Triangle National History
In the fall of 1906 four, civil engineering students at the University of Illinois began planning and organizing a club of like-minded engineers that grew to the 16 founders of Triangle Fraternity by the time it was legally incorporated on April 15, 1907. They chose Triangle as a name rather than Greek letters because the shape is used in most structures. Think truss bridges or rafters. In the Fall of 1907, most of them moved into the first Triangle Chapter house. In 1910 they built a house meant to satisfy their needs for the next 53 years. The formal initiation Ritual and many other traditions were established around this time.
In 1909 the second chapter at Purdue joined in, followed by Ohio State in 1911 and Wisconsin in 1913. Shortly thereafter World War I started, members joined the Army, and by 1918 all four chapters had folded. There were no active chapters operating and all had either sold their chapter houses or rented them out to the Army. The dedication of the brothers to the idea of Triangle was too great to let it die. By 1919 all four chapters were up and running again. A year later the 5th chapter, Kentucky, was installed, and by 1942 fourteen more were installed mostly in the Midwest. In 1921 the membership was expanded to include all engineers not just Civil. In 1946 Architects were added and in 1961 students in Science, that is Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics were included. In 1983 Computer Science was included. The Second World War also saw a decline in Triangle but surprisingly not as much as the earlier war. Membership was about half of normal by 1945 and eleven chapters continued to operate at reduced levels thru the war. By the end of 1946, almost all chapters were up and running again with houses. The next wave of new chapters started with Nebraska in 1963 and by 1972 eleven more chapters were installed. No new chapters were started in the next 7 years. Fraternities were unpopular on college campuses in the early 1970s. This was due to the perception that fraternities were part of the establishment. Many students were into the hippie and anti-Vietnam War culture. Some national fraternities lost half their chapters. Triangle lost 3. The Triangle national organization struggled to keep things together with the lower membership. By 1980 fraternities were recovering including Triangle. In the years 1979-89 seven chapters were added. By 1992 Triangle was on 39 campuses.
Unfortunately, the 1990s and the first few years of the 21st century did not have good numbers for Triangle. Several chapters went inactive and by the Centennial, in 2007 there were 28 operating chapters and 4 colonies. A colony is a start-up organization before it grows to be a full-fledged chapter. Membership was about 70% of its peak, at about 850. At the Centennial Convention in 2007, our National Council changed the focus of the fraternity by the slogan “We choose to grow”. The expansion was emphasized with two recently graduated staff members of the national office trained to start new colonies from scratch using techniques proven to work in other fraternities. They also help chapters grow and enhance the experience of their members. This approach has been very successful. There are new locations mostly in California and the South and several old chapters were restarted. Triangle is currently at 42 campuses with 1300 student members. More are planned. Another bright spot is that giving by alumni to the fraternity and Triangle Education Foundation is at an all-time high. This has enabled more scholarships and training programs for our actives that help in chapter operations. We look forward to a future that has Triangle at most major engineering campuses and as a leader in the fraternity world.
Nebraska Chapter History
Interest in having a chapter of Triangle at the University of Nebraska goes all the way back to the 1920s. Indeed, at that time there was a local engineering fraternity, Mu Sigma, on campus, but apparently, it folded during WWII. In 1961 permission was given for Triangle to come to Nebraska. In January 1962 interviews were conducted on campus and soon a group of students formed the Nebraska Colony. The growth of the colony was rapid. By the Fall of 1962, we rented a mansion built in 1890 at 1845 D Street, over a mile from campus called “the Castle” because of its round turret and battlements. The chapter was installed on March 16, 1963, with 30 men as charter members.
Within a few years, we outgrew the Castle, and the chapter negotiated to rent a brand new university-owned house at 1235 N. 16th St. on the north edge of campus. There were 4 identical houses; only one exists today as the headquarters of the UNL Housing Department near Schramm Hall. We moved into the 62-man house in September 1967. The first two years were great and the total membership grew to 90 brothers. About 1969 the campus atmosphere changed a lot all over the country with the hippie movement and Vietnam War. Fraternities were thought of as passé and part of the establishment. Because of this and sociological mistakes made, 18 of the 27 pledges quit in January 1970. Many of the actives became less involved also. Many fraternity chapters around the country folded in this time frame. There were some bright spots at this time though. The 1971 E-Week committee always met at the Triangle house because over half of the committee were Triangles. It was a struggle to survive until 1977 when we recruited 32 pledges. We overfilled the house to 66 residents. 26 pledges were initiated with an average GPA of 3.4. The house was full or nearly full for the next 16 years. Indeed, the largest pledge class in our history at 36 was recruited in the summer of 1990. Most of the 1990s were still good with occupancy typically around 50. In 1993 Triangle President Rick Provasnik was selected to represent UNL at the commissioning ceremony of the nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska whose nickname is “Big Red”. In 1995 the Nebraska Chapter made an emergency loan to the Iowa State Chapter of several thousand dollars so they could pay their property tax that was in arrears.
University officials in 2001 informally hinted that the long-term plans of the campus did not include continued renting of the house. This plan was dictated by a reconfiguration of the city streets. Indeed, Antelope Valley Parkway would encroach on the northeast corner of the building. The alumni were making plans to build a new house for $1.8 million.
Although Triangle was never thought of as the party house on campus, Triangle members did not always abide by the university’s strict policy concerning no alcohol on campus. In September 2002 a university official entered the room of a brother to find him with a beer at 4:00 The two actives appearing did not handle the hearing well, and as such UNL evicted the chapter from the house. Within months our house and two others were demolished and became a parking lot. The chapter was without a home and membership declined. An internet forum was set up and the new Active President, Mike Waid developed a plan to keep up chapter activities and show the UNL administration that Triangle can be an asset to the campus. The alumni began a search for real estate in 2003.
Kappa Sigma with a house on Greek Row was down in membership. Alumni President John Fifer and Chapter Advisor John Boye negotiated with Kappa Sigma and we bought the fraternity house at 519 N. 16th St. on June 6, 2003. Policies were set up to make the house alcohol-free. It was built in 1955 and has 14,000 sqft. The rated capacity of the house, 66, is larger than any other Triangle house except Purdue. While Kappa Sigma was in the house at times they had an occupancy of over 70 in the 1990s.
About 25 Triangle members moved in August of 2003. A few years later, Triangle rented out the third floor to AXΩ Sorority for a semester to house part of their membership because they were remodeling. This spoke well of our reputation as gentlemen and indeed it worked smoothly. Also about this time, an alumnus added some elaborate woodwork in the foyer and dining room to enhance the interior of the house. The occupancy and finances of the house were not great but we were making ends meet up until 2008 when the following two summers’ rush campaigns were very disappointing. Finances were also exacerbated by the need for a new roof on the living room. We were down to about 12 members in the Fall of 2009 and we were looking to open a line of credit to be able to hold out thru the next summer, hoping for a turnaround with one good rush.
Another opportunity presented itself. Another fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, was restarting and was of a size that was interested in renting the Triangle house. Triangle made a decision that was in our view the best option: to take a hiatus and rent out the house. This arrangement with Pi Kapps allowed us to build up a financial reserve and perform major work and upgrades to the house. Our Alumni Board of Directors was successful in recruiting a nucleus of members by the start of classes in the fall of 2016. UNL had a requirement that all fraternity houses have fire protection sprinklers by Fall Semester 2017. Unfortunately, there were delays in installing sprinklers at our facility and Pi Kapps declined to renew their lease. Triangle alumni spent about $88,000 refurbishing the house in the 2017-18 school year. Active members began occupying the house in August 2018.