Alpha Phi was invited to establish itself as the fifth NPC group at Willamette. Nineteen collegians and eleven alumnae were initiated by collegians from Tau and Beta Upsilon. Gamma Tau and Gamma Sigma were dubbed "Alpha Phi twins" as both were installed on May 24, 1958.
Re-installation of Gamma Tau was in May 2015 (Gamma Tau was not at Willamette between 1978 and when they were invited to re-establish in 2013). On May 2, the initiation and installation ceremonies concluded an Alpha Phi journey that began in late February 2015. In this short period of time the women had become a part of their campus, participating in Willamette’s Serenades, attending a new chapter retreat at a nearby ropes course, holding officer elections, and conducting training for new executive council members. Deana Gage led the initiation ceremony on campus in the Montag Center, welcoming forty-seven women as charter members of Gamma Tau. The installation banquet was held later in the day at the Putnam University Center’s Cat Cavern with Extension Team Lead Saori Clark (Tau-Oregon) serving as toastmistress. Several Gamma Tau alumnae were present to celebrate Alpha Phi’s first initiation at the university since the late 1970s.
In Gamma Tau’s early years the Chapter Members lived for four years in the house that had been the home of the University President. In later years Alpha Phi and the other groups lived in houses that Willamette had built for all five groups. The University owned them and the chapters furnished and maintained them while paying rent to the University. By 1967 all five were side by side on one street on the edge of campus and each house had occupancy of 42 women. Freshmen were required to live in the dorms but all sophomores and juniors lived in, as did most of the seniors. Currently, Gamma Tau Chapter does not have a house.
Theresa Ostlund Brooks – 1990 Michaelanean Award Winner, 1998 Ursa Major Award Winner
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