[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by Erik P Conard
Seems like Beta Sigma Phi, Epsilon Sigma Alpha, etc., have invaded the college scene, too. There are a goodly number of
Greek-letter groups which deviate considerably from the usual
collegiate fraternity/sorority images.
Phi Delta Kappa, aka PDK, a professional educational outfit, has
been trying to drop the Greek letter identification. Theta Sigma
Phi, women's journalism, shucked the Greek letters and now is
known as Women in Communications. Sigma Delta Chi is the prestigious journalism outfit, try to eliminate any greek letter connection. Some have gone co-ed, and are, as far as I am concerned, snooty in their own right, imploding without a plan.
Then the Boy Scout outfit, Alpha Phi Omega, trying on some campi
to fill the "national" need where the college forbids such affiliations, example: Luther College in Iowa. The APO's are now
co-ed and I simply do not know how they handle members who are also "traditional". But Alpha Phi Omega, like most of the so-
called "multicultural" organizations are generally unhoused, and
some only have a handful of members and a songbook.
Only Phi Beta Kappa remains as the ultimate in Greek heights...
There are some professional Greek letter outfits, like at U Michigan which try to be like the NIC, NPC groups, but with little
success. Kappa Eta Kappa at Kansas, an electrical engineer group of sorts, had a crackerbox house, and was in and out of the IFC, generally had little identity other than a co-op house for
cheap meals.
Yes, there are all kinds now...take your pick, line your wall with the shingles...some real, others less than real, most have little purpose. The junior college one, Phi Theta Kappa, a consolation prize--sound-alike for Phi Beta Kappa, was a privately created club of sorts, lucrative, and like the hens' clubs, gets a lot of $$
selling their jewelry to wannabees...E-Bay full of that crap...yes,
these groups have tried to glom on to the elitism many of us had
in days of yore...when Phi Kappa Psi built the first house, a cabin
in the woods, and the Societies emerged from debating and from
literary societies, replete with libraries (sometimes better than the college itself)...'way back when the enrollment was a hundred
or less and the Greeks had "Fratres in Urbe" "Fratres in Facultate" pictured along with the chapter photos in the college
yearbooks...like DePauw, Union, Trinity, etc. Again, this harkens
back to the wonderful histories...Frederick Rudolph wrote a good
book on the American college scene...and then Williams and others booted the Greeks for the ugly co-ed ones or for snooty
eating clubs. The ugliest composite, arguably, in all of the collegiate scene is the now-coed outfits once affiliated with the
national...example: Bowdoin. Scary...coyote ugly!
But, troops, the collegiate Greek experience can be a great one
and memorable for life...even if you belong to Theta Nu Epsilon,
the sub-rosa outfit called TNE--with its persistent intrigue.
It is all fun and in the twilight of my years I still can recall those
fond and halcyon days...Love your affiliation, support it, and it
will warm your hearts forever....