The Collegian

Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: News

Delta Tau Delta picked up half of the men joining the Hillsdale College Greek system on Sunday. A ceremony that same day moved the newly re-established fraternity closer to becoming an official chapter.

The fraternity picked up 12 of the 24 men to join fraternities, including Hillsdale Mayor Michael Sessions, a sophomore. Sigma Chi and Delta Sigma Phi fraternities both accepted five new members and Alpha Tau Omega fraternity gained two. Rush week began the previous Sunday with a fraternity round table, followed by open house visits and preference parties later in the week.

Delta Tau Delta President Julius Goertzen, a junior, said he was pleased with the large number of pledges.

"The Lord has blessed us," he said. "There has been a lot of interest - more interest than I expected. Even at the open house and preference party I knew it might be bigger than expected."

This year's rush marked the first time Delta Tau Delta recruited members alongside the other three fraternities. Though Delta Tau Delta attracted half of the men that joined the Greek system on Sunday, representatives from the other houses say the competition is friendly.

Sigma Chi president Kyle Murnen, a junior, said he thinks the addition of Delta Tau Delta to Hillsdale's Greek life will attract a new type of student to the Greek system.

"At this point I think we should all be able to coexist," he said. "There's a distinctly different character to each of the houses."

Delta Tau Delta made its comeback in Nov. 2007 after a four-year absence from campus. The fraternity was disbanded in 2003 after administrators found evidence of pledge activities involving electronic taser guns and kidnapping. Last fall, national fraternity representatives worked independently of the other fraternities' rush period to reinstate the colony.

Bishop Peter Beckwith, '61, helped re-establish the organization last fall and attended the pick up party: a barbeque on the intramural sports field Sunday.

"I wanted to stick around for this," he said. "This is quite a class."

Delta Sigma Phi President Danny Baldwin, a junior, said he was surprised by the number of students who joined Delta Tau Delta.

"They have a lot of great strong points," he said Sunday. "That's great for them."
Baldwin said he thinks the Greek system will benefit in general because of the new fraternity.

Alpha Tau Omega President Tony Bechtol, a junior, agreed, saying that he didn't think there is a decline in the number of men joining the other three fraternities because of the new group.

"They're stirring up more interest in guys who the Greek system didn't appeal to previously," Bechtol said.

Bechtol said this year's spring rush group was fairly small, due to the fact that most men decide whether to join the Greek system during the fall semester.

The members of Delta Tau Delta who joined last fall also became active members Sunday in a public ceremony conducted by fraternity members from Albion College.
"We are now an active colony," Goertzen said. "Before that we were still just pledges. The next step is to petition to become a chapter."

Goertzen said the colony has to meet campus average - 45 men in the fraternity - to begin working towards colony status.

The colony currently has 42 members.

Freshman Casey Cheney said he joined Delta Tau Delta because of the existing members and the fact that they are creating a "dynasty."

"We're really gonna stick to what we say we're gonna do," he said.

For more stories on Delta Tau Delta click here, here, and here.

Hillsdale College Collegian 2008

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