Delta Upsilon (DU) and the Community Learning Center (CLC, the former Theta Delta Chi house), currently classified as academic living centers under the University’s Residential Life (ResLife) system, failed in their application to reoccupy their respective spaces in the upcoming academic year. The Drama House has been granted a probationary one-year extension in which time they are required to prove their dedication to the Residential Life’s view of what academic living centers should aspire to be.
In what seems like a cloak and dagger game with ambiguous rules and biased application processes, the IFC fraternities on the quad grow weary of the University’s intentions. Over the past year, a group called the Fraternity Quad Task Force has been meeting to assess the growing deferred maintenance problem on the Fraternity Quad (now referred to as the Presidents’ Quadrangle on tours). Presently, the group is formulating a recommendation that ResLife absorb stewardship over what has been referred to as a residential money pit.
With DU and CLC being replaced by the Frederick Douglass Leadership House and Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp), many fraternity members on the quad wonder what is keeping ResLife from favoring the Computer Interest Floor, In Between the Lines Improv,or the Track team over the current occupants of these buildings once the transfer of authority is complete.
With a strong brotherhood, significant alumni relations, and a history of exceptional performance in the University’s acclaimed Expectations for Excellence review program, one struggles to legitimize the decision to remove DU from their house, especially considering that it’s right next door to the house that they built in 1930, and have been unsuccessful in returning to. The frustration is further exacerbated by the fact that few, if any undergraduates at the University have ever heard of the Frederick Douglass Institute– the author has yet to meet one in an active pursuit, but cannot rule out the possibility.
For further reading, the Campus Times article can be found here. An article from the Rochester City Newspaper can be found here.
Theta Chi - University of Rochester 