Roof Party

This is the first installment of our occasional series highlighting Great Moments in the History of Beta Beta. This series will feature outstanding feats of idiocy engineering, chemistry, and political science from across our 110 year history.

Brother Drew Child '80 on the phenomenon known as a Roof Party:

The roof was sort of KZ pride rock where we could survey the entire Beta Beta empire, which at the time (1977 or so), we believed to be ours. From this vantage we kept a watchful eye on new fraternity row and heckled the KAs while they wasted time washing their cars and stuff. The versatile lodge furniture had 4 wooden legs and worked well straddling the roof peak, providing a level platform to sit and enjoy our favorite malt beverages. Getting the keg up on the roof presented yet another team building exercise for pledges and ensured anyone coming to the party would make it to the top if they wanted something to drink. Also, since the roof was technically outside the lodge, holiday rules were automatic. Several people passed out on the roof because of the dangerous combination of sun and suds. To my knowledge, no one fell from the roof and the fad quickly faded with inclement weather.

However, constantly moving the furniture onto the roof, often for the evening, did take its toll and precipitated another sketchy tradition of burning the furniture in the street in front of the lodge at the end of each year. Dave Redden and Charlie Tarrisdis were largely responsible for the toxic bonfire, which pardon the pun, was hotly contested by the brotherhood faced with once again buying new furniture in the fall. A large debate ensued about whether they should be joint Derelict(s) of the Week (a weekly honor for buffoonery) or assessed a fine.

A treasure trove of Brother Child's pictures circa 1978-84 is available here, along with some shots from last year's Homecoming (thus proving that most people did in fact survive roof parties).