With its May 2 receipt of official charter from the Delta Tau Delta (DTD) national organization, the Beta Mu chapter — the Tufts chapter of the fraternity — returned to the campus as an official fraternity after a six-year absence.
Alumni and officials from DTD's national office came to Tufts over Spring Fling weekend to participate in the recognition ceremony.
"The ceremony was a culmination of the process required by the national fraternity," Nick DeKanter (LA '76), DTD's alumni chapter adviser, told the Daily.
DTD was in the spring of 2005 suspended following an incident during an initiation activity in which a pledge stopped breathing and was hospitalized. Chapter members at the time admitted to violating hazing and alcohol policies.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, the interim director of fraternity and sorority affairs, explained that the Greek judicial board in 2005 put DTD on a one-year suspension. DTD's national headquarters went further, closing the chapter for six years.
"They wanted to leave sufficient time to rebuild the chapter from the ground up," Reitman said in an e-mail to the Daily.
The length of DTD's suspension is typical for such situations and was needed to bring in completely new members, separate the fraternity from the circumstances that resulted in its suspension and reestablish its reputation, according to DeKanter.
"It's about creating space between the groups of people so it truly is a new fraternity and we're not dragging along some of the baggage from before," DeKanter said. "You get rid of some of the [discomfort] that comes with that."
DTD President Andrew Brinson, a rising junior, said that gaining official recognition will help the fraternity move on to consolidate its influence on campus.
"We were aiming for one goal and one goal only, and that was getting the charter," Brinson said. "Now we can look at what we … want to be doing in the future. It gives us the opportunity to do what we want and not be handicapped."
The fraternity last spring unofficially returned to campus with a new member class, existing as a colony with recruits initiated as "colony brothers," according to Brinson. Now the colony brothers are officially charter brothers.
DTD does not yet have an official residence. Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity is currently occupying DTD's former house at 98 Professors Row and has a lease on the house until the end of next spring.
Nicholas Goldsberry, director of growth at DTD's central office in Indiana, was heavily involved in obtaining the Beta Mu chapter's official charter.
"Our first approach was to work with the local [Interfraternity Council] and to be on good terms with them, and decide how [we can] continue the relationship with them," Goldsberry told the Daily.
The fraternity was then required to, among other things, provide a letter of approval from Reitman, exhibit a collective GPA above the school's average and reach a size comparable to other Tufts chapters, according to Goldsberry.
Brinson said DTD since its return to campus has drawn considerable interest.
"We were able to quite successfully recruit," Brinson said. "We had a recruiting class in the spring in the double digits, and we're looking for an about equal number in the fall and a big rush in the spring."
Brinson hopes that the re-establishment of the chapter with an entirely new group of brothers will prevent the recurrence of hazing incidents.
"It's not something that we want to encourage, obviously," he said. "It's important to remember that the guys [in DTD at the time] were living in a very different environment."
The fraternity in its recruiting made a conscious effort to ensure that new members shared the chapter's values, according to Brinson.
DeKanter and Goldsberry both believe that the current fraternity brothers are ambitious and active members of the Tufts community.
"They are all people who have shown their ability in leadership positions," DeKanter said. "What's neat about this group is that they were all a big part of the Tufts community independently, and now they're part of it as an official organization."
"They've represented themselves very strongly, and we see them as being part of a good group," Goldsberry said.
Reitman agrees that efforts to rebuild the chapter have had positive results.
"The new DTD group at Tufts is energetic and growing quickly," Reitman said. "I hope that the members' enthusiasm in regaining full status at the university will be central to maintaining their good standing."
Brinson noted that the chapter will be acting under the guidance and financial assistance of a strong alumni network. "We have a huge alumni base," he said. "They were excited to be on campus [for the ceremonies], and we're excited to be working with them."
DeKanter added that he will continue to guide the chapter's leadership as it reintegrates into campus life and the Greek community.
"The big thing is that we help them set up finances in a way that makes sense and set up the recruiting process in a way that makes sense," DeKanter said.
