Delta Tau Delta: From Upsilon to Beta Upsilon, to John Street and Back, 1872-2000

Jon Coit, GHHP GA, March 6, 2001

Information courtesy of University of Illinois Archives and the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing This history was produced as part of the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing’s Greek Chapter History Project. The Society was founded in 1988, with the goal of preserving the historic buildings that embody the history of the nation’s largest Greek system, and educating the public about the historical significance of fraternities and sororities on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. Dues paid by member fraternity and sorority chapters and donations from chapter alumni fund the Society’s work. In keeping with their mission, the Society began the Greek Chapter History Project in May 2000 in conjunction with the University of Illinois Archives. The GCHP aims for nothing less than producing a complete historical record of fraternities and sororities on the University of Illinois campus by employing a graduate assistant to research and write histories of campus chapters. Making the work possible are the extensive collections of the University of Illinois Archives, especially its Student Life and Culture Archival Program. Supported by an endowment from the Stewart S. Howe Foundation, the heart of the SLC Archives is the Stewart S. Howe collection, the world’s largest collection of material related to fraternities and sororities.

2001 The Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing and the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. All rights reserved.

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From Upsilon to sub rosa to defunct: 1871-1879

Delta Tau Delta at the University of Illinois got its start during a period in which

student life was restricted to a degree hardly fathomable today. Students’ classes largely

consisted of dry recitation with little opportunity for the development of one’s own

creative energies. On many campuses, student-run literary societies were founded to

allow students to both express themselves without the restrictions of faculty supervision,

and engage issues of the day. Indeed, Delta Tau Delta itself was founded at Bethany

College, Bethany, West Virginia in 1858 after a group of members of that school’s

Neotrophian literary society watched a clique within the society conspire to award a prize

to one of its own members.1

Although the specific reasons James N. Matthews, Ira O. Baker, and James R.

Mann banded together to found what became the Upsilon chapter of Delta Tau Delta are

unclear, Winton Solberg’s history of the University of Illinois suggests that

dissatisfaction with the level of faculty control over student life might have been at the

heart of the matter. All three men were members of the University’s (then called Illinois

Industrial University) Philomathean literary society. It is also clear that they came into

contact with Delta Tau Delta through Indiana’s Nu Chapter. R. L. Organ of Nu Chapter

wrote to DTD’s Alpha chapter in November 1871, stating that “We have been

corresponding with them [Illinois fledgling Delts] for several weeks. They have 15 men

at present.…” Two weeks after the chapter obtained its charter, January 19, 1872, an

unauthorized choir practice precipitated a crisis in campus government. At the time,

control of the students’ dormitory was vested in a student-only General Assembly, with a

five-man Council empowered to levy fines for infractions of the Assembly’s rules. But

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final authority, of course, remained in the hands of the school’s faculty. The Council had

fined 15 members of a choir for practicing during study hours. The choir members,

though, had permission from a faculty member, and appealed to University President

James Gregory to overturn their fines. The students were split over the issue. The

General Assembly, which according to Solberg was dominated by the still-secret Upsilon

Chapter of Delta Tau Delta, passed a resolution by a near-unanimous vote demanding the

faculty sustain the Council’s verdict. Another student, Charles W. Rolfe, got a majority

of students to sign a petition protesting the ultimatum the General Assembly had issued.

Quite clearly the issue was whose authority reigned in the dormitory—the student

government or the faculty. The conflict ended ambiguously. Gregory and a Trustee of

the University upheld the Council’s fines, but the fines were paid by the faculty and not

the students in question.2

The conflict did, however, suggest that fraternities had invaded the University.

Delta Tau Delta, as the first fraternity on the Illinois campus, clearly bore the brunt of the

general suspicion of fraternities. Solberg notes that the Upsilon chapter of Delta Tau

Delta was not “officially” discovered until 1876. But the choir conflict and opposition to

fraternities in the broader society clearly indicated to some students that the “serpent” as

President Gregory called it, was among them. Gregory, like many fraternity opponents,

argued first and foremost that it was fraternities’ secrecy which posed the greatest threat

to the authority of University faculty. Solberg repeats the charge of Rolfe and Gregory

that the choir crisis had been induced by DTD to take control of the General Assembly.

1 History of Delta Tau Delta, www.delts.org/history.shtml, accessed March 6, 2001. 2 Winton Solberg, The University of Illinois 1867-1894: an Intellectual and Cultural History, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1968, p. 186-87, 200-1; F. Darrell Moore, “Defection and Expansion - - - The Fraternity Emerges,” The Rainbow 85:4 (Summer 1962), p. 187.

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In 1875 students unsuccessfully attempted to ban fraternity members from offices in

student government, while that year the Board of Trustees “condemned secret

societies”—that is, Delta Tau Delta—“as detrimental to” the campus’ form of

government. After the existence of the chapter was officially recognized in 1876, one

hundred students petitioned the faculty to abolish it. Gregory elaborated on the charge

that the existence of the Upsilon chapter hampered the student-run government. Solberg

writes that Gregory “attributed troubles experienced by the College Government to covert

fraternity factions, and believed that these clandestine activities frustrated all hopes of a

successful experiment in self-government.” This opinion was reflected in an 1876 Board

of Trustees’ resolution which, while condemning “secret societies” and asking students to

disband and refuse to tolerate them, did not ban them wholesale.3

The hostility of many students, as well as the college faculty, made it difficult for

the Upsilon chapter to survive. An early member, L. F. Warner, Jr., requested for this

reason that the Alpha chapter correspond with the Illinois fraternity in plain envelopes:

“Secret societies are strongly forbidden by the faculty, and discountenanced by many of

the the students.” Noting the previous communications bearing the DTD insignia and

directed to the chapter, Warner wrote: “Our mail is delivered to the University postoffice

[sic], and it has been by mere accident that they were not discovered. Each time one of

the boys happened to be helping with the mail and got them.” For reasons of secrecy the

chapter even avoided sending representatives to the Karnea, the Delts’ biannual

convention.4

3 Solberg, op. cit., p. 190, 200. 4 Quoted in Moore, “Defection,” p. 187

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In a series of articles on defunct Delt chapters published in the national

fraternity’s publication The Rainbow in 1890-91, Lowrie McClurg argued that what

seemed to Gregory and others like a secret cabal intent on usurping college government,

was in fact an organization “composed of the pick of the upper classes [juniors and

seniors].” It was a result of the generally high caliber of these early Delt men, McClurg

suggested, that many of them did occupy College Government offices. Once the group

was discovered, graduating Upsilon chapter seniors began wearing their badges on

commencement day. Once it was noticed that “most of the students occupying prominent

positions were fraternity men,” this fueled the fire of those students and faculty who

believed “that they were organized for the purpose of electing their members to office.”5

It is difficult to know what the original motives of the Founders were, and why

exactly Delta Tau Delta at Illinois was organized. Is does seem clear, though, that

opposition to fraternities in general dramatically shaped student and faculty opinion of

the chapter’s early actions. An activity which later became the standard measure of a

fraternity’s success—involvement in campus government—was in this case construed as

an attempt of a select few to run student government for their own benefit. In any event,

the opposition to Delta Tau Delta at Illinois had the desired effect. The chapter elected to

operate sub rosa in 1876, and returned its own charter to the Alpha three years later.

During that time the chapter accumulated a large debt to the Alpha chapter, and, when the

Alpha refused to remit the debt, the chapter returned their charter. Solberg notes that two

1881 University graduates, Francis M. McKay and John H. Morse, claimed membership

5 Quoted in ibid., p. 187.

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in Delta Tau Delta.6 But aside from those two, between 1879 and 1894 Delta Tau Delta

was absent from the University campus.

Beta Upsilon: 1894

Just as the chapter struggled and ultimately succumbed in a climate hostile to

fraternities at Illinois, it experienced a resurgence when the social and regulatory climate

improved. Beginning with the appointment of Thomas J. Burrill as the acting regent of

the University in 1891, the prospects for fraternities at Illinois brightened considerably.

