Lambda Chi Alpha - SMU

CHAPTER HISTORY Sometime after 1911, the year Southern Methodist University was founded, and only two years after the 1909 founding of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity by Warren C. Cole and others at Boston University, the fraternity resolved to establish a colony at SMU. Representatives of the fledgling fraternity recruited two Dallas businessmen, C.P. Lilly and Cles Compton, alumni of the Lambda Chi chapter at the University of Texas, to establish a Lambda Chi Alpha colony at SMU. In 1920, Lilly and Compton recruited O.T. Gilmore and Dawson Bryan as the initial brothers of a local fraternity, Gamma Delta, which immediately petitioned for admission as a chapter of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, which by that time had grown to over 50 Zetas (by fraternity law, a chapter is known as a “Zeta”). On December 28, 1921, at the Ninth General Assembly of the national fraternity in Dallas, the Alpha-Mu Zeta at the University of Texas installed the SMU local, Gamma Delta, as the 56th Zeta of Lambda Chi Alpha. It was christened the Gamma-Sigma Zeta. The new Zeta flourished, and by 1924 it was able to move from a series of rented houses on Haynie Street and build a new house on campus at #3 Fraternity Row, a new house. It served as home to the first 300 members of the fraternity, until it was sold in 1951 to Pi Kappa Alpha upon the opening of a large new Lambda Chi house at 6015 Airline Boulevard (southwest corner of Airline and Binkley). The large oak trees at the present Binkley parking garage stand in what was the front yard of this house. THE GOLDEN AGE During the 1930s the chapter initiated many men who later became local, state, and national leaders including, most prominently, the Big Brother/Little Brother team of Willis M. Tate and Roy Richard Rubottom. Tate, an honorable mention All-American guard on the 1931 SMU football team, returned to SMU in 1945 as Assistant Dean of Students. He was the Dean when he was selected to succeed Umphrey Lee as president of the university in 1954. He served as president until 1971, when he became chancellor. He died in 1989, still chancellor emeritus. He refused to have SMU’s most prominent building, Dallas Hall, renamed in his honor, but his admirers established after his death an endowment that sponsors the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series, a program that brings to the SMU campus speakers and lecturers of international renown. Rubottom, raised in Brownwood, Texas, became a career American diplomat. He was appointed by President Eisenhower as Ambassador to Argentina and then Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. He accepted his Lambda Chi big brother’s invitation in 1964 to return to SMU as a vice-president. He left SMU in 1971 to serve as president of the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico. He retired in 1973. He served eight years (1968-76) on the national board of directors of Lambda Chi Alpha, the Grand High Zeta, and was active with the fraternity until his death, at 98, in 2010. In 1939, Lambda Chi Alpha merged nationally with Theta Kappa Nu, which also had a chapter at SMU. The resulting increase in Lambda Chi membership was short-lived. By 1940, America was preparing for war. Millions enlisted or were drafted into the military, emptying out the young men from the universities and their fraternities. But the Second World War was over in 1945 and a grateful government passed the G.I. bill, which provided generous stipends for the returning veterans to attend college. Colleges and fraternities flourished once again, and Lambda Chi Alpha and SMU were no exceptions. By 1951, Gamma-Sigma Zeta had its new house and a new life. The chapter succeeded primarily because of its values, commitment to community service, good academics, and a robust social calendar. By 1960 over 600 men had been initiated. THE STARTING NINE By 1964, however, the chapter became the victim of complacency. Membership and commitment declined. A chapter review was conducted by David Ford Hunt, an alumnus of the University of North Texas and a member of the Grand High Zeta, the national board. Nine brothers remained members after the dismissal of those who were not committed to the success of the chapter These steadfast brothers boldly set out to rebuild and by 1969, the chapter had grown to one hundred and twenty five men. This growth happened, again, because of a rededication to the Christian values of the fraternity, including the dignity of the individual, reverence for honest work, integrity, honor, courage, self-denial, servant hood, and service. THE FORMIDABLE PAULINE SHERRILL But one ingredient for the rebirth of the chapter was not foreseeable: one Pauline McKinney Sherrill. David Ford Hunt hired Mom Sherrill in 1964 as the housemother during the darkest days of the chapter review. Though there were no funds available to pay her beyond room and board, she demanded, and got, $1 a day “or the boys won’t respect me, Mr. Hunt.” Mom Sherrill, all of 5 feet, 2 inches, and with carefully coiffed white hair, demanded respect