Like it or not, Greek Life is here to stay at Columbia. Despite many of the misconceptions and stereotypes that exist about fraternities and sororities, the truth is that the effect of our organizations at this University has largely been positive. Most of our chapters, including Phi Gamma Delta, place the highest priorities on scholastic achievement and community service with the goal of putting the fraternal association between our members toward some benefit for the larger community. Events like the Columbia University Dance Marathon, Columbia Community Outreach, and Relay for Life witness a high degree of participation from Greek letter societies. I take the University’s responsiveness to the issues that face our chapters as an indication that our efforts to promote a positive image of Greek Life have registered with administration.

A number of issues, however, remain unresolved. The proposed changes to party policies are certainly an improvement over the previous rules, which mandated requirements that are unrealistic for chapters to meet, and I applaud my colleagues in our peer organizations for their efforts to initiate these changes. But the revised plan will have little effect on my own chapter, which currently lacks any permanent centralized location on campus. I would suggest that the lack of housing for Greek organizations on campus should present a more immediate concern than the party policies imposed on us, because there still remain several chapters that do not have the opportunity to throw parties on campus. Fraternities and sororities often leave college campuses to return later, and chapters like my own face daunting obstacles as they try to reestablish themselves. Phi Gamma Delta has received full recognition from both our international organization as well as from the IGC, but we still find ourselves at a disadvantage to other fraternities on campus simply because we lack physical space to call our own.

For a fraternal organization, this want of space can be crippling to its growth. Phi Gamma Delta has succeeded in the midst of such struggles to recruit large and diverse pledge classes whose members are involved in a wide range of academic and extracurricular pursuits, and we have revitalized a tradition of excellence at Columbia that dates back to our chapter’s inception in 1866. Our lack of housing, unfortunately, places a ceiling on our chapter’s otherwise boundless potential. For many of our graduate brothers, their time at Columbia was defined by their participation in Phi Gamma Delta, and their fondest memories from their undergraduate years are oriented around the brownstone on 114th street that still bears our Greek letters.

It is easy to scoff at their nostalgia, but at a University that sometimes struggles to solicit interest from its alumni, our graduate brothers, along with those of other chapters, are among the most adamant supporters of Columbia and its students. They volunteer not only their money but also their time, supporting other Columbia grads in the workplace and taking active roles to assist the University in its development. In my own experience, there have been several Phi Gamma Delta graduate brothers who have provided kind and solicitous personal and professional advice. I count them not only as devoted fraternity brothers but as trustworthy friends. Their interest in undergraduate life extends far beyond their Phi Gamma Delta ties, and I believe that they view a correlation between the success of the University and the success of chapters such as ours.

Perhaps this is because Greek Life provides undergraduates with a meaningful connection to their alma mater in an environment where students are often more invested in the city than in their school. The chapter house is the most essential aspect of the fraternity experience. Phi Gamma Delta applied for both the brownstone and an EC townhouse; we were denied both times. We now find ourselves crippled as we move forward in our scholastic and philanthropic programming. A house would help us carry out our activities more effectively—from mandatory study hours for first-year pledges, to community service work to keep all our brothers in good standing. Our pledges have done a fantastic job without any location in which to store the materials for these events, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to continue this kind of programming.

We have consoled ourselves in the past by embracing the possibility that the University will grant us housing in the near future. Now, with disappointing news on our housing applications, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reassure ourselves of this. When I think of what qualifies a group to receive housing—a high level of scholastic achievement, a commitment to serving others, a strong sense of loyalty to the University and the neighborhood—I am convinced that Phi Gamma Delta is a group that meets these credentials. In spite of these setbacks, we will push forward, strong as ever, and try to expand our programming even further with the goal of being the top chapter at Columbia and a positive force in the neighborhood. We will continue to develop those bonds of brotherhood that have kept Phi Gams coming back to Columbia long after graduation. We will continue to press on. We only hope that our efforts do not go unnoticed.

The author is a Columbia College junior majoring in religion. He is the president of Phi Gamma Delta.