Housing Expansion
With 100+ brothers in the chapter, OH Eta was the largest fraternity on campus in 1960. The discussion of plans to expand the house from the 10 year celebration continued into the early 1960's and now called for a 70 ft. recreation room with 16 ft. glass doors opening onto the patio and a 70 ft. living room and house mother quarters.
As these plans were coming together, an opportunity arose in 1964 to purchase the corner lot next door where the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter house was located. The Pikes had owned the property at 230 E. Church St. since 1949 and were now on a quest to acquire two adjoining properties down the road (where they are currently) owned by the Abbots and the Andersons, local resident business owners. These two lots together allowed enough space for Pike to build a larger fraternity house and subsequently sell 230 E. Church St. to OH Eta. While plans failed to materialize at this time to purchase the Pike property, OH Eta would eventually acquire it in 1974.
Plans still moved ahead with expanding the main house and now were to double the size of the existing 'senior corridor' and put four new rooms, allowing an additional 16 brothers to live in the house. Also, the basement recreation area and dining would be doubled and the house mother's suite added.
The new addition was completed and ready for living in the fall of 1968. Not only was the chapter planning a 20th anniversary celebration, but they also had a dedication ceremony for the new house addition on December 7th, 1968. In attendance were brothers, alumni, Miami University president Phillip Shriver, and other administrators.
The house addition was dedicated to the chapter's first faculty advisor, Robert F. Almy and the first house mother, Mrs. Daisy Ditmer.
'Our Kind Of Brotherhood'
As the chapter was celebrating its 20th anniversary and the physical house was growing, so were leaders in the house that were paving the way for the next 20 years of OH Eta. The following piece was written in 1970 by Scott H. Shadrick, who was president of the chapter at the time. Scott would graduate in 1971 and work as traveling staff for SigEp National helping other chapters. The article he wrote was not only relevant to the other chapters around the country he worked with, but is very relevant today as chapters at Miami and other universities are figuring out how to continue showing their relevance.
'FRATERNITY LIFE, as many things that are 
ideally acclaimed, does not come naturally. Often newly activated men find themselves disappointed at the outset of their fraternity life. Too frequently these men expect brotherhood to be free and flowing and expect it to come to them. This is not so, and is most likely the reason for many dissatisfied and apathetic brothers.
The whole situation I feel stems from the difference between a club and a fraternity. Members of a club have joined together for a common cause and in many cases the members are casual acquaintances. Members of a fraternity have also joined together for a common cause, but they have gone much further with the building of their relationships. I feel it is the duty of each fraternity member to know his brothers and to know them well.
I realize I would be talking idealism if I were to expect every brother to be an everlasting close friend to every brother; naturally some people get along with one personality much better than possibly another. But if fraternities are going to survive in today's fast-moving society, we are going to have to expound upon this one area. In rush we can no longer use big parties as a main selling point, because freshmen coming to our campuses are looking for something much more relevant. When asked as to why they pledged Sig Ep, our past and I might add very large pledge class answered that it was because of the closeness and the strong friendships they saw in our chapter. It seems odd that the fraternity system is criticized today, because in actuality it promotes and practices togetherness, which is one of the main objectives of the age of Aquarius.
We have a great thing going, if we just don't let it die. There are too many fraternity people who feel that fraternity life is a thing of the past and are willing to let it die in what they call its proper perspective. Fortunately, there are enough of us who see the relevancy in the fraternity system and are working not only to preserve it, but to create something even better.
Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded on the virtue of brotherly love, and possibly because of this we are one of the strongest national fraternities. Each chapter should take a long look at itself; if it is a house full of apathy and factionalism, there is then a strong need for brother-oriented projects. Brotherhood takes care of itself once brothers make the initial attempt to get together, work together, and have fun together.'
By Scott H. Shadrick
President of Ohio Eta Chapter