of recruitment. First, local alumni will come to the University to answer students' questions. In the latter half of that week, representatives from DTD's national office in Indianapolis will interview them and extend bids, said Wagner. He also added that a DTD chapter from either Villanova or Lehigh would pledge this class while local alumni advised. The group would not immediately become a chapter, said Wagner, but would first be an "interest group" and later a "colony." He added that the colony would then be made a chapter after they have equaled the average number of fraternity members in a house at the University. According to Eric Newman, OFSA's assistant director, the average number of fraternities' members is 55. Newman also told the IFC that DTD has been "courting the University for two years," and that the IFC "has no problem with them coming on." This endorsement was apparently enough for the IFC to vote to allow DTD on campus by an overwhelming majority. There was only one vote against and two abstentions out of about 25 votes. DTD has a long history at the University, beginning in 1897. Wagner said it thrived for over seventy years, producing many distinguished alumni including John Alexander, "the voice of Franklin Field." The fraternity declined after 1967, when its house, now the Craig Sweeten Alumni Center, suffered a severe fire. The debt and other problems cause by the fire led to the disbandment of the fraternity in 1972. Wagner assured the IFC that DTD is not going to reclaim its old house. "We are not looking for a piece of Locust Walk," he said. DTD's policies include a pledging process, a ban on hazing, and a rule forbidding the serving of alcohol if minors are in the fraternity house. According to College junior and IFC president Jim Rettew, there was another fraternity interested in coming to campus, but it did not apply. Rettew said he is "excited" about the addition of DTD because it is "good that we are getting bigger and better."

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