Duquesne University Fraternities (Kappa Sigma Phi and Beta Pi Sigma)

[perdido88]

Some of the fraternities and sororities did not want to become part of the Hogan's Heroes club. The university started putting pressure on them. Beta Pi Sigma stopped participating in carnival (or maybe they were banned from it), and moved off campus... you only saw the Betas occasionally. They might have had their charter revoked or suspended and were unable to pledge new members. Slowly, I guess the remaining brothers graduated and the fraternity disappeared. I visited Duquesne years after graduating and just didn't see anyone wearing the letters Beta Pi Sigma anymore. This happened to the local fraternities and sororities only... and clubs like the Sheiks. My guess is that Duquesne just want national fraternities and sororities because they might be easier to control if they put pressure on their national administrative headquarters.

RedRover, are you still in touch with those Kaps that you knew? If you are, you could tell them to open an account on Myspace.com. There are many Kaps there, and they could probably communicate. If you're not, and you remember their names, let me know;I'll forward the names to a couple of the Kaps that I know. I'll send you a message to contact me.

later,

perdido88

[archangel689]

It is true that we were going to merge with the Kaps. Our histories are interconnected by the fact that they were once a chapter of our National.

They dropped National because they felt the dues were too much. A merger at this point is unlikely and I believe they've petitioned the school to shorten their suspension (so they can take a class before all the actives graduate).

Sigma Lambda Phi was shut down after Meridith died and alot of their sisters are a part of the new Sigma Kappa.

Beta was shut down and Gamma Phi is still very very strong on campus as the last remaining local. If you have any more questions let me know.


Please tell me about the Shieks. I rented a house near Duquesne and Sheiks was painted on the wall, and I always wondered why.

[perdido88]

Well, nothing against Phi Kappa Theta. I personally wouldn't like the Kaps or Kappa Sigma Phi die out because the university decided to get rid of local fraternities or sororities (how do you get rid of a fraternity which shut down during the 1940s because all their members volunteered to serve in WWII). ... because then they're gonna ask their former members for funds or whatever.

The Sheiks were a notorious (and much disliked by the university administrators) social club like Esquire.. and part of the '80s social clubs like the Playboys and others. I used to think they were the members of Delta Tau Chi in Duquesne when they'd have lost their Greek charter. Later, I found out that Tau Kappa Epsilon disaffiliated in the 70's or '80s and took Delta Tau Chi as their Greek fraternity name (obviously from the Animal House)... So I don't know when the Sheiks started. They were a huge presence during my imprisonment at Duquesne.. considering they were football players for the most part... and used to wear t-shirts around their heads resembling a turban or Arab headdress. They used to piss the hell off Father Hogan whence they entitled themselves Hogan's Heroes in some of their banners. when did they start? I don't know. I just know that it was a social club started sometime during the '80s... alongside with other social clubs like the Playboys (gone by the time I went to Duquesne) and Esquire Social Club.

I got the book on the history of Duquesne, thinking that it would shed some light around these groups, fraternities and sororities.. but it was a major disappointment. Some were just mentioned as part of a list in the group of greeks or social clubs from a certain decade or time.

Take care... best of luck with your group.

later,

perdido88

[RedRover]

Sheiks and Playboys were "social club," more than athletic clubs than social fraternities. Sheiks -- my roommate was one -- had blue and white jackets, Playboys -- one of my best friends -- had brown ones.

The social clubs were sort of fraternity lite. Esquires were earlier; I was there 1976-80.

BTW, whatever happened to the Zebes, they were quite strong on campus in my day.

[perdido88]

Well, I did some reading into that Duquesne history book. I found out that the Sheiks and the Playboys were around back in the 1960s.. and yes, they were a social club like Red Rover said.

Zeta Beta Tau is predominantly a jewish fraternity. They admitted members of other races and religions; two friends of mine are Puerto Ricans and they were admitted. Around 1994-1995, I saw members of Zeta Beta Tau sporting the Greek letters for Sigma Alpha Epsilon. I realized they changed, but I didn't think that could be done. I found out that they were having problems with the national headquarters due to a dwindling number of new jewish members in the fraternity; this is hard because Duquesne is mostly a Catholic university. anyways.. by that time, they had become one of the most despised fraternities around campus due to a series of incidents regarding one of their members. Such Zebe wanted to be president of the sga. there were elections and the zebea won.. ...apparently there were a number of votes not counted, so there were requests by the other candidates to do a recount or re-election... the night of the decision (I was there with my friend Kappa Sigma Phi Phil Cordier) the zebes burst into the room with baseball bats, hockey sticks, etc. Still, it was decided that a re-election would be made... the zebe lost and the other candidate won (I guess many people found out about the incident and just changed their minds). After this, around May, there was an incident that I called the 4th Floor Towers Kickass party. Classes were over, finals were done... people were celebrating the end of the year. The incident started in Loafer's (Molly's, whatever... next door to what used to be Corleone's). I wasn't there, so I guess there were arguments amongst the other fraternities and the Zebes. I was getting all my stuff ready for packing and going out later that night. I left Towers and when I came back to the lobby, I saw many Greeks going into the elevators and stopping at the 4th Floor (Zeta Beta Tau Wing)... I even noticed one frat guy saying to his brother: "hey, look. everybody's stopping at the 4th floor.". The next day, as I'm moving stuff out of campus, I noticed many zebes leaving... sporting broken arms, black eyes, bruises, etc. So my conclusion was that the other fraternities just burst in and started fighting them. So why the change? hard to know.. it could be problems with national headquarters or they decided to clean up their image after all the problems.

So that's my interpretation of what happened to Zeta Beta Tau in Duquesne.

later,

perdido88