Feb. 1, 2007

DU House gets makeover, becomes Harmar
MC turns former fraternity house into residence hall for students
By Jon Moffett
jrm001@marietta.edu

When most students first get to college, one of the things they do foremost is to go to their residence halls and find their rooms. After that, they put all of their stuff down and attempt to move in. Their next priority is to make the best of their college experience and try to assimilate to this new world by attending events on campus, joining clubs and organizations, or just absorbing the entire college atmosphere. But the entire process of moving in and conforming to the new world can be thrown out of whack if students can’t even get a room when they get to college.

It’s no secret that housing space on the Marietta College campus is limited. With more students coming in and no more rooms opening up, the residence life department has their hands tied. But with the recent closing of one of Marietta’s fraternities, a little bit of stress was taken away.

Residence life has decided to use this situation to their advantage. With the revoking of the Delta Upsilon fraternity’s charter, the brothers have been forced to relocate. Their departure left their fraternity house vacant and available for use. So, since there is an influx in the amount of students on campus, why not house them in the old fraternity house? Well, that’s exactly what they did.

The former DU house, which housed the oldest fraternity on campus, is now the newest residence hall on Marietta College. Located among the Delta Tau Delta, Alpha Tau Omega, and Sigma Kappa houses on Fourth Street, the new Harmar House stands tall in “Greek row.” Harmar becomes the third non-Greek housing option on Fourth Street, along with Pioneer Hall and the Arts and Humanities House.

One student said, “It’s a little weird living in a residence hall that used to be Greek housing. And living on 4th Street kind of sucks, but I guess it’s no different than living in the A&H house or Pioneer Hall, so it’s not really that big of a deal. ”

This semester marks the first that students who are not affiliated with Greek life will be living in the house. The only exception, of course being that there were non-Greek students living in the house with the Greek students. But this is the first time that the hall is complete non-Greek.

Zach Hart, a junior and the former president of the now defunct DU fraternity, finds this to be a particularly disappointing action taken by the college.

“I’m disappointed in that move, particularly because we (DU) have paid for most of the house that is standing there today. There used to be two buildings there, but one of our alumni, a WWII veteran, bought them, tore them down, and built our house. I know that he’s not going to be very happy about this whole thing, and I don’t blame him. He’s not going to like the name change one bit.”

Hart may be correct about the origins of the house, but since the land is owned by Marietta College, they are free to do whatever they wish with the house. Residence life has decided that because of the housing situation, having an empty house didn’t make as much sense as filling it with students who need room.

Hart added, “I know it’s their (Marietta College’s) property and they can do whatever they want with it, but I’m disappointed with the decision. I would have hoped that they would have had more respect for the people who built it. I’m just disappointed, that’s all.”

Another interesting detail is the name of the house itself. The incident that forced Marietta to remove DU from the campus happened in Harmar, which happens to be just a few miles outside of the city of Marietta.

According to various reports, a few of the members of DU, along with a few alumni, engaged in an act of hazing toward a pledge. After the incident happened, the college felt that complete removal from campus was the only acceptable action to take. DU, which had been the oldest fraternity on campus, was then officially stricken from the books.
Hart commented, “I don’t know why they named it what they did. But I’m sure it’s nothing personal.”