Considering the uproar this week caused by restrictions on Penn State Greek life, let us delve into the history of Fraternity and Sorority life at Penn State, and see how we could have gotten to the point we are now.
According to the PSU Student Affairs website, our Greek community can be traced way back into the 19th century, the 1870's to be exact. Penn State itself only came into being in 1855, with the first fraternity being born in 1872. Delta Tau Delta has the honor of being the very first frat on campus, and ironically enough considering this week's proceedings, was quickly closed. Faculty felt that frats were generally up to no good and did not imbue the values and atmosphere the university was trying to encourage.
The arrival of university president George Atherton (the one buried outside of Schwab Auditorium) brought about a change in perspective. George and many of the faculty members had belonged to fraternities as undergrads themselves at other institutions, and believed that frats could help create new opportunities for friendship and brotherhood while also solving the housing situation which was becoming a bit tight on campus.
Little did they know that there were already secret fraternities going by Greek, German, or Latin letter combinations right under their noses. Well, they probably knew (college students aren't sneaky) but refused to officially recognize them or allow gatherings for socialization because most students were living crammed in the OG Old Main. Students lived, breathed, ate, slept, and worked in that building.
The most prominent secret frat was the Latin letter society QTV, which was a national organization at one point, but had since dissolved with its chapters affiliating with other national organizations. During this process, President Atherton lifted the frat ban and the first fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta was recognized. QTV, which was falling apart and not recognized, ended up splitting and affiliating with two national Greek frats, Beta Theta Pi (not even joking), and Phi Kappa Sigma.
The first "off campus" frat house was bought by Phi Gamma Delta, on the corner of present day Beaver Ave and Allen St. In the 1920's to the 1930's, Greek life experienced a colossal boom leading to the building of the mansion-esque houses we know and love today, and the arrival of sororities.
In the 1960's, student uprisings on campuses all over the nation declared that frats were part of the 'administration-establishment', leading to record low numbers of Greek life students. However, in 1968 the still annual event Greek Sings was created as a way for frats and sororities to display musical talents. Profits and proceeds from the event go to the Gayle Beyers scholarship fund which was named after an advisor at the university that was a proponent and supporter of the Greek community.
While still in the slums of public favor, IFC President Bill Lear devised our now infamous dance marathon in order to garner some more respect in the public relations front. They raised almost $2,000 dollars for the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children; the humble beginning to the now multimillion endeavor that is THON.
Then, in 2004, the Greek Pride: A Return to Glory initiative was created, culminating in the Dream Statement, or the values and ideas for creating a positive Greek community and ensuring its presence in the future.
Greek life has a hugely intertwined history with our university, and hopefully in the face of the current restrictions, the community and the Greek community as well will remember the values and goals to which Greek life embodies.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Hockey Valley Part 2
As many of you may have seen, last weekend our very own hockey team beat Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and WON THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP!
A few weeks ago we had a post chronicling the history of the hockey program, and I think it's worth mentioning that this team is making history as well.
First, a little bit of info on the sport itself: a regulation hockey game consists of three 20 minute periods with a 15 minute intermission between each period. During in-season play, if both teams are tied at the end of the match, you add another 20 minute period of sudden death overtime. If nobody scores during that time frame, it goes into best out of 5 penalty shootouts. However, the B1G tournament is not in-season play, it is, well, tournament style play, which means you do not go into penalty shootouts, you have overtime after overtime after overtime until either somebody scores or the players keel over from exhaustion.
Now, on Friday, after a pretty physical game which they won against Michigan, the hockey team was slated to play Minnesota. At the end of regulation, the score was 3-3 so we went into overtime, and then AGAIN the score was still tied so the boys got to go into DOUBLE overtime.
Erik Autio scored the winning goal with about 6 and half minutes left in double overtime, getting the team the W and solidifying their place in history. After playing almost 5 periods of hockey that night, coming to a total of nearly 94 minutes, this game is THE longest game in conference history. AND THEN THEY DID IT ALL AGAIN THE NEXT DAY!
That's right, on Saturday the team played Wisconsin with regulation ending in a 1-1 tie. The game went in to double overtime once again, and once again we came out on top thanks to a goal from Liam Folkes. This game did not break the record set the night before, but by the end of the match, our boys had played nearly 13 periods of hockey, or the equivalent of 4 and 1/3 regulation games, in the span of 3 days. That's grit.
