[Erik P Conard]

When John Robson, Sig Ep historian/scholar, asked me to collaborate with him on the 19th edition of Baird's, I went to work
right away on additions, corrections, etc of the 18th, done in '68.
Then John got sick, I quit the ed biz and moved to CO, John then
up and died on me and I shitcanned the project, finding little help
available, and old Slip Slifer of Chi Psi still collecting IRAC bulletins.
My fifty pages of work still languish in my basement.
Finally a truly inferior edition did emerge, and it is so bad that I'd
never try to correct, update or amend it.
There will likely never ever be another Bairds like we knew it.
The whole complexion of the Greek scene has changed so radically that to even compare Kappa Alpha Society to one of the
Latino groups is out of the question. The old idea of an ivied house, pipe smoking alumni, endowment funds, etc...is gone.
The old swallowed up sororities, on their deathbeds, had little to
offer other than perhaps an attractive badge and a charter on a
campus not represented with the conquering sisters. Very few of
these absorbed outfits had even one decent chapter....IMHO.
The merging/absorption/entry of the educational sororities, i.e., the old teachers' college outfits, has created a schism and only
Tri Sig (now Tri Sigma) has somewhat made the grade although
they are indeed a class outfit on some campuses...
As a former faculty member and advisor of two of those old TC
chapters, the personality and posture of them compared to an old
private school or big state U chapter...is quite different. The old
educational fraternities did not have advisers...they had patrons or sponsors...who stood from afar and attended the parties with
their stiff bodies...and had no clue as to housing, endowments,
alumni, virtually nothing in common with the Illinois Thetas, e.g....
They were concerned with closing hours, with unsullied dresses
and straight seams....the transition is and was a challenge.
Enter the new groups, the ethnics, the metro ones, the hens'
clubs, the multi-whatevers. naw, never mind
Are they Phi Kaps, Pi Kaps, PiKAs, Pikes, Spees, SPEs, Sig Eps,
Sig Alphs, Alphs, SAEs, Phis or Phi Delts, Deltas, Delts, DSPs or
Delta Sigs...male or female? Depends when you were and where
you were. The name Pike was unheard of in the 50s, btw.
Naw, stick with collectin' badges. Great uncle Erik, still a TKE