Sixty years ago, Plymouth State saw its first instance of Greek life on campus with the formation of the Phi Mu Kappa fraternity. While Greek life at Plymouth may have been hatched with the pursuit for social independence in mind, they became gathering places and sounding boards for so much more and helped to unite students as they navigated the rapidly changing social landscape.

In celebration of the founding fraternity at Plymouth State College, a granite bench was installed honoring the legacy of The Phi Mu Kappa/Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, while raising important funds towards the R. Stephen Eastman Scholarship. Located on University Way, facing the Samuel Read Hall (formally Hall dormitory), it is engraved with the fraternity crests and dates of existence as well as the lyric “He ain’t heavy he’s my brother,” a song emphasizing the bond of the brotherhood that PMK/TKE exhibited so well.

Founded in 1963, Phi Mu Kappa was the first fraternity to exist at Plymouth State College. With the purchase of the first and only off campus fraternity house in 1968, it joined a National Fraternity called Tau Kappa Epsilon and hence forth became known as The Lambda Rho Chapter of TKE. During its nearly twenty-five years of existence, over 250 members bore witness to a very special ‘moment in time’ when the campus took its first steps from a college to the University it has grown into today.

When I became a student at Plymouth State in 1969, I found myself on a small, rural, and what at times felt like an isolated campus. The student body numbered roughly around 1,120 students, of which about 40% were commuters, and consisted of 80% NH residents, of which nearly half of them would travel home on the weekends during an academic semester. This left approximately 336 students on campus for the weekends, and, apart from studying, this writer can attest that there could be little to nothing to do for entertainment, relaxation, or socializing.

You see, life as a student before the early 1970’s was in many ways a draconian existence. The stipulations of nightly curfews and permission to leave campus for female students made social interaction a hurdle for many (and inter-visitation did not burst on the scene until 1972). At the time, the dining hall was in the basement of Blair Hall and women and men ate at different times. Coed dining was only allowed on Sundays and the men were required to wear ties to attend.

Most dorms had a common room with a television that received one station, Channel 8 from Poland Spring, Maine, as well as a pool table, couches, and a few card tables. There was one pay telephone in each dorm shared by all the residents. Of course, the invention of the computer would not appear on the scene until the late eighties, which meant that students relied heavily on taking notes on index cards and papers had to be typed. Cell phones were even farther out into the future. This is all to say that in the 60’s, students had to come up with creative systems for after-hours conversation.

The main dormitories were arranged in a kind of triangle, with Blair dorm and Hall dorm for men and Mary Lyon dorm for women.  During the warm weather months, students with windows facing the triangle would open them at night and literally shout across to one another. This unique method for communication also gave rise to inter-dorm rivalry chants and insults that can’t be repeated in this article. There was also the campus radio station, in which students would code messages into their song requests during the evening dedication broadcasts.

Many students recognized that some of these conditions created a desire for more social freedom, unity, and camaraderie, along with better organized systems to share information surrounding current events. 1963 a group of male students decided to seek permission from the college to form a Greek fraternity, modeled on those found on college campuses across the country. Phi Mu Kappa was permitted the right to form and was also given permission to establish their own off campus housing. Thus, the advent of a more relaxed, social, and collaborative lifestyle for students began.

The Phi Mu Kappa house on Russell Street soon became a social Mecca for the rapidly expanding brotherhood and their guests. By 1968 the fraternity had outgrown the house they rented and went in search of a new facility. At the same time, discussions were being held to merge with the national fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon. This would allow them to draw upon all the resources and prestige of the over two hundred chapters of the National organization. With the financial backing of The National Fraternity, the newly formed Lambda Rho Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) became the first and only fraternity on campus to own its own house. The brothers moved into 34-36 Russell Street in the spring of 1969.

The fraternity became an integral part of the formation of campus athletics such as the formation of football and hockey clubs which later became division III teams, as well as campus activities like homecoming and student governance. Brothers also found themselves becoming active in nation-wide social concerns. In the spring of 1970, the tragic death of four students at Kent State University bonded Plymouth’s student body with the national conscience and outrage over the war in Vietnam. Campuses across the US became powder kegs of frustration ready to explode, and students were left feeling helpless in how to express their anger and concerns. At Plymouth State, it was a Phi Mu Kappa/TKE brother who stepped up to deal with the situation. R. Stephen Eastman was the President of the newly formed Student Senate. Over a 48-hour period he led the campus in a series of debates and resolutions that calmed the tensions and created a platform for Plymouth to deal with national issues on a regular basis.

TKE was not the only Greek organization on campus, but they were the first and only totally independent one. By the end of 1982 they had been joined by six fraternities, Kappa Delta Phi, Lambda Chi, Alpha Chi, Omega Omicron, Theta Alpha Tau, Alpha Theta, and five sororities: Tau Omega, Iota Delta Chi, Kappa Sigma Phi, Delta Zeta and Chi Alpha Zeta. The brother and sisterhoods formed from these organizations helped to give rise to student leaders, some who are still active on the PSU campus today. The charity work and philanthropy that many chapters partook in back then influenced the great work of today’s Greek organizations.

The timeframe of 1963 to 1988 was a period to be remembered for its rapid changes, from the music scene, technological advances, and the early beginning of social media. What stayed consistent during that time was the camaraderie that Greek life brought to so many, and the strong bonds that remain today.

“IT WAS A MOMENT IN TIME, BUT OH WHAT A MOMENT.”

This article was written with the help of:

The Plymouth State University’s Michael J. Spinelli, Jr Center for University Archives and Special Collections.
Heald, Bruce D., Images of America: Plymouth State College. Arcadia Publishing SC, 1999.
The collective memory of over 50 Phi Mu Kappa and Tau Kappa Epsilon Brothers.

Special thanks to Julia LaFleur, Assistant Director of Development, Plymouth State University, for her research assistance.

Come, have a seat on our bench, brother.
And harken back to our formitive days in Plymouth.

Where the nights often seem like New Years Eve.
And the fast friends we made, have lasted for decades.

Come, sit down and remember.
Remember
brothers, friends and nicknames.
Perhaps you may even smile
and hum an old tune or two.

And should you be so moved, feel free to break out in song.
Like Luppie or
He Ain’t Heavy.

Be sure to offer up a libation
in praise of our fraternal gods.
As you fondly recall those open houses
and Gunisson Brook parties.

It wasn’t all fun,
as we trod in student shoes to classes sprinkled around campus.
then off to study or practice our sports, like tubing.

We had more than our share of campus leaders,
good students and atheletes.
Some brothers worked, for the college or in town.
And we all left Plymouth as different men.

It's here that we found lifelong friends.
And we’re back to see some of them today.
We’re also here to honor, and perpetuate, our fraternity’s good works,
and remember those brothers no longer with us.

Perhaps some of you will bring grandchildren by
to admire this work of art and you’ll sit down
on this beautiful carved stone and take that
opportunity to tell your young ones about lifelong friendships.

Come have a seat on our bench, brother.