Alpha Delta Phi earned official recognition as a social fraternity from Washington University Wednesday, making it the first fraternity to be given an initial charter since 1928.

The fraternity, which was first formed on campus in early 2012, had been denied official status in the past due to its methods of starting a chapter. It formed without official consent from the University and the Washington University Interfraternity Council (IFC), blocking it from official recognition.

Senior and IFC president Daniel Rayant said that the new addition of Alpha Delta Phi will help to fill the hole left following the 2012 expulsions of Sigma Phi Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Mu from campus. While he noted that there has not been too much of a problem with men being turned away after the rushing process, Rayant thought Alpha Delt’s new position as an official fraternity may help more students find a fraternity by adding more potential space for men.

Although the Alpha Delta Phi chapter had been operating as an unrecognized fraternity on campus since 2012, the fact that it had not gained University consent before forming prevented it from gaining official recognition and participating in events like Greek Week.

“They just kind of started operating, underground in a sense. The chapter owns the fact that their approach was not the best, but they’ve been moving forward and trying to receive recognition through the Interfraternity Council since then,” David Stetter, a coordinator with Student Involvement and Leadership, said.

After the IFC reconsidered some of its rules regarding new fraternities, however, it extended another chance to the Alpha Delt chapter leaders, eventually voting unanimously to recognize the chapter.

Stetter arrived on campus in February of this year and hoped to help the IFC with its policies.

“There were some gaps missing [in the expansion policy]. I advised the Interfraternity Council to…get those more in line with what the North-American Interfraternity Conference recommends. Last semester, they spent some time looking at that, but once they got those squared up, the IFC was in a better position to say, ‘Hey, we should add a fraternity,’” Stetter said.

“I already consider them part of the Greek community, but they’ll just become full members of IFC,” Rayant said.

“I think we could be served to have more fraternities on campus—I think we’re meeting demand pretty well, but having [Alpha Delt] as a fraternity will be actually pretty good because we have lost a few fraternities in the past few years, which has lessened supply of fraternities,” Rayant added.

Junior Adi Radhakrishnan, the president of Alpha Delta Phi, came to the University in his sophomore year after having joined the fraternity at the University of Michigan.

“I was notified by my former president at the University of Michigan that there was a budding chapter here. I reached out to the current president at the time, Henry Barry, and he brought me in and told me about the situation, and I’ve done everything I could to help out since then,” he said.

“I’ve been working with the other presidents of fraternities, trying to get their perspectives and seeing what they think about our chapter, how we can contribute and what advice they can give us. On both parties there was mutual agreement that this would be beneficial for everyone involved that we seek out and ultimately receive University recognition,” Radhakrishnan added.

Now that the fraternity is officially recognized, it will have access to campus facilities for meetings, advising, participation in the IFC and Panhellenic events such as philanthropy events and mixers, in addition to several other benefits.

The fraternity is now eligible to consider University housing as well. Though rumors have been circulating that the fraternity might take either House 1 or Sigma Chi’s house, Stetter denied any such claim. He also noted that the process to move into an on-campus house is lengthy and would likely not see success for several years.

However, with the benefits of the fraternity’s new status also come the standards that all University-recognized fraternities must uphold.

“[Alpha Delt] will be held to all the same standards that all of us are now. We have a zero-tolerance policy for hazing, and some of the fraternities before who lost their charters had a little bit of a difficult time with that,” Rayant said.

Stetter stressed that although the fraternity was offered the chance to apply for recognition, other outside fraternities will not have the same opportunity.

“If a new group were to want to start, they would have to get University approval before any action started, so that we just don’t have groups starting up left and right. There are certain things that the University wants to make sure are in place before any group operates,” Stetter said, noting that risk management and hazing policies, as well as alumni and national headquarters’ support, are heavily considered.

Many sorority and fraternity members are pleased to see Alpha Delt’s recognition.

“The chapter seems like a great group of guys who really care about their community. Some of my close friends are in Alpha Delt, and I am excited for them to formally join the Greek community,” sophomore Shivani Desai, a member of Chi Omega, said.

Radhakrishnan is optimistic about the fraternity’s new status and hopes to see further integration with the Greek community in the future.

“We now have our foundations set. We were growing. We were trying to set up a new organization, and now that we’ve had our recognition, we are now able to utilize resources and start engaging with the Greek community more, which we’re really excited about, and start engaging with Wash. U. as a whole at a greater level,” Radhakrishnan said. “This allows us to begin our legacy and continue taking Alpha Delta Phi to places our founders envisioned.”