The Lawrence chapter of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity will no longer have its house in the fraternity quad as of next year. The house, in the southwest corner of the fraternity quad, either will be converted to general lottery housing or will be taken over by another group, as the former Phi Tau house was several years ago.
The reason for the loss, as explained by both Delt president Ray Tucker and Associate Dean of Students for Campus Life Amy Uecke, was an inability to meet the requirement of 100-percent occupancy for next year.
Tucker added, “We were unable to meet this rule for multiple reasons. We did not have enough members to compensate for members studying abroad, transferring out of Lawrence and leaving for personal reasons.”
The effects of this loss for the Delta Nu chapter may be widespread. Tucker said that his biggest concern was recruiting, problems with which could lead to an eventual loss of the fraternity charter if the fraternity is unable to keep membership at levels acceptable to the national organization.
As to why membership has dropped recently, Tucker pointed to the stereotype of notoriety the fraternity has picked up, undeservingly. “We’re not rapists and drunks,” he said. “This stereotype is untrue, and I hope that the loss of our house will help people learn that fabricated stereotypes are detrimental to the community.”
In moving forward, Uecke stressed that the “Delts are not being pushed out of the opportunity for group housing just because they couldn’t fill their current house. They had the opportunity to apply for another, smaller house on campus, and chose not to.”
In formal group housing, any group may apply for any of the open houses on campus.
Recently, the Phi Kappa Tau and the Phi Delta Theta fraternities followed this mold, as they applied for and were granted smaller houses on campus when unable to fill their larger quad houses. For the Delts, this will be an opportunity “to step back and look at what Delta Nu is all about,” Tucker said. “Even though this is a difficult challenge, losing the house will help us evaluate that.”
First created in 2001, formal group housing was an initiative by the administration to create the opportunity for any officially recognized student group to enjoy the same benefits as the fraternities and co-op houses, which at the time were the only groups eligible for group housing.
“When formal group housing was first instituted,” Uecke said, “the members of the board, consisting of members from the fraternities and co-op, decided that housing on the quad and elsewhere was a privilege, and that the privilege should be extended to the rest of the campus community.”
At that time, the current set of rules governing application eligibility were established. Tucker, referencing the Delt’s loss of house as well as the Phi Tau and Phi Delt’s loss, said he thinks that the “rule needs to be re-evaluated if multiple fraternities are struggling to meet this rule and have hence lost their houses and are struggling just to keep their charters.
Delta Tau Delta to lose house due to numbers
