Delta Upsilon - Syracuse University

THE BAZOO Delta Upsilon at Syracuse University • Winter 2024 SU BRAND COLORS (RGB) T here are currently 26 undergraduates living in 801 Walnut, the most since pre-COVID! Kudos to former/current Housing Managers Dylan Greenhouse '24 and Jack Lucas '26 for their outstanding efforts to make that happen! Farewell, 801! Since January 2018, the DU chapter house has been located at 801 Walnut Avenue, a property owned by Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. During that time, we partnered with ΔTΔ to make a variety of improvements and have generally enjoyed a strong relationship. Our current lease extends through this academic year, and until late summer, both DU and ΔTΔ anticipated executing a one-year option to extend to May 2025. However, ΔTΔ's recruitment effort to return its chapter (dormant since 2017) to campus happened faster than anticipated. ΔTΔ informed us in August that they need 801 Walnut back in May 2024, a year earlier than expected. The Search for a New House We immediately began looking for a new location but soon discovered that the campus-area real estate market is tight. In recent years, the stock of traditional Greek houses has contracted even as new fraternities and sororities have been chartered. Local and national real estate developers and the University have been in acquisition mode and recent zoning changes further limited the areas where fraternities and sororities are permitted. It increasingly began to look like DU would be forced to operate off-campus starting in the fall of 2024. Understandably, the undergraduate brotherhood was deeply disappointed and dismayed by this development (as were alumni), but at DU, we've always risen to meet challenges—this time was no different! A Remarkable Collaboration About a month into the search, Matt Holmes '25 and Chapter President Ethan Gunther '24 gave us a head's up that Sigma Phi Epsilon's property at 721 Comstock Avenue (next to the former DU house) may become available. We immediately created a small "strike force" of alumni and undergraduates to evaluate the property and enter discussions with SigEp. Heartfelt thanks to Alan Schanzer '90, Ken Berlin '92, David Nass '91, Gary Cohen '93 and especially Steve Hochberg '83 for your help and unwavering support during this engagement. Over the ensuing six weeks, we built a dialogue with SigEp National Housing. These conversations convinced SENH that DU's size, strength, and track record as a high-quality tenant put us in the pole position to rent their (12,400-square-foot/24 bedroom) house. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the strike force, we secured a two-year lease and are thrilled to announce that DUSU's Chapter House will be located at 721 Comstock starting this fall! Go-Forward Plan As relieved as we are to have an immediate solution, we also realize that 721 Comstock is only a short-term fix. The hard truth is that as long as we are renters, our chapter will be in a precarious position. Every few years, we'll be scrambling to find a new location and will be reliant on decisions of landlords with other priorities. In addition, our property improvement efforts and the undergraduates' (considerable) rent checks will continue to accrue to the benefit of other organizations. A Wake-Up Call Together with the Chapter Advisory Board and Dikaia Foundation, Housing Corp has started developing a long-term plan to ensure DUSU will own its own house and be on campus for another 150 years. In the meantime, we wanted you to be aware of just how close DU came to having no true chapter house for the coming academic year. These events were really a wake-up call that has reinforced the critical importance of property ownership in order for DUSU to continue its remarkable resurgence and secure our rightful place on campus. We will be in touch in the new year to share thoughts on a sustainable long-term plan! Fraternally, Mark "Minty" Linnan '85 President of the DUSU Housing Corp THE START OF A NEW ERA DU's Search for a Long-Term Home

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