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

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Actually, the fraternity in Animal House was based on Alpha Delta Phi at Dartmouth. They became the local Alpha Delta in 1969 and still exists at Dartmouth.

Delta Tau Chi never existed as an organized national fraternity - there may have been various local groups who thought it was cool to name themselves after the Animal House fraternity, but it was simply a case of likemindedness. "They" (whoever "they" are) did not shut down this fraternity nationwide - there was nothing to shut down nationallly. More likely the different groups either died out or joined national fraternities.

There is, of course, a Delta Chi fraternity, but it has nothing to do with either Animal House or Dartmouth.

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. 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.

[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.

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

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. 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.

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

Originally Posted by 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.

[Markasm70]

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!

[perdido88]

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..

[datadr93]

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