This team is also one of the last teams to play in the historic Joe Louis Arena, which was built in the 1970's and is set to be demolished and replaced this April.
The point of this post is this: Do you like sports? Do you like Penn State? Do you like watching grown men slam each other in walls? Do you like supporting a winning team? Do you like seeing history being made while you're alive?
If you answered yes to even one of these questions, find your way to Pegula next year and watch our hockey team! Even if you think you don't like watching hockey, just sit in the Roar Zone for even 20 minutes and I'm telling you, your mind will be changed.
All in all, Penn State Hockey is not something to be missing out on, especially not with this exciting of a team. I'd give Hockey Valley, even on the road, 10 pucks flung into the crowd out of 10.
Oh, and did I mention the team made ice angels with the Lion? Because that happened too:
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| Sorry Wisconsin |
First, a little bit of info on the sport itself: a regulation hockey game consists of three 20 minute periods with a 15 minute intermission between each period. During in-season play, if both teams are tied at the end of the match, you add another 20 minute period of sudden death overtime. If nobody scores during that time frame, it goes into best out of 5 penalty shootouts. However, the B1G tournament is not in-season play, it is, well, tournament style play, which means you do not go into penalty shootouts, you have overtime after overtime after overtime until either somebody scores or the players keel over from exhaustion.
Now, on Friday, after a pretty physical game which they won against Michigan, the hockey team was slated to play Minnesota. At the end of regulation, the score was 3-3 so we went into overtime, and then AGAIN the score was still tied so the boys got to go into DOUBLE overtime.
Erik Autio scored the winning goal with about 6 and half minutes left in double overtime, getting the team the W and solidifying their place in history. After playing almost 5 periods of hockey that night, coming to a total of nearly 94 minutes, this game is THE longest game in conference history. AND THEN THEY DID IT ALL AGAIN THE NEXT DAY!
That's right, on Saturday the team played Wisconsin with regulation ending in a 1-1 tie. The game went in to double overtime once again, and once again we came out on top thanks to a goal from Liam Folkes. This game did not break the record set the night before, but by the end of the match, our boys had played nearly 13 periods of hockey, or the equivalent of 4 and 1/3 regulation games, in the span of 3 days. That's grit.
This team is also one of the last teams to play in the historic Joe Louis Arena, which was built in the 1970's and is set to be demolished and replaced this April.
 |
| It seemed like it was built before air conditioning was invented |
If you answered yes to even one of these questions, find your way to Pegula next year and watch our hockey team! Even if you think you don't like watching hockey, just sit in the Roar Zone for even 20 minutes and I'm telling you, your mind will be changed.
All in all, Penn State Hockey is not something to be missing out on, especially not with this exciting of a team. I'd give Hockey Valley, even on the road, 10 pucks flung into the crowd out of 10.
Oh, and did I mention the team made ice angels with the Lion? Because that happened too:
First Photo Courtesy of the Penn State Men's Hockey Snapchat (pennstatemhky)
Thursday, March 16, 2017
WE ARE
Have you ever wondered why the We Are chant is so ingrained in PSU culture, or even where it came from? Well, what with all the tour groups on campus recently, I found myself wondering the exact same thing so this week we are (ha!) going to explore the history of the We Are chant!
There are two stories claiming the origin of this famous phrase, the first of which comes from back in 1946 when many college football teams were still segregated. Penn State had two black players named Wally Triplett and Denny Hoggard, and before a game against the University of Miami which was still segregated at the time and refused to play if PSU's black players played, Penn State's team voted unamimously to cancel the game. This was only the beginning.
In 1948, Triplett was the only black player on the team who was now facing a trip to the Cotton Bowl against Southern Methodist University. Upon hearing that SMU was requesting Triplett to be left at home, Steve Suhey coined our famous phrase with the quote "We won't leave Triplett at home because we are Penn State." Triplett ended up scoring the tying touchdown with the game ending in a 13-13 tie.
Although this story builds a history of brotherhood and morality at Penn State, this is unfortunately not the true origin of the chant, although it certainly did happen. The real story begins in 1975.
The Penn State cheerleaders accompanied the football team to Ohio State (boo!) and were stunned by the energy and electricity of the fans in the crowd, and particularly with the simplicity and effectiveness of OSU's 'O-H' 'I-O' chant. They wanted to find a way to bring that level of energy to Beaver Stadium, which is ironic now considering that we were voted among the top college football atmospheres in the nation.
