The Alpha Delta Phi fraternity lost its house when the contract was up for renewal. The house will be occupied by the Inter-Campus Music Center. In an official statement, the brotherhood said, “We are very disappointed with the decision. We worked very hard on the proposal and on rebuilding our fraternity. No matter where we are, ADP will survive, and continue to support and enhance the College community as we have since 1850.” No brother agreed to comment personally.
When the process began, most were confident ADP would keep its house. “I don’t know where that rumor [about ADP losing its house] is coming from, but it’s completely untrue,” junior Matt Gabler, former Chairman of the Fraternities’ Presidents Council, said.
The brotherhood will still remain on campus. “ADP will be offered residence hall housing as a group for next year,” senior associate director of Residential Life Lauren Contomanolis said in a letter on behalf of the Special Interest House Review Committee.
The committee’s letter said that its decision was based on considerations of merit and heritage. Due to ADP’s heritage, they will be given a chance to return to their house. “The house will have an option to return to this house after one year,” the committee said in the letter. “The conditions of consideration [of that option] will be developed in conversations with the student members of the chapter.”
Associate Dean of Students Matthew Burns was supportive of the decision. “I suppose there’s a reason why the disposition sent them to the committee,” he said. But he also was optimistic about ADP’s future. “They’ve made some good efforts, and my hope is that those efforts won’t be wasted.”
Most houses on the Fraternity Quad are owned by the brotherhoods that live there. But the houses used by Drama House, Delta Upsilon, and ADP are owned by the university, so they come up for review periodically. The ICMC, a newly founded group, is intended to form a stronger link between the River Campus and the Eastman School of Music. “It is the goal of the [ICMC] to promote the experience of music and community for the entire University of Rochester,” Dave Poulter and Greg Savich, both sophomores who have helped create the ICMC, said in an e-mail. The ICMC was created as a separate group when some members of the Music Interest Floor heard about the possibility of getting a house on the Fraternity Quad.
“We are not affiliated with MIF,” Poulter said. “Sure, we’ll work with them on some events, but there’s no correlation other than co-sponsoring events.” But until a hall meeting on Tuesday, he had been Vice President of MIF.
At first MIF had thought about applying for the house, but it would have been too small for them. But the discussion inspired Poulter and Savich to apply for the house. “I took everything I was doing with music and went a step further and applied for the house on my own.”
It is this plan for the future that earned ICMC the house. “[ICMC] advanced a proposal for the use of the house that was unanimously recognized for its value and merit,” the committee said in the letter.Former MIF President and senior Ian Harwood also felt that the hopes of ICMC’s creators were ambitious but possible. “The leaders are definitely motivated, and they have the potential to be successful,” he said. “For example, I know they were involved in resurrecting the pep band.” However, the respective roles of MIF and ICMC are still vague. “[It] is very up in the air right now,” junior Mike Jutzin said. Jutzin is now a resident of MIF, but will be living in the ICMC next semester.
“I’m not entirely sure how its purpose is different from [that of] MIF,” junior Eric Hughes said. Hughes has been affiliated with MIF all his college career.
“I think it will be difficult for ICMC to define their own individuality,” Harwood said. “A significant number of students there have previously lived on MIF.”
Some members of MIF worried about competition between the groups. “To be honest, I worry that there isn’t enough population base to fill the house and MIF, I’m worried about competition,” Hughes said. “But within a year it should be stable and able to ensure the happiness of music loving students on campus.”
But the founders of ICMC were not concerned the existence of ICMC would harm MIF. “MIF will do the same things it has always done,” Poulter said.
“There’s enough community on MIF that this will not effect it,” Savich said.
Since Eastman students are only allowed to live on the River Campus if they are also majoring in a subject other than music, only one or two Eastman students will be living in ICMC. But many of its residents take lessons in musical instruments.
Sophomore Tina Tsao is a member of MIF who will be living in ICMC next year. “I think it would be a good idea to be more connected to Eastman,” she said. “Especially since this campus is so disconnected from it.”Levesque can be reached atclevesque@campustimes.org
