The dorm building known as Butterfield House, sandwiched in between fraternity houses Phi Kappa Psi and Theta Chi, will resume its original function as a house for the returning women’s fraternity Alpha Gamma Delta.

Butterfield will continue to serve as a dorm until summer 2011, when AGD will renovate and take over in the fall.

‘We are very excited about the return of Alpha Gamma Delta fraternity to our campus,’ said Eddie Banks-Crosson, director of Fraternity and

Sorority Affairs at Syracuse University, in an AGD press release. ‘Syracuse University has long history of tradition within our fraternity and sorority community, and we are pleased that Alpha Gamma Delta will rejoin our outstanding community as a viable partner.’

AGD was founded at SU in 1904 and was the third women’s fraternity to be founded on the campus. This makes the organization an Alpha chapter — part of the ‘Syracuse Triad,’ along with Alpha Phi and Gamma Phi Beta.

AGD left SU in 2001 due to the low number of members in the chapter, according to an article in The Daily Orange in 2001.

AGD received an invitation to recolonize at SU on April 30, 2010.

The women’s fraternity’s international organization rents Butterfield to SU, and once the lease is up the house will be renovated and put together, said Jill Harter, the director of communications and marketing at the international headquarters at AGD.

AGD’s mission statement is dedication to scholarship, leadership and community service. It has a total of 183 chapters and has more than 150,000 members. Its philanthropy is supporting diabetes awareness and education.

In order to recolonize back into Greek life and campus, AGD will begin initial activities during informal recruitment in the fall of 2010, Harter said.

Three professional staff members, along with volunteers and staff from international headquarters, will lead fall recruitment and will hold open house events on Sept. 28 and 29, Harter said.

Then there will be an ‘info view,’ a one-on-one interview to be held on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 and 2.

AGD will be participating in formal spring 2011 recruitment and will follow all the rules and regulations, just as any other Greek life group would do, Harter said. The only difference will be that potential members will not be able to visit the AGD house because it will remain a residence hall during recruitment.

Despite low membership in the past, Harter was optimistic about reestablishing AGD at SU.

Sweta Girl, a sophomore accounting major and transfer student new to SU, said she is glad there will be another option come recruitment.

‘I’m really excited that there will be a new sorority coming to campus,’ Girl said. ‘Thirteen sounds like a large number, but now students will really be able to find the place that they belong. I feel as though AGD will be a wonderful addition to the Syracuse University community.’

sasmit12@syr.edu

 

Published on August 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm