Thursday, September 10, 2009

Delta Phi Apologizes to 12th Street

After last Saturday's giant party at the new Delta Phi frathouse on East 12th Street, the fraternity has said that they've made attempts to reach out to as many of their neighbors as they could to apologize for the disturbance their party caused.

In response to an email that I sent to both them and NYU, they have assured me that they will take great pains in the future to ensure that their parties will not attract as many people by limiting the number of invites distributed. They said that the turnout was unprecedented and unexpected, unlike any of the previous parties they had on Avenue C and that they do not have big parties every week, and plan only one more next semester, but they say it will definitely not be as big a party, and they will post notices around the block so that we will have advance warning.

They also informed me that they hired security to ensure that people didn't loiter outside and to make sure that things didn't get out of control and nobody would get injured. I mentioned that there was certainly loitering and they pledged to speak to the security so that next time they would be more vigilant about it.

Regarding the upcoming rush week (gee I actually somehow thought that the party was rush week, shows how much I know), I am told that it does not take place at their house.

Currently four people are living full time in the frathouse apartment. I recommended that they volunteer their services in the garden across the street from their house, which might go a long way toward a mutual understanding and respect for the community, the block and the East Village. I also think they will learn a thing or two about drinking.

I truly hope that the Delta Phi fratboys are sincere about their desire to understand and learn about the place they've moved into, the work that their neighbors have done in cleaning up the block to make it the place it is today with one of the best playgrounds in the neighborhood and 2 beautiful gardens that serve as a gathering (and gossip) spot for all who are interested in doing some digging, planting and spinning that heavy mulching thing. Not to mention the Oktoberfest fundraiser to be held in a few weeks.

I also have received some correspondence from NYU who have said that NYU does not officially recognize off campus fraternities, and that the frats they do recognize are all in one building in Chinatown (which confirms the information on the NYU website). How involved they are willing to get in an off campus issue remains to be seen.

Some other blogs have picked up this story and it is making the rounds around NYU also, so either they are on notice to be on their best possible behavior, or the news will make them more popular than ever and cater to that pent up frathouse demand that NYU's been missing all these years. Only time will tell if they are sincere about making amends. I for one certainly hope they are and keep to their word, as I will be holding them to it personally and I have their phone number. If not, the wrath of 12th Street will be a good college lesson for any young man.

Also, I would like to take advantage of the mystical properties of 09/09/09 (when I actually wrote this) to predict that this story will appear this week in the newspaper that likes to steal blog stories without attribution.

If you are interested in contacting NYU about your concerns about frat houses, either this one or any in particular, here is a list of email addresses for Student Activites that officially oversees the frats. Apparently they don't like the publicity, so I think that if we stay vigilant we can ensure that we don't have an ongoing Animal House situation on 12th Street.

12 comments:

EV Grieve said...

Apology accepted?

Anonymous said...

No one likes a snitch, Jill.

Anonymous said...

Snitches get stitches, Jill.

Jill said...

First, nobody likes me anyways, so I'm quite used to it.

And exactly what did I "snitch" about? The people on 12th Street were quite upset about what happened on Saturday night. Was this frata secret that I let out of the bag? I felt like the last one to find out about it.

I was glad to be able to engage with Delta Phi and give them a way to publicly apologize, which they were very sincere about. Did that not come through?

They have promised to be accountable for their actions that affect other people and find ways to become a positive part of our community. I know most people thought that their parties would be a regular thing, and they assured me that they would not. This is good for people to know.

The interwebs have changed the landscape of anonymity, except for commenters like you who can say what they want without attribution.

I honestly hope this will have a long term positive impact. We will see.

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRVFfgoIKcg

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 11:45 and 11:51 (pretty sure you're the same person):

You know what no one in our neighborhood likes? Assholes who make threats to our peaceful, long-term residents because they are pissed off that their little Beer Pong party might get shut down.

Anonymous said...

To anonymous, I could not open your link..but my guess is that it is related to "nobody likes a snitch crap". And while that is true in drug dealer or mafia land...the same way nobody likes a snitch...NOBODY likes bratty people with a sense of entitlement that are not considerate of where they live, and the people around them.
Take that behavior back to long -jersey- ester-icut or uptown...

Anonymous said...

it's the ev blog mafia that feels entitled -- to have everyone live their lives within the rules that they prescribe, for every business to be one that they approve of, for every person's behavior to fit their set of acceptable guidelines.

Bryan said...

If the anonymous comments above come from an NYU email address/ISP I'm pretty sure they'd constitute an infraction of university policy regarding electronic threats.

The video @12:52, if taken as a serious expression of this frat's ethos, is just sad. What poor taste.

At the very least such comments, if they do come from students, seem to compromise the sincerity of the group's public apology.

Anonymous said...

these kids are just trying to have some fun in their first few weeks of school. why you should go snitching on them, especially to their school is beyond me. the mature thing to do, on your side would've been to talk to them privately first and give them a warning. college is a lot of work, but one can't bury his/her nose in a book all day. i feel bad for these kids. most schools have a campus, not nyu. the fact that these kids are apologizing though, shows a certain amount of decency. you should give them a second chance at the least. perhaps befriend them and maybe you'll enjoy one of their parties!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that I worked for years to run the drug dealers off this street, and now we have to contend with drunken frat boys. We all just want to live in peace here on 12th Street. I hope they respect that from now on.

Jeremiah Moss said...

"the ev blog mafia." i like that. i'm fascinated by this fantasy people have that a handful of disenfranchised bloggers actually have some uber-powerful exertion on what happens in the neighborhood. we wish.

anyway, i am very curious to know who you think is in this omnipotent cabal.