Fraternity Fun

I grew up in a socially conservative town in Indiana.  I respected authority and was an obedient conformist to rules.  I carried these values with me to college in 1963 where they were put to the test and adjusted.

I was initiated and became a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Indiana University in the fall of 1964.  My brother had been a member, and I followed in his footsteps with fraternity life.

IU in the 1960s was defined by experimentation, controversy, by challenging conventional lifestyles and institutions.  Did we do stupid stuff back then in the fraternity?  Were we idealistic and unrealistic?  Absolutely.  We could pull the most embarrassing pranks on each other or just embarrass ourselves and know we would come together afterward and be stupid, forgiving, and friends.  We could chase impossible goals but learn important life lessons.

Soon after I moved into the fraternity house as a sophomore in the fall of 1964, I learned about the boulder run.  The boulder run was a fraternity tradition, initiated by a member after the 1 a.m. curfew for having dates back to their sororities or dorms.  The member would yell 

‘boulder run”, strip and wait for any participants to do likewise, yelling out challenges to courage, manhood, and adventure.  Takers stripped and lined up at the door.  Someone would open the door and the participants would run naked down fraternity row, circle a campus boulder, and head back.  On one occasion I remember a member calling the next-door sorority house mother, and his girlfriend there, and telling them to look out their windows. The whole sorority lit up as my naked fraternity brothers ran by.  We could see and hear the girls laughing and pointing and some of the guys indecisive about where to put their hands.  What a moment!   We heard the next day the house mother was totally grossed by the experience and forbid open window shades after 1 a.m. This incident is never forgiven by the runners at reunions, although related always to laughs and gross comments about anatomy.

As the spring of 1965 arrived, I agreed to do fraternity public relations and organized with a sorority a picnic for orphans, as opposed to the normal Geek game event. There was a photograph and heartfelt story about the event in the local newspaper.  Shortly after the event, the fraternity president asked me to meet in his room.  He and two juniors asked me if I would be willing to run for fraternity president, the election being in a month.  I declined as I felt too young and I wanted to focus on academics as opposed to the time-demanding president position.  They finally convinced me saying they didn’t trust any junior with the job, that the fraternity needed me, and that they would handle the election.  I got elected. 

My focus as a fraternity president and member was academics, not social.  I had tried a beer in high school, but didn’t like the taste so had no interest in alcohol.  I wondered at the time what was the attraction of alcohol.  I found out I was an exception.  The fraternity members liked to party.  The University placed my fraternity on social probation in the spring of 1966 for a beer-drinking party off campus.  When classes started in the fall, the University decided to use my fraternity’s incident as a test case to begin enforcing alcohol prohibition at fraternity houses.  I was President of the Interfraternity Council at the time, idealistic and naive, and actually agreed with the action.  I pushed to have the IFC enforce the prohibition thinking it would be more acceptable and the Dean of Students agreed to let the IFC be inspectors.

I set up rotating two-man teams of Friday and Saturday night IFC fraternity inspectors and after a month we found no alcohol.  I decided to see for myself so the chief IFC court judge and I in our IFC blazers, white shirts, and ties went on a Saturday night alcohol inspection of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity which was having a big party.  I remember feeling important and that I was doing the right thing.  Two pledges met us at the door and invited us into the noisy fraternity house party.  But then something didn’t feel right as everything was too polite.  Suddenly four huge guys (the Betas had a lot of football players) appeared as if they had been waiting for us, picked up my companion kicking and screaming, carried him to the patio, and tossed him into a huge party pool to the yells and applause of the partiers.  I managed to help him out of the pool and we immediately left the house in shock and my companion soaked.

The next Monday I met with the Dean of Students and told him the IFC was out of the alcohol prohibition inspection business.  I learned later that various members of the IFC alerted fraternities beforehand to IFC inspections.  I felt undercut by the IFC organization and disillusioned by the reality of learning most 18-20-year-old young men at that time didn’t care about the alcohol rules, only having a good time.  Duh!

About that time my long-time girlfriend and I broke up.  It was emotional and I felt down and alone.  Plus I was graduating in the spring and almost certain to go to Vietnam where guys my age were being killed or wounded in the war.  I began to feel I should just enjoy the moment, the heck with the rules, and adopt a don’t care what happens attitude.  I decided to change my obedient conformist behavior and go for shock and awe. On my first post-breakup date, I bought a six-pack of beer, invited my date to our fraternity living room, and proceeded with my date to drink the six-pack.  It felt like an out-of-body experience as I was openly violating University, IFC, and fraternity alcohol rules, getting drunk and I didn’t care.  One of my fraternity brothers saw me, and then he brought a crowd to observe, all keeping their distance, totally surprised and amazed.  They have never forgotten that moment, nor have I.  The story of that moment is a staple at fraternity reunions, all laughing at the absurdity and shock of the sight.  Whenever I talk to one of my good fraternity brother friends in Portland, a prominent attorney, we both laugh ourselves silly to this day.   He always asks what was I thinking and I tell him I was just being stupid and he agrees.

My fraternity experience took me from a time as a serious rule follower to a rule rebellion; from an idealist about young men and alcohol to a realist.  It was stupid many times but harmless.  My world was enlarged by my fraternity experience and some of the guys in the fraternity are some of the best friends I have had in life.   

(Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity-1965)