Photo by: Megan Westervelt

This fall the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity opened the doors to its new house, located on the corner of South Columbine Street and East Asbury Avenue and next to the Phi Kappa Sigma house on fraternity row.

“It’s nice to have a house because it’s a central location where all of the brothers can congregate,” said Mike Snodgrass, academics chair at ZBT.

ZBT came to campus in 2005 and has grown ever since. ZBT expected to obtain the house occupied by Sigma Chi, in the fall of 2010, but when the university gave the fraternity the opportunity to move in a year earlier, ZBT jumped at the opportunity.

Fraternity members think the house will help ZBT with recruitment, encourage members to become more involved with the organization and create an even stronger bond between brothers, said Christopher Fettig, a junior and ZBT president.

“Our brotherhood has always been strong even while we didn’t have a house,” said Fettig. “The accomplishments that we were able to achieve without a house can only empower us to become an even better chapter with a strong brotherhood that puts an emphasis on philanthropy, community service, brotherhood events and academics now that we do have a place to call home.”

ZBT has nearly 60 members and was the runner up for the Brummer Cup, an award given to the best ZBT chapter in the country, in both 2008 and 2009.