After a long semester living in the old Fiji house, the brothers of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity were quite excited to move back to their rightful place on the campus, at 602 West Wabash Avenue. After years of painstaking work at fundraising, the $3 million renovation reached completion this January, ready for her to fill the hallways once again with the vibrant undergraduates. This Saturday in the crowded great hall, alumni, parents, administrators, and students gathered to hear distinguished speakers, including President White, Dick Griesser ’51, Gordon Peters ’52, Terry Hamilton ’89, alumnus advisor Ben Kessler ’74, and chapter house president Jason Gray ’08.
As Gray mentioned in his speech, it has been a long, trying road for the brotherhood of Phi Kappa Psi. It was a road paved with hard work of the undergraduates to prove their deserving spirit to have such a nice home, and that it would be taken good care of if the dream was to come true. But at that, for many of the brothers, it was still a dream. They never thought they would see the end of the road, as progress was quite slow. But it all paid off, thanks to the generous alumni, the dream was made a reality. The finished product is a testament to the hard work put forth by all parties involved.
"We want to thank all our alumni for their efforts—their hard work has not gone unnoticed," Gray stated in his speech.
The day was filled with house tours, reminiscing by brothers, and gift-giving. Among the gifts were a pair of the Lamp of Knowledge, a sign on the crest of the fraternity, given by Ben Kessler ’74. Other gifts included photographs of the chapter’s history, given by Dick Grisser ’51, who reminded the present guests of the hardships the house had experienced in the past, when, due to the war, it had lost its charter. Thanks to the efforts of Dick Regnier ’52, and others, the house was revitalized and without him, undoubtedly the house would not be functioning as it is today. It is because of his hard work and dedication to see the fraternity flourish that he is commemorated in a commanding portrait in the great hall of the new home.
The space has changed dramatically since its pre-renovation era. The space that was formerly the cold dorm has been completely transformed, breaking the space up into some three-man suites and a large bathroom. The kitchen space was increased greatly, along with individual room spaces, taking out what once was built-in closets, and replacing them with movable armoires. The chapter room was moved, and in its space remains a lounge for the brotherhood, complete with a new pool table, poker table, and big screen television. As one may have noticed, the former front porch was enclosed, adding even more living space for the brotherhood to utilize as a study space, or just for conversation. New washers and dryers were moved to the first and second floor, becoming more accessible to the habitants. Overall, the structure was resituated to make best use of the space provided, which wasn’t so much the case with the former layout of the house.
As President White pointed out in his speech, at a time when many campuses are folding up their fraternities, or fighting them, Wabash is not only embracing and encouraging, but they are also helping them financially meet their goals. And although there are still fraternity houses that need help on the Wabash campus, the new Phi Kappa Psi house is one step in the right direction of bringing the Wabash campus into the 21st century of living quarters—leaving room for space to grow, change, and adapt to each generation of her habitants.