Zeta Psi Rising

By Michael J. Edgar | Monday, July 16, 2007

For new students at Dartmouth, few of the myriad handouts received are as indispensable as the map. For the first weeks of orientation, swarms of freshmen can be seen plodding along Webster Ave nervously clutching their campus cartography. However, there is one house that no such college-issued diagram can help you find. Zeta Psi’s plant, nestled between Butterfield Hall, Bones Gate, and the current home of Alpha Xi Delta, goes unlabeled, stricken from the record in true Orwellian fashion since it’s 2001 derecognition.

Few students on campus will remember the events surrounding Zete’s derecognition by the Dartmouth administration. The chapter’s rocky relationship with the College dates back to a one-year suspension in 1987. However, just five years ago the fraternity was handed down a “permanent” derecognition amid controversy over the Sigma Report, the chapter’s internal newsletter.

The newsletter, which was generally published on weekly intervals, contained inside jokes about brothers and were generally destroyed after meetings. One issue of a particularly explicit nature was reconstructed from shredded pieces dubiously obtained from the house’s garbage, and the rest is history. Just weeks after the Daily Dartmouth broke the story on what they called Zete’s “sex papers,” (the Daily Dartmouth, 4/18/01) the Office of Residential Life had made its decision and stripped recognition from the fraternity.

And so the College dealt what would be its most powerful blow against the Greeks stemming from the failing Student Life Initiative. The ever-lurking posse of protesters enjoyed a small victory against the Greeks and fun in general, while Zete brothers dejectedly prepared for an appeal doomed from the start. All but the fifty-plus chapter members quickly moved on.

However, little ultimately changed for Zeta Psi’s brothers in the intervening years. Just months after losing their appeal, brothers were recruiting new pledges and members still took up residence. The house kept having ‘tails and, undeterred, went so far as to have parties with other college-sponsored organizations. They even housed The Dartmouth Review for a while before the publication moved to its latest location on Main Street.

Thus, the College’s decision to de-recognize left a bittersweet aftertaste on campus. The brothers experienced stalling pledge numbers as fewer students hoped to align themselves with an unsanctioned house. Operating independently increased legal liability as the house suddenly found itself in the jurisdiction of the Hanover Police. Administrators and the ORL were frustrated as they struggled to enforce a punishment, which, by its very nature, precluded interfering with house activities. And the women who still felt victimized hardly had their thirst for vengeance satiated.

Thankfully, Dartmouth’s administration has begun to reverse the mistakes of the past, in a deal forged in the waning months of the fall term. In an agreement signed by representatives from the College, the Zeta Psi Alumni Association and Zete’s national organization, the College’s Zete chapter is back on track for recognition by the Fall of 2009.

Legitimate negotiations began after the moratorium on new single-sex, Greek, residential organizations was lifted in June of 2005. These negotiations escalated throughout the following Spring and Summer and finally came to fruition last October. Naturally, the current undergraduates were kept completely in the dark by both the administration and their alumni. The Daily D asserted that students were kept informed of proceedings (Daily D, 2/6/07), but in reality, the only undergraduate in the loop before Homecoming was Greg Hurley ‘07. Hurley received limited information from the Alumni Association, which he was to in turn filter for the remaining brothers. The revelation at Homecoming that the house might see re-recognition came as a shock for most existing brothers.

Marty Redman, the Dean of Residential Life, has been working with Zete for months in striking the deal, though he denies the original derecognition was the wrong choice. He asserts that “the same situation and same behavior, would still receive the same sanction” even today, in the post-SLI environment. While the Zete Alumni Association has pushed for recognition since 2001, the lifting of the moratorium was the turning point for Redman, reflecting a “change of circumstances, not a change of heart,” standing by his previous decision.

This change of circumstances, said Redman, made the issue of enforcing derecognition impractical. Since the moratorium was lifted, over 20 organizations have come to the college seeking recognition, and as he put it, “[Zete’s brothers] could just change their name to reapply. Why go through all of that? They’ve already got property on campus.” Thus, when enforcement became an impossible task, ORL looked toward solutions that would allow the fraternity to retain its historical presence on campus. However, such long-overdue reintegration has not come without compromise by both parties.

As numerous strapping freshman lads undoubtedly noticed upon returning to campus on January, there will be no Zete rush for them this winter. The physical plant on Webster Ave. has been padlocked shut, with keys entrusted only to Safety and Security and a single alumni, class of ‘79, residing in Vermont. As such, all brothers residing in the house last term have been forced to disperse themselves among college-provided housing, in many cases paying significantly more for housing than last term.

