Delta Tau Delta needs a few good men.
The fraternity's search for eligible members marks the beginning of its efforts to recolonize at Penn, after closing in 1999 due to the decreasing membership.
"Now that we're on campus, we're taking a very proactive approach to the recruiting process," said Nick Prihoda, Delta Tau Delta International Headquarters director of expansion.
Prihoda and other representatives from Delt's international headquarters are recruiting students to act as the "founding fathers" of a Delt chapter at Penn.
Delt has a long history at Penn, with the first chapter established in 1896 and closed in 1971. The chapter reopened in 1991, but closed again in 1999 due to problems with both size and accreditation standards.
"From a financial standpoint, we just couldn't survive," Prihoda said.
According to Prihoda, he and the other Delt headquarters staff are meeting with University staff, sororities, advisers and students to obtain referrals regarding students who may be interested in acting as founding members.
"We're looking for a guy that wants to be in a frat for the right reasons," Prihoda said, referring to the high academic standards, brotherhood and service aspects that Delt believes are important.
Once people give referrals, Delt staff will inform them more about the fraternity, hold info sessions and have individual interviews with the candidates.
This fall, fraternity staff will be seeking out those who are interested in being a part of the initial founding group. In the spring, the staff will work primarily with students in the colony to develop the chapter more fully in terms of identity, programming and other standards.
It will likely be some time before a Delt chapter at Penn will be officially installed, as it generally takes about 10 months to two years from the beginning of the colonization process for certain minimum standards of the organization to be met. These standards involve issues like the size of the group and academics.
Delt already has a house close to campus at 130 S. 39th St., where members of Lambda Phi Epsilon currently live.
"Hopefully, if everything goes well, the colony will be able to move into the house in the fall of 2002," Prihoda said.
"The fraternity is very excited to be back," Prihoda said.
"Penn is definitely a place where we want to have a chapter."
Norm Hetrick, a 1996 Penn graduate and a member of the Penn Delt chapter before its most recent closure, said that he was pleased upon hearing of the recolonization efforts at Penn. Hetrick is also the president of the fraternity's House Corporation, which works with the University to maintain fraternity and sorority houses.
"It's very exciting to have a fresh start and to get back to Penn," Hetrick said. "The alumni are very strong and very loyal to Penn and to Delt."