The We Are chant was also partially inspired by USC's rapid chant of "We are SC", which the cheerleaders modified by replacing SC with Penn State, however, in 1976, upon trying to get the students to cheer "We Are Penn State" without any pauses between the words (think like in Zombie Nation), it went nowhere. The cheerleaders kept trying and added the pause to create the call and response effect we all know and love today. The Blue Band drummers were enlisted by the cheerleaders to help the crowd learn by adding two bass hits so the cheer sounded something like "We Are! boom boom Penn State!".
It took a few years for it to catch on at our home stadium. The cheerleaders used speakers without permission, and Don Mains, the mic man who led the cheers during the game split up and taught the cheers to the alumni and the student section, but it wasn't nearly as loud as it is today. Older alumni were also annoyed by the chant, saying that it distracted them from the game, so sometime around 1980 the "Thank you... You're Welcome" was added to the end by the cheerleaders to get the student section to thank the alumni in the stands for participating in the cheer.
So, in the end our chant didn't quite originate from the story of a courageous team who fought for civil right, although that story certainly is one to be proud of. The We Are chant has become such an important aspect of Penn State culture, and for that we must thank the cheerleaders from years ago.
I'd give our chant 10 yelling mic men out of 10
There are two stories claiming the origin of this famous phrase, the first of which comes from back in 1946 when many college football teams were still segregated. Penn State had two black players named Wally Triplett and Denny Hoggard, and before a game against the University of Miami which was still segregated at the time and refused to play if PSU's black players played, Penn State's team voted unamimously to cancel the game. This was only the beginning.
In 1948, Triplett was the only black player on the team who was now facing a trip to the Cotton Bowl against Southern Methodist University. Upon hearing that SMU was requesting Triplett to be left at home, Steve Suhey coined our famous phrase with the quote "We won't leave Triplett at home because we are Penn State." Triplett ended up scoring the tying touchdown with the game ending in a 13-13 tie.
Although this story builds a history of brotherhood and morality at Penn State, this is unfortunately not the true origin of the chant, although it certainly did happen. The real story begins in 1975.
The Penn State cheerleaders accompanied the football team to Ohio State (boo!) and were stunned by the energy and electricity of the fans in the crowd, and particularly with the simplicity and effectiveness of OSU's 'O-H' 'I-O' chant. They wanted to find a way to bring that level of energy to Beaver Stadium, which is ironic now considering that we were voted among the top college football atmospheres in the nation.
The We Are chant was also partially inspired by USC's rapid chant of "We are SC", which the cheerleaders modified by replacing SC with Penn State, however, in 1976, upon trying to get the students to cheer "We Are Penn State" without any pauses between the words (think like in Zombie Nation), it went nowhere. The cheerleaders kept trying and added the pause to create the call and response effect we all know and love today. The Blue Band drummers were enlisted by the cheerleaders to help the crowd learn by adding two bass hits so the cheer sounded something like "We Are! boom boom Penn State!".
It took a few years for it to catch on at our home stadium. The cheerleaders used speakers without permission, and Don Mains, the mic man who led the cheers during the game split up and taught the cheers to the alumni and the student section, but it wasn't nearly as loud as it is today. Older alumni were also annoyed by the chant, saying that it distracted them from the game, so sometime around 1980 the "Thank you... You're Welcome" was added to the end by the cheerleaders to get the student section to thank the alumni in the stands for participating in the cheer.
So, in the end our chant didn't quite originate from the story of a courageous team who fought for civil right, although that story certainly is one to be proud of. The We Are chant has become such an important aspect of Penn State culture, and for that we must thank the cheerleaders from years ago.
I'd give our chant 10 yelling mic men out of 10
Thursday, March 2, 2017
On State Patty's Day
As many of you may or may not know, this past weekend was State Patty's Day.
For this week's post, we're going to delve into the history of this holiday, and maybe learn a thing or two about crime rates!
State Patty's began way back when in March of 2007 (wow, 10 years ago!) with a group of students realizing that the notoriously alcoholic drinking holiday Saint Patrick's Day was scheduled to fall during Spring Break. Not one to miss out on a party, these students created a Facebook group called "The Official Group to Move St. Patrick's Day", hoping to get the entire student body to celebrate the day early, and that they did. The following year there was an effort to get the bars downtown involved, and the holiday has escalated ever since.
