In the period following 2001, the Miami Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi – historically one of Miami’s strongest fraternities – experienced a rapid decline.  Membership quality, size, cohesion and financial viability eroded steeply.  The Realty Board was ineffective in reversing the slide.  By the time the general alumni body learned of the decline, the chapter’s straits were severe.  By 2003, a new group of alumni leaders took over from the previous Realty Board and decided to facilitate the closing of the weakened chapter.

 

With the house empty, the new group of alumni leaders considered the possibility of a restoration.  Factors that encouraged this attempt:

  • The chapter’s historical presence and success on Miami’s campus
  • The house’s highly favorable location and essential structural soundness
  • The economics of student living spaces in Oxford
  • Miami University’s generally strong support of fraternities
  • Fraternities that had completed similar restorations at Miami (Beta Theta Pi, etc.)
  • The consultative support of Alpha Delta Phi International

Factors that reduced the prospects of success included:

  • An atrophied tradition of alumni charitable giving in support of the chapter
  • An absence of alumni programming and communications for many years
  • A neglected chapter house in severe disrepair / out of code
  • A poor reputation on campus as a result of the weakened undergraduate chapter
  • Burnout among recent alumni leaders

On balance, the new leadership, led by Stefan Davis ’71, felt passionately that a restoration effort should be mounted.  The group set about the coordinated tasks of planning a house renovation, initiating a fundraising campaign, recolonizing the undergraduate chapter and reestablishing alumni programming.


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