The reason for the close stems from the “dark period” enforced by the rerecognition agreement. This dark period, the greatest source of contention during the creation of the agreement, serves as the solution to Redman’s problem of enforcing derecognition he encountered five years ago. With this binding agreement, the College can finally require the existing brothers to vacate their house. Recruitment of additional brothers has ceased and existing members are not even allowed to meet as a group to discuss fraternal matters.

While these restrictions may appear harsh, they simply impose the same sanctions that ORL expected Zete would accept when originally derecognized. When other fraternities faced similar punishment, such as Beta Theta Pi in 1996 and Phi Delta Alpha in 2000, the chapters accepted the terms of the sanction. Zete’s refusal to do so is why Redman feels the dark period is so important. He feels it will help the house “demonstrate to [the College] that they really mean it.” Since the house has suffered ever-dwindling pledge classes since it gained its independent status, the dark period should help revitalize interest in the chapter upon re-opening.

These limitations will stand until the college re-establishes the chapter as a colony, which would happen at the earliest in the Fall term of 2009. Of course, the College expects that most, if not all of the existing brothers will have graduated by this point, hoping the re-opened chapter will bear little semblance to the Zeta Psi of late. However, several existing brothers intend to stay at least one additional year to complete a Bachelor’s in Engineering program and will be helping alumni bring in the new pledge class in 2009.

The contract carries a number of other restrictions for the house. In the intervening years since derecognition, pledge classes have waned, and so have social due revenues. And since the chapter no longer adheres to College regulations keeping residential houses in code, little effort has been put forth by members to maintain the state of their building. The basement is in near-permanent disrepair and houses one of the few restrooms on campus regularly used from the hallway.
In fact, while the house remains locked up for this term, major construction will be taking place on Webster Avenue in the coming years. The destruction that has taken place at Zete over recent years has been so disastrous, the total cost of bringing the Zete house into code may actually exceed that of tearing down the house and rebuilding. So, before the 2009-2010 school year, the house will see a full renovation—if not demolition and full reconstruction.

While reactions to the dark period are mixed, the benefits of re-recognition are undeniable to even the most ardent opponents. Sure, the house may have to register the occasional keg. But come 2009, as a newly reconstituted and recognized organization, Zete will be able to attract far more pledges and guests than in previous years. As Michael Malakian ‘08 puts it, “There’s a stigma to being derecognized. Gaining recognition will make people less reluctant to go to your house and pledge at your house.” A newly built physical plant will only sweeten the pot for students considering making Zeta Psi their home.

Perhaps more importantly for the long-term survival of the fraternity, recognition should lift some heavy financial burdens the chapter has experienced since 2001. With few brothers living in the house, rent has skyrocketed, and only the wealthiest brothers could afford to live in the house. Malakian, the house treasurer, notes: “Our rent had to be substantially lower than other houses to be able to fund it. And a lot of brothers still couldn’t afford to live in the house.” And in recent years, the house has been forced to pay the same bills with less than half the brothers. They “constantly had money problems. The alumni paid our property taxes, but the rest of the bills were all on us.” Malakian states. Recognition will bring support from the College and from a plentiful supply of new brothers to rejuvenate the ever-dwindling house treasury.

Considering all of these benefits, the fraternity’s national body has stood decidedly behind the efforts for recognition by the Zete Alumni Association. As such, they have prepared two statements they plan to issue regarding the agreement they recently signed. Marty Redman, who claims to be “in possession of [the documents],” states that they purportedly “apologize for the behavior [in 2001] and recognize the college’s right to discipline organizations and students.” Administrators everywhere are undoubtedly silently rejoicing at a rare victory as Zeta Psi of North America concedes this kind gesture.

While Zete makes its somewhat triumphant return, one can’t help but notice the absence of yet another casualty of the Greek War, Beta Theta Pi. Derecognized in 1996 for a seemingly endless string of misadventures, their alumni have also repeatedly shown interest in recognition, though according to Redman, previous efforts have “failed to gather enough support” among undergraduates on campus. Alpha Xi Delta sisters needn’t scour for housing just yet, though with the moratorium lifted, Redman admits the prospects look greater for a restored Beta chapter in the future.

Zeta Psi Rising

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