The Last College Campus Convention

Published on November 15th, 2018

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.