Local History | Our Nickname | The Good Old Days | Traditions
Local History
Penn State University was one of the few campuses in the nation to have well-established chapters of both fraternities.
Phi Kappa
The local fraternity Sigma Phi Delta was founded at Penn State on November 7, 1913. On March 24, 1914, Sigma Phi Delta affiliated with the national fraternity and became the Gamma Chapter of Phi Kappa. They resided at 338 E. Fairmount Avenue.
Theta Kappa Phi
Kappa Theta was founded at Penn State in January of 1920. They became the Beta Chapter of Theta Kappa Phi on March 22, 1922. Their house was located at 321 Fraternity Row, currently the home of Pi Lambda Phi.
Phi Kappa Theta
Phi Kappa Theta has a rich history at Penn State following the merger of 1959.
Immediately following the merger, Theta Kappa Phi moved into Phi Kappa's house at 338 E. Fairmount Ave,
where we continue to live today. From that point on we were known as the Pennsylvania Beta Gamma Chapter
of Phi Kappa Theta. After almost 80 prosperous years at Penn State, we lost our charter in 1991 due to
alcohol violations. During what would be a 5 year absence, 2 other fraternities, Zeta Beta Tau and then Sigma
Alpha Mu, occupied our house. Recolonization (finding new members for our fraternity) began in 1994.
On November 9, 1996, we rechartered and once again became a part of Penn State's Greek system. We moved back
into our house at 338 on August 15, 1997.
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Our Nickname
Unlike many other chapters around the nation, Phi Kappa Theta is not known as "Phi Kap" at Penn State. In fact, if you asked someone where Phi Kap was, they'd probably give you a strange look. Here, we're known as "Phi Who,"and we have been for close to 30 years. After so many years, multiple stories began floating around our house regarding the actual origin of our nickname. The true story is told below.
back to top"The nick name came about in the early seventies. The brothers at the time were making a push to become more recognized on campus. Therefore, they charged their Social Chairman with the task of calling every sorority to invite them to the house for a social. The Social Chairman was having quite a bad time of it, getting turned down left and right. With his frustration level peaked, he made a call to Chi Omega. He introduced himself as the Social Chairman from Phi Kappa Theta and the Social Chairwoman from Chi-O said, 'Phi Who?' He was so mad, that he screamed, 'Yeah, that's right, I'm the social f---- chairman from Phi Who!' He slammed down the phone. And things just grew from that. That's the true story."
- Alumni Brother Tom Bodnar
The Good Old Days
back to topIt may interest you to know, that from that point on, the house grew very close. Our rush numbers went up and we went on to be one of the strongest houses on campus from '75 - '89. We were perennially in the top ten in Athletics, we won numerous trophies for philanthropic events, we had the best socials, and rarely had an open weekend evening. We sometimes had to budget a few weekend nights off a semester, because we were just couldn't keep up the constant "socialness". We needed our rest!"
- Alumni Brother Tom Bodnar
Traditions
Phi Who Bunny
One of the more recognizable traditions of Phi Kappa Theta is the house "mascot", the Playboy Bunny. It began in 1967, when Mike Lennon '68, painted a poor semblance of the (in)famous icon of maleness on the chimney of 338 East Fairmount. Brother Lennon's prank was not well received at the time, by the brotherhood, or anyone else for that matter. However, given the lack of motivation to go the roof and actually get rid of it, the bunny stayed in place for a number of years and finally became a point of interest. Such as, "Do you know where Phi Kappa Theta is? Yeah, its the house with the bunny on the chimney." Acceptance followed and eventually, two brothers came along and did a better job of recreating the Hefner inspired symbol.
The Bunny remained in its place until 1991 when the house was vandalized and an era came to an end. It remained missing until the Spring 2001 semester, when Brothers Agarwal, Astley, and Payne repainted the Phi Who Bunny. It now prominently adorns the fraternity chimney and is quickly becoming a well known landmark once again. The peak of the Bunny's popularity was the 70s-80s in what has become known as the "Phi Who Era". Looking through old scrapbooks, you can find pictures of young women at our house in bikinis and bunny ears, just giving you an idea of how popular it really was. Now, more prolific than ever, the Bunny can still be found at various spots in the house. Even today, the Bunny always appears on the banner for another Phi Who tradition, Beach Party.
Beach Party/Green Beer Weekend
In the 1970's the largest social weekend of the year was Green Beer weekend. This weekend typically coincided with Phi Kappa Psi's "Phi Psi 500" and usually fell around the first weekend in Spring, St. Patrick's Day and Gentle Thursday. All 70's grads will remember these events (or maybe not!) as the ritual beginning of Spring. Phi Kappa Theta opened its doors to brothers from all houses and provided live entertainment. Large quantities of green beer were ordered from WR Hickeys and the pledges of this era will attest to the grueling hours and stamina of the Greeks celebrating the rites of Spring and consumption of prodigious amounts of the green.
In 1980, the Beach Party supplanted Green Beer Weekend as the largest social even of the year. This was the year when, instead of having just one party, the brothers decided to host a Sorority Social on the preceding Friday evening. The very first sorority to attend the event was Delta Delta Delta, on of the top three houses at that time. To their credit, the sisters showed up in typical beach garb and proceeded to dance the night away to oldies/beach music whilst sipping blue gin and tonics provided by the brotherhood.
The sisters delivered news of the great time had by one and all and from that day forward, the brotherhood had its pick of who they wanted to have the Beach Party Social with annually. The second year it was Chi Omega and the third Delta Gamma. The Saturday evening "Main Event" featured limbo dancing, "the shark", lifguard chair (33 boards), tiki lights, and, of course, sand. Lots of it. Also, the pledges were known to pull pranks on this weekend as well as streak through the party. The record is held by the Spring '80 pledge class who streaked the first social and repeated the performance the following evening nine times, culminating in serving cocktails to guests in the nude.
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