Despite COVID-19 restrictions, Gamma Tau at Georgia Tech recruited the largest fall new member class of any fraternity on campus, with 25 men.
A Year (or So) in the COVID Life When Did the Distant Threat of COVID-19 Become a Reality for You?
For Matt Novak (Bucknell 2021) it was about 2:00 a.m. Barcelona time on Thursday, March 12, 2020. He and his chapter brothers who were studying abroad were out on the town. A few minutes earlier in Washington, President Trump had declared that the U.S. border would be closed to travel from Europe at midnight on Friday, March 13. The announcement triggered a rush by college students to get home as quickly as possible. When the Bucknell brothers went outside to make calls to plan their travel home, they saw hundreds of other students doing likewise. Matt’s father advised it was best to be cautious and get home as fast as possible. In two days, Matt was home in Harrison, New York. On March 11, the World Health Organization had declared the coronavirus a pandemic. At that time, 1,281 U.S. citizens had been diagnosed with COVID19, and 36 had died. Within a matter of days, campuses emptied as students migrated back to their homes and to online instruction for the remainder of the term. Meanwhile, at the International Headquarters on Thursday, March 12, nine brothers already had arrived for the Archives Weekend being coordinated by
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THE PHI GAMMA DELTA|SPRING 2021
Curator of Archives Joe Weist (Rose-Hulman 1987) and Historian Towner Blackstock (Davidson 1994). But developments were cascading, and the pandemic would not be denied. Joe and Towner huddled with Executive Director Rob Caudill and decided to cancel the event. The brothers present were sent home, and 26 others yet to arrive were told not to come. As Joe said recently, “Over those few days, COVID went from a disease in Washington State and New York to something very close and personal.” The emptying of chapter houses triggered challenging financial decisions. At Bucknell, as at many other chapters, the house corporation reimbursed unused rent, and the Chapter paid their cook and housekeeper through June. Amid the shutdown, the brothers at the University of Idaho were grateful for their good timing. On March 7, the Chapter had celebrated its 100th Pig Dinner with 508 Fijis and guests in attendance. Just under the wire. Across the U.S., steps adopted to stem the spread of the coronavirus ranged from inconvenient to painful: masks, social distancing, quarantine, restaurants closed or providing only takeout and delivery, sports seasons canceled, weddings and funerals postponed.
Pivoting to Virtual By mid-March, most staff members were working from home, and the Headquarters was closed from March 25 to June 1. With undergraduate brothers scattered
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