Today, Greek life on campus is going strong – there are five fraternities and five sororities, students live in Greek quarters in Juda Hall and a Greek plaza graces the lawn west of Juda Hall. For this issue of Centennial Notes, we decided to look back at Missouri Western’s earliest Greek history. We found that it goes back to the St. Joseph Junior College:
The first Greek social organization, the Omega Tau Sorority, actually goes all the way back to 1926, where it received glowing accolades from the 1927 yearbook staff for its service and social activities that year. The yearbook even noted that “the next few years will undoubtedly see the advent of other chapters – not only local but national.” Unfortunately, that group or any other Greek social organizations were not mentioned in any subsequent yearbooks until the 1960s.
During the years leading up to the four-year college in 1969, there were three Greek organizations at the junior college: Delta Nu and Sigma Tau Delta fraternities and Chi Chi Chi sorority. The organizations did not seek national charters until Missouri Western became a four-year college.
Sigma Tau Delta began in 1962, but was not officially recognized by the college. “We weren’t really big on meetings, but we had a lot of parties,” said Pat Conway ’73, who joined when he started at the junior college in 1965. “But we were in the Homecoming parades and sponsored queen candidates.”
Pat was drafted by the military before he could finish his degree, and by the time he returned to school in 1970, his fraternity was officially recognized by the now four-year Missouri Western.
He said several members of the fraternity are included in a group that still gets together for a reunion every year.
Sigma Tau Delta aligned with Phi Sigma Epsilon and gained a national charter in 1971. That group became Phi Sigma Kappa in 1985, and Phi Sigma Kappa remains on campus today.
Delta Nu, founded in 1966, aligned with Lambda Chi Alpha for a national charter in 1970. The 1970 yearbook called the group “the oldest social fraternity on campus.”
Jill Miller ’73, remembers the men of Delta Nu at the junior college. “They were such sharp dressers with their burgundy blazers.”
Chi Chi Chi was active at the junior college for several years. It became Delta Zeta in the spring semester of 1970 and received its national charter later that year.
Phi Mu sorority was founded in June 1969, just as the college was moving to its new campus, and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity was founded that October. Jill was a member of Phi Mu and later the sorority’s advisor when she was a faculty member at Missouri Western.