By Luis A Gonzalez
Nestled in Downtown Portland, Oregon, Portland State University is known to many but not nearly as well known as the two biggest state universities in the Beaver State, Oregon State and the University of Oregon. Portland State is a commuter school where student life and the “student experience” take a backseat to work responsibilities and family obligations. A non-traditional campus like PSU is not somewhere where an organization like Omega Delta Phi would normally thrive. In spite of that, Portland State University has grown tremendously over the past years and it was fitting that interest for a presence of culturally based Greek Lettered organizations arose. Omega Delta Phi has led that charge, and has done so in style.
As such, on June 6th, 2014, 7 Honorable squires became the Founding Line of Omega Delta Phi at Portland State University. Emanuel Magaña , Fall 2005 at Alpha Theta Chapter at Oregon State, and Regional Director of the Northwest Region at the time, led the charge and served as the Pledge Educator of the Founding Line as well as Founding Adviser.
As hosts of the 2019 National Convention, the Portland State Colony was tasked with another great challenge: presenting for chapter status in their own backyard. The colony to chapter presentation would take a lot of teamwork, a great amount of discipline, and it would require the PSU brothers to pool their strengths together to ensure the end result they hoped for. And during the National Convention, the Portland State University colony proudly ushered in a new era, now with the distinction of being known as the Beta Tau Chapter of Omega Delta Phi Fraternity, Inc. The road to this milestone, however, was filled with obstacles, challenges, and a heavy dose of adversity that humbled the Rip City Knights, time and time again.
Magaña, later to serve as the Founding Adviser to the Portland State Colony, recalled “ Initially, members didn’t realize that they were a brother 24 hours a day and not just when they were on campus. Brothers would often leave the brotherhood at the bottom of their priorities due to never seeing an organization like it on campus. Just getting brothers to hang out was like pulling teeth. It took time to truly change the mindset and it led to some early conflicts between brothers which really decimated the organization at a time when it was fragile. They had many false starts when it appeared that they were getting there, only for it to fall apart. It took a group of a few dedicated brothers to eventually build the culture that lead to the changes necessary”.
But a shift in the culture came, albeit a few years after the colony was established and this shift and the leadership of the men who ushered it in brought about a new era, one that culminated with the chartering of the Portland State Colony into the Beta Sigma Chapter of Omega Delta Phi. Magaña reminisces about the struggles faced and compares that to the joy of seeing his boys earn their chapter letters. He recalled the first informational meeting he hosted on campus and only four individuals showing up. Here they are today as a full fledged chapter with more than 15 members looking to solidify their presence on the campus of Portland State and also looking to normalize a Greek Life culture that was nonexistent and which many Vikings are still learning to navigate.
Dani Meza, initiate of PSU colony echoed these sentiments alluding to the university posing challenges to the organization trying to build a foundation. As a non traditional Greek lettered organization with no house and not operating in the traditional manner, the ODPhi founding line had it rough.
“The biggest obstacle that we had to overcome was the fact that PSU is not known for being a campus with booming Greek Life. We knew this going in but we didn’t think it would affect our operations: us being able to fundraise or even recruit” he stated.
Pablo Brito, a founding line member of the PSU colony said this about the experience:
“The word to describe the journey from group to chapter would have to be WONDER. Because my pledge class was always wondering what could we be (as a colony) do to help other students or wondering if we ever got chapter status what would that do for current and interested members. It’s always great to WONDER I think and that was definitely something I gathered early on at Beta Tau during its inception”.
The current membership understands what is at stake, they know what the colony has had to endure to get to this point and they don’t shy away from owning this truth.
“The most rewarding thing about becoming the Beta Tau Chapter is knowing our work paid off. It’s easy to lose sight when you are putting in work as an organization and problems arise and the end goal seems like it won’t happen but once it does, you look back and realize it was all worth it” expressed Beta Tau undergraduate Heriberto Morales- Baca, initiate of Winter 2017.
Juan Neri was Chapter president when the Portland State Colony applied for chapter status, something that he set his sights on long before he took the reigns of the entity and which became the goal that would define his presidency. He activated in the Spring of 2017 at a time when the colony’s stability and its future existence was questionable.
“Being a chapter was the biggest goal of mine when I first crossed. I feel like what really helped us out was motivating and pushing each other to our max. We knew the goal but to get there we needed everyone behind us. And supporting each other. Also I feel like one of the biggest things as well was not rushing spring term so that we can focus on building brotherhood and bettering ourselves within the org and as well as changing our entity bylaws. Being at 23 members was new to us, it was scary. So we decided to take a step back so that we wouldn’t lose sight of ourselves and our goal ” Neri shared.
Luis López, initiate of Fall 2018, expressed his concern with the plateauing of the chapter now that this goal has been met. He believes strongly, however, in the ability of Beta Tau to “keeping the hype up and figuring out what is next to come. I think this term has been hard on everyone but we are pushing and definitely setting personal goals and organizational goals and we have our mind set to achieve them”.
The road is long and won’t be without challenge but the men of the Portland State entity of Omega Delta Phi have decided it so that they will continue to be valiant in battle, against all odds, carrying the mantle of the Beta Tau Chapter to the greatest heights imaginable. They have spoken it into existence and now comes the hard part: the deeds and actions. Triumphant they will rise, motivated by the Spirit of the Honorable Knight which lies within them all, as the Men of the Beta Tau Chapter.
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