Syracuse and Michigan play a basketball game tonight. It’s part of the coveted Final Four of NCAA basketball. The Final Four usually not a big deal in the Becque household (well, at least not in my life – my sons are the sports fanatics). This time it’s personal. I am the Syracuse graduate; my husband the Michigan alumnus. Our daughter has a Syracuse Master’s degree and is an alumna initiate of the University of Michigan Pi Phi chapter.
You can get the scoop on the basketball teams at other web-sites, but this one is about things I find fascinating.
The Michigan Wolverine goes head to head against Otto the Orange. Maize (a fancy word for corn yellow) and blue versus orange. Michigan’s alma mater is the Yellow and Blue, whose lyrics were written by a Michigan professor, Charles Mills Gayley, in 1886. The fight song, The Victors (Hail to the victors valiant! Hail to the conq’ring heroes! Hail! Hail! to Michigan, the leaders and best. Champions of the West!) was written by a Michigan student, Louis Elbel, in 1898. Syracuse’s alma mater (Where the vale of Onondaga, Meets the eastern sky, Proudly stands our Alma Mater, On her hilltop high.) was written by Junius W. Stevens in 1893.
Three National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organizations were founded at Syracuse. They are called the Syracuse Triad. Alpha Phi was founded in 1872. Gamma Phi Beta followed in 1874 and Alpha Gamma Delta was founded in 1904. One NPC organization, Theta Phi Alpha, was founded at Michigan in 1912.
Acacia, a men’s social fraternity, was founded at Michigan in 1904 and Alpha Phi Delta was founded at Syracuse in 1914.
The two campuses also shared a President, Dr. Erastus Otis Haven; his daughter Frances was a founder of Gamma Phi Beta (for more on Dr. Haven, see http://wp.me/p20I1i-e5).
The Michigan diploma’s first line, “To all who may read these letters, Greetings” is a favorite of mine. Syracuse’s diploma has a similar first line, “To all who read these presents, Greeting.” The closely worded diplomas harken back to a time when graduates carried their diploma with them to prove their educational status. But they are not playing diplomas; they’re playing basketball. Let’s go Orange!
There are several other posts about these campuses including:
http://wp.me/p20I1i-6h (The history of the women’s fraternity system at Syracuse)
http://wp.me/p20I1i-cC (The history of the women’s fraternity system at Michigan)