for herself, for the house, and for good manners. She insisted on gentlemanly behavior in her presence – and she got it. In return, she showered her love upon any member smart enough to endear himself to her. She counseled, comforted, sewed on buttons, ran the kitchen, and fought many battles on campus on behalf of “her boys.” Her efforts were recognized in 1970 at the General Assembly in the Grand Bahamas where she was named International House Mother of the Year. FOOD AS A FORCE FOR GOOD For the brothers of this time, it must be noted that the Chapter cook Jewell was a mythical figure and the first celebrity chef in the known universe. Every Friday, “Jewell Burgers” were a gastromical magnet that drew the entire chapter into the house as if by a siren for a feast to celebrate the start of a weekend of new hope and the banishment of a week of futility and despair (and university food). The pressed duck of La Tour d’ Argent remain a poor competitor to the eminence of a Jewell Burger. A BOLD STEP – HAZING ABOLISHED/NEW MEMBER PROGRAM CREATE D By 1966 Gamma Sigma Zeta had asserted itself as a leader in fraternity and university life. Hazing was abolished – and it stuck. No other fraternity at SMU had ever discouraged, much less banned any act that humiliates a new member, whether mental or physical. Most fraternities at SMU still haven’t – at least not in practice. In 1972, the chapter abandoned traditional pledgeship and adopted the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity’s new associate-member program. No longer would new members be a subordinate class of “pledges.” Instead, they would be associate members with full voting rights on every issue before the chapter except their own initiation. The response of the SMU community was wildly positive. Associate-member classes were routinely between 35 and 45 men. The chapter outgrew the 1951 house and built a new wing, bringing the capacity of the house to nearly 60. The SMU student senate was routinely one-quarter to one-third composed of Lambda Chis. A string of student body presidents and M-Award winners (the highest award conferred by the university – for “outstanding service to the university” and given to only ten recipients per year) were Lambda Chis. THE RISE OF THE GREAT EIGHT Regrettably, by 1991, the chapter had, once again, become a victim of its own success. Men who were attracted to Lambda Chi for what it could do for them and not for what they could do for it and who gave only lip service to its values began to dominate. Though the chapter was still numerically strong, the national fraternity courageously demanded more and conducted the first chapter review since 1964. Many members were dismissed after careful interviews, and many others left in sympathy. Eight remained; of those, six were sophomores. “The Great Eight,” as they later became known, stepped up. Each held an office. Each committed to never forfeit an intramural contest. They immediately associated in fall rush five new sophomores of outstanding quality and, in January, they associated 24, more than doubling the size of the chapter within six months. They were off and running. By 1994 the chapter was back to nearly 100 and returned to its place of prominence in campus life. A NEW HOUSE In 2003, SMU asked Gamma-Sigma Zeta to vacate its house at 6015 Airline to make way for a dramatic expansion of the university’s brick and mortar. It was a difficult decision for those who had known 6015 as their university home. Actives and alumni began planning for a new on-campus chapter house to be located on Dyer Court. Noted Dallas architect and eventual honorary brother Bryce Weigand was engaged as chief architect for the project. Many symbols and prominent features of the old house (twin bay windows on the front, one featuring a grand piano; a gray and maroon slate floor in the foyer; and a grand staircase) that were important to the alumni were incorporated into the new house. By 2006 the new house was dedicated and occupied. It is still the most striking and grand Greek house on the SMU campus. ALUMNI ADVISORY BOARD CREATED Dissatisfied with the cycle of success and complacency at many of its zetas (chapters), the national fraternity initiated a program whereby advisory boards composed of outstanding and accomplished alumni are engaged to counsel, advise, and, where necessary, provide discipline to the chapters. These boards are proving remarkably successful where, as at Gamma Sigma, the alumni are talented, dedicated, and are numerous enough to assign one alumnus to each officer as a mentor. Gamma Sigma is lucky to have such an advisory board in place. LAMBDA CHI ALPHA BROTHERS EXCEL There will always be room for men of character, vision, and dedication at the Gamma-Sigma Zeta of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and especially if they are dedicated to helping their brothers to EXCEL. That is why Gamma Sigma Zeta is the longest continually operating fraternity on the SMU campus, having now initiated over 2500 men in the 93 years since its installation in 1921.

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