A NEW YEAR... and finally, a ray of hope (Part 41e)

Again, long story short... The guy was told to take me in. It was an uncomfortable situation, for sure, but I really didn’t have any options at the time. The next hurdle was to get my money back from the K’s as my room with them had been prepaid. I knew the best course of action was to go to the administration and speak to someone there. Not something I was looking forward to.

Monday turned out to be, as expected, a zoo. The fraternity officers, dressed in suits and ties, reported to the Dean. I, dressed normally, started on my quest to get my money back. Long story short... The fraternity was, again, placed on probation. If you remember the movie Animal House you should remember the “Double Secret Probation” that their house was put under. Well, this was way before Animal House was made but we were put under two different probations. One was social probation which forbid any alcohol or females in the house. The second was an academic probation in which we had to get our overall GPA up to 2.0. I don’t know what it was but it must’ve been below that. I know mine was a 1.6 and only one of the original “Unholy Alliance” was above the 2.0. It was a real kick in the balls. We were also told that if the guy who was in the infirmary didn’t recover it could mean that the charter for the fraternity would be pulled by the school. It was a very somber time.

In my own case... I was out of luck. The lease arrangement that I’d signed with the K’s gave them the right to cancel the lease for “cause” as well as to keep all payments made to date. That meant I’d have to tell my parents because I had to come up with the money to pay the fraternity for my room. I believe it was somewhere around $300. I had, with the $30 I’d made over the weekend, about $50 cash. Not wanting to face having to explain to my parents I went to the house treasurer and asked if I could make partial payments. I don’t think the house by-laws allowed it but he felt sorry for me and said I could. Hearing that it was the first time in two days that I could breath easy.

The atmosphere in the house changed immediately. The fraternity officers took on a whole new persona and that was to more closely monitor the activities of the brothers. Not being able to drink in the house was a big reason things were much calmer but the officers also required that there would be “quiet time” each evening starting at 8pm. No loud music or horsing around would be allowed. The guys who lived in “The Black Hole” were ordered to get rid of the black in the room and to paint it a more normal color. More important, they were required to keep the door open at all times unless they decided to put bunks in and were going to sleep in there. In my case, my new roommate, who had been described as “strange”, was only strange in the eyes of the party-party guys. Even though he was a member of a “Party House”, he had come to college to learn and that’s what he concentrated on. He was a very quiet person and the only “rule” he had for me was that he didn’t want any of my friends (the Unholy Alliance and The Mob) in the room when he was there. By the weekend the change in the house was pretty much accomplished. That’s not to say that there weren’t some loud protests but they were quickly quelled.

For me, in some respects, I was glad for what had taken place. I was never a “leader” but always a “follower” and had allowed myself to be drawn into the group(s). The decree from the officers had given me an “out” and, although I claimed, at least to the group, that I was upset with the new rules, I was secretly glad. But one thing I hadn’t really grasped was my need to put more emphasis on my studies. I was more absorbed with how to make some money to pay for my room at the house. I hadn’t visited with the people who ran the clothing store downtown since returning to school after Christmas. In thinking of money making ideas I thought of the B’s and made a trip to the store. Mr B was there alone and I asked about Mrs B. They lived right upstairs over the store and Mr B said she was confined to the apartment as she’d fallen and hurt her back. My mind went spinning with that news. After saying I was sorry to hear that I asked if he needed any help. His first response was a “no” but after a few minutes he said that he really could use a bit of assistance on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Just about anything would have been a help to me but that was perfect because it wouldn’t interfere with classes or my visits to see Elle. We struck a "deal“ with a handshake and I left feeling very good.

My good luck continued because when I got back to the house I walked in on a meeting of the officers and a few others. The house manager (the person responsible for making sure the building and grounds were taken care of) was no longer living physically in the house and that was a requirement of the job. His ”pay“ was a free room. He’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant at Fall Party and they had gotten married at the mid semester break. They were now living in the married student quarters and therefore not immediately available if there was a problem at the house. He really was good at the job and there were some who wanted to keep him in the position. One of the problems with that was in how to pay him and the other was there wouldn’t be somebody physically in the house if there was a problem. I stood there, listening to the conversations, and eventually spoke up saying that I could be his ”assistant”, leaving him in charge. Another whole long discussion took place and finally they decided that was what they would do provided he was willing to accept what they were willing to pay him. As for me, I probably sold myself short because I said I’d do it for half of what I owed on the room. When it all shook out that was the way it went down. I was happy and the house manager was happy. After all, he was now getting some much needed money in his hands. It was a very interesting week!

To be continued...