Ripon College Days

"We aren't so much nerds, we are pretty much Geeks," says Paul Gallagher, senior and former president of the now defunct Lamba Delta Alpha (LDA) fraternity.

Struggling for a number of years to maintain a minimum membership level, LDA finally succumbed last year, had its charter revoked and its letters removed from East Brockway.

"It's safe to say that for a number of years, their numbers had been hovering around the danger point... It's not like one immediate thing pushed them over, but the writing had been on the wall for a while," says Chris Ogle, dean of students, who oversees all fraternities.

"When I first took over as advisor, LDA was always known as the smart group on campus... they had study nights," says Deano Pape, former faculty advisor to LDA.

"They were a smart group- that's why I was drawn to them," says Pape.

However, now and in the past, potential members have been scarce for LDA and other local fraternities.

"Merriman had been struggling for a long time, Tau had been struggling for a long time and it just didn't seem like [Dean Ogle] looked as hard at them, as he did at us," Gallagher says

"They were able to get enough people [to stay recognized] but they really lowered some academic standards... When I started advising LDA... it was ranked fourth out of 35 groups [in GPA]. When I left LDA, it was 28th out of 34. It was just ridiculous how badly the GPA had fallen- plummeted to the bottom of the ranks in just a few years," says Pape.

"I understood why it had to happen, because otherwise it wouldn't have existed, but at least it stood for something," says Pape. Now "we just like to hang around and play video games all day, and that's really all we do," says Gallagher.

Being "geeks" doesn't mean they didn't enjoy their share of trouble. Pape recalls "going to the police station and bailing a couple of students out... of jail because they had stolen, in a scavenger hunt, a stop sign."

Although according to Gallagher "at the time we had our letters taken down, we were the only fraternity that wasn't on probation for one reason or another. We just like to hang out as friends, and as brothers."

Several ex-members live in the same rooms in Brockway they once held as a fraternity, informally continuing LDA.

"It's Brockway, and it's not that great, but it's been home to us," says Gallagher. "We are still brothers."

Signs around campus that refer to the game "Killer" where students and faculty members sign up to be "assassinated" are from these former LDA members.

Killer has been a subject of controversy for LDA in the past. "There was a battle with Joe Hatcher for a while, and I talked to Joe about it... he came in and talked to the group. I was able to persuade them to let him come in and say his piece, but they wanted to keep it 'killer,'" says Pape.

"I'd like to see this fraternity come back, but I don't know if it's going to be back next year," laments Gallagher.

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