Alumni Bring PLT Back to Bucknell
Alumni came from all over the east on weekends to rush freshmen. They often looked out of place as they went from door to door in Kress and Trax Halls, but their unorthodox approach and challenging message was convincing. They exchanged commitments with 13 men -- pledgeship and a House on the Hill. These men of the class of 1974 began a spectacular rejuvenation of Phi Lambda Theta's capabilities. And within five years, the Chapter had grown from 0 to 28 members.
In this new positive atmosphere, ideals became more important to the purpose of PLT. Consistent with the fraternity's traditional ideals, the chapter voted to accept women in to membership in 1973, much of the growth of the early 1970s can be attributed to that decision. These new members joined in the demanding effort to build the new house.
Because alumni, actives and pledges spent many hours assisting in the construction, the new home of Phi Lambda Theta was opened in the fall of 1975. Biff's goal had been met, and, because of his many years of effort, his picture hangs today in a prestigious and safe location in the House.
The continual effort to attain equality in all relationships had become a hallmark of PLT. It is a source of immense inner strength; it is also the source of organizational problems. Such was the case with coed living. The success of coed membership greatly depended upon establishing a strong brother/sister relationship. For college students in a social fraternity, a brother/sister relationship was, and still is, against all expectations and traditions. The worst developed. Instead of the necessary binding force of brotherhood/sisterhood, PLT succumbed to the temptations of boyfriend/girlfriend. That ruptured the social structure and affected long held friendships. Not only did internal cooperation decline, especially among the ex boyfriends and girlfriends, but the campus soon realized that PLT was no longer a fraternity in the traditional sense. Membership rapidly declined.
The drive to return to an all male brotherhood began. Key Alumni were split. Even as their long struggle and desire to establish the House on the Hill had been fulfilled, the Chapter's occupancy soon fell below half of the House's 36 person capacity. Bitter in fighting to end coed Chapter membership wasted enormous amounts of the active chapter's energy. But the fraternity, both actives and alumni, didn't cinch from the battle; the courage to seek and clarify new values, and then to live them, had been deeply rooted in PLT's history. This was no exception.
Another chance to increase membership came when Mike Keating and Chris Laubach, two enthusiastic leaders of the independent freshmen floor of Third Kress, brought together a group eager to join. They offered Phi Lam the opportunity to pledge 20 new members if the fraternity would return to an all male brotherhood. Although the intrafraternity debates were again bitter, the Active Chapter and Alumni Association formally accepted the Third Kress proposal. Female members were made Alumni, and the Chapter was given the annual option to determine the sex composition of every year's pledge class. Membership more than doubled in the spring of 1977. Enthusiasm, energy and confidence flowed in to the chapter.