This month, Delta Chi fraternity announced that that they would be receiving their charter, making it a recognized chapter at Case Western Reserve University.

Delta Chi introduced a colony at CWRU last year. The fraternity’s expansion team came to campus in the fall of 2010 and asked sorority members to suggest men that would be good candidates for Greek organizations. Using these recommendations, 25 men were initiated as Founding Fathers, and the CWRU Delta Chi colony was officially founded on October 10, 2012.

Delta Chi was originally founded as a law fraternity and did not transform into a social fraternity until 1921. In 1929, it became the first fraternity to abolish “Hell Week,” a week of hazing that typically occurs at the end of the new member period.

Values and ideals such as these were leading factors in junior Ritchie Phan’s decision to join the fraternity. Phan, president of the CWRU chapter, did not originally plan on joining Greek Life but was drawn in by the history and potential future that Delta Chi had to offer.

Since its founding at CWRU, Delta Chi has doubled in size, now with 43 members. “The mindset of our colony is that quantity should drive quality, and I feel we have done a great job in sharing our beliefs and values,” Phan said.

He also spoke about how Delta Chi has grown through the difficulties that come with trying to get a large group of college students to agree on matters regarding the future of the organization.

The colony’s chartering petition was approved this semester, but it will not receive its charter until sometime in the fall of 2012 at an official chartering banquet. Delta Chi’s Board of Regents approved the petition on Friday, March 23.

Sean Sukys, a junior member and Founding Father of Delta Chi, was elated when he heard the news. Sukys said, “My initial reaction was pride and joy. We had worked so hard, and it had become something better than I could have ever imagined.”

“I thought, ‘These are my brothers…men I would die for,’ and I couldn’t be more happy and proud to call them as such,” he continued.

“As I’ve told the guys before, chartering should only serve as a milestone. For me, having our charter and becoming an official chapter is only legitimizing the amazing fraternal experience that I have had,” said Phan.