The Trustees lifted previous regulations against student membership in fraternities in

September of that year. Sigma Chi and Kappa Sigma were the first organizations to take

advantage, and were both officially approved by the University in 1891 (Sigma Chi had

been at Illinois since 1881). Over the next two years several other groups formed,

including a local fraternity that called itself Delta Delta Delta. It was this group which, in

late 1893, began corresponding with the Alpha chapter of Delta Tau Delta concerning

affiliation.7

While the animosities toward fraternities in general had subsided, the indirect

impact of those on the Upsilon chapter remained. Expansion of Delta Tau Delta was a

cause of much debate in the late 19th century, as it and many other fraternities that had

expanded quickly in the 1880s found their chapters failing quickly. In that context, some

Delts who remembered the details of the Upsilon chapter’s disbandment believed Illinois

represented a less promising location for a new chapter. Future Delt President Alvan E.

Duerr, at that time an official in the Arch Chapter (the national executive body of Delta

6 Solberg, op. cit., p. 285. 7 ibid., p. 379, F. Darrell Moore, “Babcock Begins, 1893,” The Rainbow 89:2 (Winter 1966), p. 10.

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Tau Delta), argued adamantly against the new Illinois chapter: “For goodness sake let’s

defeat the Illinois petition. If we are not careful, we will have a lot of the worst new

chapters on hand imaginable.”8 However, the investigator appointed by the Arch

Chapter, Roy O. West, returned an extremely favorable report about the applicants, which

apparently convinced the national of the merits of the men. West wrote “Both the

registrar and Professors Edwards and Van der Voort, the latter two being Delta Tau

Deltas, recommended the petitioners very highly in every respect. I think Delta Tau

Delta could not hope to institute a new chapter with better men.”9 Delt President Kendric

C. Babcock concurred with this assessment after attending the installation banquet of the

new chapter, April 19, 1894. “They are the best looking lot of men we have ever started

with, so far as my knowledge goes.”10

Interestingly enough, while some old Delts could not put the Illinois chapter’s

past behind them (Stevens College’s Rho chapter going so far as to pass a resolution

censuring the Arch Chapter for granting the Illinois charter), it is quite possible that the

new Beta Upsilon chapter was unaware of its own past. The chapter listed 1894 as its

establishment date in the Illio, the University’s yearbook, until the 1904 edition. Then, it

noted the chapter had been established in 1872, but “re-established” in 1894—just as

Sigma Chi listed it’s Illinois chapter as having been established in 1881 and re-

established in 1891.11

8 Moore, op. cit., p. 10. 9 Quoted in ibid., p. 10. 10 Quoted in ibid. , p. 10. 11 The Illio, 1895-1904.

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The First House: 1894-1913

Beta Upsilon did not occupy a house until 1900. As was the practice with

University of Illinois fraternities, the chapter rented a meeting hall. The chapter hall was

located on Main and Walnut streets, Champaign, on the second floor of a building which

housed and was owned by the First National Bank.12 The chapter moved to its first house

in 1900, a rented property at 410 E. Green, Champaign.13 Very little was recorded about

that particular house, but there are photographs of it in the Illio. It was, though, the house

in which the longest of all Delt traditions was begun—carving fireplace bricks. The

available records don’t indicate how the tradition started, but most contemporary Delts

say every member who lived in the house at least five semesters carved their name into a

brick in the fireplace.

Fundraising for a new home, though difficult, was no doubt made easier by the

increasing strength of the active chapter. By 1909 the chapter boasted thirty active

members. The centerpiece of the chapter’s activities was an annual alumni dinner (or, as

prominent alum Louis M. Tobin ’01 usually termed it, the “love feast”), usually held in

late April or early May. The chapter began several annual traditions during this period,

some of which survived for many years. Annually, around Christmas, the pledges put on

a Christmas dance, and, in addition to the annual Halloween party, some of the actives

performed a play for the chapter’s amusement. The 1907 playbill featured “’Blotches of

Blood: or Pursued by Percy Cauliflower,’ described as the legitimate successor to ‘Gobs

12 “Delt Room Picture Recalls Early Days,” Beta Upsilon Booster 31:2 (December 1935), p. 1. 13 Student Directory, 1907/08-1910/11.

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of Gore.’”14 The chapter also held frequent dances and parties, as well as a winter

formal.

When the University began celebrating Homecoming in 1910, the Delts added it

quite successfully to their social calendar. While not the focus of the chapter’s activities

they were to become later, the exploits of the University’s sports teams were chronicled

in the chapter’s newsletter, The Beta Upsilon (renamed The Beta Upsilon Booster in

1908). Baseball and football were of most interest. Beta Upsilon also had men in all

phases of University activities, from the campus newspaper to honor societies.15 The

overarching emphasis of the early years of Beta Upsilon, though, was their drive to build

a house equal if not superior to their rivals’. Though alumni and actives began

attempting to raise funds for a house in 1901, ten years passed before the project came to

fruition.

The house at 302 E. John, Champaign, that served as home for Beta Upsilon until

1967, owed its existence primarily to three Delts: Leslie Weaver ‘95, Louis Michael

(Mike) Tobin ‘01, and Bert Nelson ’05 (aka “Shylock”). Weaver helped form the house

corporation in 1903 in order to begin the process of raising funds, and saw the chapter

take its first real step towards its goal with the 1905 purchase of two lots at the northwest

corner of John and Third streets, Champaign.16 He was not to see the fulfillment of the

chapter’s dream, however, due to an untimely death. The mantle thus fell to Tobin and

Nelson. Tobin was extremely important to the fraternity, and the University, in the years

between his graduation and his death in 1943. While Tobin served in various chapter

offices including President, and was President of the house corporation, it is probably his

14 The Beta Upsilon, (vol. and issue number indistinct) December 1907, p. 2. 15 The Beta Upsilon Booster, passim.

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editorship of the The Beta Upsilon in which he served the chapter best. He was editor of

the publication from its inception in 1904 until the early thirties, and stayed on as alumni

editor until 1936.17 Bert Nelson earned the affectionate nickname of “Shylock” due to

his diligence in dunning Delts for delinquent house fund accounts, as treasurer of the

chapter’s corporation. Nelson directed the fund through at least the early twenties,

although this is hard to determine. Even when Nelson moved to Peoria in 1919 he

retained his position with the fund.18

1904 proved to be a pivotal year in the history of Beta Upsilon. In that year, the

chapter began publication of The Beta Upsilon to promote the chapter’s annual dinner,

and Nelson took over management of the house fund. At the time Nelson entered office,

the fund had just $160 in the bank, a loan of $183 outstanding, as well as the note on the

lots at 302 E. John.19 In addition to regularly asking for donations through the newsletter,

Nelson also devised ways to demonstrate to the alumni that the actives were serious about

a new home. In the December 1907 Booster, Nelson announced that the actives had

agreed to require each initiate to deposit $20 in the house fund, as well as increasing the

annual chapter-wide contribution of $500 to the fund. “All this,” Nelson wrote, “is in

spite of the expense of maintaining a big house and could not be done was not the chapter

[sic] in healthy financial condition.” 20

While Nelson proved to be an exceptionally shrewd and successful businessman,

he clearly benefitted from Tobin’s talent for publicity. The chapter was also able to

16 William R. Kent, “Beta Upsilon’s Own House,” The Rainbow 34:4 (June 1911), p. 572. 17 The Beta Upsilon Booster. The end of Tobin’s tenure as editor is difficult to pinpoint, as the newsletter ceased publishing that information in the 1920s, and the University of Illinois Archives has few issues from that period. His first appearance as alumni editor was in 1932. 18 The Beta Upsilon Booster 15:1 (August 1919), and passim; Kent, passim. 19 The Beta Upsilon Booster 15:1 (August 1919), p. 2. 20 The Beta Upsilon Booster 4:1 (December 1907), p. 2.

