By Kimberly Miller
Arizona Daily Wildcat
After three days of interviewing and evaluating former members of the UA chapter of Delta Chi, the fraternity's International Headquarters officially declared them reorganized and recognized them as an active chapter March 20.
But contrary to the heaquarter's hopes that this reorganization will help their chances of being recognized by the University of Arizona, UA Interfraternity Council President Mike Margolin, said it could actually delay the negotiations.
"We told them that it was not a positive environment right now to reorganize in," Margolin said. "We really wanted them to give some of the things that happened last semester time to settle."
Based on a series of safety violations during the 1994 fall semester, Delta Chi was declared inactive by its international chapter in November and lost its recognition as an official student organization at the UA.
Initially, the fraternity was not going to be allowed to apply for recognition for five years, but talks this semester between the Dean of Students Office, the Department of Student Programs and the fraternity's international chapter may result in Delta Chi being allowed back on campus this fall.
Patrick Alderdice, director of chapter services for Delta Chi International, said the decision to reactivate the chapter is the first step in getting it back on campus. Now, he said, it's in the hands of the UA to decide Delta Chi's fate.
"Basically we shut down for four-and-a-half months and through negotiations with alumni and the UA we thought it was in everyone's best interest to reorganize the group and then recognize them as an active chapter," Alderdice said. "But I want to stress that we are currently still in negotiations with the UA to gain their recognition on campus."
No one in the Dean of Students Office was available for comment.
Alderdice said of the 151 Delta Chi members, only 53 went through the process of reorganization. Out of those, 42 were declared official chapter members by Delta Chi International.
Tom Shaffield, the director of chapter development, was one of three international members who came to the UA in March to help
with the reorganization process. Shaffield said the three-day process included peer evaluations and questionnaires that asked general information about whether the member had been involved in any disciplinary actions with the chapter or the UA.
"After the process was over we made our selections based on what we thought the group needed to become a positive force on campus," Shaffield said. "We excluded people that we thought would be negative for the group."
But Margolin said the IFC voted against backing the decision to reorganize the group.
"Basically we told them it was too early because there was too much negative sentiment about Delta Chi on campus," Margolin said. "We really wanted them to try back in a couple of years. In my opinion I think its going to hurt their reputation by reorganizing this chapter before we recommended it."
Margolin said the IFC has voted not to support any petition submitted by Delta Chi for recognition as an official fraternity on campus. Of the 18 chapters that participated in the vote, 14 voted not to support a petittion and four abstained from voting. He said he has talked to a few Delta Chi members who are angry with IFC's decision, but most of the members are just pleased to have their charter back.