This year has been an eventful one for the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta. The Fiji year began before school even started, with the 152^nd Ekklesia held in San Antonio, Texas. Three brothers, including myself attended the conference, which was highlighted by the passing of a revised version of the Alcohol Free Housing Amendment passed at the 150^th Ekklesia. The new amendment extends the exemption indefinitely, provided the chapter meets all the previously set forth requirements every year.

Delta Kappa was not granted the exemption last year, and thus Delta Kappa found itself "dry" for the first time in recent history. While this caused much anxiety among brothers, in reality our new status as a dry fraternity did not cause many problems. Our annual fall party—"Fiji Rave"—was held in the 900 Room of the College Union, and weekend parties were merely shifted to the Senior Apartments. We have also held dry social functions at the house, and plan to co-sponsor the annual Fiji Islander in April at Rusk eating house on Patterson Court.

Fall rush was a partial success. We picked up six outstanding pledges, who all plan to be initiated in March. The fall rush filled the sophomore class (which previously only had three members) with five new members, but only one freshman accepted his bid. The main problem was that the freshmen had few opportunities to see the house, and were not as familiar with Fiji and its brothers as the sophomores. We hope next year to not only increase the sophomore class, but pledge more freshmen as well. Despite these minor problems with rush, Delta Kappa will have twenty-seven brothers following initiation this spring, the largest number in many years.

Perhaps the most notable event of the year is that Fiji has been in the campus news lately. In January, the brothers voted to make a bid for the current Union Outpost building on Patterson Court. With the completion of the new College Union in May, the Outpost is vacating its current location, leaving the building available. Three groups vied for the house: ourselves, the Davidson International Association (DIA), and a group who wanted to make the Outpost a "neutral space" for all students to hang out. I presented our bid to the Council of Campus and Religious Life (CCRL) in late January. The group is composed of half faculty and half students. While we made a convincing case, many members of the committee felt that since Davidson claims to be an institution which fosters international awareness, the house should go to DIA. The committee voted in the end to recommend DIA’s petition to President Vagt, although his decision is still pending. Either way, we feel that moving on campus in future years is the way to go. We feel our difficulties with rush would be greatly eased with a place to eat meals together, and if we are dry in future years, we could get more use out of a house on the Court. While we are certainly attached to 832 Beaty Street, we feel a house on the court could give us a more visible presence and appeal to a greater number of "rushees." Although it is unlikely we will be moving houses any time soon, keep checking in for further updates on Fiji in relation to Patterson Court.

A final noteworthy bit of information is that, after suffering a disappointing drop in grade point average last spring, Fiji’s strong academic record bounced back with a 3.138 average GPA for the fall 2000 semester—number two out of seven fraternities! We are confident that this semester’s GPA will be as excellent as the last.

While there is much more to say, I would rather share these stories with you at Pig Dinner! Again, if you have any news, information, or questions, please contact myself or Chris. Hope to see you in April!

Fraternally,

Robert H. Hester

Chapter President

Perge!