Chapter Reestablishment News
Yes, we are Coming Back!
[February 2025]
The Chi Phi National Office has had a team on the ground in Ann Arbor recruiting new members so we can reestablish Alpha-Tau. They will remain in Ann Arbor for the remainder of the Winter 2025 academic term.
Their recruitment efforts have already been successful. On January 23rd (the first day in Winter Term that IFC allows Greek organizations to issue bids), the recruiting team invited ten undergrads to join -- and they all accepted! There will be more bids issued in coming weeks and the recruiting team expects an initial new member class of 30 students.
The recruiting team is not looking for any significant help from local alumni in their recruitment efforts. However, local and regional alumni are invited to participate in three events to take place shortly:
Thursday February 13th, 6:00 - 8:00pm @ Buffalo Wild Wings, 205 S. State Street, Ann Arbor MI — Casual meet-and-greet for alumni to interact with the prospective new members.
Wednesday February 26th, 6:00pm [Location TBD] – new member pinning ceremony
Saturday March 29th [Time and Location TBD] – Initiation ceremony
The Recruiting Team holds weekly video calls with the Alpha-Tau alumni leadership to update us on their progress (typically held at 4:00 PM ET Thursday). If you want to participate in these calls, contact Barbre Berris, Associate Executive Director, Chi Phi Fraternity (berris@chiphi.org)
Finally, if any alumni would be interested in getting more involved in supporting the new chapter while they get on their feet it would be hugely appreciated! The handful of alumni currently trying to pull this off needs more help.
[September 2024]
The rumors are true. The Alpha-Tau Chapter of Chi Phi is returning to the University of Michigan!
Greek Life is strong on the U/M campus; this is borne out by our ability to lease out 1530 Washtenaw to existing fraternities as satellite houses – recent tenants include Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Chi, and (currently) Lambda Chi Alpha -- as well as market research. Further, the current administration is friendlier to the Greek system than in the past. The university and the Interfraternity Council (IFC) are receptive to our return, and Chi Phi’s National office has moved us to the head of the line for expansion.
The reestablishment effort will kick off with recruitment in January 2025. More good news is that we alumni do not need to be involved in recruiting new members. This is entirely handled by the Chi Phi national staff. They will have at least one person in Ann Arbor acting as a full-time recruiter for the entire winter semester
Where alumni support IS needed is by helping to guide and mentor the chapter officers and members, especially for the first couple of years after the chapter is rechartered. In the opinion of the national office, good alumni support is crucial in determining if a reestablishing a chapter succeeds or fails. If there is good support from alumni, they believe that the chances of the reestablished chapter surviving and thriving are excellent, but without that support it will probably fail and our chapter will deteriorate into a nightclub.
How can I Help?
If you are interested in helping to guide the ‘new’ iteration of Alpha-Tau at Michigan, please contact Matt Herring, ATCHA president (matthew.p.herring@gmail.com)
To make sure you are kept informed about our progress, please update your contact information with the chapter house association. We are relying more on Email and social media to communicate as mailing costs are continuing to increase; that said, over half of our alumni either have no Email listed or list their school Email (‘umich.edu’ domain) which is likely out-of-date.
We would also appreciate any alumni dues contributions to support our outreach activites such as Homecoming, social events and communications.
(House Operations is supported through tenant rent charges. Capital improvements to our century-old chapter house is an ongoing topic for another day…).
(Let’s make sure these photos from recent years become a distant memory ….)
