May 2020
The University’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak dominated the spring semester. Classes were cancelled on March 15, in the middle of spring break, catching many students still out of town. Returning students were directed to immediately leave Grounds and return home to continue the remainder of the semester on-line. By St. Patrick’s Day the house had just a few residents left, and the house was completely vacated in early April.
The brotherhood pays us monthly rent of $8,375 per month from September through April, and on May 17 requested that we forgive the April payment. The board held a special meeting on April 1 and unanimously voted to grant this request. The board felt that this was warranted given the unique circumstances facing students this spring. Several other fraternities and sororities on Grounds took similar actions, as did the University with on-Grounds housing and fees.
As I’m sure you know by now, Reunions Weekends for the classes with graduation years ending in -0 or -5 have been postponed to run jointly with the classes with graduation years ending in -1 or -6 in June 2021. This should be a big group and we look forward to resuming normal activities and seeing everyone at the house during those weekends.
We’re all looking forward to a gradual resumption of activities and hopefully a normal fall academic and sports schedule. Homecomings Weekend has been scheduled for October 2-4, 2020 and we hope to see you at the traditional house tailgate. Final Exercises for the Class of 2020 has been rescheduled tentatively for the following weekend, October 9-11.
But not all has been doom and gloom. Prior to March, there were several bright spots, including a successful spring rush and the conclusion of our very successful multi-year Annual Fund campaign.