Loyola Marymount

On April 7, 2024, Delta Upsilon installed the Loyola Marymount Chapter as the 161st chapter in the Fraternity’s storied history. While DU has reopened several closed chapters in recent years, this Installation marked the first time since April 2018 that a brand new chapter had been added to Delta Upsilon’s active chapter roll.

Expansion efforts began in spring 2019 after DU was selected by Loyola Marymount University to become the newest member of its fraternity/sorority community. The group of Founding Fathers quickly found success and hosted its Associate Chapter Ceremony on March 29, 2019, with 20 associate members. Unfortunately, progress for the group slowed the following school year, as is often the case with new chapters. Understandably, as the excitement of starting a new fraternity begins to wain and the realities of the work required to build a new chapter become more prominent, groups can sometimes experience slow growth. This, coupled with advisor recruitment struggles and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic later in the year, further placed a burden on the young associate chapter.

Over the next few years, the Loyola Marymount Associate Chapter continued to struggle with membership retention and recruitment, but those members committed to the Fraternity were resolved to seeing the associate chapter meet the requirements for chartering.

Jaryd Veserat, Loyola Marymount ’24, served as Chapter President from November 2022-December 2023 and helped rally the associate chapter to meet its goals. “When I was President, I knew that one of the main issues I had to solve was the lack of morale and pride in Delta Upsilon,” he said. “I knew that being able to help the brothers feel proud to be in Delta Upsilon would help them want to charter more.”

During Jaryd’s term, the associate chapter held its first Initiation (prior to a 2021 policy change, DU associate chapters were not allowed to host the Initiation Ceremony until their Installation), focused on accountability, and began involving more members in associate chapter decisions and activities. Then, when a new Executive Board took office in late 2023, the associate chapter was close to having achieved all chartering requirements.

The Installation Ceremony took place April 7, 2024, in LMU’s Malone Hall, with friends and family in attendance. Thirteen of the chapter’s 25 chartering members also took part in the Initiation Ceremony during the event. The Ritual team was comprised of Delta Upsilon Executive Director Justin Kirk, Boise State ’00, as Master; Veserat as Examiner; current Chapter President Brandon Mar, Loyola Marymount ’25, as Chief Marshal; and DU Director of Chapter Development Matthew Panzano, Florida ’11, as Chaplain. Victor Diaz, Program Specialist in LMU’s Office of Student Leadership & Development/Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, gave The Charge Address.

Diaz, who has worked with the chapter for the past three years, spoke of the chapter’s resilience and potential. Quoting the late NBA star Kobe Bryant, he reminded the chapter that the “job’s not done” now that its charter has been acquired. There is still much more to do to assure the long-standing success of Delta Upsilon at LMU.

“As we move forward, [the Sorority and Fraternity Life Office] views DU as a prominent figure within our community,” Diaz said. “As their Staff Advisor turned Sorority and Fraternity Advisor, one thing that has never changed is my belief in DU and the good they can accomplish on campus. I am so incredibly proud of the work these young men have done to finally become a chartered chapter.”

Mar (current Chapter President) and the rest of the Loyola Marymount Chapter also look forward to the future. “Our vision for the chapter is that we will continue to grow in numbers and further our network and brand on campus,” Mar said. “We will continue to leave our impact at Loyola Marymount and further the notion that DU is here to stay.”