We Begin, Again

Fall Migration

As the 2020 fall semester starts at SDSU, our flock has migrated from the Chapter House and across the street into new University Fraternity Row Housing, otherwise known as “The Stacks”. This journey began over a year ago with many unknown variables and outcomes; however, the commitment made by our Alumni Board guided us to a safer and more sustainable environment on campus.

Imagine the storm that was looming ahead last summer when the sale of the Chapter House began. SDSU was undergoing a shift in their relationship with the Greek Campus, hazing incidents were not taken lightly and DU international was imposing greater restrictions on Alcohol use at the chapter level. Overall, Greek recruitment on campus was down 30%, and with pending restrictions to shut down all fraternity functions, it became a reality in November of 2019.

Our House was purchased for $3.8M by DG Sorority just in time. We had other offers, but this was the most viable offer aligned with our deadline to sell. There were penalties looming if we did not close on time. The Sale and Escrow had a drop-dead date of November 15th. Our escrow closed on November 1, 2019. By all accounts, we had no idea the magnitude of the future consequences ahead—or the impending changes to our overall society—that were coming at the beginning of 2020…. COVID-19.

Getting our Ducks in a Row

The “rent back” to the DG’s from November to July of this year allowed the Alumni Board to take a deep sigh of relief and strategize the future of DU. The Alumni were no longer in the property management business and all the Chapter actives had their leases transfer directly over for the DG’s to manage and maintain. Yes, a Sorority managing a Fraternity…. Go figure.

There were stipulations in the sale that created a “hold back” of some of the sale proceeds based on rents retained and leaving the structure intact. We were very thankful and grateful that the Chapter remained intact and the actives continued to pay their rent on time to the DG’s without any major incidents or property destruction. I can think of a few DU “Live-Ins” in the 80’s that I wouldn’t see these kinds of results… (Insert names here: _____)

The Transition

It’s August now. The transition to move out was somewhat predictable. Imagine a lot of Millennials to manage with a deadline. These are 20-year-old men who are very smart academically and naturally wait for everything at the last minute to “work itself out,” which basically never happens. This is the Millennial Mantra.

A Huge Mess. A huge smelly mess. The kind of mess where you can go back in time and identify each smell when you were in college. Stale beer, food left out and dirty laundry.

Now, I am not a Millennial, but as a Father, I have raised 4 of them (27,24,20,19) and I can tell you it’s as hard as hell to get their attention all at one time. Herding Cats is a lot easier than communicating a sense of urgency to Millennials. Our DU house was no exception. We had a “prior to close” walk through scheduled a week before our final move out date. This is the kind of appointment where you walk through the building with the buyer and assess the condition of the house. It was my job, as DU Alumni President to do the “walk through” with the DG Alumni President and their associated contractors, painters, and other DG alumni.

Prior to this appointment, I had purposely sent multiple Texts, Calls, Zoom, Group Chats to all Chapter Members about this upcoming walk through… What do you think happened?

Exactly. It was a mess.

A Huge Mess. A huge smelly mess. The kind of mess where you can go back in time and identify each smell when you were in college. Stale beer, food left out and dirty laundry.

This walk-through appointment felt very awkward as each door opened, we were met with a new smell and surprise. Each time we entered a new area, I received a gawk, a look from all of them like it was all my fault. I wanted to say, “That’s not my smell, I didn’t do it!”

Anyways, it was only an hour of humiliation and another chapter marked in my “book of DU Alumni life”. The bottom line is the House got cleaned up with a bunch of actives as part of our “Building Better Men” Campaign.

The Stacks

The Move to “Fraternity Row” with the University is a sound financial move for two reasons. First, it takes DU out of the Property Management business. Every room that is rented is managed by the University directly with the fraternity member (and their family). Secondly, this position allows DU to grow (or contract) with the changing campus environment without negative consequences. When we grow, the members rent more rooms. If we shrink, we rent fewer rooms. Right now, we have 16 rented apartments which gives us an approximate 35 member core group representing this DU Chapter House location. There are another 5-7 “Satellites,” which other DU upper classmen who still remain active with the house, have grouped together. This makes a total number of actives at 70 members.

Our “Stacks” Chapter lease is year to year. Why this is important is because “When” we see an opportunity to buy a new house, we have the mobility and flexibility to do so with the University housing at the stacks. Image the irony? The University is hosting the ducks and we have the option to migrate….

To learn about our plan to migrate into the future, read the next post here.