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appeal to the competitive nature of fraternities in seeking house fund contributions, as

some of the Delts’ main rivals—including Sigma Chi, Alpha Tau Omega, and Sigma

Alpha Epsilon—were in the process of building grand new chapter houses while Beta

Upsilon attempted to raise funds for theirs. Tobin typically paired pleas for funds with

notice of these new houses. For example, in a 1906 Booster Tobin’s article about

delinquent house notes stated, “If brothers who are delinquent could visit here and take a

look at the houses our rivals are erecting, they would swear an almighty vow that their

own chapter must not be behind.”21

It took several years of diligent fundraising to bring about the construction of the

Delts’ new home at 302 E. John Street. Nelson wrote in the December 1907 Beta

Upsilon that the chapter “wants to build in two years—when her present lease is up. Will

she?” But the Illinois chapter was able to capitalize on strong Delt alumni spirit. The

1907 Karnea at Chicago set a record (to be broken three times since by the Delts) for the

largest fraternity convention ever, and the Illinois chapters themselves set a record for

having the largest delegation at any convention. The main activity of the chapter in those

years was the annual alumni dinner, held in late spring. At each of these occasions,

Tobin and Nelson implored the alumni to support the efforts of the active chapter. At the

1908 dinner, Tobin needled alumni with a lengthy speech. Asking rhetorically if it were

possible to build a house to occupy by fall of 1910, Tobin said, “The plan is impractical,

you say? Do you mean to say that Delta Tau Delta cannot do what Alpha Tau Omega has

done?”22

21 The Beta Upsilon Booster 3:(issue number indistinct) (1906), p. 1 22 The Beta Upsilon Booster 4:4 (June 1908), p. 3.

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But even with the active chapter’s hefty contributions and Nelson’s and Tobin’s

effective appeals, the construction of the house proceeded by fits and starts. The

directors of the house corporation met on Thanksgiving day 1909 to give final approval

to house construction plans, even though a considerable bit of fundraising awaited the

chapter. After an aborted attempt to sell bonds to the alumni to sponsor a $20,000 loan,

the corporation elected instead to attempt to raise $10,000 from them directly with this

appeal: “To build a fraternity house at the University of Illinois that will endure for all

time as the home of Delta Tau Delta there, $10,000 must be raised by September

[1910].”23 Construction began on the chapter house that fall, in the end supported by a

$20,000 loan with the $10,000 expected to be forthcoming. It appears, though, that the

chapter was not successful in meeting their fundraising deadline. By early spring 1911,

around $5000 had been raised, but needed an additional $5000 to make a payment to their

contractor by July 1. The chapter failed to meet even this extended deadline. In the

January 1912 Booster Tobin noted that, although the chapter had paid out nearly all the

contributions that had come in to support the house, around $6,900, it still needed to raise

about $3000. The chapter was eventually able to retire the promissory note engaged to

meet that obligation, but not until the house had been occupied for two years. Given the

difficulty with financing, the actives had to move into the house long before it was

completed. Although they first occupied the house in the fall of 1911, it wasn’t until the

Booster of August 1913 that the chapter announced it was completed.

23 The Beta Upsilon Booster 6:2 (May 1910), p. 3.

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Through the War, and into the Depression

Between the time Beta Upsilon moved into their new home, and the onset of

World War I, the chapter focused considerable attention on scholarship. While

maintaining their involvement in campus activities, including sports, the Illio, the campus

circus, Homecoming, and social events, the chapter saw its grades fluctuate but generally

stay in the top half of all fraternities on campus. During the spring semester of 1914, the

chapter ranked third of all fraternities in scholarship, and the Booster gave credit to a new

scholarship program in the house. The newletter noted “a junior was appointed a sort of

bookkeeper, whose duty it was to keep account of all the absences taken by the members

and to record all of the scholarship reports forwarded; and a senior, a forceful, impulsive

football player, forced the fighting” with schoolwork.24 With the building success of the

Illinois football team, Homecoming became an even more popular event at 302 E. John.

A highlight was no doubt the 1915 Homecoming tie game between Illinois and

Minnesota for the conference title.25 The Delts also spent time and money in smoothing

off some of the rough edges left by the long and difficult process of constructing their

house. For example, the chapter noted in two consecutive 1914 Boosters that the house

needed new furniture, but it was not until the end of the 1914-1915 school year that they

were able to furnish the house as they had hoped. That year, the chapter finally ended

spring semester in the black: “the chapter managed its affairs so successfully last year

that the year ended with a large profit—in CASH—which has been expended in placing

24 The Beta Upsilon Booster 11:1 (November 1914), p. 2. 25 The Beta Upsilon Booster 12:1 (October 1915), p. 1.

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cork carpets on the two upper floors and on placing new furniture in the library and in the

living room.”26

However, the War, which did not seem to enter the thoughts of the chapter before

1917, intruded upon them rather quickly. The nation as a whole had been hearing

debates about the necessity of “preparedness” for some time, but as late as April 1917 the

Booster reported the house was running at capacity.27 Soon afterward, however, the

chapter saw cause for alarm. Members sent out an emergency letter to the alumni on

May 15 about the financial condition of the chapter. At the end of the 1916-17 school

year, the chapter consisted of ten men, including two seniors. By then fourteen men had

enlisted in the service and nine had returned home to farm. Thus the chapter believed “It

is absolutely necessary to create a large emergency fund which will be available to make

up any deficit which may ensue.”28 But although the chapter did shrink to about two-

thirds its pre-war size, in the end, World War I only closed the house for a couple of

weeks in the fall of 1918. This is all the more remarkable given that the chapter did more

than its fair share for the war effort. Twenty men from the active chapter and thirteen

alumni were in the service by the fall of 1917, and by war’s end the roll of Delts in the

service took up half the Booster’s front page. Through the help of the alumni, the

payments on the house were made on time throughout the War. However, the Student

Army Training Corps ordered the house closed and the brothers into barracks two weeks

into the fall semester of 1918. As the war ended during that semester, the actives were

permitted to return to the house in the spring. By fall 1919, the chapter was back up to

full strength, in terms of numbers of men, but with the noticeable absence of four Beta

26 The Beta Upsilon Booster 12:1 (October 1915), p. 2. 27 The Beta Upsilon Booster 13:2 (April 1917), p. 3.

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Upsilon Delts who gave their lives in service: Tom Goodfellow, Ralph Gifford, E. L.

Harshbarger, and Phil Smith. With the exception of Goodfellow, who died in combat in

France, the rest succumbed to the great influenza epidemic which killed millions

worldwide.29

The 1920s was a decade of great growth in popularity and numbers for the

fraternity system nationwide. This growth was centered at the University of Illinois, and

Beta Upsilon was at its heart. University students had long referred to themselves as “rah

rahs,” in reference to the important role University sports played in their recreational

activities. That this happened in the 1920s and the 1940s and 1950s, that is in the wake

of two horribly destructive wars, is not as surprising as it might seem. Even in World

War I, which the United States entered late and suffered few casualties in relation to the

other combatants, seems to have strengthened the bonds felt by the brothers. The Booster

for August 1919 noted that “All during the War the men from overseas wrote back about

the great reunion that would be held when the War ended,” and the 1919 Homecoming

proved it. More alumni returned that year than could fit in the house.30 But Tobin also

noted that this sentiment extended even to the house fund: “One of the most inspiring

things to the men at home was the loyalty of the boys in France to the house-fund. Look

over the roll of honor and see how many men in the service sent checks.”31 Clearly Beta

Upsilon was something the brothers felt closely tied to.

It was in the 1920s when the chapter assumed the form it would take for the next

fifty years. Intramural athletics, as well as the usual participation in University sports,

28 The Beta Upsilon Booster 13:3 (June 1917) p. 1. 29 The Beta Upsilon Booster, 14:1,2,3, 15:1 (1917, 1918). 30 The Rainbow 46:1 (November 1922), p. 222 31 The Beta Upsilon Booster 15:1 (August 1919), p. 2.

