Hello Alumni and Current Brothers of the University of Michigan Chapter of Delta Chi Fraternity. As reported in previous E-Delts about the Fall Semester of 2020, things for this school year have been very different than previous years. Unfortunately, the changes have not all been for the good!!!
From No Football to Crappy Football, Social Distancing instead of Social Functions (well maybe there were social functions if 24 of 31 Brothers living in the Chapter House got COVID-19 and co-incidentally a similar number of Chi Omegas also got COVID-19 around the same time, no meals together – order them on the App and take them to the room to eat, no exercise walking to class because they were all remote and so on and so on. Things that we Alumni took for granted just were not the same.
The good news is that no one has contracted a severe form of the illness – after symptoms subsided, we had the house “fogged” and there have not been any recurrences of the illness.
The Chapter has done extremely well under very challenging and difficult circumstances. We are happy to report that there are 27 Associate Members for the Fall Rush. Of those, seven have completely finished all the leases for next year and the others are going through the process of completing the lease process. In addition, the Chapter has arranged for three of the new Members to move into the Chapter House for the Winter Term. We will once again have a full house. There will be a winter rush for the additional seven members that are needed to start the Fall Term next year. The Chapter is confident that they will achieve that task.
During the COVID-19 it became apparent that this new world of school on-line was proving that our current WIFI system in the house is inadequate. We have had two vendors test and rate the system and both suggested essentially the same problem and remedy for the problem – at basically the same price. We implemented the upgrade for the system prior to Thanksgiving and the upgrade has been pronounced a success.
All Brothers went home for the Thanksgiving Holidays and some did not return to finish the term in Ann Arbor. However, all will be back for winter term. The returns will be staggered as classes do not begin until January 19, 2021 – another big change.
The process for seeking the renewal on the mortgage will likely begin next summer (maybe spring). With a full house of members for next fall, we play with a good hand in this poker game – i.e. the mortgage world. We will have a strong income hand showing but not so good on the balance sheet with little cash balance on hand (but no other debts). The other good news is that interest rates are down from the time when we first completed the mortgage (a fixed rate) so we could find some relief on the overall monthly payments with the lower rates. The Housing Corporation will continue to monitor the rush process this fall and provide extra encouragement for the current Brothers/Tenants to fill the House or be prepared to all live in the house next year also.
Clearly, some of the fun of college life in the Chapter House has been taken away but it is clear by the actions of the Brothers that fraternity life is surviving and thriving – just maybe not as much thriving as normal. We commend this generation of Brothers for their determination to make the best of this adventure for the Winter Term of 2021.
