by Eric Eickhoff ’00
Each year, the campus community celebrates a different aspect of OWU’s heritage, and in 2013 the focus was on the role and impact fraternity and sorority life has played on our alma mater, its students and alumni. Recognizing the celebration history of OWU’s Greek life would not be complete without the inclusion of Beta Theta Pi, members of the Theta chapter, and we were invited back by Ohio Wesleyan to honor our chapter’s founding as well as tell our story. Because there is no longer an active chapter of Beta Theta Pi at OWU, I was asked by members of the administration to speak on behalf of our chapter. It was truly an honor.
The celebration culminated in a program in Gray Chapel, featuring a series of speakers and vignettes retelling telling the 160- year history of Greek life. Following the opening remarks by a faculty member representing President Frederick Merrick, who actively fought against the founding of fraternities at OWU, I shared what I thought were some of the most significant aspects of our chapter’s history, starting with our founding in 1853 by James Harvey Hills, our participating and leadership during the Civil War and ending in the Theta’s closure in 2001. I focused on Theta’s significant impact on the fraternity through the adoption of “the delicate shades of pink and blue” as the Fraternity’s colors and the significant contributions of of Willis O’Robb, William W. Dawson and countless others.
It is my sincere hope that my remarks showed the rest of the Ohio Wesleyan community that the Beta Spirit is alive in our brotherhood. There is a desire by many of our members to return to OWU, reestablish the Theta Chapter as the not only the oldest chapter at OWU, but an active and thriving one as well. I would welcome your thoughts and participation in helping achieve this goal. Please contact me at Cadmus1641@msn.com if you would like to discuss this further. For more information on OWU Heritage Day and to view the program, please visit http://heritageday.owu.edu.
Left to Right….. Barry Haas ’59, Ted Chaney ’53, George Hess ’67, Eric Eickhoff ’2000, Dick DeVos ’54 and
Tom Tatham ’56
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