Free Republic

Abbey's $3.5 million gift boosts Beta house restoration and Greek pride initiative Monday, June 19, 2006 University Park, Pa. -- Penn State alumnus Donald G. Abbey has raised to $3.5 million his commitment to fund the restoration of the Beta Theta Pi chapter house on Penn State's University Park campus. Last year, Abbey, a Beta brother, gave $1.2 million for what he called "a complete roof-to-cellar makeover" of the house, home to the University's second-oldest fraternity. The gift also represented a cornerstone in Penn State's Greek Pride: A Return to Glory initiative, an effort to enlist stakeholders in a comprehensive...

America's first Islamic sorority is more about God than being Greek. There will be no beer at Gamma Gamma Chi functions, in obedience to Islamic law, nor will there be group fraternizing with the opposite sex. "Partying is allowed in Islam, but it's how you party," said Althia Collins, an Alexandria businesswoman who has helped create it. "You can have fun with girls and it doesn't have to include men." Thirteen women at the University of Kentucky will form the sorority's first college chapter this spring, and another group is waiting to start at the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus....