Vol. 82, No. 2, Summer 2008 - Monmouth College

Alpha Tau at Ohio State UniversityAs the 2008 academic year began, theAlpha Tau chapter of Eta Sigma Phi hadone main goal in mind: staving off theoblivion our chapter had sunk into in therecent past. In an effort to prevent thisfrom happening again, we kicked off theyear with several successful events.First, we organized two successive readingsof the Iliad over pizza. The event drewnot just members of Eta Sigma Phi, butClassics graduate students, professors, and,if anyone will believe it, one non-Classicsundergraduate who had never read Homerbefore in his life. The highlight of bothevents was the rousing performance thatProfessor Heiden, one of the department’sleading Homeric scholars, gave when readingbooks 2 and 9. Armed with his ownloose translation, he made the audiencefeel as though Thersites were dishing outhis insults in the very room we were reading,as though Achilles were sitting therebefore us all in his magnificent insolence.Later on in fall quarter, the AlphaTau chapter hosted two other successfulevents. In response to popular demand,the leadership organized a meetingbetween undergraduates and junior facultyto discuss graduate school. Over thecourse of the meeting, students got thechance to ask questions about everythingfrom the application process and the GRE,to where good Classics graduate programsactually are. Given the success of theevent, we are hoping to make an annualevent.Finally, to round off the quarter, weorganized a group outing to see a modernizedversion of Euripides’ Trojan Womenthat was being performed on campus.The title of the play — Trojan Women2.0 — should have been our first sign ofwhat we were in for. From its post-modernsetting, to its burlesque, Project-Runwaytype musical interludes, the play left allof us feeling more than a little uncomfortable.All the members of the groupbreathed a huge sign of relief when ProfessorHeiden decided to leave after the firsthalf of the play (after all, as he put it, thatwas where Euripides ended it!). For thesecond half became an explicit, and totallyunnecessary, mass orgy between the exiledAeneas and his Trojan companions andDido and her handmaidens! As we left thetheater, a feeling of catharsis was not in theair. Perhaps, I mused, Aristotle had it allwrong: true tragedy is not about elicitingfear and pity in the audience; it is all abouteliciting uneasiness and laughter!When the group reconvened afterwinter break, we picked up where we hadleft off at the end of fall quarter. In January,we held our annual elections, attractingmembers with pizzas and circuses (wesimply did not feel that bread would dothe trick). At the election meeting, we discussedplans for the rest of the quarter, anddecided upon having a reading of someauthor besides Homer. After the votes hadbeen tallied, Aristophanes emerged on top.A few weeks later, several members of thegroup, as well as a couple faculty membersand graduate students, got together toperform Lysistrata. While an amateur productionin every sense of the word, it wasnevertheless a fun and enjoyable experiencefor all.Now, as spring quarter begins, the groupis looking forward to several upcomingevents. First, we are planning on having afew more readings, the first of which willbe Apuleius’ Golden Ass. Secondly, thegroup is planning to continue the traditionbegun last year of hosting an end-of-theyearfeast, or Bacchanalia, for Eta SigmaPhi members and Classics faculty. Weare hoping to live up to last year’s meal,although we are aware that it may be anuphill battle since our talented studentchef transferred to Chapel Hill. By offeringone or two hecatombs to the gods,however, we think that doing this shouldnot be a problem. Thus, for the nearfuture at least, the prospects for the AlphaTau chapter are looking up. Oblivion isnowhere on our radar screens.President: Justin VorhisVice-President: Ross EichenseerTreasurer: Olga KoutseridiSecretary: Jordan MartinAdvisor: Yiorgos AnagnostuBeta Gamma at the University ofRichmondIn the past year, both our classics departmentand our chapter have expanded,with the addition of two new professorsand ten new members. This year we begana tradition of weekly meetings we call“classics tea,” in which students and facultymeet for presentations, conversation,and, of course, tea and cookies. We alsotook the National Latin Exam for the firsttime and plan to continue this in futureyears. Our department is flourishing and sois our chapter.Beta Iota at Wake Forest UniversityBeta Iota Chapter sponsored a ClassicalMovie Night on March 5. Studentsgathered to watch “300” and enjoy pizza.We have elected new officers and inducted16 new members at our annual banquet onApril 13. The program at the banquet wasa tribute to Professor John L. Andronica,chair of the Department of ClassicalLanguages, who is retiring this spring afterteaching at Wake Forest for 39 years.Professor Andronica shared his memoriesand reflections of his time at Wake Forest,and students and colleagues spoke abouttheir gratitude for his many contributionsto building a strong and collegial program.Beta Kappa at the College of Notre Dameof MarylandIt is pleasing to think that the Romansand the Greeks were sporting people andwould have been game for March Madness.Even though we are not on thecourt, members of our chapter have hadquite a rush this March. We are currentlypromoting our Maryland Classics Raffle,where we feature prizes from Marylandbusinesses that we consider to be “Classics,”supporting the Sister Gratia Ennisscholarship fund, which provides help forshort-term study abroad in classics. ThisMarch was the inaugural and hopefulconquering of the National Latin Examfor our group. Our Classics Departmentwas featured in an article in The BaltimoreSun which surveyed work being done andClassics being promoted in the Baltimorearea, encouraging study of Classics acrossthe state and across the disciplines. We arealso assisting Sister Therese Marie Doughertyas she hosts two Institutes which aresupported by the National Endowmentfor the Humanities. One of them is aworkshop for teachers from the Maryland/Virginia area with a focus on the AugustanAge, the literature and ideals that came27