Many parents and their sons have questions about both the University of Washington and its Greek System. Did you know the UW offers a website to help your son find the Fraternity that is right for him? You can view all fraternity grades as well as learn what all the Greek Terms mean. We at Delta Upsilon understand that often it is not the young man that we need to convince that Delta Upsilon is the best Fraternity on campus, but we must convince their parents. Below are some of the questions we are asked all the time by parents, to talk to someone more about the Greek Sytem, call 206-526-7333 and ask for the President or any member of the Executive Council.

Cost

(View the breakdown of fees here)
Many parents feel that they may not be able to afford the costs of a Fraternity. But did you know that the UW's Expanded Housing and Mealplan (which most average size freshmen men get) is more expensive than Delta Upsilon's housebill. This housebill includes all living expenses, unlimited food, and chapter dues. The basic housebill for one quarter (about 3 months) is roughly $1550 dollars. In addition to the basic housebill there are other fees which include pledge fees and initiation fees that must be paid to the International Fraternity Headquarters. These fees are included in the housebill. Also added is a 50 dollar memorobilia fee which allows your son to show pride in his chapter and university by choosing from dozens of different types of apparel each quarter.

Since Fall Quarter for an incoming freshmen is the busiest and most activity filled. The housebill is generally around $1800 dollars. But all fees after basic housebill and initiation fees are not mandatory, and our treasurers can work out several payment plans for you that may actually reduce housebills even more. Plus, if your son lives in his senior year at Delta Upsilon, 1/4 of the cost is taken off of his housebill. And if your son holds a particular chapter office or makes the Dean's List, we also deduct $50 dollars off of the housebill.

Commitment

Fall quarter is the most busy and fun quarter of the school year. Therefore there are many demands for your son. These include keeping the chapter house clean at all times, donating time to several charitable causes throughout the year, working on a Pledge Class gift and project during the course of the year, decorating the house for events such as homecoming, attending dinner at our Chapter house and observing proper formal dinner etiquette four nights a week, learning about the history of our Fraternity that began in 1834, attending our Formal Pledge Dance in Canada, where we honor your son and introduce him to his mentor "Big Bro." Your son's time commitment is demanding but flexible. School is all of our top priority, if your son has an evening class, he will be excused from dinner. And if your son has two midterms on one day, he may miss his activity to ensure he keep his grades high.

Parent's Commitment

We encourage parent involvent which is why our doors are always open. However, several times a year we especially encourage parents to come to the Chapter House. Parents Weekend is an "Open House" for parents to see the house, get full house tours, and to meet other parents at the same time. Study treats are how you show the men of Delta Upsilon you care during Finals week by bringing treat surprises while they study hard. Initiation is our formal rite that allows your son to enter our esteemed brotherhood, parents are encouraged to attend and applaud your son. As a parent, you will not be asked to donate money to the Fraternity. Your son will do fundraising himself, but the bulk of that will be given to charity. Delta Upsilon is a registered not profit orgranization, we are designed to make better men, not a profit.

Philanthropy

As we've said, we donate money and time to several local organizations. These include: Gilda's Club Seattle, The Wallingford Boys and Girl's Club, Seattle's Union Gospel Mission, Montlake Adopt-a-Street, various food and clothes drives, and we are always looking for more ways to help our community while at the same time teaching ourselves to donate what we can to those less fortunate.

House Worksquads

We pride ourself on the cleanliness of our house, but it doens't get that way by itself. Freshmen and sophomore members of the house do the majority of the worksquads. These include dishes, vacuuming, dusting, moping, and general cleaning of the house. Worksquads are checked often to ensure that the house is clean at all times, worksquads are rotated weekly, and those who do an exceptional job of cleaning are commended at dinner. All house worksquads such as Fall's Work Week incorporate every single member of the Chapter and are the times when full scale projects are put in effect.

Delta Upsilon vs. Dorms

Many parents feel that their son should at least try the dorms. We feel that you should not. Other than the fact that they can be more costly, dorms are not the safest or best environment for your son. UW dorms are as large as they have ever been, in fact most rooms are filled with 3 people in 2 person rooms. You can choose your roommate if you already know someone planning on living in the dorms, but you can't choose the dorms. You could be sent to a dorm that is a fifteen minute walk from campus, where DU is across 45th from UW.

Dorms tend to be very impersonal and aren't the best place to make friends. Often dorm doors are closed and this makes it difficult to meet people. On the other had, DU offers many ways to keep your son socially involved. Your son will begin to meet 60 men that will most likely include some of his best friends to last the rest of his life. Your son will be introduced to men from other fraternities and sororities simply because of the community that the UW Greek System has. Our doors are almost always open and we encourage people to stop studying for a break and chat.

