When the college broke ground on the Phi Sigma Epsilon pavilion on Saturday, it gave the former fraternity a permanent home on campus.

“The college provides the continuity around which this friendship can last,” College President Larry Arnn said at the groundbreaking. “The fraternity is not active here anymore, but of course, in another way, it is and it always will be.”

A crowd of more than 200 college and Phi Sig alumni, donors, students, and college leaders gathered across from Broadlawn for the pavilion groundbreaking. 

The pavilion will sit next to Dow Residence and include an indoor conference room, a warming kitchen, outdoor covered seating, and a fireplace, according to Associate Director of Alumni Relations Braden VanDyke ’21. 

Phi Sig fell into financial hardship in the 1980s, when at-the-time fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa absorbed it. 

“The college persists in the same way this fraternity persists,” Arnn said. “It stands for some things they claim to be eternal goods.”

The fraternity’s alumni have been working with the college since 2019 to bring this project about, according to former Phi Sig President Ross Anderson ’79.

“It’s coming to fruition finally, and we’re super excited about it,” Anderson said. “We’re kind of setting this property up to be a place that  students, faculty, staff, and alumni can enjoy for a long time.”

Doug McPherson ’76, Phi Sig alumni association president, suggested the project at a chapter meeting in 2016, according to Anderson. Different classes of fraternity alumni donated different parts of the pavilion, such as the fireplace and kitchen.

Alumni raised close to $220,000 for the pavilion, while the college contributed close to $400,000, according to college Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé. 

“It has truly been a really unique partnership with the college administration,” Anderson said.

The college is grateful to God for providing it with the resources for this project, according to Associate Dean of Men Jeffery “Chief” Rogers. 

“We would be remiss if we didn’t thank God for every good thing,” Rogers said, “not with lip service, but truly to honor him because he is good.”

The pavilion fits into the college’s larger goal of advancing the beauty of classical education, which includes myriad projects to beautify the campus, according to Arnn. 

“It needs to be beautiful to indicate the beautiful things that happen in it,” Arnn said. “It’s a beautiful thing and a continuous thing, and it’s the only continuous thing like it on the face of the earth.”

Arnn said the pavilion is strategic for the college.

“This property is precious to them. It’s also precious to the college,” Arnn said. “The college is growing.”

Phi Sig alumni first crossed paths with the Arnns in 2000, when the couple looked out the window of Broadlawn and saw a group of men huddled around a fire, near the future home of the pavilion. Penny Arnn reached out to the men.

“I was just slightly curious what it was,” Larry Arnn said. “She looked at them and saw they needed help, and she took them some wood – she does that all the time. They’ve made her their sweetheart.”

Arnn said the commitment of Phi Sig alumni to continue their legacy at the college is admirable.

“The philosopher says the highest kind of friendship is devoted to things outside and above the friends, and commands them and draws them together,” Arnn said. “That is why these men come back here year after year.”