NetNews

Scott Conroe '77 is the author of a forthcoming book about contemporary fraternity life, and his decision to "join" a Greek organization as a college professor.

I Take Just Pride: How a Fraternity Reinvented Itself, Why a Professor Joined, will be published in August, 2007, by Box Grove Communications; it is distributed by Atlas Books.

The book follows Cornell University's chapter of Phi Kappa Tau national fraternity from its "colony" stage to award-winning status, starting with the chapter's folding in 1995 and ending with its growing pains in 2003. There is also an epilogue, noting that the chapter was named "most outstanding" by Phi Tau national in 2006.

A former newspaper writer and college public relations officer, Conroe, a native of Potsdam, New York, was teaching writing at Cornell in 2000, and researching fraternities, when he met the members of the Phi Tau colony. The Phi Taus needed a faculty advisor and Conroe agreed to assist, though he states he had "little idea" of what the role entailed. An independent while an undergraduate at St. Lawrence, Conroe' only prior experience with the Greek system was as Interfraternity Council advisor at SUNY Potsdam for two years. He eventually became a Phi Tau member, initiated the night before his 46th birthday.

I Take Just Pride is Conroe's fourth book. He is the co-author of 1999's Make It Happen, the story of Canton native Mitch Clark's rise to wrestling prominence. A resident of Cortland, New York, Conroe earned his St. Lawrence degree in English and holds a master's degree in communication from Cornell.

Posted: July 12, 2007