former lamb
 

I dont know how I got to this website but I'm glad I did. I am a former lamb and I lost touch after I graduated in 1990. I am in Shock with the fact that there is no more LAMBS. No wonder its been a while since i received fund-raising calls. Does anyone know specs of what happened?

Well, apparently Duquesne started cracking down on the local fraternities and sororities. Then, the Lambs had an unfortunate incident where a girl named Meredith died at one of their activities. It was a party, not a pledging function as originally believed by some, and there was alcohol involved. This put the Lambs in a bind. The Lambs lost their charter... then the university got a replacement with the Sigma Kappa sorority.

Despite everything, I don't think the sorority Sigma Lambda Phi should disappear just like that. Its a big part of Duquesne history. Local fraternities and sororities are what make a university stand out from the rest. But I guess the administration does not agree.

That is just my opinion.

later,

perdido88

To Perdido88
 

Perdido88, your knowledge of KAP is astounding, and your kind words are great appreciated. I am a KAP (85 -90) and had the honor of pledging most of the brothers you mentioned. All of them are great guys, and I still keep in touch with many of them.

Most everything posted is accurate. The KAPS have been suspended from all campus activity. The current KAPS posted pictures on a non related website that showed under age drinking, and that’s what the administration, and Hogan, used to suspend the KAPS. The KAPS, much like the Lambs, had been targeted by administration for many years. And it is a great injustice to remove both groups who have such a history on campus. Most of my female friends are Lambs, and we are all still very close. As recently as November ‘06, we all met up in Pittsburgh for a sort of reunion.

The KAP alumni have been very involved in trying to keep the KAPS on campus, and overturn the administration’s decision. For a brief period, there were talks with Phi Kaps to merge the remaining brothers, but it was voted down by both actives and alumni. It was nothing against the Phi Kaps, it just wasn’t the right road to take for KAPS. At this point, the future of KAP at DU is unclear.

There is a KAP alumni group on Yahoo, DuqKAPS. I believe the member count is 70+ currently.

I doubt any national would be ok with being represented by name in Animal House anyway. If you search Delta Tau Chi on the internet, the chapters that come up are locals founded after the movie was out, as far as I've seen.

As for Delta Chi's, I know some who like to think there's a connection to Animal House.:rolleyes: I gently argued this at first, since the screenwriter has a book about Alpha Delta, but eventually gave up. It makes them happy to think there's a connection in there somewhere. That and if they took down all memorbilia in the house that references Animal House they'd have big bare spots on the walls.

oh, cool.. there are some brothers on MySpace.com... since I'm not a brother, I probably won't be able to join the yahoo group.. however, let me know what I can do to help. I've included some responses in your writing.. but it doesn't look anything different from the original post..

perdido88

yes, the thing was that the Delta Tau Chi people I met spoke of their organization as a national fraternity.. so I could be wrong. The Tau Kappa Epsilon brothers at duquesne branched out sometime during the '80s and renamed themselves with the greek letters Delta Tau Chi and were probably not chartered by Duquesne. you have to understand that back in the day, some fraternities lived up to the Animal House lifestyle, which is why the movie was done in the first place.. I saw the last of the "Animal House" days at Duquesne, where carnival tents had plenty of beer and cops in front of them guarding the area (it was bizarre! cops wouldn't arrest anybody as long as the beer was inside the tent); this is before 1990 and George Bush Sr. policy of dry campus and financial incentives to universities that maintained one. so yes, there could've been a "national" fraternity known as Delta Tau Chi (or a bunch of people who decided to use the name and encouraged others).. or the most likely thing is your assertion: local groups using the greek letters Delta Tau Chi.. its kinda hard to ascertain because there are occurrences that happened before the internet was available.... so more research will have to be done... thanks for the post.

Yeah it would be interesting to see if there was a loose organization nationally. I can easily believe that's what it was like in the "old days". There's plenty of chapters that try to live up to it (and the house and the atmosphere and the people remind me of certain friends of mine...BUT), still, but these days liability is such an important issue...and there's plenty of things in that movie that would probably end up in arrests and charters being pulled these days because of legal issues.

They were primarliy known as the Delts. I was at Duquesne from 88-93, and Kap. One of the last remaining Delts, Father Ed, was a good friend to the Kaps.

It's still the bluff!

yeah, I remember Father Ed! He was a great guy. do you remember his real name, though? It seems everyone knew him by that nickname..

Father ED
 

Alright, you guys are truly showing my age now...and no...for the life of me I don't even know if he did have a "real" name...LOL.

Gary
FPC '88

Sheiks At Duquesne University
 

The Sheiks were chartered in 1963 at Duquesne University and were one of the first (the other, the Playboys) "social" clubs on campus. I was a Sheik from 1968 to 1972. The Sheiks at that time dominated intramural sports and won several school intramural championships in football, basketball, and softball.

have you kept in touch with the Sheiks? Are they still active in Duquesne?

Just found out that a "kinda-cousin" of mine will be entering Duquesne this fall. If anyone has any information to offer, let me know. She's my uncle's step-granddaughter, and he REALLY wanted her to go to a school with ADPi, as he has two nieces who are ADPis, and so we're "officially involved" with her recruitment!

I did know an Alpha Phi there years and years ago - she was the daughter of one of my favorite teachers, and went on a school trip with us to NYC.

Father Ed and Alpha Phi follow-up
 

Mark the Kap here...

Father Ed's real name is Ed Walsh. He is from NY. Big guy, about 6'5" and played street hockey with us on occasion. He was the closest thing we had to an honorary brother when I was there.

As for the Alpha Phi mention, was it Courtney Rethwisch? Her dad was an instructor in the business school at the time. (Affectionately known as Dr. Death Wish)

Also, random comment, but my real big brother (not fraternity big brother) was an APD from 82-86 at Duquesne.

All the best,
Mark (Harry, Fozzie, whatever...)

wow.. that brings back some memories.. Father Ed... Dr. Deathwish (R.I.P.) and the latter was proud of it too. he used to give a speech at the beginning of the semester that went like "eight percent of my classes FAILED!!".

if anybody runs into Father Ed (Ed Walsh), give him my best regards. he probably won't remember me.. (J.C.).

and to all the Kaps, best of luck!!! Hope you guys keep the name of Kappa Sigma Phi alive.

later,

perdido88