The Kappa Delta Rho interest group is in limbo following its second formal presentation in its bid to revive Lafayette College’s chapter of the fraternity last week. The group will have until the end of June to answer “outstanding questions,” according to Associate Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Jake Bates.
The interest group, which currently has three members, previously presented, failed and appealed in the fall, extending the recognition process into this semester.
William Gutiérrez ‘27, the president of Lafayette’s Interfraternity Council, or IFC, said the KDR interest group will receive another chance in late June to “clarify their mission and values” before the recognition committee decides if it will become a colony. Gutiérrez automatically has a seat on the recognition committee as IFC president.
An interest group, according to the Lafayette College Process for Fraternity and Sorority Recognition, has two attempts to become a colony, which can eventually evolve into a fully-fledged fraternity. Should it fail both attempts, the group must “disband immediately” and remain so for three calendar years.
The group’s chance to answer questions is not a third presentation attempt, according to Bates, as such an attempt is not permitted within the outlined recognition process. Bates said that the next steps for the interest group needed to “fit within the policy.”
After the presentation, Bates said that the interest group met the 50% score for accreditation — a process used to judge fraternity involvement and engagement on campus — and “did really well.”
“It just came down to the committee having a conversation and figuring out what those next step items are,” Bates said. The committee is confidential and includes some members of the IFC and Panhellenic Council.
Last week’s presentation was focused on promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in KDR, according to Tyler Beck ‘27, the president of the organization.
“The gentlemen presented themselves very well in terms of understanding why they are committed to being members of the organization, and just the impact that they have on campus,” said Dean of Students Walter Snipes, who attended the presentation.
Gutiérrez, who became the president of the IFC in April after a vacancy, said he was “fundamentally unimpressed” by the interest group’s presentation, but thought it was “leaps and bounds better in detail compared to their last time.”
Beck attributed the interest group’s inability to organize last semester to illness.
“Rather than take that as a negative, that we were really able to grow off on our mistakes that we made and what we can do better and really put together the best possible presentation that we could give to that community,” Beck said.
Beck said he has seen Lafayette’s “long” accreditation process to be a positive.
“This has given us a really strong foundation to go into next year as hopefully a colony, and really be able to say, ‘Hey, we do a great job at doing all this stuff and really giving a safe space and promoting a safe space on campus,’” Beck said.
“Adversity can bring a lot of the worst out of people, but I feel like it brought the best out of us,” Ryan Noble ‘27, another member of the KDR interest group, added. “We feel like we presented a great product today.”
Lafayette’s original chapter of KDR had its charter revoked in June 2011 in response to a series of disciplinary matters. An underground KDR recruiting event was allegedly linked to the death of a freshman a year later. The students attempting to revive the fraternity have no connection to the former chapter.
Clara Witmer ’27 and Benjamin White ’27 contributed reporting.
