Fraternity Housing: A Reflection

I got some great news this evening; it seems that all the financial modifications and investments have been put in place, that the leases have been signed, the security deposits paid, and that the Delta Iota Chapter will be re-opening it's fraternity house doors for the Spring Semester 2010 after having had to close them last May because of a lack of residents and the financial inability to continue without a full house. Having lived in the house myself, I am ecstatic at the news that my chapter is moving back into its house!

This whole process of trying to "save" then "sell" then "save" a fraternity house that my chapter brothers and I (both alumni and undergraduate) at Delta Iota have been going through made me think a lot about Fraternity Houses and whether or not they are really an important aspect to the concept of "Fraternity." It also really challenged the beliefs and feelings of a lot of the other brothers of our Chapter as well. It affected me so much I decided to do some research on it.

Fraternity housing first became popular about 20 years after the first social fraternity was founded in 1845 at the University of Michigan. The Fraternity House belonged to the Chi Psi Fraternity. It was a log cabin located deep in the woods outside of Ann Arbor. The reason it was so hidden was because being in a fraternity would result in expulsion back then. Fraternity houses then became a popular commodity in the Northern U.S. as Southern Students didn't have the means to afford fraternity housing. Kappa Sigma was the first fraternity to own a Southern Fraternity House at the University of the South in 1882, and in 1886 Alpha Phi Sorority opened up the first Sorority House. Greek Houses started mainly as "lodges" where people would hang out, hold meetings, and perform rituals. They did not start as residences, but developed into that over time.

Tau Delta Phi, on a national level, has a long history of trying to get each of it's chapters to either rent or own housing. Perhaps, the importance of Fraternity Housing in our Fraternity exists because our Fraternity's founders started their fraternity experience by sharing a house for the brothers of Alpha Chapter and Gamma Chapter that they had in Harlem on 137th Street? Perhaps other brothers might know more then me on this topic, but I do know that fraternity housing, if you look through our records, has always been considered CENTRAL to the TauDelt experience!

Tau Delta Phi has had some beautiful houses over the years (some examples are sprinkled through this post). However, classiness doesn't exist in mansions alone. Where would Tau Delta Phi have been over the last several decades without the Tau Epsilon House at 269 King Boulevard? As well as other houses both formal and informal such as 210 Deep Creek, 39 Memorial Park, The Stumble Inn, and many more that have made their way into our hearts!?!

Is fraternity housing necessary for a successful fraternity chapter? I would have to say, overall, that "yes it is necessary!" I think that while every chapter may not have a "house" that is owned, every chapter needs to have a residence, a headquarters if you will, where brothers can head to in order to just "be brothers" with everyone else in the chapter. From that humble start (whether it's a dorm room or an on-campus apartment), I do think that every chapter needs to try to move toward an actual house or apartment (in the case of an inner city chapter) if it can! Somewhere where the brothers can share chapter meals, play a game of horseshoes in the backyard (or hang out up in Florida if you're in Newark), and just generally enjoy themselves. Beyond that, if we look at Fraternity Housing as mentioned in our traditions, it is mentioned in our fraternity song,"This Pin," and mentioned in the Pledge Ceremony, as well as hinted at in our Basic Obligations.

What can we learn from this reflection on Delta Iota's struggles? The truth of the matter is, that despite all the heartache, trouble, and extra responsibility that a chapter and its alumni need to have if they are caring for a house that they own or manage, the reality is that Dorothy was totally right when she said, "there's no place like home," and home for both the alumni and actives of Delta Iota is 39 Memorial Park Drive, no matter how many times we need to fix the leak in the dining room ceiling or redesign the upstairs bathroom to find that leak!

I wish that same feeling of "home" to all the other brothers of all the other chapters....may you find joy in keeping, maintaining, purchasing, renting, or saving for your fraternity house! And, if you have no home, come January 15th, when ours re-opens, you are welcome there!!!!

I want to say a special thank you to Adam Drewry, PGQ, CK who single-handedly found a way to keep Delta Iota House going when it was about to be foreclosed on, and found a way to redo the finances so we could re-open our beloved home:

"Here's to Brother Adam, the best of them all!"