Summer 1971 Diamond Report

Summer 1971 Diamond Report

Brother Thomas Edward Tuten, Gamma Tau ’72, has reported:

“The Gamma Tau is becoming well known on the campus, in some aspects we are more infamous than famous. Our problem with housing is our infamous one. We send a delegate to Campus Planning weekly to check on availability and to complain for their lack of motivation. We expect a house by early September, though, just in time for fall rush.

“After a disastrous academic fall quarter which saw Psi U place in the last five among the twenty-seven fraternities and sororities, a pep talk and study program skyrocketed us into the top three academically, truly a remarkable contribution, with 33 percent of the membership making the Dean’s List.

“In addition, Psi U entered teams in the Interfraternity Sports League and against many larger fraternities (all are larger than we, in fact) Psi U placed above .500 in all sports with the exception of basketball, where height was lacking. Psi U will enter a racer in the ‘Tech 200’ and one or more rafts in the ‘Great River Raft Race’ to be held Spring Quarter. The race, by the way, had over 5,000 participants last year, the largest river raft race in the United States.

“As you see, the Gamma Tau is striving to uphold the high social and academic standards of Psi Upsilon and our progress will not stop.”

The Technique of the Georgia Institute of Technology, March 12, 1971, contained the following story about the Gamma Tau:

“Last spring five Tech men met with Tom Aldridge, national representative of Psi Upsilon Fraternity, for the purpose of petitioning Psi Upsilon for the granting of a Chapter at Georgia Tech. After considering the qualifications of these students and the school, the national executive board authorized the installation of the Gamma Tau Chapter on Dec. 19, 1970, with fifteen charter members being initiated.

“The members of Gamma Tau Chapter hope to add a new dimension to the already sound and healthy fraternity system at Tech. They hope to remain a relatively small group of friends who hold close fraternal ties in the original tradition of social fraternities.

“They feel at times, Tech fraternities have allowed counting intramural sports points and having a party every two weeks supersede the original goals of friendship and service for which the fraternity was founded. Tech’s fraternities have made tremendous social and moral contributions in the past, and the new fraternity wishes to help make more in the future.

“In the article about Psi Upsilon (Jan. 25), it was written that the fraternity does not believe that the pledge is a second-class citizen. This is true in that the Brothers feel a pledge is merely a person being considered for membership in Psi Upsilon’s order, not a slave or person who can be degraded to see if he ‘can take it.’

“Hazing, Hell Week and other diversions that Brothers practiced on pledges in the 1920’s belongs there, in the 1920’s. Psi Upsilon believes a fraternity and its pledges have more important things that they can do, things that can help their school, city, country, and therefore, themselves.”