Beta Theta Pi fraternity, which left DU in fall 2008, has started recruiting men to restart its chapter on campus. Representatives from the fraternity’s national office in Oxford, Ohio, started conducting interviews with potential members yesterday and will continue until Feb. 18.
The Beta house, located north of Kappa Sigma fraternity house on Driscoll Green, was closed in September 2008 after fire code violations.
The fraternity itself was also removed from DU at that time because of “risk management issues and the leadership not being able to get on the same page,” said Megan Pendley Pickett, assistant director of campus activities.
“At the time, I lost faith in the [Alpha Zeta] chapter. Closing down the chapter needed to happen,” she said.
Beta Theta Pi was the first Greek organization to arrive at DU in 1889. The house was built in 1927. When the Beta Theta Pi chapter closed in 2008, DU Greek Life and the Beta national organization intended to return two to three years later.
“The house is not up to university standards, but it’s not condemned,” she said.
The leadership of the chapter, including the advisory board, will decide what housing it may offer to members in the future.
Now, Beta Theta Pi returns to DU hoping to complement, not compete, with the other Greek chapters already on campus, according to Allen Hardin, director of expansion for Beta Theta Pi.
Beta Theta Pi is the sixth Greek organization to return or start at DU in the past six years. Sigma Lambda Gamma multicultural sorority started in April 2010; Alpha Phi sorority started in January 2010; Sigma Lambda Beta and Pi Lambda Chi, a multicultural fraternity and sorority, started in September 2007 and September 2006, respectively; and Zeta Beta Tau fraternity returned in fall 2005.
When Beta Theta Pi finishes the recolonization process, it will again be known as the Alpha Zeta chapter. Like any other Greek house, the fraternity will be considered a colony until it can prove its self-sustainability to receive a charter from national to become a full-fledged chapter in two to three years, Hardin estimates.
