Over the last ten years, nine out of ten fraternity houses on campus either have been rebuilt or are in the process of being rebuilt. After the Kappa Sigmas get a new house, the Strategic Plan will move on to the independent housing facilities. The only fraternity house not being rebuilt, as well as the only house not owned by the College, is the Theta Delta Chi house.
The Theta Delts live in a privately owned residence-style house. Though old, the house has been kept up-to-date by the brothers, who do home-improvement projects every year. Many of these projects are chosen with the aim of expansion in mind: they recently built a loft in the cold-dorm that can accommodate four more pledges, and this summer they redid the basement to fit more people.
The fraternity would like to continue expanding, as they have done for several years and has the eventual goal of having about forty active brothers. Recently, the pledge classes have gotten larger each year; the class of 2010 consists of five brothers, the class of 2011 of eight, and the current freshman class has nine pledges.
As it stands now, the Theta Delt house can only accommodate about 25 people, so in order to accommodate expansion, the fraternity must either move into a campus owned house or find another place for some of the brothers to live.
According to Jacob Moore, the House Manager and Student Senate Representative, “the houses on either side of ours are rented, so we may rent another house for seniors and juniors.”
The other option for expansion is for the College to take on another fraternity house. Theta Delta Chi officers and college administrators have conducted inconclusive talks on the subject.
“We’re certainly open to the idea of the College acquiring a new house, in the same fashion that they own the other 9 fraternities,” said Fraternity President Grant Gussman. “We enjoy the autonomy of owning our own home, but with it come major restrictions in terms of growth and expansion. Ideally, we’d like to stay a small fraternity but to grow to 35-45 members. With our excellent rush classes the past few years, we’re confident we can continue our growth if a new facility were obtained that would allow such growth.”
One reason the fraternity is so limited in its options is that, unlike the other fraternities on campus, Theta Delt does not have a large, older alumni base.
“All the other houses on campus have a big alumni base going back for decades, whereas we don’t have an alumnus over the age of 40,” Gussman continued. “However, some alumni have started giving donations to the College that are earmarked for the house.”
The Upsilon Deuteron chapter of Theta Delta Chi was only begun in 1992, so even the oldest alumni are relatively young, still starting families and paying off school loans, so huge donations have not yet begun flowing in.
The fraternity does believe that, if the College is willing to take on the liability of owning another house, they deserve a new house. Theta Delta Chi has consistently mid-to-high ranking GPAs, and is one of the most philanthropically active houses on campus, holding the Relay for Life campus record. This reputation for philanthropy is not only recognized at Wabash. At this summer’s Theta Delta Chi annual convention, the chapter won the Robert N. LoParo Philanthropy and Service Cup, which is “awarded to the Charges who have devoted themselves to bettering their social being.”
President Gussman said Theta Delta Chi fraternity has grown and improved for the past several years.
“As of 2005, TDX was nearly bankrupt and down to only five members. Since then we’ve grown to having twenty-one people living in the house, and winning the fraternity’s Victory Cup, awarded to the Charge with the best overall record for the year. We’re confident of being able to continue this growth, if we had the room. As it is, we’re about to hit a brick wall in terms of expansion.”
Jacob Surface ‘11, the corresponding secretary and philanthropy chair, made his case for the fraternity.
“We’re active in most clubs on campus, with many presidents and officers,” Surface said. “We’re not an isolated colony way out here. We’re highly involved in every facet of campus life and we want to continue to be. I think a lot of the faculty and members of the student body recognize that. Hopefully, if we keep up the success for a long period of time, we can convince the College that we’re a good investment for them. We’re working for future Theta Delts, laying the groundwork. Being a young fraternity can be tough. We’ve been here for sixteen years, though, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Dean of Students Michael Raters said the Theta Delta Chi situation is unique, but all options have not been exhausted.
“As we have done our Strategic Plan work over the last two years, the housing of Theta Delta Chi has been a part of the larger conversation about overall housing needs,” Raters said. “The College would only consider making TDX a campus owned facility if the Theta Delta Chi membership and alumni made the formal request to the College to do so. To my knowledge, that request has not been made.”