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Responding to a message left by Mark Dixon (Alpha Rho ’93, Alpha Alpha ’97) in another Alpha Sigma Phi chapter’s web page, I volunteered to design and maintain the Colony’s home page on the World Wide Web. Until permission was secured by the Colony to move their pages to the University of Oklahoma’s web server, the home page resided on my Internet account. The pages grew to meet the needs of the chapter; at one time, pledge manuals were in short supply in the colony, so I keyed in important portions of To Better The Man and uploaded them to the web pages as an aid to the colony’s pledge education program.
I hadn’t met any of the new colony members in person yet; the only contact I had with them was through e-mail and the occasional phone call. When I found that the colony was nearing their goal of full chapter status, I immediately made plans to attend their rechartering ceremonies, even though they were still finishing their chartering petition to the Grand Council. On October 2, 1997, the goal the colony members of Alpha Alpha worked hard for was realized: approval was given by the Grand Council of Alpha Sigma Phi for rechartering the new Alpha Alpha Chapter.
I arrived on Thursday afternoon, in time to get settled in and meet the candidates in the new house before the initiation activities began in earnest. They currently lease the old Phi Delta Theta "Ski Lodge", at the extreme opposite end of College Avenue in the heart of South Greek. (The old 500 South College house is no more, it was sold to the University after the chapter closed in 1989 and demolished to make a parking lot for the School of Music.) This house is HUGE! Large social areas, full dining room and kitchen (some equipment in need of repair) and 30 rooms for the undergrads (up to 60 can be housed). The members have been doing a lot of improvements to the house, in the hopes that they can make it a permanent one. They were still doing work on the chapter room when I got there.
Thursday night was the Silent Dinner, which was quite hectic as only five initiated alumni Brothers performed their duties for the 50 candidates. Since the kitchen is not yet operational, the chapter has catering arrangements with the University's Food Service Division. At the conclusion of the dinner, the candidates were given their instructions and returned either to their rooms within the house or to their dorm rooms on campus. Later that evening, we alumni went out for dinner and drinks, reminiscing about our days as undergraduates.
Friday morning and afternoon, while the candidates were attending their classes throughout campus, the Ritual team got to work preparing the various parts of the house for the initiation later in the evening. All of us reviewed our parts we would play in the Ritual, and I was quite surprised to remember most of the ceremony, even though the last time I performed in an initiation Ritual was nearly 15 years ago.
Because of the large number of candidates to be initiated, certain parts of our Ritual needed to be modified to accommodate them. Thanks go to Scott Grissom (AA 742 - 1978), who directed the presentation of the Ritual and the rest of our Ritual team members for an outstanding performance: Ron Harrison (AA 834 - 1986), Jon Anderson (AA 825 - 1985), Bruce Tackett (AA 678 - 1971), Scott Gallagher (Epsilon ’93), Mark Dixon’s younger brother Greg (Alpha Rho ’95), Geo Morales (Alpha Rho ’92) and National Headquarters staff members Steve Zizzo (Illinois ’84) and Bob Woerner (Indiana ’92).
All the candidates were flushed out of the house at 5 p.m. for the final Ritual preparations. We were originally planning a Black Lantern Processional through the campus to bring the candidates in for initiation but couldn't get a parade permit from the University Police in time.
At 7 p.m. sharp, the 50 candidates for initiation were led into the darkened house for their initiation into the Mystic Circle of Alpha Sigma Phi. The outstanding performance by the Ritual team ensured the entire ceremony was completed without any major hitch in a little under five hours. When the new Brothers were pinned and the Ritual concluded, absolute pandemonium rocked the house as the newly-initiated Brothers celebrated. There was cheering, shouting and hugging between new and old members.
The most memorable moment for me after the Ritual was when all the new Brothers piled out the door and raised the chapter’s flag for the first time to the strains of "For He's An Alpha Sig." Woke up the Tri-Delts and the Pi Phi's across the street and next door, who cheered us on! The newly initiated Brothers exchanged initiation gifts and made Brotherhood presentations - some Brothers wound up being the subject of some very colorful songs! None of us got to bed until about 5:30 or so in the morning; many of us spent the rest of the evening discussing the events of the Ritual they had witnessed for the first time with the alumni. Unfortunately, some of our old post-initiation traditions had to be retired – knowledgeable alumni Brothers will know exactly what I’m talking about!
Saturday night was the big event... the guys pulled out all the stops for the chartering banquet. Because of strict social policies for Greeks at OU, the new Brothers were driven to the Medallion Hotel in downtown OKC via limousine (no undergrads may drive themselves to an off-campus event that serves alcohol). We had a little over 300 alumni, parents, dates and new initiates in the ballroom. After awards were handed out to undergraduates and alumni (thanks for the plaque and the beer mug, guys… it got a proper workout later that evening!), the highlight of the evening was the presentation of the charter to the new Alpha Alpha, along with the Rio Grande Baby Blanket and the Alpha Badge. The rest of the evening was left for dancing until midnight, when the limos returned to Norman to return the Brothers to the house for more celebrations that continued until the early morning hours.
On Sunday, we quickly cleaned up the house (and nursed a few hangovers) as alumni and parents visited the house. We made sure to bring out the old scrapbooks and photos that haven’t been seen in many years. Elections were held later in the afternoon and I had the honor and privilege of installing the new officers of Alpha Alpha Chapter. After the election of officers, the first formal chapter meeting of the group took place.
I returned to Sacramento on Monday afternoon, and even though part of me wanted to stay back at the house, I had a full day of work waiting for me the next day. I'm glad that Alpha Alpha is back at OU, and most of all, I am proud to call each of you Brothers in Alpha Sigma Phi. May the Phoenix fly high at OU forevermore!