October 13, 2020
Delta Chi Michigan Chapter Life during COVID-19
Hello Alumni and Current Brothers of the University of Michigan Chapter of Delta Chi Fraternity. As indicated in our August E-Delt, things for this school year are very different than previous years and subject to change – FREQUENTLY! Well, that prediction for change from our August article has certainly come to pass.
All 31 Brothers scheduled to live at 1705 Hill Street arrived around the time of the last article date of August 20. At the time of this writing, on October 5, all 31 Brothers continue to live at the Chapter House – but about 24 have now had positive COVID-19 tests, despite all the best efforts at safely avoiding this virus while on campus. As we are all familiar with this virus, it is no surprise that some Brothers are having no symptoms while some are having mild symptoms. One Brother did go to the Hospital due to the proverbial “over abundance of caution” issue. But after examination, he was sent back the Chapter House and has progressed well since. The Alumni Housing Corporation and Alpha Management were able to quickly secure a full roster of the members living in the house (with name, mobile phone number, and email address) for contact tracing purposes. The University of Michigan Medical System had contacted the National Fraternity Office who in turn contacted the Housing Corporation, so all the proper information reporting requirements were quickly accomplished.
The normal question is how did they all get it? Well, that will remain a mystery. The best guess provided by the E-Board was a “rushee” had the virus and passed it on to one or more during the process, who then passed it on to the rest of the Brothers. The good news is that no one has contracted a severe form of the illness.
The house was under quarantine and is well suited to that process. With exterior door security through key FOBS, separate sleeping rooms for each individual, with doors and windows in each sleeping room, with a maximum of four persons sharing a bathroom (weekly external cleaning service provided for the private bathrooms), lower seating capacity for social distancing in the library and dining room, weekly cleaning in the common areas, new pre-packaged meal program process, etc. – this virus still spread like the wild fires in California.
We can now report that the Chapter House will be open again soon and the worst seems to be over. We are arranging to “Fog” the whole house with a disinfectant to try to help keep the COVID away. This process will be paid for by us, the Landlord, as is customary in this part of the COVID-19 world.
During the COVID-19 infection period, it became apparent that this new world of school on-line is 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. Therefore, as soon as the house is “Fogged” (likely on October 17), we will upgrade to the WIFI system. We feel that this is an absolute must to do and will help keep us in the forefront for Rush later this semester and next. However, these two unexpected expenditures will leave us about $6,000 short in the wallet.
With the COVID-19 update and process discussed above, that provides a good transition for other updates on the status of the Chapter. Rush is not a specific process this term due to the new University of Michigan rules concerning joining a fraternity prior to second semester of the Freshman year (with a certain grade point and credit hours required – in theory). However, some other fraternities are rushing and Delta Chi was attempting to do so also. When the quarantine is complete and the Chapter House is open for visitors, then the Chapter will resume rush. It is extremely important that the Chapter fill the House for next year as the mortgage on our new Chapter House reaches the end in December 2021. We have currently made all mortgage payments since the beginning and we had one accidental extra payment which was applied to the loan balance. However, we have not built up any “cushion” on the cash flow side for a lot of reasons. Further complicating this is the fact that we are under capacity for this school year.
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 will not look 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.
Other news items related to the status of the Chapter – the House Corporation was requested by the Chapter to provide for some seating on the patio (picnic tables) in order to facilitate some socializing that would help to meet the CDC guidelines for social distancing (outside is safer than inside). After some difficulties finding in-stock picnic tables, the House Corporation ordered some for delivery for late September. In fact, the delivery was much earlier and assembly was completed on September 10 – there are three metal tables now on the patio for the Chapter to use. The House Corporation then created a fund-raising project to help pay for the tables and many Alumni responded. The target amount for the project was $3,000 and we have collected $1,600 via donations from 13 Alumni – thanks for all that have contributed! Can we find another 14 people to give $100 each to reach our goal for the new picnic tables?
Moving on with less happy news – based upon the added stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, the presiding “A” has resigned (he is still living in the House). The other members of the Executive Board have currently decided that working as a group will be the governing process as no other member currently wishes to take on the extra burden (by themselves) of being the “A”. So far so good, the Brothers seem to be using consensus governing much better than our Washington types.
Another change brought about by COVID-19 is a new process for the meal program. The Chapter decided on a new catering company last spring. The Chapter undertook this process without assistance from the House Corporation or Alpha. This new company – Gil’s Grille – is currently rated as a major success (remember the concept of frequent changes previously discussed and stay tuned on this one). The Brothers like the food and the quantity and they also like the convenience of the “App” that is used to order their lunch and dinner for a specific time. When the time arrives, the Brother goes down to the dining room and takes delivery of his pre-packaged meal. The one negative from this process is that there is more trash being generated without the use of dishes, eating utensils, and drinking cups. Alpha Management has increased the frequency of the dumpster pickups and that seems to have solved the “trash” problem that the Chapter was having.
We think that it is safe to say that the 2020/2021 academic year is/will be far different than any in memory – no collegiate sports in Sept/Oct (maybe football starts October 24 but without fans), far less parties due to social distancing (notice – fewer, not none), no “A” to rake the leaves as they fall from the oak trees in the yard, not as much shared comradery among the Brothers – things like as intramural sports, board games, mixers, etc. The good thing is that they should have plenty of time to study and get a good GPA!