One of the changes that was made initially to the event was to solidify the date for the holiday, which has now been established to be the weekend after THON. This made sense considering that State Patty's now falls in the gap week between THON and Spring Break. State Patty's has grown to encompass more than just the Penn State community. The group on Facebook has grown to over 12,000 members, and the event itself has become a beacon for tourists and out of town visitors.
However, one of the biggest problems with this new holiday is that it is centered entirely around drinking, and traditionally, with mass amounts of people drinking comes problems, including an annual crime wave. This year State College Police requested the assistance of PA State Police to help
patrol around State College on police horses like they did in the rallies following the OSU upset (24-21!!!) and the B1G Ten Championship win. Despite increasing the policing, there were still over 215 reported incidents this State Patty's weekend, including shutting down parties at the host's request in some cases. All in all, it's a bad weekend to be a police officer.
Because of the crime surge traditionally associated with this holiday, over the years there have been numerous attempts to smother the event out of existence, which have obviously failed, but these attempts have been effective in reducing the amount of incidents from their peak in 2011.
The following year, the IFC banned parties on State Patty's weekend, students on campus were only allowed one guest per room, bars closed their doors, and even the CATA buses stopped running. In 2013, Penn State actually paid the bars a subsidy of $5,000 each (the money was from a reserve made on traffic tickets) to stay closed for the event, and eventually members of sororities weren't allowed to have any guests over if they lived on the sorority floor in the residence halls. All these actions have done much to combat the crime wave, but there is still a noticeable surge in arrests and hospital intakes at Mount Nittany each year during State Patty's weekend.
In the end, State Patty's has become quite the spectacle to behold over the years, and perhaps says something about the drinking culture here at Penn State. Time will tell if this Happy Valley tradition will continue on, and hey, in 2028 State Patty's will turn 21 and will be able to legally drink as well!
To rate State Patty's, I'd give the absurd history of this holiday 8 counts of public intoxication out of 10.
Image courtesy of:
Pennlive
 |
| Only at Penn State do we create our own holiday |
For this week's post, we're going to delve into the history of this holiday, and maybe learn a thing or two about crime rates!
State Patty's began way back when in March of 2007 (wow, 10 years ago!) with a group of students realizing that the notoriously alcoholic drinking holiday Saint Patrick's Day was scheduled to fall during Spring Break. Not one to miss out on a party, these students created a Facebook group called "The Official Group to Move St. Patrick's Day", hoping to get the entire student body to celebrate the day early, and that they did. The following year there was an effort to get the bars downtown involved, and the holiday has escalated ever since.
One of the changes that was made initially to the event was to solidify the date for the holiday, which has now been established to be the weekend after THON. This made sense considering that State Patty's now falls in the gap week between THON and Spring Break. State Patty's has grown to encompass more than just the Penn State community. The group on Facebook has grown to over 12,000 members, and the event itself has become a beacon for tourists and out of town visitors.
However, one of the biggest problems with this new holiday is that it is centered entirely around drinking, and traditionally, with mass amounts of people drinking comes problems, including an annual crime wave. This year State College Police requested the assistance of PA State Police to help
patrol around State College on police horses like they did in the rallies following the OSU upset (24-21!!!) and the B1G Ten Championship win. Despite increasing the policing, there were still over 215 reported incidents this State Patty's weekend, including shutting down parties at the host's request in some cases. All in all, it's a bad weekend to be a police officer.
Because of the crime surge traditionally associated with this holiday, over the years there have been numerous attempts to smother the event out of existence, which have obviously failed, but these attempts have been effective in reducing the amount of incidents from their peak in 2011.
The following year, the IFC banned parties on State Patty's weekend, students on campus were only allowed one guest per room, bars closed their doors, and even the CATA buses stopped running. In 2013, Penn State actually paid the bars a subsidy of $5,000 each (the money was from a reserve made on traffic tickets) to stay closed for the event, and eventually members of sororities weren't allowed to have any guests over if they lived on the sorority floor in the residence halls. All these actions have done much to combat the crime wave, but there is still a noticeable surge in arrests and hospital intakes at Mount Nittany each year during State Patty's weekend.
In the end, State Patty's has become quite the spectacle to behold over the years, and perhaps says something about the drinking culture here at Penn State. Time will tell if this Happy Valley tradition will continue on, and hey, in 2028 State Patty's will turn 21 and will be able to legally drink as well!
To rate State Patty's, I'd give the absurd history of this holiday 8 counts of public intoxication out of 10.
Image courtesy of:
Pennlive
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