Published by 1 Fraternity ofPhi Gamma Di PULLMAN,WASfflNGTON SPRING 2008 INVESTING IN THE FUTURE The International Fraternity requires that every year, each undergrad chapter (at their own expense)send three under grad brothers—usually juniors—to a three-day "academy"in St. Louis. This is held at the end of Christmas break. The purpose is to provide insight and training in effective ways to conduct msh,chapter house operations, fratemal events and general brotherhood conduct. Over the years, we of the house cor poration board have noted that those brothers who attended "academy" were more effective in keeping the chapter "on the right track"; they became lead ers. With this in mind, we wondered if it might be even more effective if some younger brothers were included in this process. We were able to get two graduates to provide the $700 per person to send two underclassmen as part of the team. This so motivated the chapter that, at their expense, they added a fourth upperclassman to the Pi Mu Fraternity Auction and Elton John Concert Mark Successful Moms Weekend This year on the weekend of April 11-13, the university-sponsored Moms Weekend was again a success when our chapter raised over $2,000. As always, our biannual auction offered great family and fraternity gifts, ranging from gift baskets to cougar memorabilia and even a weekend trip to an exclusive cabin on Maggie Lake, courtesy of the Stokes family. While the auction was our main event for the weekend, senior and head of the Moms Weekend commit tee Kevin Stangvik planned multiple things, such as games, meals and a list of activities offered by the uni versity and city of Pullman. A special thanks goes out to Stangvik for all the hard work he put into his committee and for making it another successful Moms Weekend. As mentioned ear lier, our chapter raised over $2,000, and, thanks to Mother's Club, that money will be in part going toward an enclosed flat screen television for team. Thus, Pi Mu had six attendees, one of the largest "teams." We think this year will definitely have a positive effect on how the chapter is run this coming year. We hope that several other graduate brothers will step forward andjoin us in this "Investing in the Future" operation. Let Harlan Mayer,our president, know of your willingness to participate at (360)395-5139. Let's send ten! Ron Rawson '51 News Roundup our kitchenette. In addition to all the fun activi ties planned this Moms Weekend, the most exciting was the Elton John concert. The event was planned by the Washington State University enter tainment committee. Elton John was originally to play one concert that Sat urday, but due to popular demand and a short supply of tickets, he chose to football by watching them in our newly renovated Martin Stadium. To all graduates who attended this year's Norris Pig Dinner and would like a DVD copy of the honorary night, please contact Rob Borden at rborden@cougfiji.org. play another concert on Sunday, April Fijis and AXs Help Promote Water Safety and Increase 13, concluding a fun-filled weekend Awareness for both the moms and the men of our chapter. Again, we would like to thank all Due to a tragic accident dating back to July 14, 2005, the 2-year-old sister the moms who donated to the chapter of Delta Chi member Brian White and participated in the auction, and we encourage those of you who were unable to attend this year to be a part of a much-anticipated Moms Week end next year. drowned in their family pool. In an at Graduate Announcement Next year, we will be hosting an event called "Football Fridays" for all interested graduates during the football season. On Fridays before games, we will be having a barbecue dinner between 4-6 p.m. On game day Saturdays, we will celebrate Cougar tempt to raise awareness about water safety,the Paris White Foundation has been set up to collect money that will go toward life jacket kiosks placed in parks around the State of Washington. According to the Washington State Department of Health, "Drowning is the second leading cause of injuryrelated deaths for children ages 1-14 in the US." In large response to the death of Paris White and the actions taken by her family, as of July 1, 2007, a (Continued on page 4) \r\nTHE COUGAR FIH Campus Life in Early Days of Pi Mu Dear brothers. First, let me thank you again for the note with all the signatures—it was thoughtful of you to send it, and it meant a lot to me. It sure was fun being with you for the Norris Pig Dinner. Well, what was it like way back then? Wild! Telling it like it was is dangerous. It's like buying a pair of rabbits—you might get more than you bargained for. I came to WSU (then the State Col lege of Washington) in the fall of '48. Wilson Compton was president then. I knew him well, and he turned out to be more or less my mentor when I was on campus. Of course, that's no special credit to me. He and my dad went to college together. At any rate, I registered as an animalhusbandry major and was assigned the student number 483-28941; that num ber would dog me through the interven ing years. Today,in the WSU registrar's office, I suppose I'm known simply as I wasn't much interested in joining any fratemity, I did check into the local and its activities and was invited to eat with the brothers at the Commons (the predecessor of the Stephenson Dining Complex), where they had obtained a sort of private dining room for the eve ning meal. This provided a new circle of acquaintances,some of whom would become lifelong friends, but I was too absorbed in academics to be looking for pals then. I'd already finished my freshman year at Colorado College and my sophomore year—or most of it—at the University of Arizona. Penfield Maurer was then AE of Phi Gamma Delta. He'd been a classmate of my dad at Harvard Law School. Dad knew him reasonably well, so when the Ekklesia was held at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City, Dad and I went, along with perhaps fifteen other mem bers and pledges of Delta Phi Gamma. 483-28941. WSU had about 7,000 students then. Hilltop Stables was the locus of the best horse-science program in America, which explains my presence on the campus. At that time, I wasn't think ing about fraternities. I was assigned a room in Waller Hall, along with my roommate Ulf Thrane, a Norwegian exchange student. Ulfs brother George was the international skiing champion, but I'd never even been on a pair ofskis. Horses were my only sports interest, and that situation probably is still true today, although later I skied throughout America. My dad was a Fiji, but if my memory is valid, there was no fratemity msh in the fall in those days. Rush, if it hap pened at all, was assigned to the spring semester, after the majority of students had had time to adjust to college life. That made sense, but it was tough on the fraternities, which had to fill their houses in September to survive finan cially. I don't remember participating in rush, anyway. I knew that a local fratemity. Delta Phi Gamma, existed on campus and hoped to petition Phi Gamma Delta for a charter. Although that Ekklesia were told me he'd put a stop to that opposi tion. Apparently he did so, because we never heard another peep from Sigma Tau. Mu Iota (University of Idaho) was more favorable to us. But that's getting ahead of the story. I was inducted into Delta Phi Gamma after being a pledge for three or four months. At that time, the local had rented the house at 402 Oak Street from Sid Finch, who charged us an exorbitant rental—I think it was about $800 a month—a huge sum in those days. IfI had to characterize the chapter in those days,I'd say the men were gener ally smart, good organizers, exhibited high morals and did their part to put sew on the map. Our only scrape with the administra tion of the sew came over who would be our housemother. We had a cook,but she did not spend nights at the chapter house. Somehow—and I'm not quite sure now how we did it—we managed to persuade the college administration that we were properly chaperoned. In deed, we really didn't need a chaperon, because we behaved ourselves probably better than did most of the fraternities It was a storm i A) from the begin- I ning, but, when a I A ^ jM the dust had setPokey Foss tied, we and U of RI were granted charters; Trinity was not. I don't know how much arm-twisting was performed in secret by my dad and the father of another member, but it probably was considerable. We retumed,triumphant,to Pullman. A month or so later, Cecil "Scoop" Wilkinson,then the executive secretary of the fratemity,came out to Pullman to install the chapter. Incidentally, Scoop asked me privately later if I thought the fratemity had made a mistake in granting the charter. I said,"Absolutely not." That was a prophetic comment. Sigma Tau Chapter at the University of Washington had opposed the charter from the very beginning. I mentioned that fact to a Sigma Tau alumnus; he in the Interfratemity Conference. Most of us took the Fiji ritual seriously and tried to live fairly close to its demands. Actually, I think Helen Compton, the president's wife, kept the college off our tails. In those days, SCW had a real live cougar named Butch that was kept in a cage near the athletic fields. The night before the UI/SCW football game, some of the Idaho men stole Butch and took him to the UI campus, where he got loose in a women's dormitory. Of course, half the men on the SCW campus headed for Moscow to get Butch. A riot of major proportions was in the making. President Compton got up at midnight and drove to Moscow to get his students (and Butch) back to Pullman before people were killed or maimed. The melee ended when it tumed out that the girls in whose dor mitories Butch was residing befriended the frightened cougar, got him quieted (Continued on page 3) \r\nTHE COUGAR FIJI CAMPUS LIFE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF PI MU (Continuedfrom page 2) down and were actually playing with him before the Moscow police and the Idaho State Patrol got there to rescue ing so knocked hell out of my GPA. I finally graduated with a GPA of only him. As I remember, there was bad Perhaps this pericope is extrane ous to what you wanted about life on campus in the early days of Pi Mu. If so,forgive me. Of course, I could have blood between the students at UI and those at SCW for a couple of years after that incident. Some personal reflections: The Hackamore Club was the collegeapproved club for horsemen. That club established a college rodeo team—one of the first such college rodeo teams in the nation and certainly the first in the Pacific Northwest. When a convention was held in Denver in '49 to form the National Intercollegiate Rodeo As about 2.35! said much more, but time presses me now,for I have a new novel about to go to a publisher, and I've been working hard on that—delayed by two weeks by my wife's successful surgery in New York City. This is probably more stuff than you wanted, brothers. Once we were fixed before coming to SCW. I ended up as so that we could eat together in the fraternity house and even entertain the sorority girls occasionally, the chapter seemed to solidify and function as a fraternity chapter should. Of course, there were problems with collecting the house dues, paying the bills and keeping the thing going. We tried to be good Fijis, and I guess we succeeded,at the regional director of the NIRA for least to some extent. You, brothers, are the states of California, Oregon, Wash probably the bestjudges of our success in that respect. I regret that I could not have spent the second semester of my senior year in Pullman. The cold weather got to me, and I had to finish college by tak ing three courses at Occidental College sociation, I was chosen as the delegate to represent SCW, probably because I was the only bird on campus to hold a current Rodeo Cowboys Association membership card, having competed individually in professional rodeo as a saddle-bronco-rider for a year or two ington, Idaho and Nevada, and hence was responsible for all inter-college rodeos in those states. I was also chair of the rules committee, responsible for writing and enforcing the rules. I took these responsibilities seriously, but do in Los Angeles and transfer the credits back to Pullman. Happily, my inability to tolerate the cold weather no longer is a problem. Surgery at Duke University, where I got my M.A. degree, relieved the condition,so cold weather no longer bothers me. Best wishes to all of you. Let me know ifthis stuffis not what you want, and I'll try to do a better job for you. Good luck and happy commence ment!I hope to see you at the Norris Pig Dinner next year, if not sooner. Fraternally, Pokey Pass Perge! ( Let Us Hear ^ from You! In an effort to update and main tain our database and because of the rising cost of postage, we need to hear from you if you would like to continue receiving the news letter. Please return the enclosed information card, even if blank, or update your information online at www.UDcnewsletters.com so we know the newsletter is actually reaching your mailbox! Thank you! Spring '08 Dollars for Scholars Applicants Joseph Aigner Brad Albert Robby Borden Kevin Dainty John Dillon Alex Hortin Mitchell Hopkins Tyler Lewis Craig Lockett Brett Mankle Ty Martin Charles Parrish Robert Pemberton Kalen Roy Ryan Sherry Kevin Stangvik Christopher Starke Jeffrey Thatcher Alexander Thompson Total $200 $400 $200 $600 $400 $200 $200 $600 $200 $200 $200 $200 $600 $200 $200 $400 $400 $400 $200 $6,000 Applicants for Spring '08 Dollars