[AlphaSigOU]

The chapter of my college fraternity already was suffering from a bad reputation on campus by the time Ipledged for many reasons.

First, we were the northernmost fraternity on 'North Greek' in OU's Greek community, far from the action of the more established fraternities and sororities further south in 'North Greek' and the unofficial community of 'South Greek'. In olden days we were one of the more popular fraternities on campus but the demolition of the old house (which was formerly the Gamma Phi Beta house) and the building of a new one began the long decline of Alpha Sig at OU.

The new house was a novel (and radical at the time) experiment in Greek housing. The house was built as an apartment complex with the idea that if membership levels were down the unoccupied apartments could be rented to non-members. We had no formal social room (though there were plans to have them done, they were never built) and it wasn't very long before we were dubbed 'the apartment dwellers' in OU's Greek community.

Our numbers were very small compared to the 80-100 member-strong houses of older fraternities -- and we didn't appeal to many during rush. The most we had at the house when I pledged was probably about 15.

Like many houses at the time, alcohol and drug abuse was rampant. I think I must have spent my pledge period drunk out of my mind or stoned out of my skull. Since we were very small, we barely registered on the radar screen of OU's administration. Needless to say, our grades were rock bottom.

But being a smaller fraternity on campus made for a closer friendship that I didn't quite feel when I rushed the larger houses. The pressure to go Greek at OU was (and still is) high, and OU doesn't make things easier by forcing freshmen under 21 to live in the dorms until they have earned 24 credit hours.