What happened is tragic and inexcusable.
Much like I never thought what happened to Joe Paterno and Penn State Football would be possible a decade ago, I never thought what happened to Beta would be possible either. Even if the fraternity system eventually disappeared, I believed Beta would be one of the last standing, if not the last.
As someone who pledged that fraternity and oversaw 4 years worth of pledge programs, I could take a polygraph test and honestly say forced drinking was never part of the culture. In fact, we didn't want drunk pledges. A bid acceptance night was a night of celebration, but other than that, we wanted the pledges sober or they were worthless to us. When you pledged, to some degree you were an errand boy, glorified janitor and multipurpose bartender at social functions. You also got in shape.
Reading what some of you pretend to understand or believe is absolutely comical reading coming from someone who was in a fraternity and was a Beta.
What isn't being discussed right now is what led to something like this happening.
Beta has been dead to many alumni for the past 8 years or whatever it has been. Some people think Beta just died, it's been dead.
Beta has existed in name only and obviously the house is still there on Burrowes.
In the early 2000's the aging house was in need of money for repairs and code upgrades. Fortunately or unfortunately it was former Penn State RB Don Abbey who stepped up to the plate.
Unfortunately Don Abbey wasn't interested in just repairs and maybe a few common sense remodeling jobs, Don wanted to turn an already great house into the greatest
fraternity house the world would ever see. Going way,way, way, way overboard.
If you know nothing about Don Abbey, he became a commercial real estate tycoon in Southern California. He built two residences for himself in LA and Montana that were both listed for over $70 million a piece. Unfortunately he was behind on his loans, the homes never sold and the banks are in possession of them now from what I have read and heard from others. You can google it. You won't read that in the PennStater when they do their puff pieces on alum.
Just like Don went way overboard with his homes he went way overboard with the fraternity house. Just as an example, the Beta house bathrooms have HEATED ITALIAN MARBLE FLOORING. He imported materials for the house from around the world during the renovation. You have 50 18-22 year old guys living in the house whose mothers had been cleaned after them until recently and you want to have them live in a 8-10 million dollar rennovation filled with expensive things that can break? Genius.
Don obviously cared about this investment and loved to show it off. Don would bring Sue Paterno over. He had Joe come over for dinner and talk to the fraternity.
Don put in the now famous security cameras.
There were alumni who had been involved with the fraternity for a long time who were pushed aside for not agreeing with Don cause if Don couldn't get what he wanted then he wasn't going to do anything. Don had the leverage because he had the money and the house needed it. The board was run by Don's yes men.
The downfall began when things predictably were damaged and some brothers taunted Don. The brothers didn't like having the security cameras(surprise) and Don hired a former brother to live in State College to babysit and help oversee the renovation. Not that there would have been a good fit for that role, but he wasn't the middle aged man for the job.
Long story short, Don wanted to kick some guys out of the house, parents called the National Fraternity in Miami, OH, and one thing led to another and the charter was suspended. All the brothers were kicked out.
Were they blameless? No. Were they set up to fail by Don's unnecessary investment and means of monitoring it? Absolutely.
When those brothers were kicked out, the chain back to the founding members was broken. The culture and understanding of traditions was broken.
That chain is what makes the fraternity, not the name, not the building. You learn from
the old guys and you teach the new guys. That's how you build a sustainable culture. I'm not saying that 1999 Beta looked exactly like 1969 Beta, but 1999 Penn State Football didn't look the same as 1969 Penn State Football either.
When that chain was broken, the level of apathy with alums skyrocketed.
Most fraternities are social fraternities, but the social aspect of Beta and what that meant to returning alumni was pivotal to the support it received for decades. When alumni came back for football weekends, a big part of that was them coming back to the house as well.
When the house recolonized and the house had to go dry many of us felt like a strangers . For many of us, we stopped going back, there was no reason to go back. A lot of us have animosity towards Don as well and weren't going to support his vision of Beta.
If Don Abbey never gets involved in Beta, this kid may not have been forced to drink and then hazed because that wasn't something I ever witnessed. These kids for all I know developed their pledge program using Hollywood movie stereotypes.
Don Abbey tried to build something better and he built something much worse.
Another example of money becoming the root of all evil.
Btw: Don recently sued the fraternity. He wants his "Gift" back.
It's a big unfortunate mess.
One more Btw: I'm not accusing of Don Abbey of forcing the kid to drink, pushing the kid down the stairs or failing to get the kid medical help. I'm not saying Don intentionally created this culture or had anything to do with it.
A chain was broken after a ludicrous investment in a fraternity house. When I was a Beta forced drinking was not part of the culture.
