{"id":67764,"date":"2007-01-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/chi-phi-breaks-ground-for-new-chapter-house\/"},"modified":"2007-01-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-30T00:00:00","slug":"chi-phi-breaks-ground-for-new-chapter-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2007\/01\/chi-phi-breaks-ground-for-new-chapter-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Chi Phi breaks ground for new chapter house"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I.\u2014January 30, 2007\u2014Rho Iota Kappa, the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s first fraternity, now known as Chi Phi, broke ground Jan. 24 for a new chapter house at 11 Fraternity Circle. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cToday, with the construction of this new house, we pass the torch to the next generation of Chi Phi,\u201d said 溏心vlog免费B站 1977 alumnus Douglas Bennet, president of the Rho Iota Kappa Alumni Association of the Chi Phi fraternity and treasurer of its holding company. Bennet was the driving force behind the new chapter building. \u201cIt went from a passion to a compulsion,\u201d he says with a laugh.<\/p>\n


\nSpeaking to 溏心vlog免费B站 officials, Chi Phi alumni from the \u201860s, \u201870s, and \u201880s, and campus community members assembled at the groundbreaking, Bennet added: \u201cWhen we return in 2008, we will celebrate our 100th anniversary. For the next 100 years, it is my hope that Chi Phi brothers and alumni will come to know this house as their home. We\u2019re building a nice house, but more importantly we are building on our legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nNew England Construction Co. of Rumford, R.I. will build the new 13,000-square foot house, located behind Weldin Hall, which will contain 20 bedrooms, a commercial kitchen, social area, and meeting space. It will be fully air-conditioned with internet access. Completion of the building is slated for August 2007.<\/p>\n


\nThe University shut down Chi Phi in 2005, primarily for violations of the University\u2019s substance-free housing agreement. Since the fraternity is currently inactive, the house will be rented to transfer students and others seeking housing during the 2007-2008 academic year. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cWhen the fraternity returns, it will be with a clean slate and with members focused on its founding values. I look forward to working with Chi Phi,\u201d said Steve Simo, director of Greek Affairs.<\/p>\n


\nChi Phi plans to return to campus in the fall of 2008 through a recolonization effort, the first step in rebuilding and reactivating a chapter. The house will eventually accommodate 40 to 42 brothers.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cChi Phi\u2019s groundbreaking is another example of the resurgence of the Greek system at 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d said Thomas Dougan, vice president of Student Affairs. \u201cWe look forward to the eventual re-establishment of the fraternity, which was founded on the basis of truth, honor, and personal integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThis will be the second fraternity house to be built on campus in two years. The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity broke ground for its new chapter house in March, 2005. When it opened the following fall, it was the first such new structure in 30 years.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThere are a lot of lessons to be learned living, working, and sharing space with other brothers. It\u2019s a real benefit of college life, one that creates lifelong friendships. You learn to develop leadership skills and find out how to live on your own. We want to give that opportunity to future Chi Phi students.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI hope that the groundbreaking will serve as a catalyst for renewed interest in Chi Phi,\u201d says Bennet. \u201cI think Greek alumni tend to come back more often and feel more a part of the University after they graduate. We\u2019re really excited about having alumni visit the new house at Homecoming in the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe fraternity, founded in 1908, moved several times before building a home at 61 Upper College Road in 1928. In 1962, the fraternity became affiliated with Chi Phi, the nation\u2019s oldest men\u2019s fraternity and was officially chartered as the Rho Iota Kappa Chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity. <\/p>\n


\nChi Phi has agreed to renovate and sell its existing house on Upper College Road to facilitate the expansion of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s popular International Engineering Program.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\n溏心vlog免费B站 Chi Phi alumni celebrate the groundbreaking with a cake decorated with the fraternity\u2019s crest. From left are John Waddington\u201968; Don Peck\u201979; Don Hood \u201968; Bill Bromberg \u201967; Frank Kovacs of the Chi Phi National Office, Doug Bennet \u201977, Tom Paquette \u201982; Bob Briggs \u201966; and Jeff Richards ’80. Seated Paul DePace ’66. 溏心vlog免费B站 News Bureau photo by Michael Salerno<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I.\u2014January 30, 2007\u2014Rho Iota Kappa, the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s first fraternity, now known as Chi Phi, broke ground Jan. 24 for a new chapter house at 11 Fraternity Circle. \u201cToday, with the construction of this new house, we pass the torch to the next generation of Chi Phi,\u201d said 溏心vlog免费B站 1977 alumnus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}