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became a major focus of the chapter. No doubt this was in part due to the influence of

Tobin. As both a dedicated Delt alumnus and the man in charge of publicity for the

University’s sports program, Tobin was clearly in a position to make the connection

between the growing popularity of the football program and the Beta Upsilon chapter.

Over the next fifty years the chapter boasted at least one starter on the University’s

football squad. The ties ran even deeper—in the 1930s Bob Zuppke, the legendary coach

of the Illinois football team, regularly attended the Delts annual spring reunion.

Zuppke’s status as a Kappa Sigma alumnus, though providing the occasion for much

derision, deterred neither himself nor the chapter from welcoming him to the house. At

the 1938 reunion, for example, the Booster noted that Zuppke “was greeted with the

traditional song with its dire threat of what would happen to a Kappa Sig found ‘within

the sacred walls.’”32

As athletics and homecoming assumed prominence in the chapter’s activities,

members didn’t neglect other traditional areas of focus. Actives stayed involved with the

Illio, the Daily Illini (the campus newspaper), and honorary societies. While scholarship

wasn’t a strength of the chapter, they nevertheless made concerted efforts here as well.

In a typical year, 1925-26, the chapter’s actives included Russell Daugherity, house

president and star back on the Illinois football squad; John Morse, editor of the Illio;

Richard Ramey, sports editor of the Daily Illini; three members of the senior activity

honorary, Ma-Wan-Da, including Daugherity, Paul Doolen, and Byron Phillips; and three

members of the junior honorary, Sachem, including Morse, Bruce Morse, and Paul Bush.

Although Beta Upsilon only managed 39th place out of 64 fraternity chapters at Illinois in

grade point average, this put them on par with other Delt chapters nationwide. Moreover,

32 The Beta Upsilon Booster 33:4 (June 1938), p. 1.

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they were only slightly below the all-men’s and all-fraternity averages.33 The chapter

continued to hold its winter formal, parties, and exchanges. The 1920s also saw the

chapter memorialize important milestones in its history. At Homecoming 1923, the

chapter celebrated both its 50th anniversary and dedicated a plaque, donated by the

alumni and sculpted by renowned artist Lorado Taft, which memorialized Beta Upsilon’s

four members who died in World War I.34

The Great Depression hit many fraternities and sororities hard, but Beta Upsilon

seemed to have had little trouble attracting pledges over the decade. Even at the depths

of the Depression, in 1932, the chapter continued to operate in the black.35 Although it

looked like the chapter might have difficulty filling the house due to economic conditions

in the spring of 1933, by the beginning of the 1933-34 school year the house had twenty-

one pledges. Even in periods where other Illinois fraternities had difficulty rushing men,

Beta Upsilon did well.36

The chapter did express difficulty, though, in getting alumni interested in the

chapter’s activities. No hint was given as to the reason, although it could be in part that

the Depression affected the ability of the alumni both to contribute money to the chapter

and to travel to 302 E. John for Homecoming. There is also some suggestion that

publication of the Booster had lapsed for a few years.37 As a result, the chapter took

steps to try and attract alumni interest. They instituted a new alumni event, a “Spring

Reunion,” which typically featured a Saturday morning golf game, an afternoon Illinois

baseball game, and an evening banquet. The idea of a spring meeting was not new to the

33 The Rainbow 50:1 (November 1926), p. 105. 34 The Rainbow 46:1 (November 1922), p. 222. 35 The Beta Upsilon Booster 28:1 (December 1932), p. 4. 36 The Beta Upsilon Booster 32:3 (March 1937), p. 3.

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chapter, as its chief activity before the inauguration of Homecoming was a spring alumni

dinner. The announcement of the dinner to be held May 6, 1933, suggested that the

active chapter believed finances were discouraging alumni interest in the house. It urged

“Don’t let finances interfere with your plans for attending the Spring Reunion. No

charge will be made for the banquet, and many Delts are organizing parties to drive to

Champaign to cut transportation costs. Low round-trip rail fares are also available for the

week-end period.”38 The initial and subsequent reunions were a great success.39 The

chapter also began publishing an alumni directory, the first in the chapter’s history, in

1934.40

In addition to its’ usual success in intramural sports, campus activities, and

support of the Illinois football squad, the chapter made two major changes in its structure

during the 1930s. The first was the addition of a “house manager,” Mrs. Lillian

Wisegarver. Wisegarver was not a “house mother,” presiding over the chapter’s social

functions. Instead, she supervised the commissary and looked after the house and

ensured “that it is operated on a wholesome and economical basis.”41 Except for a brief

interval during World War II, Wisegarver stayed with the chapter through the late 1960s.

The second change was the inauguration of what the chapter called a “praeceptor”

position. Basically a chapter advisor dedicated to improving the actives’ scholarship, the

praeceptor system, as it was followed in the 1930s, placed a man, usually a Delt, in the

position of advisor to the actives regarding their schoolwork.42 The chapter

37 Note in The Beta Upsilon Booster 30:5 (June 1935), p. 3 about having revived the Booster “a few years back.” The University Archives holdings stop in 1929 and resume in 1932. 38 The Beta Upsilon Booster 28:3 (March 1933), p. 1. 39 The Beta Upsilon Booster 28:4, 29:5, 30:5, 31:4. 40 The Beta Upsilon Booster 29:5 (June 1935), p. 2. 41 The Beta Upsilon Booster 28:3 (February 1934), p. 3. 42 The Beta Upsilon Booster 28:1 (December 1932), p. 3; 29:3 (February 1934), p. 3.

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supplemented the system, beginning in 1934, with two new scholarship awards. A

plaque was made to carry the names of two actives each year: one who led the chapter in

grades, and the other who showed the most improvement over the previous year. The

chapter also began awarding an inscription on a gold cup every semester to two

freshmen, one who led the chapter’s freshmen and the other who had improved the

most.43 However, the chapter’s heavy emphasis on activities and social events made it

difficult to get Beta Upsilon in the top 10 chapters on campus. The chapter had an annual

Christmas dance organized by the pledges, the Spring Reunion, Homecoming, Dad’s and

Mom’s Days, and an annual spring formal, in addition to their typical line-up of

intramural and college sports and campus activities. It was in the 1930s when the chapter

newsletter first mentions exchanges with sororities, and participation in events like

Sachem Sing.44

World War II and the Postwar Era

As with World War I, the effects of the Second World War seemed to creep up on

Beta Upsilon. The chapter had successful years in 1939, 1940, and even 1941. They

completely renovated their library, improved their standing to fourteenth in grades, won

the intramural title in baseball in 1940 and basketball in 1941, and continued to hold

successful reunions and a full social schedule.45 But after the United States’ entry into

the War, Delts in the service and out again found themselves caught up in it. Lt. Harry

Ripkey ’40, for example, was commanding an anti-aircraft battery at Pearl Harbor on

December 7, 1941, when the Japanese surprise attack catapulted the nation into war.

43 The Beta Upsilon Booster 29:3 (February 1934), p. 1. 44 The Beta Upsilon Booster, passim.

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However, it was unclear early on how the War would affect fraternities on campus. The

Booster speculated—correctly, as it turned out—that the unpopular Student Army

Training Corps would not be reinstituted. It took several war years to actually close the

chapter house.

Remarkably, as in WWI, the chapter remained functioning, if at abbreviated

strength, even as both actives and alumni from Beta Upsilon answered the call to arms.