for Scholars Pi Mu Chapter '08 Cabinet President Shelby Stokes shelbystokes@wsu.edu Treasurer Recording Secretary Rob Borden Franklyn Graham rborden@cougfiji.org f.graham@live.com Corresponding Secretary Historian Josh Nelson Skyler Nakashima jnelliel 1@centurytel.net skyier_nakashima@wsu.edu \r\nPage 4 Spring 2008 THE COUGAR FIJI Changes to Bylaws On Saturday, March 1, the annual meeting ofthe Alumni Association was held at 1:30 p.m. in the dining room of the chapter house. This was Pig Din ner Weekend. All graduates, undergrad brothers and pledges were invited to attend. Hopefully you all received the notice of this meeting, along with a "proxy" for your vote on changes to the bylaws. The revised bylaws were posted on the undergrads' web site for your review. The main item of busi ness was approving the recommenda tions of the house corporation board to upgrade and modernize the bylaws of the house corporation. They had not been changed since 1956. In addition to "cleaning up" verbage, the main points were to increase the board size from five to a max of 11; allow board new members were elected to three- year terms, plus the appointed under grad. The board consists of: President Harlan Mayer '70 members to attend board meetings by "telecommunication; and add one board member with full voting rights, to be chosen by undergrad chapter from their membership (he did not Secretary Treasurer Member and PL need to be 21). New Member Bill Slodysko '73 The revised bylaws were voted in and put into place. The last item of New Member New Member Neal Declonan '74 Rob Borden'10 business was to fill vacancies on the board. In addition to the three "car Undergraduate Rep ...Kurt Parrish '09 We are looking forward to a dy namic and productive year. Perge! ryovers,"four members were reelected for another three-year term, and three Vice President Bruce Ellis 73 Justin Johnson '06 Erik Fay '99 Gary Schell '70 Member Ron Rawson '51 House Corporation Board ofDirectors(2008-09) President Vice President Treasurer Secretary Directors Undergraduate Director PI MU NEWS ROUNDUP (Continuedfrom page 1) four-sided barrier at least four feet high must now surround a pool or spa (Washington State Department of Health). In addition to all the ef forts the White family has made to increase awareness, on the week of April 20-26, our fraternity teamed up with the Delta Chi fraternity for Harlan R. Mayer II '70 Bruce Ellis '73 Erik Fay '99 Justin Johnson '06 Neal Deckman '74 Gary E. Schell '70 Ron Rawson '51 Rob Borden '10 Bill Slodysko '73 Kurt Parrish '09 harlan.mayer@wsucougars.com pacific_investors@hotmail.Gom erik.fay@hotmail.com justinmichaeljohnson@gmail.com nedeck@msn.com ezmuny@adelphia.net ronlrawson@aol.com roborden@cougfiji.org slodysko@comcast.net kurt.parrish@hotmail.com Thanks,Newsletter Contributors! Since the last issue, we received voluntary contributions to the newsletter pro gram from the following brothers and thank them sincerely: Tom Cooney '55 Dr. James I. Mock '59 V. James Morris '54 Lance Daly '96 Gerald R. Davis '58 Ernest Pelto '54 Arthur W."Ward" Emigh Jr. '56 Robert W. Higgins MD '57 Ralph "Ron" Rawson '51 Ryan W. Shelton '07 Gus Kittson '78 a week of planned events to raise Herbert V. Levinsky PhD '64 Daniel W. Shemet '71 James K. Sieveke '70 money for the foundation. Throughout the week, we provided Clarence C. Loomis Jr. '52 Philip H. Smith '66 Martin P. Martinson '72 activities for each of the sororities Harlan R. Mayer II '70 Van S. McKenny IV '88 Gene Sutton '59 Leo F. Trainer '53 on campus to compete in, such as skits and serenades, a water polo tournament and a benefit dinner, the proceeds from which went directly toward the Paris White Foundation. Thank you to all who participated and helped us raise $2,000. The White family greatly appreciates all who donated. Larry R. Weir '57 The Cougar Fiji is published by the brothers of the Fraternity of Phi Gairuna Delta at Washington Stale University for members and friends. Graduate news items, photographs and change ofaddress notices should be sent to Pi Mu ofPhi Gamma Delta, c/o Newsletter Program Headquarters, PC Box 1311, Bloomington,IN 47402-1311. Graduates may sign up to view the newsletter online. To sign up to view the newsletter electronically, update your personal information or to make a contribution to the newsletter via our secure server, visit www.iiDcnewsletters.com and, when prompted, enter your organization code: 90N652. Let us hear from you. so we can include you in a future issue of The Cougar Fiji.