After a year and a half of displaying [Zeta Beta Tau](http://mizzouzbt.wordpress.com/) letters, the fraternity’s house on South Fifth Street will change hands in August, when the [newly recolonized Phi Gamma Delta chapter](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/6/2/phi-gamma-delta-recolonize-mu/) moves in.
Zeta Beta Tau President Lee Dukes said the fraternity will still be a part of the MU campus, but its national organization felt it was in their chapter’s best interest to leave the house.
“(Deciding to move out of our house) was a long process of our national organization coming down to our chapter house and holding interviews with our fraternity,” Dukes said. “They decided that this was the best option to carry on Zeta Beta Tau at MU.”
The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, which recolonized in October 2010 [after a four-year absence](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2006/4/14/fraternity-loses-house/), is set to move into the house at 607 S. Fifth St. when its lease is enacted Aug. 15, Phi Gamma Delta Housing Corporation President Stafford Swearingen said. The lease is for one year and will be paid by the FIJI Housing Corporation, who will serve as the colony’s landlord.
Phi Gamma Delta does not plan to remain in the house permanently, but only for two to four years as it looks for its “destination property,” Phi Gamma Delta adviser Eric Jasso said.
“Our destination property will house one-half to one-third of our active roster, which we expect will be between 45 and 60 members,” Jasso said. “We want (it) to have both a traditional fraternity architecture and the more modern amenities that a student would expect in a recently developed apartment complex.”
The colony has 83 members, one-third of which will move into the new house, according to the [Phi Gamma Delta – Chi Mu Chapter’s website](http://mizzoufiji.com/).
“Unlike other fraternities, we will not be letting pledges live in the house,” Jasso said. “In order to earn a spot in the house, you have to be in the top one-third of the house academically.”
As of June 2, Phi Gamma Delta began working on a chartering petition that would officially reinstate the colony. Once the petition is written, it will go to the international executive board who will approve it before sending it to all chapters for a vote, Jasso said. The petition must be approved by a super-majority of the chapters across North America in order to earn the charter.
Swearingen said he could not be more pleased about his fraternity returning to MU.
“It pained me greatly to see the chapter close after 107 years at the university,” he said. “Needless to say, having a physical structure to call home will help the cohesiveness and brotherhood of the young men.”
Jasso agreed, and said having a house under Phi Gamma Delta letters might give the fraternity more visibility to those new to or outside of the Greek Life system, but the biggest effect would be on the colony’s brotherhood.
“Now they have a place they can take pride in, meet at and call their home,” he said. “I think that will really help the academic, philanthropic and social aspects of our fraternity.”
As Phi Gamma Delta celebrates moving in, Dukes said he did not believe moving out of the house would affect Zeta Beta Tau’s presence on campus.
“A physical structure does not make your brotherhood stronger,” Dukes said. “We’ve had the time of our lives in that house, and I’m sad to have to leave, but we’re doing the right thing for our future.”