Much like I never thought what happened to Joe Paterno and Penn State Football would be possible a decade ago, I never thought what happened to Beta would be possible either. Even if the fraternity system eventually disappeared, I believed Beta would be one of the last standing, if not the last.
As someone who pledged that fraternity and oversaw 4 years worth of pledge programs, I could take a polygraph test and honestly say forced drinking was never part of the culture. In fact, we didn't want drunk pledges. A bid acceptance night was a night of celebration, but other than that, we wanted the pledges sober or they were worthless to us. When you pledged, to some degree you were an errand boy, glorified janitor and multipurpose bartender at social functions. You also got in shape.
Reading what some of you pretend to understand or believe is absolutely comical reading coming from someone who was in a fraternity and was a Beta.
What isn't being discussed right now is what led to something like this happening.
Beta has been dead to many alumni for the past 8 years or whatever it has been. Some people think Beta just died, it's been dead.
Beta has existed in name only and obviously the house is still there on Burrowes.
In the early 2000's the aging house was in need of money for repairs and code upgrades. Fortunately or unfortunately it was former Penn State RB Don Abbey who stepped up to the plate.
Unfortunately Don Abbey wasn't interested in just repairs and maybe a few common sense remodeling jobs, Don wanted to turn an already great house into the greatest
fraternity house the world would ever see. Going way,way, way, way overboard.
If you know nothing about Don Abbey, he became a commercial real estate tycoon in Southern California. He built two residences for himself in LA and Montana that were both listed for over $70 million a piece. Unfortunately he was behind on his loans, the homes never sold and the banks are in possession of them now from what I have read and heard from others. You can google it. You won't read that in the PennStater when they do their puff pieces on alum.
Just like Don went way overboard with his homes he went way overboard with the fraternity house. Just as an example, the Beta house bathrooms have HEATED ITALIAN MARBLE FLOORING. He imported materials for the house from around the world during the renovation. You have 50 18-22 year old guys living in the house whose mothers had been cleaned after them until recently and you want to have them live in a 8-10 million dollar rennovation filled with expensive things that can break? Genius.
Don obviously cared about this investment and loved to show it off. Don would bring Sue Paterno over. He had Joe come over for dinner and talk to the fraternity.
Don put in the now famous security cameras.
There were alumni who had been involved with the fraternity for a long time who were pushed aside for not agreeing with Don cause if Don couldn't get what he wanted then he wasn't going to do anything. Don had the leverage because he had the money and the house needed it. The board was run by Don's yes men.
The downfall began when things predictably were damaged and some brothers taunted Don. The brothers didn't like having the security cameras(surprise) and Don hired a former brother to live in State College to babysit and help oversee the renovation. Not that there would have been a good fit for that role, but he wasn't the middle aged man for the job.
Long story short, Don wanted to kick some guys out of the house, parents called the National Fraternity in Miami, OH, and one thing led to another and the charter was suspended. All the brothers were kicked out.
Were they blameless? No. Were they set up to fail by Don's unnecessary investment and means of monitoring it? Absolutely.
When those brothers were kicked out, the chain back to the founding members was broken. The culture and understanding of traditions was broken.
That chain is what makes the fraternity, not the name, not the building. You learn from
the old guys and you teach the new guys. That's how you build a sustainable culture. I'm not saying that 1999 Beta looked exactly like 1969 Beta, but 1999 Penn State Football didn't look the same as 1969 Penn State Football either.
When that chain was broken, the level of apathy with alums skyrocketed.
Most fraternities are social fraternities, but the social aspect of Beta and what that meant to returning alumni was pivotal to the support it received for decades. When alumni came back for football weekends, a big part of that was them coming back to the house as well.
When the house recolonized and the house had to go dry many of us felt like a strangers . For many of us, we stopped going back, there was no reason to go back. A lot of us have animosity towards Don as well and weren't going to support his vision of Beta.
If Don Abbey never gets involved in Beta, this kid may not have been forced to drink and then hazed because that wasn't something I ever witnessed. These kids for all I know developed their pledge program using Hollywood movie stereotypes.
Don Abbey tried to build something better and he built something much worse.
Another example of money becoming the root of all evil.
Btw: Don recently sued the fraternity. He wants his "Gift" back.
It's a big unfortunate mess.
One more Btw: I'm not accusing of Don Abbey of forcing the kid to drink, pushing the kid down the stairs or failing to get the kid medical help. I'm not saying Don intentionally created this culture or had anything to do with it.
A chain was broken after a ludicrous investment in a fraternity house. When I was a Beta forced drinking was not part of the culture.
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