1903-04 Volume 28 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

246 THB SCROLL.caused great excitement, and a junior class meeting was heldto investigate the matter. In this meeting the class upheldthe vote of the board, passed resolutions of censure uponB © n, If K * and X *, and accepted the resignations of theeditors representing them. The question of precedence wasalso submitted to the faculty, which also sustained the positionof $ A 0.* C. L. Allen met the representatives of B 0 II,* K * and X * alone in a room, and by evincing a readinessto use the muscle with which nature had endowed him, persuadedthem to surrender the literary material. These fraternitiesrefused their engravings, but their membership listswere published in the annual following the * A 0 list.In i88i Wisconsin Alpha had taken the initiative in establishingthe inter-fraternity ball, which was given annually onWashington's birthday, and which, in its co-operative feature,corresponded with the Pan-Hellenic banquets that began tobe common at other institutions about this time. Previousto 1884, the question of precedence of fraternities had notbeen raised, but now it assumed an important aspect. B © n,* K * and X *, unable to accomplish their ends where thequestion was laid before an unbiased jury like the neutrals ofthe class publishing the annual, decided to make it unpleasantfor * A © in a matter where they would hold complete control.They insisted that $ A © should be last on the dancecard, but inadvertently appointed two Phis on the committeeon printing, so $ A 0 came out first on the programme. Beatenagain, the three opposing fraternities met secretly and decidedto make all arrangements for the ball without notifying* A ©, and then to exclude it. Their plans were successfulthat year. Two incidents, however, o'ccurred which showedthe attitude of the university authorities toward the dispute.The first was the attendance of the ladies of Ladies Hall at theterm party of ^ A 0, Thanksgiving evening, 1884, special permissionfor them to attend having been granted by the matron.The second incident was the refusal of the board of regents toallow the other fraternities the use of Assembly Hall for theball, February 22, 1885, where the function had previouslybeen held.During 1884-85 and 1885-86, no annual was pubHshed, and* A 0 was still barred out of the inter-fraternity party. In*This decision of the faculty was largely based upon a report of W. F. Allen, A A t, agraduate of Harvard, and professor of history of Wisconsin. He presented a statement ofthe facts to the Union chapter of A A *, which rendered a decision in favor of * A 0.Unless this rule were applied, X * would be compelled to see its parent .chapter, foundedi84r, and suspended from rS?? to 1S92, placed below 4 A 0 at Union.