Beta Theta Pi fraternity will be moving into 6 Fraternity Row this fall, replacing the recently disrecognized Delta Chi fraternity.
After a nine-year absence, this university’s chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity reclaimed the newly vacant No. 6 house on Fraternity Row last Friday, according to a news release.
The house, obtained by the fraternity in 1990 and relinquished in 2006 due to “issues surrounding risk management and other challenges with university requirements,” was vacated this summer by the Delta Chi fraternity after it lost university recognition, said Matt Supple, Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life director.
“We felt like we had a really good relationship with the [Beta Theta Pi] alumni that we offered them the right of first refusal in 2006,” Supple said. “Any time a house is [available], we offer the materials and housing application first to the chapter with that right, making it a noncompetitive process if they provide us with all the information.”
After submitting the application July 13, fraternity members met with representatives from DFSL on July 14 and were offered their former residence back July 17, Supple said.
Beta Theta Pi President Connor Morrison, a senior economics major, said the whirlwind process caught him and other fraternity members somewhat off-guard.
“The opportunity came to us about one month ago, so we haven’t really had a chance to plan logistics yet,” Morrison said.
Beta Theta Pi is one of the smallest fraternities within this university’s Interfraternity Council, Supple said, with 43 active members last spring. The fraternity members plan to use the house for meetings and recruitment events to help grow their chapter, said Trevor Gibson, the fraternity’s risk manager.
He said that before owning the house, the fraternity held its meetings and events inside Stamp Student Union.
The fraternity members also said they hope to host alumni events in their new home, Gibson said. Alumni support and donations were vital to the application’s success, he said.
“We showed [DFSL] through the application that we want to make the most of this opportunity and want to grow and keep the house in Beta’s name,” said Gibson, a junior environmental science and policy major. “We hope that this will help get our name out there and show people what our fraternity is about.”
Morrison said the fraternity plans to host the largest charity event in the chapter’s history, a home run derby for testicular cancer research, at the house in honor of Lowell Ensel.
Ensel, a university sophomore and the fraternity’s former recruitment chair, died in May. After preliminary tests, doctors believed his death was linked to cancer, which started in his testis and spread to his lungs, his father Fenwick Anderson wrote in a letter sent to family friends. His family is still waiting for additional information from the medical examiner.
“It was unbelievably tough on all of us, but I like to think that Big Lowell is helping us from up there,” Morrison said.
Ensel was instrumental in the acquisition of the house, Gibson said.
“His hard work is a reason why we’re getting this opportunity,” Gibson said. “I hope the house can be a place where his friends can come and sit and think about him. He loved our fraternity.”
Morrison said while most fraternity members already have signed leases for next semester, they hope to fill the house by next spring.
“This has helped energize the whole chapter again,” he said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the fraternity submitted its application, met with DSFL officials and received an offer to return to the chapter house in June. These developments occurred in July. The story has been updated to reflect the correction.
