News

 

April 5, 2006

Union Greek groups shine with renewed trophy

By Kenneth Aarons, Staff writer

 

 

To Drew Moyer, a Union College senior, the Stephen P. Brown Cup was an apt metaphor for the school's Greek system. 

 

The 5-foot-tall trophy, named for a Union fraternity man who died in a 1950 train wreck in Long Island that killed 78, had grown neglected. Most of the six figurines around its base were broken. The plaque on which recipients' names were inscribed hadn't been updated since 1989. 

 

"It was in horrendous shape," said Moyer, a brother of Delta Kappa Epsilon who had also been president of the school's fraternity council. 

 

So last fall, he decided to do something about it. 

 

After he and interim president James Underwood presented the trophy to the fraternity that reflected the best community service, intramural sports prowess and grade point average, Underwood mentioned its condition was a shame. 

 

Moyer went to work researching its history and figuring out how to return the trophy to its original glory. He raised about $2,000 from Underwood's office and the college relations office, and sent it out to Lee's Trophies in Schenectady.

 

To Moyer, fixing it up was also a symbol that relations between Greek organizations and the school are on the way back. After a long chill in which their presence was downplayed by administrators, fraternities and sororities have been given new powers, such as the ability to adjudicate cases brought before the fraternity council. "I'd say some people are still suspicious," said Moyer, a mechanical engineering major. "But the school has taken a step forward, especially Dean (Tom) McEvoy." 

 

McEvoy, the school's dean of residential and campus life, acknowledged taking steps to shore up the relationship. 

 

"We are putting a lot of time and energy and I think focusing on a lot of conversations with our students about the true meaning of being a member of a fraternity or sorority," he said.

 

 


 

Delta Pi of ΔKE ~ Illinois    ~    Delta Psi of ΔKE ~ Indiana   ~    Psi Phi of ΔKE ~ DePauw

 

Post Office Box 813     Greencastle,  Indiana  46135