1931 - 1940

Early PA Theta member, Clyde Emanuel Orwig (Bond #30), was expelled on February 27, 1931, for unknown reasons.

Carson Williams Culp '34, the eldest son of charter member Clyde Emanuel Culp, was initiated on February 28, 1931 (Bond #294). Clyde Culp, Jr. '38, third oldest son of Clyde Emanuel Culp, was initiated on October 37, 1936 (Bond #354). Thomas Culp '42, youngest son of Clyde Emanuel Culp, was initiated on March 5, 1939 (Bond #387). Richard Culp, another Phi son, was initiated by Md. Alpha, University of Maryland.

John Dallas, Jr. '35 (Bond #304) and Robert Dallas '37 (Bond #326), sons of charter member John Dallas, were initiated on February 27, 1932 and March 10, 1934 respectively.

Sometime in the early 1930s, the original "widow's walk" was removed from the roof of the chapter house, and the height of the roof was lowered. A new, larger "widow's walk" was constructed, and the "Penthouse" was established in the fourth-floor attic as primitive living quarters.

The stock market crash of 1929 had caused the Great Depression to set in, causing enrollment at Penn State – and, correspondingly, membership in fraternities – to drop significantly.

Contrary to PA Theta's local policy of being a "dry house," most fraternities served liberal amounts of alcohol and were punished for only the most blatant violations of school policy.

In 1931, one Penn State policy was changed to permit sophomore, junior, and senior coeds to attend unchaperoned fraternity social events on Fridays and Saturdays. Curfew was 10:00 p.m. for sophomore and junior women and 10:30 p.m. for seniors. However, following frequent abuses of this "privilege," Dean Warnock requested action by IFC. When IFC failed to do so, Dean Warnock tightened the official Penn State policy to allow women in fraternities only at meal times and for a maximum of only two hours.

Twice in the 1930s, "freshman customs" were eased. By 1937, it was no longer mandatory for men to wear black socks and coats and ties while in class, and after Thanksgiving they were permitted date coeds. Nevertheless, many traditions continued to be mandated including; wearing green head gear – dinks (a small, short-billed cap) for men and hair bows for women; carrying the "Freshman Handbook" – containing all the College's rules, songs, traditions, etc. – at all times; entering campus buildings only through front doors; never stepping on any campus grass; never walking on "Senior Walk" – the College Avenue sidewalk directly in front of Old Main; and wearing large, identification cards on neck strings – with the freshman's name, home town, and major course of study in large letters.
[Note: Most of these freshman customs actually continued well into the 1960s.]

Charlotte Ray, approved new Women's Student Government Association policies, permitting coeds to attend college-approved functions until 1:00 a.m. on weekends. Her bans on smoking and drinking alcohol remained, but both of these were commonly ignored.

Vance O. Packard was initiated by PA Theta (Bond #321) on March 25, 1933.
[Note: The Packard family moved to State College in 1923, when Vance's father took a job as a farmhand at Penn State. As the son of an employee, the tuition discount made possible an otherwise unaffordable college education for Vance. The family lived in a house on Shortlidge Road, at the 2004 site of Eisenhower Auditorium.]

Even though "Prohibition," the federal ban on alcohol, had been repealed in 1933, PA Theta stayed essentially – and voluntarily – "dry" during the 1930s. Individual members might have had a bottle stashed in their desks, but no alcohol was served at chapter functions.

John C. Cosgrove, Jr. '38, was initiated into PA Theta on February 24, 1935, (Bond #340). His father, PA Theta charter member John C. Cosgrove, Sr. '07, was elected to serve on the Penn State Board of Trustees.

In the spring of 1936, Vance Packard graduated from Penn State with a degree in English. He served on the Collegian and La Vie staffs, was a member of Friars, and had participated in track and cross country. His first job after graduation was as a $15 per week reporter for the State College newspaper, The Centre Daily Times. [Note: Vance later wrote for Associated Press, Boston Daily Record, American magazine, and Collier's magazine.]

Many of the effects of the Great Depression remained, but, with comfortable and convenient housing on campus plus good food, PA Theta had no difficulty maintaining a full house. Standard occupancy of the chapter house included members or pledges from four different class years.

In the second half of the 1930s, monthly house bills averaged $60 to $65 [$665 to $720 in 2004 dollars] and included three meals every day of the week. At mealtime, food was served family style, with a senior at the head of each table. He was responsible for keeping order and enforcing the practice of good table manners. A Phikeia sat at the foot of each table with the responsibilities of pouring beverages for all others.

All chapter finances were handled by the brothers. Dean of Mineral Industries, Edward Steidle '11, was chapter advisor, and the house treasurer was required to take the chapter books to his office every month, where he would verify they had been kept accurately.

Freshman Phikeias were permitted to move into the chapter house after only two weeks of school and were immediately assigned a variety of chores and duties, from waiting table or washing dishes – although some brothers did both of those – to cleaning bathrooms – considered to be the worst assignment – and other common areas of the house. Additional assigned duties included "wake up call" each morning for brothers at the times posted on their hallway doors, and failure to wake a brother at his designated time usually resulted in the assignment of additional household chores.

Paddles were much in evidence and were used liberally on PA Theta's Phikeias as penalties for failures to properly perform duties, and – according to the Phikeias – they were also used sometimes for no reason at all.

Phikeias in the 1920s and 1930s had to go through a pre-initiation "training period" – otherwise known as Hell Week. When this practice started at PA Theta is unknown, but it became better organized in the early 1930s. Some of the more distasteful antics of Hell Week – from a Phikeia's point of view – included:
• Very little sleep, which was considered to be the most fatiguing feature of the week
• Wearing underwear made from potato sacks
• Announcing his entrance into the chapter house by lying on his back with his head in the foyer fireplace and shouting his special Hell Week name – such as, "I am Yellow Dog #4" – followed by a litany of phrases as dictated by the brothers
• Being subjected to a mild shock – produced by a hand-cranked generator – while standing naked in a pan of water
[Note: This practice was abandoned in 1935.]
• Out-of-house assignments, such as finding the birth date of a person buried in Boalsburg or counting the windows in Mac Hall

PA Theta was very successful in intramural athletics and was awarded permanent ownership of two Hugo Bezdek Trophies.
[Note: Hugo Bezdek was Penn State's first Director of the School of Physical Education and Athletics, innovator of Penn State intramural athletics, pacesetter in the development of athletic activities for female students, and coach of the Nittany Lion football teams from 1918 to 1929, including the 1923 team Rose Bowl team . The highly coveted Bezdek Trophy was awarded each year to the organization with greatest participation in or contribution to Penn State intramural and varsity sports. In 1937, it was renamed the Penn State College Trophy.]

Members of PA Theta entertained our sister sorority, Delta Gamma, at an informal tea dance the afternoon of Sunday, March 20, 1938. The music for this affair was furnished by the chapter's new combination radio-Victrola.

H. Edward Wagner '41 (Bond #375) was elected PA Theta chapter president. He also served on both the Penn State student government All-College Cabinet and the Student Union Board, chaired the IFC and Regional IFC, was assistant manager of both football and track, and was elected to Lion's Paw, Skull and Bones, Blue Key, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Eta Sigma, Delta Sigma Pi, and Pi Gamma Mu honorary societies.

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