Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Opinion

Vesche Tivzenda, Mike Chase, Chris Dunderdale, pledge Brian Weldon, Craig Moquin

In May 2005, the news of the Delta Tau Delta, Rho Chapter House closing was the furthest thing from news for me. I cared nothing for, and knew nothing about, Greek life here at Stevens. This is not to say that I did not enjoy an occasional soda at many a fraternity house on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. Nor did I abruptly stop fraternizing with my friends who had decided to join the Greek organization of their choosing. At that point, I was simply excited about completing my first year of college. I was looking forward to relishing in all the new friends and memories that I had made, and ready to go back home to Atlanta, Georgia and share my stories with family and friends.

Fast-forward less than a year to the spring of 2006. Now a seasoned sophomore, I was used to the way things operated around campus and had found my social niche. I had maintained the great friends that I had met living on the third floor in Hayden Hall and my great friends from the soccer team with whom I had spent countless hours starting 10 days before I ever set foot in a classroom. Being the outgoing person that I am, there were a great number of good people that I came to call friends, from less than extraordinary interactions in passing. Not to prioritize or cheapen the levels of one's social network, it is safe to say I was surrounded by a wealth of great people. A significant fraction of my social network happened to be members of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity's Rho Chapter. That spring I learned what it really meant to be part of a Greek Brotherhood, though I have two brothers back home. I went from a place of ignorance to understanding over that period of less than a year. This all happened in the absence of the House, the central meeting place of brothers.

Another year later, here we are: the Delt House is open, dormitory décor and all. There was a huge kickoff party on Pledge Night to re-establish the House as a part of Stevens Greek nightlife. I was not there. I was out of town at the Empire-8 Conference SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) Summit in Rochester, NY. We like to party as much as the next fraternity and I also believe we do it a little bit better than the next. But that is not all Delta Tau Delta is about. I do not live in the House, but I do stop in at least three or four times a week. It may not look to be the typical fraternity house but it maintains its utility as a centralized location where we can congregate as a Brotherhood committed to lives of excellence, as our mission states. If you can put aside the stereotypes of jocks and Animal House, you will see that the Delta Tau Delta Rho Chapter is a diverse group of kids trying to better themselves. It is an organization that grooms its members' leadership skills, helping them grow personally and providing a nurturing environment to enjoy their collegiate and post-collegiate experience.

So, the Delt House is open: painted-over wood, pink doors, obligatory doorstops and room numbers, minor plumbing leaks, linoleum flooring, major plumbing leaks, etc. Many brothers will ache and complain that the shelter is a vital part of a fraternity chapter's identity and that our House has lost much of its character. But then they take a step back and realize that this Delt House became a home for us before the lightning renovations and will continue to be a home long after the current membership no longer lives in the building.

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