Athens, Georgia -- The Delta Phi Fraternity has asked Williams College to join with it in fashioning a new fraternity and sorority system on its campus in Williamstown, Massachusetts. In a letter to college president Harry C. Payne, Delta Phi Executive Director Stu Gittelman held out an olive branch to the campus which abolished the Fraternity's chapter over three decades ago along with other greek letter fraternities. Citing Williams President Mark Hopkins' 1836 inaugural address, prominently displayed on the Williams web site, Gittelman implored the college to return to its historic mission whereby students were "[to] be strengthened to think and to feel - and to dare [and] to do."

The fraternity's action was prompted by recent enactment of federal legislation to protect the constitutional rights (the first and fourteenth amendments in particular) of students enrolled at colleges and universities which receive federal funds under the Higher Education Act. The Freedom of Speech and Association on Campus Amendment to that bill clearly nullifies the policy in effect at Williams. "We are assuming that Williams intends to fully comply with all federal law," Gittelman said. "In that spirit, we want to work with Williams toward a smooth, amicable and cooperative restoration of fraternities and sororities to campus. The law is clear, so the confrontational approach that some suggest just isn't necessary," he continued.

Many colleges have previously relied on a 180 year old Supreme Court decision to claim that they are not bound to uphold the constitutional rights of their students. Williams, for example, uses this notion to forbid students from exercising free speech and associational rights except in approved groups - leaving those who follow Hopkins' exhortation "to think and to feel - and to dare [and] to do" facing expulsion if their "offense" takes the form of fraternity membership. Such policies motivated a diverse coalition to support the Freedom of Speech and Association on Campus law. Groups from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Christian Coalition joined over 8 million fraternity and sorority members to support the legislation put forward by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston and Senator Larry Craig. Public colleges and universities as well as private schools in California have operated for years under a bond to uphold student constitutional rights and have flourished during the period.

The letter to Williams asks the college to reply to the fraternity by the end of November as to how the two groups can begin to work toward what Gittelman wrote would be a "new partnership toward developing a fraternity and sorority system that enhances the missions of both the college and the parent fraternal organizations."

The Delta Phi Fraternity is the oldest, continuous social fraternity in the United States. It was founded at Union College in 1827, is a member of the legendary "Union Triad" and counts 19 active chapters on its roll. The fraternity maintained its Upsilon chapter at Williams College from 1926 to 1964.

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