The last reports of the chapter’s social activities were in 1943. The February Rainbow of

that year noted that the chapter had held “several informal parties and dances,” as well as

the annual Christmas Pledge Formal the previous semester. The chapter also watched

one of their all-time college athletic greats, cager Andy Phillip, lead the “Whiz Kids” of

the Illinois basketball team to the Big 10 championship in 1943.46 It wasn’t until 1944

that the chapter house closed down. For the duration, Beta Upsilon rented three rooms in

an office building, located at 709 S. Wright St., Champaign. The chapter did continue to

pledge and initiate members, however.47 In the end, 213 Beta Upsilon actives and alumni

served in the military, and the chapter mourned sixteen of its own who had fallen in

combat.48 Perhaps the most mourned Delt of that era didn’t wear the uniform of his

country. Louis M. Tobin passed away in 1943. After the War, the chapter memorialized

Tobin along with those sixteen Beta Upsilon Delts who gave their lives for their

country.49

Although Beta Upsilon actives reoccupied 302 E. John St. in early 1946, it took

some time to get the chapter running smoothly. About a year lapsed between chapter

45 The Beta Upsilon Booster, passim. 46 Louis M. Tobin, “All-America Andy Phillip,” The Rainbow 66:3 (May 1943), p. 139-140. 47 The Rainbow 67:3 (May 1944), p. 84. 48 The Rainbow 69:1 (November 1945), p. 20, 23; 69:3 (May 1946), p. 126-127.

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reports to The Rainbow, from May 1946 to May 1947. But the May 1947 report showed

the chapter had returned to its’ pre-war schedule. Heavy involvement in intramural

sports and campus activities, as well as the chapter’s annual reunion, spring formal, and

social events, showed that the chapter was back to normal. The 1947 reunion, held April

18-19, also provided the occasion for the unveiling of the chapter’s memorial portrait of

Louis M. Tobin.50 The chapter finished its first year back with a flourish, winning the

trophy for overall points in the entire intramural sports tourney. Alumni interest in the

chapter waxed, as it had after the previous war. After the 1947 spring reunion the chapter

announced that alumni and actives had laid the groundwork for an ambitious four-year

house renovation program. That fall, Homecoming saw one of the largest crowds ever at

Beta Upsilon—around 250 actives, alumni, family and friends celebrated the resumption

of Illinois Delts’ traditions. In 1952, the chapter celebrated its 80th anniversary at the

University of Illinois.51

Just as before the War the Delts continued to grapple with scholarship. Indeed,

the national fraternity as a whole turned its eyes to the issue. While Beta Upsilon had

never consistently excelled in grades, in this it tended to mirror the national as a whole, as

few Delt chapters were known for their scholastic excellence. At the 1950 Karnea, the

national passed a lengthy resolution in an attempt to refocus the attitude of its chapters on

scholarship. In this, interestingly enough, Beta Upsilon had led the way. In early 1949

the chapter adopted an “advisor” system, which paired a pledge and an active for the

purpose of improving grades, and later in the year added new study room assignments

and a scholarship honor roll board to the chapter’s system. The renewed emphasis this

49 The Rainbow 69:3 (May 1946), p. 117. 50 The Rainbow 70:3 (May 1947), p. 158.

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time seemed to pay off. While the chapter recruited an especially strong pledge class

during the 1950-51 school year, which won the campus award for highest pledge class

scholarship, the chapter stayed within the top ten for the next few years.52 But again, the

chapter’s focus on campus activities, especially given the increased prominence of the

Spring Carnival and Homecoming decorations in the 1950s and 1960s, certainly must

have made it difficult to keep up these early successes.

As it had before the War, the chapter excelled in intramural sports and campus

activities, and of course boasted a full social calendar. Its entries in the Spring Carnival

grew increasingly complex. For the 1953 carnival, the chapter made a “Tarzan” movie

aptly titled “Vine, Vimmen, and Sarong,” and the next year’s carnival booth featured a

contraption which projected the six-inch image of a female assistant into a small

fishbowl.53 The chapter was consistently competitive in intramural sports, winning the

track championship in 1955, the recreational basketball tournament in 1950 and 1956,

and the intramural football championship in 1958, for example. It also continued to boast

of exceptional University athletes as well. Bill Tate ’53, who later became Beta

Upsilon’s chapter advisor, won Most Valuable Player honors at the 1952 Rose Bowl as

an Illini tailback, and Jon Culbertson ’56 excelled in gymnastics for Illinois.

The report in the June 1960 Rainbow displayed a typical social schedule for this

period. Exchanges were held with Kappa Alpha Theta, Delta Gamma, and Alpha Epsilon

Phi sororities; the chapter paired with Delta Delta Delta for Sheequon (the event that

51 The Rainbow 71:1 (November 1947), p. 21; 71:2 (February 1948), p. 105; 76:1 (September 1952), p. 40. 52 The Rainbow 72:2 (February 1949), p. 88; 73:1 (November 1949), p. 24; 74:1 (September 1950), p. 3, 35-36; 74:2 (December 1950), p. 108-109; 74:3 (March 1951), p. 172; 74:4 (June 1951), p. 253; 76:4 (June 1953), p. 201. 53 The Rainbow 76:3 (March 1953), p. 147.

23

replaced the Spring Carnival), and several serenades were given.54 Chapter reports in the

Rainbow become less frequent during this period, although those available, as well as

information from alumni interviews, suggests that Beta Upsilon continued to excel in its

traditional areas. The fall 1965 Rainbow report noted that the chapter had finished within

the top five in the intramural sports program the previous few years. As the University of

Illinois celebrated its centennial in 1967, Beta Upsilon reported a high chapter

scholarship average, and a rededicated and enthusiastic chapter leadership.55

The Fire and its Aftermath

The morning of September 2, 1967, Beta Upsilon’s beloved house at 302 E. John

was gutted by fire. Even rooms that escaped burning still suffered extensive smoke and

water damage, the total cost estimated at the time at $200,000. John Gleeson ’68 and

Lucky Somers ’69 came back to John St. without advance knowledge of the fire, and

were the first among the actives to discover the total loss.56 Alumni and the University

worked together to find the chapter temporary housing for the coming year—the fire had

occurred only two weeks before classes were to start. They were able to salvage some

memorabilia, including the carved bricks on the fireplace. Jack Fredrickson ’69, writing

in the Rainbow, noted that, at least initially, the chapter remained strong: “…we have

realized that the only thing the fire destroyed was our chapter house. We are still a top

rushing chapter on campus.” Their strong rushing program, he noted, would “ensure our

continued prominence in the fraternity system here at Illinois.”57

54 The Rainbow 83:4 (June 1960), p. 196-197. 55 The Rainbow 90:3 (Spring 1967), p. 33; 89:1 (Fall 1965), p. 22-23. 56 The Rainbow 91:1 (Fall 1967), p. 13; The Beta Upsilon Booster January 2001, p. 3. 57 The Rainbow 90:2 (Fall 1967), p. 13.

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The chapter initially continued its strong showing in the Illinois Greek system. In

1967-68 the chapter placed third in the Interfraternity Council Intramural sports

competition, following that up with a second place finish the following year. Even

though the emergency housing arrangements provided Beta Upsilon with both rush and

social obstacles, the actives found solutions to their problems. The year after the fire, the

chapter held rush at a sorority house, and until the fall of 1969, when the chapter moved

into 713 W. Ohio, Urbana, it held all its exchanges at sorority houses as well. As the

chapter noted in their Spring 1969 Rainbow report, this was a necessity given the

condition of the emergency housing. Lacking a furnace the winter of 1967-68, the men

grew used to sleeping in the cold! In 1970-71, Beta Upsilon initiated a system where

pledges were assigned to act as assistants to chapter officers for a month on a rotating

basis, and won an award from the national for the Booster. The chapter’s centennial in

1972 capped off the rebuilding process, and the chapter celebrated by winning the IFC

Intramural sports chamionship cup.58

The 1970s proved to be a difficult decade for the fraternity system in general, and

the chapter itself had its own particular problems. In the early 1970s Beta Upsilon lost to

retirement Mrs. Lillian E. Griffith (Wisegarver), the chapter’s house manager since the

early 1930s. Griffith had taken a real interest in Delt history in her later years with the

chapter. After indentifying all but a handful of the Delt bricks in the 302 E. John

fireplace in 1965, she gathered historical materials to write a chapter history which she

unfortunately was unable to finish.

