First Greek On-Campus Housing to Open at ODU

Members of the first Old Dominion University Greek society with an on-campus housing presence will cut the ribbon tomorrow on their new apartments in the Powhatan II Apartments complex on the west side of campus.

The ribbon cutting will be at 3 p.m. Aug. 22 for the Gamma Tau chapter of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. Don Stansberry, ODU's associate dean of students, and Dan Dauer, professor and eminent scholar of biological sciences, who acts as the chapter's faculty adviser, will be in attendance and offer remarks.

Once it is open, the Davis Building apartments will house 12 members of Phi Kappa Tau, and will have a fourth apartment as a chapter room, which members are renovating for use during fall rush.

Dauer, who pledged Phi Kappa Tau when he was an undergraduate, said the fraternity is a group of stellar young men.

"The chapter at ODU strongly supports scholarship and finished the spring semester with the highest GPA among ODU's nine IFC fraternities - six men were on the dean's list and nearly half the chapter of 34 brothers have a GPA above 3.0," Dauer said. "The chapter has also received awards for its commitment and accomplishments in community service."

Stansberry said there is more student interest in ODU's Greek community every year.

"We will continue to grow our community as long as the students request more opportunities," he said. "I do think that as we continue to become more residential focused, students will want a more traditional college experience … and that includes Greek life."