University of Oregon Delta Upsilon.jpeg

Delta Upsilon began quietly accepting transgender members in 2015.

(Courtesy Delta Upsilon)

Two University of Oregon fraternities have announced they will accept transgender men into their ranks for the first time in history.



Though neither group currently has transgender members, members at Delta Upsilon and Delta Tau Delta said they plan to reach out to LGBTQ students at the Eugene campus.



They join only a handful of other groups nationwide to explicitly invite transgender members. Last year, Missouri State University's Xi Omicron Iota sorority changed its bylaws to accept anyone who "identifies as a girl," and the national fraternity organization Sigma Phi Epsilon announced it would consider transgender men.



Representatives from both Eugene fraternities say they hope their February announcements will inspire the university's 17 other fraternities to change, too.



"Fraternities and sororities are really powerful units for change," said Henry Korman, the vice president of loss prevention for Delta Upsilon. "We have a big presence and influence on campus, and we want the culture to be more inclusive. Frat culture can be very dangerous. We want to change the culture from the inside."



Korman's Delta Upsilon has never been a fraternity of the Animal House mold. A group of students formed the University of Oregon chapter three years ago with a pledge to fight misogyny. When the 67 members host parties, they bring guests, not dates, Korman said. Last year, they invited a sexual wellness advocacy team to do a presentation on harmful gender roles.



Last fall, they became a chartered group and rewrote their bylines. Initially, the rules suggested Delta Upsilon was open to any male student.



"Me and a few other guys, we really wanted language that did not exclude transmales," Korman said. "So we changed it to say any self-identified male student. I really wanted to make sure we weren't excluding any men from joining our fraternity."



Korman's group didn't publicize the change until earlier this month, when another University of Oregon fraternity's members announced their national leadership had created a non-discrimination policy. The new policy specified that the fraternity's chapters would be "open to all men of superior character including transgender males."



Members of the Eugene chapter of Delta Tau Delta were "thrilled," said Alec Malnati, the local president.



A handful of the fraternity's 90 members are openly gay, Malnati said, and his fraternity brothers had talked before about hoping to recruit transgender members.



"There are people in the community who might not have a comfortable place, a social group where they fit in," Malnati said. "I'm just really hopeful we can be that place for people."



Neither group has experienced pushback after the announcements. They also haven't seen a surge of interest from transgender students.



Korman said he plans to reach out to tell transgender students about the benefits of joining Delta Upsilon. Malnati said he hopes to talk with LGBTQ groups to learn the best way to make transgender people feel comfortable rushing.



Both men agree -- two out of 19 is not enough. Korman would like to see a sorority begin accepting transgender women.

Justin Shukas, director of fraternity & sorority life at the university, said he doesn't know of any other Greek organization that plans to recruit transgender members. Each group first works with their national organizations to propose changes before informing university officials. Fraternities and sororities are exempt from Title IX regulations, Shukas said, so they are allowed to operate as single-sex organizations.

Malnati said transgender students should have the same array of choices that others have.

"It pains me to say that hasn't been the case," Malnati said. "I still think we're fighting that. I just challenge any Greek life member at the U of O to analyze what it means to be in Greek life, to consider how this opens up the opportunity for people who have not had that."



-- Casey Parks

503-221-8271

cparks@oregonian.com; @caseyparks