The loss of Mrs. Griffith symbolized a whole host of changes brought on by the

chapter’s relocation. Few alumni from the pre-fire period maintained a connection once

58 The Rainbow 92:1 (Fall 1968), p. 45; 92:3 (Spring 1969); 93:3 (Spring 1970), p. 16.

25

the chapter moved to 713 W. Ohio, and the chapter rarely sent reports to the national for

publication in the Rainbow during the period. Between the Summer 1970 issue and the

Winter 1977 issue, the chapter only sent in two reports; and one of those only contained

news of a Beta Upsilon Delt’s tragic death. Kirk “Kirby” Badgely, a sophomore in 1974

and three-semester Delt, was accidentally killed May 4, 1974 when a man attempting to

start a fight with Badgely and his friends hit Kirk, knocking him to the pavement.

Badgely hit his head sharply on the concrete, and was declared dead the next day.59 That

the altercation began after Badgley and his friends left a bar highlighted a growing

identification between the Greek system and alcohol abuse. Clearly alcohol had always

been a part of fraternity life, but in the 1970s the changing nature of fraternity life gave

rise to increasing toleration of its abuse. Although much of the impetus came from

actives themselves, liquor companies contributed to the problem. For example, the major

philanthropy the chapter engaged in in the late 1970s was a “keg roll” to benefit the

March of Dimes. The event, sponsored by different beer companies, required students to

roll a beer keg around the County. Greg Kazarian ’84 notes that while charities made

money from these events, that beer companies were “using these events to move

product.” Moreover, there was a prevailing sentiment throughout the Greek system that

the growing use of alcohol was supplanting experimentation with illegal drugs, and thus

tolerated alcohol on that basis.60

As partying became more of the focus of the chapter, relations with their

neighbors became strained. They frequently complained about excessive noise at all

59 Interview with Greg Foster, 11/28/2000; Mrs. Sherald E. Griffith, “Claim Your Brick,” The Rainbow 88:5 (Summer 1965), p. 35; Interview with Jerry O’Neill and Jack Kamerer, December 5, 2000; The Rainbow, 93:3-100:2 (Spring 1970-Winter 1977); Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, May 5, 1974, May 14, 1974.

26

hours of the night from the fraternity, not just loud music and conversation, but also the

explosion of fireworks, and, in one notable case, the “willful demolition of a Red

Volkswagen [sic]” in the fraternity’s parking lot. Greg Foster ’74 notes that one of the

difficulties the chapter had was that activities which might not have attracted any

attention when Beta Upsilon was surrounded by fraternities and sororities were magnified

when the chapter was surrounded by residences instead. While this was certainly the

case, the problems persisted to the point that Vice Chancellor for Campus Affairs Hugh

Satterlee contemplated seeking revocation of the chapter’s status as registered student

housing. In a 1977 memo noted “I felt that 75% of their difficulties came about because

of that reason. Obviously, however, there is no way in which they have funds of the

ability to move from that location to one in the middle of a fraternity area.” The

problems were particularly vexing to national officials and those members of Beta

Upsilon who attempted to better relations with their neighbors; the chapter had instituted

a new disciplinary policy precisely to deal with these complaints just a few weeks before

a September 1977 incident.61 At least some members of the chapter attempted to

continue its positive involvement in campus events. For example, it inaugurated a new

activity in 1969, a chapter-sponsored flag football tournament, and held a “Delt Open

Golf Classic” annually beginning in 1972. Beta Upsilon held these every year during the

1970s, and the Delt Football Tournament survived the reorganization of the house. But

in any case, the problems the chapter had overwhelmed its positive activities, which the

infamous 1980 exchange with Alpha Phi proved.

60 The Rainbow 100:2 (Winter 1977), 101:4 (Summer 1978); Interview with Greg Kazarian, 3/2/2000. 61 Urbana Police report March 5, 1977; Hugh M. Satterlee memo, September 19, 1977; both items in “Delta Tau Delta” folder, Box 7, Dean of Men Administrative Subject File, 1909-1988, University Archives Record Series 41/2/31.

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From “Death” to the Journey Back to John St., 1980-2000

From 1980-2000 the chapter went full circle, from nearly dying out and becoming

a nationally infamous chapter, to a resurgence, and, eventually, to relocation on John St.

But certainly in the wake of a disastrous 1980 exchange with the Alpha Phi sorority few

could have forseen the reopening of a new Delta Shelter on John St. in the fall of 2000.

There would be little value in describing in detail the events of the evening of

November 13, 1980. There was little question among the principals about the actions of

certain Delt members. The exchange began well but ended poorly. Several Delts in

various stages of undress were accused of violently harrassing Alpha Phi sorority

members. Soon after the exchange the sorority filed a complaint with the campus

Interfraternity Council (IFC) Judicial Board. What followed was a rather bizarre attempt

by several parties to come to grips with what happened, an attempt made much more

difficult by the context in which the events occurred.

The Alpha Phis complained about specific incidents that occurred to them, but did

not address the overall tenor of the Delt chapter. Clearly what they were upset about was

not that the Delts put on a rowdy party centered around alcohol, loud music, and behavior

that is best termed unconventional; the Alpha Phis were upset that within that atmosphere

they had been assaulted. The Delts seemed to think that the atmosphere of the party

excused even acts which, to some Delts, obviously were beyond the pale. In several of

the incidents that the Alpha Phis related, some Delts stepped forward to stop activities

they obviously felt were out of hand. In any event, the chapter’s response to the event

suggested that they believed the Alpha Phis had presented themselves as angels. The

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notes made by then-chapter president Daniel Gonzalez for the IFC Judicial Board

proceeding, while stating that they “agree it should never have happened,” also imply that

the assaults were the result of Alpha Phis taunting members and engaging in voluntary

intimacy.62 This particular debate raged on within the pages of the Daily Illini for several

months after the event, especially in the wake of the explusion of two-thirds of the

fraternity members. One letter writer, a woman, wrote “If the…Alpha Phis were ‘afraid

for their lives,’…what were they doing there that late in the first place?”63 Another

woman responded by asking “Is she inferring that women who stay late at parties, even

when there are six of them, are asking for trouble and deserve what they get?”64

Since Alpha Phis felt slighted by their treatment in the press, and were blamed for

the expulsions, the sorority’s chapter president co-wrote a Daily Illini article setting out

their role in the affair. The article emphasized that although the violations were serious,

the Alpha Phis allowed the IFC Judicial Board to handle the matter, and that it was the

IFC Judicial Board which communicated the incident to the Delts’ national headquarters.

What happened next also became the subject of much debate.. While the Judicial

Board found the Delts guilty of, according to Assistant Dean of Men for Fraternity

Affairs Russ Snyder, “two or more” types of offenses which could lead to the suspension

of the fraternity, the Judicial Board did not suspend the fraternity. Instead, they

sentenced it to one year of “disciplinary probation,” and also directed the chapter to

provide three weeks of rides to the campus Women’s Wheels program. Women’s

62 Karen L. Troester, Alpha Phi President, to Russ Snyder, Assistant Dean of Students, 11/25/1980; Anonymous complaint letters (names blacked out) to IFC, undated; Form letter, from Daniel Gonzalez, Beta Upsilon President, to unnamed sororities, undated; Presentation notes for IFC Judicial Board Hearing, undated. All material currently in unprocessed Beta Upsilon of Delta Tau Delta records, University of Illinois Archives, Record Series 41/71/34. 63 Daily Illini 2/7/1981. 64 Daily Illini 2/12/1981.

29

Wheels was an unfortunate choice; the program provided women alone on campus at

night with free rides home, ostensibly to prevent their being attacked. The campus

Women Students’ Union (WSU) criticized the IFC Judicial Board’s decision in a letter to

the Daily Illini, stating that they “question the wisdom of allowing these men (who

removed their clothes and jumped on women) to work in a rape prevention program.”

