After three years of working towards earning a charter, Delta Chi will become UW Oshkosh’s fourth fraternity on April 9. According to Anthony Bianchina, president of the chapter, chartering is the process in which a fraternity, such as Delta Chi, gets accepted by its headquarters and makes them an official chapter. Bianchina said being chartered means the fraternity gains a little more independence from internationals since they have observed all the work it takes to become a chapter. “It means a big deal to us just because we’ve put in our hard work with that as our goal,” Bianchina said. “So, after three years of hard work, it’s nice to finally say we are chartering.” Bianchina said he remembers starting the colonization process, which was the first step in becoming a chapter, three years ago. “After you gain enough members and you’ve done enough work, you turn in a packet of information that says ‘Here’s why we think that we should be a chapter,’” Bianchina said. “Then internationals looks at it and then they come back to you and say ‘Hey, we’ll grant your charter.’” According to Bianchina, chartering is also a helpful tool to fraternities hoping to grow their chapter on campus. “Once we are chartered on April 9, then we’re all set,” Bianchina said. “I think that could help us in the future with growing and getting new members.” Austin Stacey, a new member of Delta Chi who joined the fraternity at the beginning of the 2015 fall semester, said he initially didn’t think about joining Greek life when he first came to campus, until he changed his mind when he was approached by people in the Greek community. “They had me go to a few different events here on campus,” Stacey said. “I met more guys from Delta Chi and I was more relatable with them.” Nick Hemschemeyer, vice president of the chapter, said being chartered also allows the brothers in the fraternity to make friends and build relationships with people around the state and country. “It’s really cool just to make connections through not just Oshkosh, but the state and nationwide,” Hemschemeyer said. “The network is very vast and expansive. I mean you’re going to meet alumni who are already established in the real world, and in their careers and things like that that can help you out.” According to Hemschemeyer, part of his job as vice president is overseeing the events that allow everyone to interact, as well as looking over the Oshkosh chapter as a whole, making sure everything is in order. “A lot of my job is internal in the fraternity,” Hemschemeyer said. “Making sure that you know we’re planning our events, and that events are being planned smoothly and accordingly, making sure people aren’t wasting funds…. Just to make sure we are one cohesive unit.” Hemschemeyer said the Delta Chi chapters, along with other fraternities, are a close group of friends who experience the ups and downs of normal business. “In order for us to run smoothly for our philanthropy events, and have fun at philanthropy or brotherhood events we have to make sure that the business side of it is taken care of,” Hemschemeyer said. According to Stacey, the professional development part of being in a fraternity is a part of the experience, but it is not the reason he joined. “It’s just a great group of guys that mesh together,” Stacey said. “That’s what was really eye appealing to me. The support system that’s in the fraternity, that I can tell any one of my brothers anything and I know they are there for me.” Bianchina said he found out about Delta Chi’s chartering when his roommate knocked on his door telling him to check Facebook. “I jumped out of my bed and ran into his room and we were super excited and all the guys came over to the house that we live in,” Bianchina said. As for what the fraternity can bring to the campus, Hemschemeyer hopes they can change the social stigma that fraternities and sororities have on college campuses. “I know our main goal is we just want to change the idea, there’s always a negative connotation,” Hemschemeyer said. “We really want to exemplify our values, like scholarship, friendship and everything like that, just be friendly in the community…. [We] want to be the group on campus that’s known by everybody and loved by everybody.”