The men of Delta Tau Delta (DTD) became the newest Greeks on campus after establishing a chapter at Pepperdine last fall. To the Greek community this addition means excitement furthering of community the call of brotherhood and a chance to witness another chapter in the fraternal cycle.
DTD’s commitment to integrity caught Pepperdine’s eye right from the beginning.
“(The Delts) demonstrated that they really cared about the holistic development of the students who joined the fraternity Dean of Students Mark Davis said. He also said the fraternity’s history of integrity and positive relations with their home universities made the fraternity attractive to Pepperdine.
As noted by Davis, one of DTD’s primary goals is to uphold the academic excellence for which their fraternity is known across the nation.
Simultaneously, the Delts hope to provide an atmosphere that encourages individual growth and to create a positive, fun experience for each member who pledges.
We have the ability to create something here Delta President David Farah said. It’s not that we’re aiming to create the best fraternity. Our ultimate goal is to become a fraternity of gentlemen and to work alongside all of the other Greek organizations on campus whether it be fraternities or sororities.”
This new DTD chapter fills a void left by the turbulent fraternity history of the past decade: Sigma Nu said goodbye in 2004 and Beta Theta Pi bid campus farewell in 2007 after periods of policy violations and probation.
How much does it take then for fraternities relegated to probation to face complete extermination? More than the average student might think Davis says.
“We’ve never had a fraternity where it’s been one thing or the second thing to be disbanded Davis said. In hindsight I wonder if we’ve been too gracious. It was at least three or four strikes. The fraternities that have gotten themselves disbanded have been in as much trouble— and I would say more trouble— with their nationals than with Pepperdine.” According to Davis the Beta national office made moves to disband Pepperdine’s chapter even before the administration took action. “We actually gave the Betas an extra chance by coming up with a growth plan that they themselves had to develop and the nationals had to bless Davis said. We gave them a year to meet all the points in this growth plan and they didn’t meet it.” While violations to Pepperdine’s alcohol policy contributed to the group’s disbanding other conflicts arose from “not paying dues [and] not showing leadership Davis said. Despite Davis’ assurances that Pepperdine did everything in its power to work to improve Beta before finally handing over the death sentence, former Beta Morgan Gethers maintains a slightly different outlook on the events of 2007. Pepperdine is ashamed of the fact that they have fraternities and sororities Gethers said. They like the fraternities and sororities that contribute funds. It’s out of sight out of mind.”Davis’ description of the fraternity-campus relationship focused more on a shared goals and values. “There has to be a match between Pepperdine’s mission and the mission of the chapters Davis said. That’s never been a problem on paper. The only time I feel like we’ve ever gotten in trouble with a Greek group is if there was a rogue group who had a different vision and mission for what it meant to be a Greek chapter.” Ultimately Davis believes that a positive relationship between Pepperdine and all student organizations hinges on communication.”There’s suspicion based upon folklore or stories Davis said. If you think that the administration is trying to get rid of you you should just talk about it.” He emphasized that administrative lines of communication are always open to concerned students. Gethers however accused the administration of picking on Betas while ignoring the misconduct of other Greek groups. “Even though we weren’t doing anything that anyone else wasn’t doing Pepperdine needed somebody to play the scapegoat and we had been playing that for years he said. But Davis sees it differently. Any time we get a complaint we follow up he said. We’re not going to do anything on a rumor. The line is that there’s some kind of credible evidence that a policy was violated.” Student body president and Alpha Tau Omega member Greg Lee acknowledged there are difficulties in consistently regulating a group of 18-22 year old men.”I think when you have a group of 60-plus people you can never guarantee the actions of all of them Lee said. You can’t restrict the actions of members of your group. You hope you instill values that reflect your group in a positive light but you deal with what comes.” What stands to assure us that DTD will escape relegation to the list of fraternities buried in the ruins of Greek history at Pepperdine?”One of the main hurdles we have to clear is that the last fraternity that was taken off campus was Beta and before that Sigma Nu Farah said.
Since we’re the first to come on since Beta left we have the danger of becoming a new Beta or a new Beta wannabe which I think everyone has in the back of their mind Farah said. While that is a caution it isn’t a danger for our fraternity. We’re a different fraternity of very strong very connected guys.”
Farah believes he has the game plan and support system to secure DTD’s existence.
“You have accountability grades brotherhood. If those three things are operating correctly you shouldn’t have a problem adhering to the rules.”
So enough about ancient history— after all it’s in the past for a reason. Besides Farah has another outlook in mind.
“I am focused on the present he said, but I want to make DTD a fraternity that will be attractive to future Pepperdine students 20 years down the line. The satisfaction is in knowing that we’re building something that will positively affect future generations.”