The WSU letter also argued that the relatively light punishment the IFC handed down

“trivialized” the incident.65

While this may have been true, the IFC may have intended more severe actions to

be taken. However, in this they relied on the national instead of taking on the task

themselves. As part of their decision, the Judicial Board agreed to “communicate with

the national organization to see that steps were being taken internally to deter future

incidents of this kind, ” and after the disciplinary hearing, the Board forwarded their file

on the case to the national.66 That the national had already taken severe actions against

three other Delt chapters suggests that the IFC might have believed they could rely on

Delta Tau Delta to do what they failed to do. But the distinction is important, as both

groups had different functional interests. The IFC Judicial Board was created to provide

an extra-legal means to punish fraternities and sororities for the actions of their members,

trusting collective responsibility to ensure, in the case of violations, that they would not

happen again. Delta Tau Delta, on the other hand, was clearly interested in ensuring that

the chapter would continue at Illinois, and that its reputation would be rebuilt so as to

reflect well on the national. To be clear, they did punish the chapter for its behavior. But

65 Daily Illini, 2/12/1981. 66 Daily Illini, 2/10/1981.

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given its primary task, the national was ill-equipped to get to the bottom of the incidents

at the exchange, and punish the guilty parties.

In any event, none of these actions came to light until after the national “killed”

the chapter. Delta Tau Delta’s national executive bodies, the Arch Chapter and

Undergraduate Council, voted at their January 1981 meeting to suspend all members of

Beta Upsilon until an “Alumni Supervisory Committee” could be formed, with the intent

of interviewing each member “to ascertain who really is interested in building a chapter

with positive goals.” The national had taken similar steps with the Beta Pi

(Northwestern) and Beta Epsilon (Emory) chapters.67 The committee, chaired by alumni

Alan Nudo, interviewed the members on February 1, 1981, and announced the next day

that twenty-six of the house’s thirty-seven members would have to vacate the house by

10pm that evening. Four of the remaining eleven also left the house in protest of the

decision.

Confusion over the real purpose of the committee was rampant. Many people

believed that its intent was to provide the punishment to the guilty members that the IFC

had not done. Among the many complaints of the expelled Delts was precisely this—that

in the end, the committee allowed some members who had participated in the assaults to

remain in the house, while expelling others who did not participate. As a pair of Delt

parents pointed out later in a Daily Illini letter, depriving students of housing after tuition

had been paid and the semester started, and giving them roughly 15 hours to find new

housing, certainly was a form of punishment. However, as the stated intention of the

Committee was not to punish the guilty and vindicate the innocent, but instead to begin

the process of rebuilding the house, what actually occurred was to some extent

31

inevitable.68 After the dust settled, the remaining Delts began to rebuild the chapter, with

the support of the alumni and, perhaps surprisingly, many of the sororities on campus.

It was the alumni who initially answered the call, both for funds but also for

direction and hope for the house. A dinner was held in Chicago in April 1981 to raise

money in the event of a chapter shortfall. John Gleeson ‘69, Dean Wessel ’42, and Jeff

Atkins ’71 served as the officers on a special committee organized for that purpose. The

committee, as well as house corporation President Gerry O’Neill ’58 held a weekend

seminar with the chapter to re-educate them on how to run a successful fraternity.69

O’Neill and Jack Kamerer ’64 provided an element of continuity to the process, as they

served as president and treasurer of the house corporation from 1970-1995. Greg

Kazarian ’84, who would later be one of the prime movers in the “Journey Back to John

Street,” remembered that the direction the alumni provided was crucial. Gleeson helped

the actives and pledges formulate a five-year plan to rebuild the chapter, and “we

executed that plan,” Kazarian said.70 After the initial planning sessions, the alumni

continued to make visible their support for the rebuilding process. In 1982, for example,

the chapter reported they had their biggest Homecoming crowd ever.71

The actives realized, though, that the chapter would either succeed or fail on their

efforts. They proceeded to put together an enormus effort to bring the chapter back to its

previous esteem on campus. Beta Upsilon proved both able to use their position to their

67 The Rainbow 108:3 (Spring 1981), p. 3. 68 “Delt chapter rebuilds after expulsion of 26 members,” Illinois Alumni News, March 1981, photocopy in archives. In that article, Nudo states (but is not directly quoted as saying) that “the alumni were looking for men who could start a house from scratch.” The parents letter is in Daily Illini, 2/14/81. In one of the many references to the movie “Animal House” during the process, the parents said the eviction suggested the Delts had been on “double-secret probation.” 69 “Comeback at Illinois,” The Rainbow 106:1 (Fall 1981), p. 40. 70 Interview with Greg Kazarian, 3/2/2001. 71 The Rainbow 107:2 (Winter 1983), p. 30.

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advantage as well as hustle to change their appearance on campus. For example,

Kazarian noted, they put a great deal of effort into an event other fraternities overlooked

with long-term goals in mind: the annual Delta Gamma Anchor Splash, an interfraternity

swim meet. The swim was the Delta Gamma sororities’ philanthropy, and in addition to

placing highly in the event the chapter ensured that all actives and pledges attended. The

result was, Kazarian noted, that “we look like…somebody you want to be with” for

events like Football Block, which the DG’s elected to spend with the Delts in the fall of

1983. Once events like this brought positive attention to the house, then the chapter was

able to use the formal rush system to their advantage.

At the time the IFC divided fraternities into two categories, “Blue” fraternities

had more than 50 members, and “Orange” had fewer than 50. Because the tendency was

for rushees to ignore “Orange” houses, the IFC required all rushees spend at least 3 of

their 12 allowed visits with “Orange” houses. “Now formal rush starts to work for us,”

Kazarian said, because of the Delts’ established name and history, they routinely netted

well over 100 rushees due to their “Orange” status. The chapter also became involved in

new philanthropic efforts. A new interfraternity group, called the “Order of Omega” was

conceived by Kazarian as a way to get the Greeks involved in philanthropies without

alcohol. Their major activity was a citywide cleanup of public parks, held every year.72

The effort paid off for the chapter. The chapter boasted 100 members between 1986 and

1990, and elected two Homecoming kings in that period.

The chapter went to great lengths to re-establish good relationships with sororities

and with their residential neighbors. Matt Wilson ’89 notes, as an example, that after the

reorganization, serenades were reinstituted, and Rainbow reports reflect the chapter’s

33

extensive participation in sorority philanthropies. The Delta Gamma Anchor Splash, for

example, became an annual event for the house after they first participated in 1983. At

the same time as the chapter expanded its social schedule, they took pains to minimize

the impact on their neighbors. Wilson notes that the chapter would give movie passes to

nearby families when the chapter had parties. They also put more emphasis on family

and alumni-oriented events. Beta Upsilon routinely celebrated Mom’s Day, Dad’s Day,

Homecoming, and Founders’ Day, and even instituted a new Founder’s Day Tradition, a

3-on-3 basketball tournament for actives and alumni. The chapter also continued to run

the Delt Football Tournament.73

The rebuiling process extended far outside the chapter as well. Beta Upsilon won

the Northern Division’s “Most Improved Chapter” award at the 1983 conference. The

repaired relations with the National went much further. After serving as a traveling

consultant for the national and as Beta Upsilon chapter advisor in the late 1980s,

Kazarian was elected Northern Division President in 1991. This marked the beginning of

a kind of recognition the chapter had never received in its history. In the 1990s the

chapter won two Hugh Shields Awards, in 1991 and 1992, given annually to the top 10

chapters; was voted in the “Court of Honor,” a second-tier chapter award, in 1996; won a

Division Program Award for their Illinois Delt Scholars Program in 1993; and hosted the

Northern Division conference in 1994.74

The chapter celebrated its 125 anniversary with an alumni barbeque in 1997, and

the event served as a measure of how far the chapter had come since 1981. In many

72 Interview with Greg Kazarian, 3/2/2001. 73 The Rainbow 116:2 (Winter 1992), p. 34; 116:4 (Summer 1992), p. 32; 117:3 (Spring 1993), p. 38; 117:4 (Summer 1994), p. 27; 118:4 (Summer 1994), p. 26; 119:4 (Summer 1995), p. 49.

