University of Virginia Library

Hundredth Anniversary Celebration To Begin Tomorrow

PiKA To Present 'Mystery' Gift To Shannon In Founder's Day Program

By Jay Steer
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Furnishings For Inter-Fraternity Council Office (above) Were Recent PiKA Gift

New 'Mystery' Gift To Be Presented In Alumni Hall Between 4:30-6 p.m. Tomorrow

To commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the chartering of
Pi Kappa Alpha social fraternity
here, Donald E. Dickson, national
president of the fraternity,
will present a mystery gift to
President Edgar F. Shannon Jr.
at a reception in Alumni Hall
from 4:30 to 6 p.m. tomorrow.

The reception will be followed
by a banquet at 6:30 in the
Thomas Jefferson Inn. Approximately
250 University officials,
student and civic leaders, and
dedicated members from other
areas of Virginia have been invited.

Banquet, Dance

The reception and banquet are
part of PiKA's Founder's Day
ceremonies which will continue
on Saturday, March 2. Saturday's
activities will feature a
banquet and dance at Richmond's
John Marshall Hotel, beginning
at 7 p.m.

As part of this year's celebrations,
PiKA has donated to the
University the Inter-Fraternity
Council Offices on the third floor
of Newcomb Hall, and has remodeled
the room on the West
Range where the fraternity was
founded.

The fraternity will culminate
its activities this year at its Centennial
Convention in Richmond,
Virginia, from August 25 to 29.

Charlottesville Pilgrimage

After the convention, the
2,000 undergraduates and alumni
attending are expected to make
a pilgrimage to Charlottesville.
At this time they will "initiate
an extensive program of rededication
to the high fraternal ideals
and traditions that have characterized
the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity
throughout the past century,"
a PiKA spokesman explained.

Permanent memorials to Pi
Kappa Alpha and its founders
will be unveiled at this time.

PiKA, founded here exactly
a century ago by six University
students in a room on the West
Lawn, has grown into one of the
older and larger college fraternities
in the United States, with
approximately 79,000 undergraduate
and alumni members.

The organization has 152 chapters
on virtually every major university
campus in 37 states. Famous
alumni include the President
and Vice-chairman of the Board
of General Motors, and John
Lloyd Newcomb, second president
of the University.

In a lighter vein, Fess Parker,
famous actor, and Lance Alworth,
football player of note,
were both PiKA's.

Prominent PiKA's

Locally prominent PiKA's include
United States Senator William
B. Spong Jr., Willis Robertson,
and Richmond Mayor Morrill
M. Crowe. A past-president
of Hampden-Sydney College,
Thomas E. Gilmer, was also a
PiKA.

More Senators and Representatives
in the U.S. Congress are
PiKA's than any other fraternity
-a total of 19. This, a PiKA
spokesman offered, is quite an
impressive distinction.

PiKA Republican minority
leader Everett Dirksen is now
serving as honorary chairman of
Project Centennial, the fund-raising
drive this fraternity is conducting.

Among the objectives of this
effort, which has set as its goal
a minimum of $250,000, will be
the establishment of a permanent
$100,000 scholarship fund to be
directed to a substantial expansion
of the existing scholarship
program.

Donald E. Dickson

National President Of PiKA