H  I  S  T  O  R  Y
of the
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI CHAPTER
of the
DELTA CHI FRATERNITY 
Colonized: April 30, 1976
Chartered: April 23, 1977

Ray Galbreth came to SEMO in the fall of 1971 to teach in the Business Department.  During the second semester of the 1974-75 school year, Ray was eating lunch in the faculty dining room in Memorial Hall and happened to be sitting across the table from George Pendergrass.  While they knew who each other were, they did not know that they shared a common bond until George noticed the Greek letters on Ray’s class ring.  George looked at Ray and made himself recognized.

 It turned out that George Pendergrass’ chapter, Kentucky, which had closed in the early 1950’s was re-chartering on April 26, 1975 and George decided to attend the event.  At that re-chartering, George talked to Dr. F. Kenneth Brasted, the then Executive Director of Delta Chi, about the possibility of colonizing at SEMO.   After his return to Iowa City, Dr. Brasted talked to J. Nick Gray, Director of Chapter Expansion, and Nick went to Cape Girardeau to see if it could happen.  He went to George Pendergrass and George called Ray and asked him to come over.  Nick asked about the possibility of bringing Delta Chi to SEMO and questioned the environment for the Greeks at SEMO at the time.  Nick went to the student affairs office and was told, effectively, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you and don’t wait by the phone.”  Nick reported back to Ray and George and said that he would return the next fall to check back.

In the meantime, President Scully retired from the university and was replaced by President Leestamper.  When Nick returned, Ray said, “I don’t know what it is, but the environment has changed and I think it can work.”  Nick went to the Student Affairs office and was told the same thing as the previous year.  Ray started talking to the Greek Advisor and the IFC officers and attending IFC meetings asking for permission to colonize.  There was no formal policy on expansion at that time and the IFC started making up things as the year progressed.  In the meantime, Ray became the Faculty Advisor to the Sigma Tau Gamma chapter on campus to gain experience for the possible expansion.  Since Ray was on campus and a member of the faculty, it was hard for the IFC to tell him to go away.  Finally, the last point that they and the Student Affairs Office could come up with was that there simply wasn’t enough interest on campus. Ray recalls, “Ron Orman was the Greek Advisor and my memory was that he was in favor of the expansion but his superiors were not.”.  Ray responded with, “Then let us do a mailing and if there isn’t any interest I will leave you alone.”  They consented.  The mailing went out to all unaffiliated men with Freshman, Sophomore, or Junior status and a 135 responses came back.  Delta Chi headquarters sent Frank Stephenson to do the expansion and Larry Audlehelm, the then Executive Director, came to assist.

Ray remembers, “As I recall, roughly 40 men attended the Interaction Lab.  The first group of 49 men was initiated on April 30, 1976 in Kent Library auditorium by members of the Southern Illinois Chapter.  The Colony initiated 91 men in the first eleven months and charted with what was then the largest chartering group in Delta Chi's history.

The Southeast Missouri Colony was formed April 30, 1976.  We received our Charter on April 23, 1977 less than a year later.