Delta Chi is back on campus and looking for some recognition.

In 2005, the Delta Chi Alumni Board dissolved the NIU chapter for not upholding the ideals of the fraternity.

During the spring 2010 semester, Delta Chi’s National Fraternity sent leadership consultants to NIU in order to recruit motivated individuals to start the chapter again. The leadership consultants chose Ryan Toms, senior business administration major, to be a founding father and president of the newly revived fraternity.

Toms, with the help of the other members and alumni, must now guide Delta Chi to grow from a colony to a nationally recognized chapter, and finally, to be officially recognized as a chapter by NIU’s Interfraternity Council (IFC).

“Getting our charter and being IFC recognized is the overall goal,” Toms said.

Getting recognized by the IFC is the last step in legitimizing a fraternal organization. Fraternities recognized by the IFC are allowed to vote and hold positions within the governing body of social fraternities. Recognized chapters also benefit from IFC advertising and events sponsored by the council.

“Getting IFC recognized will show that we’re serious and committed to the fraternity and community,” Toms said.

Delta Chi still has a long way to go before the IFC considers voting them in.

After getting recognized by their national fraternity, there’s only one more step for Delta Chi to become recognized by NIU’s IFC: a two-thirds vote. According to a new section added to Article 18 of IFC’s bylaws, “all interest groups must be voted into the NIU Interfraternity Council to receive official charter and recognition by a two-thirds vote.”

“This policy is to make sure they [new fraternities] measure up to IFC standards and work well with existing IFC frats,” said Nik Champion, senior finance major and vice president of public relations for the IFC, as well as a Phi Kappa Psi member.

Before this policy was enacted, any fraternity that was chartered by their national headquarters could join the IFC, Champion said.

“Every year new frats would come to colonize,” Champion said. “We needed some kind of control to protect the existing frats from losing possible members.”

The IFC already recognizes 15 chapters, and if the policy wasn’t enacted, more chapters could come onto campus and make it very difficult for new and existing frats to recruit members every semester, Champion said. He describes the new policy as “another quality control measure” needed to make sure that a potential chapter will be beneficial to the IFC and NIU community.

The fall 2010 semester is the first full semester the new policy has been in effect. Delta Upsilon was the first fraternity IFC recognized through the two-thirds vote policy.

Delta Upsilon was on the NIU campus from about 1966 to 2001, then was kicked off for an unknown reason, said Will Blair, junior geology major, vice president of scholarship chair and former public relations chair for Delta Upsilon. Delta Upsilon’s National Headquarters started its latest chapter in 2007 as an interest group.

A select few students were chosen to be founding fathers and helped grow the fraternity into a colony. In May 2010, Delta Upsilon received their charter from their National Headquarters. However, by that time, the new two-thirds vote policy was already enacted, and Delta Upsilon had to wait till this semester to go through the voting process.

“We have a very large and involved local alumni base which really helped us go from an interest group to a chartered frat,” Blair said.

Delta Upsilon now has 28 active members and a fall pledge class of 18, he said.

“The process to go from colony to official chapter can take anywhere from one and half to three years,” Champion said.

Delta Chi is on the right track to completing the process. Toms said he hopes to apply for a charter in the spring 2011 semester and plans on being IFC recognized by late spring or early fall of the same year.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” Toms said when asked about his confidence in gaining recognition. “We have a really big group of guys that are dedicated toward growing and expanding the frat.”