The 1960s were characterized by campus unrest brought about by the Vietnam War and the controversies it provoked. It was a time of "dropping out" and this included fraternity participation. An anti-fraternity atmosphere was pervasive and there was fierce competition for new members. Some chapters literally disappeared overnight, and the age of drug experimentation was ushered in on many campuses. Despite the times, we engaged in a period of unparalleled expansion, but our growth was also coupled with contraction.
In April 1969, we reactivated our Virginia Omega Alpha Chapter at the University of Virginia (UVA), which had been forced to close during World War II. True to our Creed, Pi Lambda Phi initiated the first African-American into an NIC fraternity on that campus.
Martha Fuldauer, who had literally run the fraternity as our office manager since her hiring in 1933, was an unbroken link between the earliest Pi Lams, and those who followed. She passed to the Chapter Eternal in 1971. Thousands of brothers were Martha's "boys." Her life was devoted to our fraternity.