Delta Tau Delta - University of Oklahoma

Delta Alpha Chapter I Delta Tau Delta Fraternity I University of Oklahoma I Fall 2017 Sooner Delt The Moving Forward Together Undergraduates Making Positive Strides, Alumni Support Needed to Keep Momentum A s the fall semester started, the men of Delta Alpha Chapter settled into their rooms in our Delta Shelter and began another exciting school year at the University of Oklahoma. Believe it or not, young Delts have been embarking on this journey at OU for over 95 years! I know that all of us have many special memories of being proud Delts on the OU campus and living in the Shelter. I am very pleased to tell you that the chapter pledged 43 excellent young men during recruitment. The chapter also initiated 10 new members last spring. The chapter is growing and doing it the right way. It is our hope that this year's class will appreciate the honor and privilege of becoming Delts and living in the Shelter with their Delt brothers. These men will build relationships and share memories that will truly last a lifetime. Delta Alpha's membership remains very strong with more than 135 members who are committed to upholding our values and traditions. We sponsored a tailgate party at the Shelter before the OU vs. UTEP game on September 2 and everyone had a wonderful time. It was great to see the young members and pledges interacting with alumni and learning that we all are Delts for a lifetime. Many parents attended as well, and I believe they were pleased to see that their sons were part of a strong brotherhood based on good values and principles. As we discussed in the last newsletter, the House Corporation and other alumni leaders cooperated with the national office to create an Alumni Supervisory Committee (ASC). The ASC, headed by Matt Akins '13, was formed last spring and has provided direct, continuous alumni supervision of the chapter. The ASC is organized into several subcommittees in the areas of administration, ritual, recruitment, finance, risk management, and philanthropy, with objectives designed to oversee member contributions in each of these core areas. This oversight has provided the necessary foundation and resources to allow our undergraduates to properly self- govern themselves in the very near future. We are confident that the undergraduate executive committee is capable of working with the ASC and keeping the chapter on track. House Corporation members Mike Johnston '88, Justin Manning, Westminster College '04, Dan Vann '71, and Fred Gist '73 have worked very hard during the last year to maintain the Shelter and to provide the undergraduates with a safe and comfortable college home. The House Corporation spent approximately $70,000 this summer to repair/renovate all the rooms in south hall, repair the roof, replace the back doors, repair and replace room doors, and replace the washing machines. Due to the advancing age of the Shelter, these repairs and other expensive maintenance items were absolutely necessary just to maintain the status quo. However, we are quickly approaching the point in time where these stop- gap actions will not be sufficient. I took a walk around South Greek and I saw several brand-new fraternity houses: ATW, Sigma Nu, Kappa Sig, and Fiji. (Two of these new houses are right next door!) In addition, the Betas completely rebuilt and expanded their house and the Lambda Chis, DUs, KAs, and Phi Delts have completed multimillion-dollar renovations. The reality of our situation quickly became clear to me. Despite all of the hard work of the House Corporation, the undergraduates, and many dedicated alumni volunteers, Delta Alpha is not keeping up in this building war. As we mentioned in last semester's alumni newsletter, the House Corporation has retained the services of a national consulting company and a prominent architect to develop a plan for completely transforming the Shelter and making it a clean, safe, comfortable, and technologically advanced home for OU Delts for another 50 years. We have a plan and it will work! Completely transforming and updating the Shelter is necessary and, quite frankly, unavoidable. The time for action is NOW. We will need alumni support as we form a building committee and get things started. We need your time and your financial support. Please contact me and get involved. If we want Delta Tau Delta to compete in recruitment, academics, intramurals, and remain a top OU fraternity, we no longer can just talk. We must act. I hope you will help. Remember, More Delt, Less Self. Fraternally, Mike Johnston '88 House Corporation President mjohnston@gobaker.com Matt Akins '13, Rob Grim '90, Randy McKinney '89, Chris Leap '90, Mike Johnston '88, Jim Gregory '69, Dan Vann '71, Rick Knight '90, Chad Bleakley, TCU '88, and Ralph Burnett '93 join Delta Alpha for member initiation.

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