The Interfraternity Council voted March 3 to allow a new fraternity chapter on campus and to change its expansion policy, according to IFC President and Wharton junior Christian Lunoe.
Alpha Phi Delta, a national Italian-American heritage fraternity, will rejoin the Greek community at Penn after gaining a majority of votes from fraternity chapter presidents and executive board members of the IFC, pending approval from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.
Lunoe wrote in an e-mail that the amount of time it will take for Alpha Phi Delta to become established on campus will depend on how it works with OFSA and the University, as well as how quickly the fraternity can “get things organized.”
The fraternity has a history at Penn. Alpha Phi Delta began colonizing on campus in 1992 and received official recognition from the OFSA in spring 1995. But between 1998 and 2000, the fraternity “faded out” as membership dwindled, according to OFSA Director Scott Reikofski.
Although fraternity recruitment numbers have remained constant in recent years, Lunoe said the IFC wishes to expand the number of fraternities on campus to offer students more diverse options for Greek life.
“A heritage-based fraternity like Alpha Phi Delta could potentially target students who would not have initially considered joining a fraternity,” he wrote in an e-mail.
The IFC also voted to amend the expansion policy in its constitution — a change which Lunoe said will make it easier for fraternities to join the Greek community at Penn.
However, Lunoe added that the new amendment to the expansion policy will not apply to Alpha Phi Delta.
The new policy establishes a system in which fraternities wishing to join the IFC will be automatically added to the bottom of a queue, but the IFC president may decide the appropriate placement of queued fraternities. The fraternities will be able to petition for priority within the queue once per semester.
A vote to determine the number of queued fraternities will be held in March for the fall term and October for the spring term.