34

respects the “re-founding” of the chapter drastically changed the actives’ focus. Kazarian

notes that many alumni who visit ask if the actives are “still having fun.” That the Delts

in recent years have been a scholastic power among fraternities is in itself a sign of the

change; they were ranked 7th among men’s fraternities on campus in 1997-98 and 3rd in

1998-99. Routinely in the 1990s they were recognized by the northern division as having

a grade point average above both the Illinois all-men’s and all-fraternities’ averages.75

However, the chapter’s long-term financial situation was eroding. During O’Neill’s and

Kamerer’s tenure, the corporation it only ever needed to take out one loan. But by 1995,

the chapter house at 713 W. Ohio was beginning to deteriorate. Wilson and Kazarian

note in their interviews that they came to the conclusion that either a major rebuilding

project, or the acquisition of a new property would be the only way the chapter would be

able to survive.76

Journey Back to John Street

What became known as the “Journey Back to John Street” began initially as a

plan to renovate the chapter’s exisiting home at 713 W. Ohio St. in Urbana. However,

once the house corporation realized in 1998 that the old Phi Gamma Delta (Fijis) house,

at 402 E. John St., Champaign was available, they pushed to examine that option instead.

It involved considerably more work and risk. The corporation initially attempted to

negotiate with the Fijis, but negotiations broke down, and the University of Illinois

acquired the property. What followed was a long negotiation process. The University,

74 The Rainbow 107:3 (Spring 1983), p. 29; 115:3 (Spring 1991), p. 40; 116:3 (Spring 1992), p. 20; 120:4 (Summer 1996), p. 30; 116:4 (Summer 1994), p. 26; 117:2 (Winter 1993). 75 The Rainbow 122:4 (Summer 1998), p. 6, 36; 123:2 (Winter 1999), p. 40; 116:3 (Spring 1992), p. 20; 119:3 (Spring 1995), p. 9; 120:2 (Winter 1996), p. 36.

35

Kazarian states, was initially reluctant to consider the Delts’ bid for the property, and

claimed that legal issues stood in the way of the transaction. As it turned out, the actual

barriers were skepticism that the chapter would be able to make the transaction work, and

the University’s desire to turn the building into offices. When Kazarian and Wilson

made their first proposal to the University, it was rejected. However, they had succeeded

in convincing some University officials, including the Director of the University Office

of Real Estate Planning and Services, Eugene Pitcher, that their plan could work. Those

inside sources, and quite a bit of persistence, enabled Kazarian to get a face-to-face

meeting with the University decision-makers. With the help of Delta Tau Delta National

President Tom Huddleston, Dean of Students and Delt Bill Riley, and an enthusiastic

pitch, the University agreed to make the deal. Kazarian notes, though, they required

some prodding. One of the arguments the Delts offered in the meeting was that selling

the property to the chapter would show that the University was committed to the long-

term survival of the Greek system; while turning the house into another office building

would show otherwise.77

Now the work had just begun, and Kazarian, Wilson, and other concerned alumni

were well aware of the huge financial risk the chapter was taking. The total price of the

John St. project, including acquistion of the property, was estimated at over $1.5 million,

well in excess of the amount needed to renovate the existing house. The house

corporation decided to proceed with the project and announced at the 1999 Homecoming

that the corporation was in negotiations with the University to purchase the house. Now

the corporation was faced with yet another hurdle. The chapter would have to come up

76 Interview with Gerry O’Neill and Jack Kamerer, 12/5/2000; Interview with Matt Wilson, 2/26/2001; Interview with Greg Kazarian 3/2/2001.

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with financing for the purchase of the new house, and almost immediately begin

renovating John St. and selling 713 W. Ohio. However, a feasibility study conducted by

the Delta Tau Delta educational foundation clearly indicated the project had one major

advantage: alumni were positively thrilled about moving the chapter back to John Street.

A group of active alumni provided a lion’s share of the project’s funding to get it

underway. Bob Ferris ’49, John Gleeson, and a handful of others contributed nearly

$400,000 at the start of the “Journey Back to John Street.” What followed was an

extensive campaign on the part of both the alumni and the active chapter to raise the

remaining funds necessary to complete the project. Over the next year more major

donors were secured and the project got underway. More than a dozen alumni each

donated over $10,000 to the project. Jason Stone, 2000 chapter president, noted in the

Booster that it was the undergraduate members who initially needed some convincing.

“The members had a lot of questions and concerns at first, but after they took the time to

explain the details and benefits of the move…the undergraduates just wanted to know

how to make it a reality.”78

The project ended by achieving its central goals: to reconnect Beta Upsilon with

its long history on campus, and to reconnect the current chapter with the alumni. The

feasibility study for the project noted “a noticeable break” between alumni who lived at

302 E. John and those who joined after the fire destroyed that house. “Although still

proud of their membership in Delta Tau Delta these alumni have never truly excepted

[sic] the Ohio street shelter as their permanent home. This has no doubt affected their

77 Interview with Matt Wilson, 2/26/2001; Interview with Greg Kazarian, 3/2/2001. 78 The Beta Upsilon Booster January 2001, p. 1.

37

participation in chapter events as well as participation in university events.”79 But it has

also positioned Delta Tau Delta among a group of fraternities eager to remain

competitive with increasingly popular unaffiliated housing. The new house boasts an

Ethernet (direct, fiber optic, high-capacity) connection to the University network,

increasingly important as the Internet and campus computing have assumed a central role

in many academic disciplines. Moreover, the chapter agreed to prohibit hosting social

functions with alcohol within the chapter house, to convince the University it intended to

maintain the property.

Conclusion

Delta Tau Delta history at Illinois now spans over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries,

and illustrates well the pitfalls which have closed fraternity chapters all across the

country. What happened to the chapter after the 1967 fire suggests, in part, the crucial

role that a sense of tradition plays in the vital factors which keep chapters alive: the

continuous and active involvement of alumni, the sense of connectedness between actives

and alumni, and a belief that the chapter has a mission to guide it. All these

interconnected parts of the chapter were undermined both by the broader currents of

society in general, but also sharply in the Delts’ case because of the fire. That alumni

who had been gone for twenty years were visibly excited about the “Journey Back to

John Street” indicates what a vital role continuity plays in the continuing success of a

chapter. It is also striking the way in which the Delts’ revitalization in the wake of the

1981 reorganization changed the tenor of the chapter. Paradoxically, it illustrates the

79Delta Tau Delta Educational Foundation, “Beta Upsilon of Delta Tau Delta House Corporation Fundraising Feasibility Study,” p. 10, copy in unprocessed Beta Upsilon of Delta Tau Delta records,

38

degree to which chapters must occassionally change to survive. Despite all the changes,

however, today’s actives would certainly want alumni to know they are still having fun.

University of Illinois Archives, Record Series 41/71/34.

39

Note on Sources and Bibliography:

This history was based in large part on the University Archives holdings of The

Beta Upsilon Booster and the Delt national publication The Rainbow. At the time I began

research the Archives had little in addition to these sources. Due to the efforts of Beta

Upsilon chapter advisor Matt Wilson, we received approximately .3 cubic feet of records

on the chapter, additional Boosters, and through Wilson’s contacts arranged several

interviews with local Delt alumni. Included in those records is a large file on the 1980

Alpha Phi exchange, including the original complaint letters sent by sorority members,

drafts of the chapters’ responses, and a great many newspaper clippings on the event.

Those records and typewritten notes of the interviews I conducted will be processed into

University Archives Record Series 41/71/34, Delta Tau Delta Records.

Primary Sources: The Beta Upsilon Booster (until 1908 The Beta Upsilon), 1906-43, 1966, 2000.

University Archives Record Series 41/71/834. The Rainbow 1904-2000. Part of Stewart Howe Collection, University Archives Record

Series 26/20/30 Delta Tau Delta (Beta Upsilon) Records, University Archives Record Series 41/71/34,

unprocessed. Secondary Sources: Solberg, Winton. The University of Illinois 1867-1894: an Intellectual and Cultural

History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1968.