Hallowed Ground: New Phi Sig Alumni Pavilion to Celebrate Greek Life, Friendships
Written by Monica VanDerWeide, ’95
Whether you’re a recent graduate or one from decades ago, you probably spent some time as a student on the lot across the street from Broadlawn. A popular site for student gatherings such as The Source and Centralhallapalooza, as well as alumni activities such as White and Blue Weekend and Homecoming, the lot will soon boast a beautiful pavilion to enhance those gatherings and many more thanks to the vision and dedicated planning of the owners of the property—Hillsdale’s Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity alumni.
Although the fraternity has not been active on campus for more than 30 years, Phi Sigma Epsilon, better known as Phi Sig, enjoyed a vibrant brotherhood on campus during its brief history. “We had a robust chapter,” recalls Ross Anderson, ’79. “We were a tight-knit group, with our members active in all areas of campus.”
The Hillsdale chapter of Phi Sig was chartered in 1965, and three years later, the alumni association bought the property at 188-190 Hillsdale Street, which included a house. Within ten years, the fraternity had paid off its mortgage. However, in 1985, the fraternity’s national leadership announced that Phi Sigma Epsilon would merge with another fraternity, Phi Sigma Kappa, and take its name. Individual chapters had to make a decision—would they merge, or would they become independent?
While Hillsdale’s alumni chapter remained independent, the active chapter struggled to find its identity. In 1990, the Phi Sig alumni closed Hillsdale’s active chapter and made a gentleman’s agreement with the College’s administration: the College could use the property for events as long as it maintained the grounds and provided the Phi Sig alumni with amenities such as a tent, firepit, and portable bathrooms every Homecoming Weekend.
For more than 30 years, both parties have upheld their commitments. The Phi Sig alumni who return for Homecoming have developed a close relationship with President Larry Arnn and his wife, Penny, who faithfully stop by to visit each year and have offered firewood for the firepit on cold Homecoming Weekends. The Phi Sigs even named Penny their Phi Sigma Epsilon Sweetheart a few years ago. However, when Doug McPherson, ’76, became president of the Phi Sig alumni chapter in 2016, he envisioned something bigger for the fraternity and its property.
“I wanted to get more Phi Sig alumni to come back for Homecoming Weekend,” he says. “I also wanted to decide as a chapter what we should do with our lot. I thought we should build a structure on the lot that would pay homage to Hillsdale’s Greek system, and then give the land to the College.” To that end, McPherson worked with his cousin, an architect, to design a pavilion, and he sent letters to the 230 chapter alumni explaining his goals.
Alumni response to the idea was favorable, so McPherson recruited Anderson and Mark Conen, ’79, to help him pitch the idea to the College’s administration. McPherson, Anderson, and Conen first presented their vision for the property to the College in June 2019, and over the course of the past year or so, the Phi Sig committee, Vice President for Administration Rich Péwé, ’88, and Executive Director of Alumni Relations Colleen McGinness, ’04, worked together to develop a plan that was in keeping with the overall aesthetic of campus buildings while still honoring the Phi Sig vision for the space.
The pavilion includes a multipurpose building with a small conference room, a kitchen, a two-sided fireplace, and restrooms; a patio with a grill, bar, and firepit; and irrigated, leveled grass around the building suitable for activities like Ultimate Frisbee and intramurals. The pavilion can also be used for events such as Centralhallapalooza, alumni reunions, small classes, and wedding receptions. According to Anderson, a plaque will be placed over the fireplace to memorialize the Phi Sigs and indicate that the donation of the property and its future use by students and alumni is intended as a living memorial to the enduring power of the friendships forged on these grounds.
“That property is hallowed ground to us,” Anderson says. “We want to show that we are fiercely proud Hillsdale alumni, and our participation in Greek life really complemented our time on campus. We’re really proud of how our fraternity worked together with the College to create something of lasting beauty that will benefit students and alumni.”
In the spirit of working together, the senior class of 2022 has pledged to raise $20,000 toward the $600,000 construction cost of the Phi Sig Alumni Pavilion. “We see the importance of participating in the collective work of Hillsdale and living out our partnership not only in, but also outside of the classroom,” says Jaime Boerema, a senior and member of the Legacy Board, the student group responsible for designating the pavilion project as the recipient of the class gift. “The pavilion will be a space that offers opportunities for community, friendship, and productivity for both students and alumni.”
If you would like to help support this project, please go to secure.hillsdale.edu and designate Phi Sig Alumni Pavilion Project in the Comments section.
Monica VanDerWeide is Director of Marketing Content for Hillsdale College. She graduated from Hillsdale in 1995 with a degree in English and German.
Published in March 2022