Unrecognized frat wants to be noticed

The Alpha Phi Delta fraternity is trying hard to be recognized. But no one at the University will recognize it -- at least not officially. The Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Delta was reactivated in October of 1990 after a 50-year absence from the University. But the Greek Alumni/Advisors Council and the Fraternity and Sorority Advisory Board did not like how the fraternity chose to reorganize itself. Tricia Phaup, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, said the University's regulations on admitting fraternities onto campus are very specific. "They didn't follow the formal recognition process," she said. "We ask nationals who we want to come onto campus. They petition us, we grant them provisional recognition and then at that point they can begin recruitment of members. But to recruit members before they have recognition is backwards." Though it remains unrecognized at the University, APD is officially recognized by its national organization, which continues to back all facets of the fraternity's operation. "We feel that a student group has a constitutional right to assemble whether or not the school sanctions it," said James Lentini, executive secretary for APD's national organization. "They can prevent recognition but they can't prevent the students themselves from meeting under whatever name they so choose," he added. "There is a lot of case law defending our right to be at a college campus . . . [but] it's not worth a legal fight to deal with it." Former APD President and College senior Michael Unglo said the most negative thing about not being officially recognized on campus is the fact that the fraternity is not well known by anyone. He added that the lack of recognition prohibits the fraternity from participating in rush events and the Greek Olympics. Lentini said the national organization has tried twice to file for recognition at the University. "We filled out all of the requisite paperwork, we filed a petition dealing with all the topics the school asked us to address, and the school found it in their interest to turn the group down," he said. "We just feel that our chapter does a lot of things in the area of community service and activity and it's probably the school's loss for not recognizing it." The fraternity, which has 17 brothers, is currently holding rush events for interested students. "We've had about 15 different guys come to both events," said Unglo. "We'll just work with that group and invite them to rush events and slowly get a pledge class." Unglo added that the fraternity is intent on keeping a small, but diverse, membership. "You can't really label the fraternity as being one type of group," he said. "A lot of the brothers feel strongly about that. We have a wide range of people in the house. We're small and we're set on keeping it small." Incoming President Kaihan Krippendorff, a Management and Technology senior, said that the hardest part about being a member of an unrecognized fraternity is that he is always explaining the situation to his friends. "It's sort of tough in that every time I mentioned my fraternity I had to explain where we were from and who we were," he said. "But I like it because it gave me more power in a way to do new things and I didn't have to follow a routine that was set up for years." Krippendorff added that as president, he would concentrate on keeping dues down for brothers. "I have close friends who have joined sororities or fraternities and have not been able to stay in them because of financial reasons," he said. "Right now the fraternity system filters out students who cannot afford them. We're not going to make dues an issue."