TKE’s Celebrate Founding College's First Integrated Frat
Alumni and brothers of the campus’s Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity began their 50th anniversary celebration with a panel discussion recalling the chapter’s re-establishment in 1962, when TKE became the first fraternity at Wabash to admit African-American students. Brad Johnson introduced the panel, including one of the founding members, Dave Johnson ’63, along with David Ong ’65 and Ken Schild ’66.
Johnson tells the story: ‘The fraternities at Wabash were segregated, not necessarily by choice as much as by history. There was a set of students on campus that felt that needed to be changed, and needed to be changed soon. As a result, in the late winter and early spring of 1962, these students—some from other fraternities, some independents—organized and decided they would bring to the campus an integrated fraternity.’
Founding member Dave Johnson ’63: 'What we did anyone of you could have done and would have done, we just had the opportunity to do it. In 1962, Roger Alig ’63, John Dooley ’63 and I were living on the fourth floor of Martindale Hall, and one day Bob Hamilton ’64 came to see us. There were no integrated fraternities on campus at that time, and Bob asked us to join him to form an integrated fraternity.' [Note: Hamilton was unable to attend the 50th anniversary celebration due to health problems.]
Jerry Blossom ’66 noted that Hamilton had worked unsuccessfully to convince the fraternity he'd belonged to previously to integrate: 'When you think about Bob approaching Dave, Roger, and John, you realize they did this out of love of a friend.'
David Ong: 'This wasn't something imposed on us. We did it ourselves, and by doing something to solve this problem, we encouraged change in others.'
Ken Schild, David Ong, and Dave Johnson recollect.
‘To me, pledging this fraternity was the most important thing I did here. You guys held your ground,’ said John Fargher ’66. He noted that when George Wallace visited Crawfordsville [in 1968], ‘we as a fraternity picketed him.’ While in the Air Force, Fargher had a secretary who was a cousin of Wallace, so years after the picketing, he had the chance to meet the Governor. 'I talked to him about it, and he remembered what we had done.' Ong pointed out that 'we picketed him, but did not attempt to prevent him from speaking. We didn’t do it with the idea of stifling his right to speak.'
Ken Schild: 'Just living with those who had been discriminated against taught us how stupid discrimination was: The people we had made you wonder, Why wouldn’t everyone want these men as members?’
A current student listens to the history of his fraternity.
Eugene King '78.
John Fargher pointed out that TKE life was hardly all work and protest, and no play!
Professor Emeritus Joe O'Rourke had some TKE stories of his own.
'The faculty were really rooting for us,' Dave Johnson said.
Brad Johnson ’71
Dave Ong reacts to one of Ken Schild's more humorous tales.
Current students enjoyed hearing alumni stories.
Andrew Kunze ’12
Professor Joe O'Rourke stuck around to tell a few more stories.
Ken Schild
Ong chats with Professor Emeritus John Zimmerman ’67 and Associate Professor of Chemistry Lon Porter. Porter now lives in the house on Main Street that was the original TKE house.
Dave Ong