Dorms have a history of theft, vandalism, and assault. With so many people crammed into such small places, anyone can enter and exit the doors of the dorms, including non UW students and personnel. Our chapter house is always locked with our new coded entry doors that only few people know which ensures our safety.

Since most people who live in dorms only live in for one year, then search for an apartment, (or then realize to search out a Greek organization) it may be difficult to make transitions every year to a new living facility. Our house on the other hand wants you here for as long as you are an undergraduate students at the University of Washington. Also, during winter and spring breaks, the dorms are totally shut down, they actually make you leaver your home for up to two weeks. Our house is filled with people throughout the entire year, including summer.

You make the decision to try dorms or an apartment, but you will see soon that the dorms will take anyone, we are selective, and only want young men who are involved, intelligent, active, and who will be a contribution to the other members of the Chapter.

Grades

You son's academic welfare are not only important to us, but a neccessity to keep our good standing with the University and our International Headquarters. We want to continue to achieve great grades. We do this by having a diverse group of older members who can help your son through the tough classes that they once took. We have a large test file of old tests that will help you son study for his upcoming exams. We can show your son how to balance study time with his university life to make to the most of his time.

We can introduce your son to the many university programs that are designed to help you study. Plus, when your son does achieve academic success, he will be commended with a reduced housebill and an award during our award ceremony. Not to mention the 4 scholarships that we offer to all incoming male freshmen.We have to Executive Council Vice-Presidents whose sole purpose is to make sure that your son gets the grades to make DU shine. For the past 3 quarters we have been in the top 5 highest GPA's in the Greek System with GPA's upwards of 3.23 overall. Our GPA has been well above the University's All Mens Average of 3.01, and above the all greek average of 3.08. A minimum GPA of 2.7 is required for you son to take part in all social activities, if his GPA were to fall below that requirement, he would have to attend Study hours and show his success by giving weekly grade reports from his TA or professor to the VP of Scholastics.

Hazing

It is against our chapter's Constitution to haze. It is also against university policy to offer recognition to fraternities that haze, (we are a recognized Fraternity at UW), it is also our International Fraternity's policy to close DU chapters that haze, (DU has been on campus at UW since 1910). Delta Upsilon is the only non-secret Fraternity in UW's Greek System, this assures you that your son will be allowed to share with you everything that he does at our Fraternity, and he will not be ashamed to tell you of his experiences. Non-secrecy is a cornerstone of our Fraternity, much as our founding principles of Justice, Culture, Friendship, and Character. Hazing goes against all that we believe which is why we don't do it.

Dry Vs. Wet Chapters

A "wet" Fraternity is a chapter that is allowed to have alcohol on its premises, a dry house does not. Delta Upsilon has made agreements that if a chapter has shown exceptional quality through grades, philanthropy, chapter operations, safety standards according to local state and federal laws, and have speakers speak about underage drinking, drinking and driving, and rape, they may make the choice to be a "wet" or "dry" chapter. The Washington Chapter of Delta Upsilon is a "wet" chapter. This means that we have been successful in controlling consumption of alcohol by everyone, including those over the age of 21.

Some Fraternities may say that a "dry" house is safer than a "wet" house. But ask them this, "Why are you a "dry" house?" This question may show you that houses that tend to be dry had a problem controlling their alcohol intake. Most dry chapters are dry, because their governing National Fraternity has banned them from having alcohol on their premises. The real question is, Would you rather your son be part of a responsible chapter that has the maturity to handle alcohol, or would you have your son join a Fraternity that has a history of problems. And just because a Fraternity claims to be "dry", this in most cases isn't true.

Alumni Involvement

We have a strong Alumni base of over 1000 local alumni, and 900 international alumni in the Seattle area. These alumni often come to the house, in fact a group of several alumni, (Corporation Board) help run the physical plant (Chapter House) and manage its upkeep and renovations. Alumni of the Washington Chapter also donate time and money to the Fraternity, doing what they can to make their college experience that much more special.

Other Greek Facts

Nationally, fraternity members acquire grade point averages above all other college men's scholastic rankings.

• Nationally, fraternity members have an overall higher graduation rate than non-Greeks. Seventy-one percent of all fraternity men persist to graduation while only 50 percent of all non-fraternity members graduate.
• All but two U.S. presidents since 1825 have been fraternity men, and 63 percent of the U.S. presidents' cabinet members since 1900 have been fraternity men.
• Studies show that 76 percent of Congress, 71 percent of the men listed in "Who's Who in America," and 85 percent of the Fortune 500 executives belong to a fraternity.
• Since 1910, 85 percent of the Supreme Court justices have been Greek.
• Greeks contribute innumerable community service hours and contributions to local and national charities annually. UW Greeks contribute 80 percents of all alumni donations.

©2002 U of W Delta Upsilon