The Last College Campus National Convention

Prior to 1995 our National Conventions were mostly if not exclusively bid for and hosted by chapters and college campuses. The 1995 National Convention was the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Kappa Kappa Psi and the 50th anniversary of Tau Beta Sigma and a decision was made to place this celebration at Disney World in Orlando, FL. Since then there have been no conventions on college campuses and two years later (1997) was the last time a college campus bid was offered. Following that the process for selecting a National Convention site was delegated to the Executive Director with final approval coming from the National Council.

The 1993 National Convention was hosted by the Gamma Pi Chapter KKPsi and Beta Sigma Chapter TBSigma on the campus of Purdue University. To find the roots of this convention you actually need to go back to 1989 NCD Convention hosted at the University of Akron. It was at this convention that the chapters at Purdue and the chapters at the University of Cincinnati both presented solid bids to host the 1990 NCD Convention. Final voting came out evenly split between the two bids which sent the election into a tie breaker process that involved the district officers voting. This process broke the tie in favor of the chapters at the University of Cincinnati and they hosted a successful convention in 1990.

Following the 1989 convention Purdue (with some encouragement) made a decision to present a bid to host the 1993 National Convention (the 1989 National Convention was only a few months away so there was little or no time to restructure their bid into a National Convention bid for the 1991 convention).

The NCD enthusiastically endorsed this bid and as I stated in an earlier Historical Highlight even roasted leftover hot dogs from the first Summer FUNction (1991) for distribution on a main sidewalk in the housing area for the 1991 National Convention in College Park, MD. Each hot dog was given to an active with the expectation that “a hot dog was a vote for Purdue”. At the close of 1991 convention the Chapters at Purdue were awarded the 1993 National Convention. This was the first National Convention in the NCD since 1987 when the convention was hosted at the University of Michigan which is the convention at which the NCD (and our current district organization across the nation) was created.

College based National Conventions were somewhat different than a corporate bid based convention. First of all the housing was in college residence halls, which sometimes meant you could get away with a little more than you can in a hotel that you share with other guests. Things such as mattress races were common in the hallways. You also had easy access in most cases to campus hangouts, easy and cheap food options and the atmosphere of a college town. The Purdue convention was well run by all involved and a great time!

There was one last attempt at college hosted National Conventions. In 1997 Michigan State bid to host the 1999 convention but lost out to another chapter’s bid to host the convention at a hotel in St. Louis.

Are you experienced enough to have been at the 1993 National Convention at Purdue? If so what are your memories from your experiences?

As a side note this summer you have an opportunity to experience a campus hosted convention (although not bid for by the local chapters like the past). There are so many reasons why you should make every effort to attend the 2019 National Convention at our Fraternal home, Stillwater OK.

Historical Highlight: The Birth of the North Central District

Unless you are a more experienced alum (in years) you might not be aware that the NCD we know and love today is only 31 years old.  While Districts have existed since 1949 they have changed over time.  The current NCD was created when the Brothers and Sisters at the 1987 National Convention approved the District Realignment Plan as presented to the district presidents in 1986.  Prior to the 1987 realignment the districts were identified by numbers as seen below. As a side note the 1987 convention was full of NCD significance as it was hosted in the NCD at the University of Michigan, and presided over by National President Frank Stubbs, who was then the Director of Bands at Purdue)

Image 1: New Districts as of September 1, 1967

As you can see above, prior to the redistricting in 1987 what is now known as the NCD was mostly District VII. 

The 1987 plan took the 10 numbered districts shown above  (international district/District 10 not shown) and consolidated them into 7 districts (including international) named for regions of the country as shown in the image below.  When the changes were made to District VII to create the NCD, a state was added but no additional chapters were gained.  That state was Wisconsin which prior to 1987 was part of District IV.  The rationale for the addition of Wisconsin to the NCD was that it was a logical fit and a fertile area for colonization. (Oddly enough that logical fit and fertile area has failed to yield any chapters to this day). 

The reason for realignment was that in the former structure we had several districts with very few chapters.  At that time, Districts I and IV only had one chapter each (District I for Kappa Kappa Psi, District IV for Tau Beta Sigma). District II had 5 chapters, and District III had a handful of chapters. Realignment meant that resources could be streamlined and districts could have more chapters for interaction and business purposes. It also was driven by growth/lack of growth in various regions of the Fraternity and Sorority.

Image 2: 1987 District Realignment

If you look closely to the image above (1987 redistricting proposal) and the image below (current district structure) you will notice one minor change if you look to the Western District.  With the 1987 redistricting the lines of the Western District and its adjoining districts were based on the Continental Divide.  A later revision was to make change those 3 districts borders to state lines.  Also for the NCD, a slight change happened when the NCD added the Zeta Lambda Chapter at Marshall University, which is located in West Virginia.  Despite accepting Marshall into the NCD, the state of West Virginia is still considered to belong to the Northeast District.

Image 3: District Alignment (2018)

Note from the Author:

This highlight was done with a considerable amount of assistance from Ken Corbett, Past National President and a founding member of our National History and Archives Team.  Ken was the National Member at Large (current VP for Student Affairs position) at the 1987 National Convention. The graphics are all from a presentation he shared with me.  Past National President Malinda Matney also provided some input as she was the TBS District V president in 1987.  Other insights beyond those two resources were items I learned as a member of the first ZE Membership Candidate Class following the 1987 district realignment.

Historical Highlight: Origins of Summer FUNction

Mike Osborn

History & Traditions Director

It is summer so that means that the NCD Summer FUNction is coming up fast. By now you should know what Summer FUNction is but do you know how the it came to be?! Welcome to your 1st NCD History Highlight from your History and Traditions Director, Mike Osborn.

What we know today as Summer FUNction was approved at the 1991 NCD Convention in Ann Arbor when David Homan (KKPsi Upsilon) and Jackie Miller (TBS Delta Epsilon) were district presidents. At that point the district was extremely business oriented which did not lend itself to social activities. It was therefore decided that a summer event that was centered on social interaction needed to be created. This social outlet is what became the Summer FUNction.

The first NCD Summer FUNction took place in July 1991 during the presidential term of Mike Osborn (KKPsi ZE) and Larissa (Bien) Miller (TBS ZE). It was a one day event at what was then the Dover Lake Waterpark in Dover, OH. For KKPsi the planning for the event fell mostly to NCD Member at Large, Dan Skrovan (BK). The first Summer FUNction was well attended which was in part due to its location within easy travel of many of the chapters back in 1991. At the first Summer FUNction there was a short business meeting where updates on national convention topics were discussed (it was a major issue oriented convention with the CFR proposal, a complete revision of the Ritual, changes in membership terminology along with a national convention bid coming from Purdue. (keep in mind that in that era the only ways to update people were mailings, phone calls or meetings so a meeting at a district function was most efficient). The short meeting was accompanied by a picnic cookout and then the district enjoyed a sun soaked day of fun in the water park. As a side note the hot dogs might have had a part in securing the 1993 National Convention for Purdue as the leftover uncooked hot dogs were brought to College Park Maryland for the 1991 National Convention. It was there that the hot dogs were cooked and distributed to Brothers and Sisters on the walkway where the district was playing volleyball. The phrase “a hot dog is a vote for Purdue for national convention” showed great district support for Gamma Pi and Beta Sigma and let’s face it free food can do a lot to get support from starving college students at a national convention.

I encourage you to post your favorite Summer FUNction memories as a comment to this post. In the soon to be 27 Summer FUNctions there have been so many many memorable moments and it would be great to collect that history here as well.