Fraternities Delta Tau Delta (DTD) and Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) will both live in the 15 Eagle Row house during the 2017-18 academic year, according to Marlon Gibson, director of sorority and fraternity life.
DTD and SigEp agreed to share the house in a Nov. 10, 2016 meeting about on-campus housing for fraternities with Gibson, Assistant Vice President for Community Suzanne Onorato, representatives from all Emory fraternities and fraternity Beta Theta Pi’s national foundation and administrative office.
The house, currently occupied by upperclassmen unaffiliated with Beta, was formerly the residence of Emory’s Beta chapter, which failed to meet the occupation requirement last year and subsequently lost the house after having occupied it for 15 years. An organization or fraternity must fill at least 90 percent of the spots in the house to retain control over an Eagle Row house, Gibson said.
Gibson and Onorato asked Beta representatives whether other groups could occupy the house out of respect for its national office at the Nov. 10 meeting, Gibson said. Beta nationals gave the fraternity’s blessing for other groups to live in the house.
DTD and SigEp plan to fill at least 23 beds each of the 47 total spots available at 15 Eagle Row.
An executive housing committee composed of DTD and SigEp chapter presidents, housing managers and representatives-at-large has been meeting since Nov. 18, 2016 to formulate terms for the joint housing.
The two fraternities signed a contract Dec. 4, 2016 detailing room distribution, common spaces, housing events and recruitment regulations. The contract also included the formal establishment of the executive housing committee, which will meet as needed until August 2017. It will establish a regular meeting schedule.
“Both chapters of SigEp and Delt agree that they have a similar mission in the type of man they’re looking for on this campus,” Gibson said.
DTD’s Emory chapter, founded in 1882, had a house at 4 Eagle Row until it was torn down in summer 2007. SigEp’s Emory chapter has not had a house since 2013, at which time it shared 20 Eagle Row with the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Representatives from both chapters said their fraternities are excited to live in the house.
“We’ve cultivated a good brotherhood regardless of the house,” former SigEp president and College senior Daivik Malhotra said. “Having a house will [improve our] membership experience because we’re [now able to compete] with … other fraternities that have houses.”
DTD President and College junior Brendon Stern said that living in a house will allow DTD to better connect with their peers on campus but will not change the fraternity’s values.
“Living in a house, however, will not affect our determination to keep improving our fraternity and meeting the difficult goals that we set for ourselves,” Stern said.
Both fraternities will run this year’s recruitment efforts from the Ignatius Few Residence Hall Multipurpose Room. During the next recruitment cycle, both will recruit out of their shared house.
Beta is currently attempting to recolonize on Emory’s campus with all-new members, Gibson said. The undergraduates who were formerly members of Beta have acquired “early alum status,” rendering them unable to rejoin the fraternity if it successfully recolonizes at Emory.
Correction (1/31 at 12:25 p.m.): The article originally stated that DTD's Emory chapter was founded in 2015 and never had its own house. This is not the case. It has since been corrected to state that DTD's Emory chapter was founded in 1882 and had a chapter house at 4 Eagle Row until summer 2007.
DTD, SigEp to Share Former Beta House
Ruth Reyes, Photo Editor
