THE
IRON BLADE Vol. 61, No. 3
SINCE 1955
61 Years of Ferrum College News
October , 2016
Ferrum's Own Trollville Turned Thetaville
by AnnGardner Eubank Alumni, students, and even urban dictionary, all have a similar response to the question, “what is there to do at Ferrum on the weekends?” The typical response: Trollville. Trollville was owned by a fraternity and ultimately became the weekend hot spot for years. The building hosted many college memories and experiences for the students at Ferrum College. David Eubank, class of 1971, recalls spending many of his college nights in Trollville. “My buddies and I didn’t want to always have to drive up to Roanoke or elsewhere to find a good time. There were definitely some wild times at that place.” Eubank, who was raised on the Georgia coast, had grown up spending most of his days and nights on the beach side, much different than his college surroundings at Ferrum. “Ferrum is a small town. Just like today, there’s not much to do unless you make your own fun. And that is what we did. It truly was something that made the school memorable for past students like myself. I’m still good pals with my roommate, and we laugh about the crazy times we had there,” Eubank said. With dangerous activity in the house just a mile off of campus last year, Trollville was ultimately shut down. “It’s a sad thing. It’s sad when something that was such a big part of the college experience to students was abused, and that where I had great memories is now a reminder of sad and unfortunate events.” Eubank said. “I think a lot of it now has to do with social media and how quickly word is spread. In my day, people went to Trollville just to have fun, and we didn’t have anything to prove. Now it’s like everyone is trying to one up each other in harmful ways just for a photo or a tweet. It’s upsetting to hear that Trollville is no longer the place it was.” While the iconic party house had been shut down, another fraternity has recently purchased the property. While it is inevitable that more precautions will be taken to this source at a good time at Ferrum, it is safe to say the icon hasn’t gone away forever.
(above) Trollville, which was previously owned by the disbanded fraternity SAK, has recently been purchased by OXE, which lost its prior house in the summer of 2015. Trollville has been a Ferrum landmark for years, and was recently the site of several scandals, including the stabbing that took place during a routine party in the fall semester of 2015.
Last year, the scene at Trollville was not the safest. Almost a year ago, a stabbing occurred on Halloween night at the scene, which did not result in any deaths, but put the house off limits for the remainder of the semester. In April of the following semester, six students were charged with hazing and two with providing alcohol to a minor after the death of Ferrum student Michael Walker. All six students were associated with the local fraternity housed by Trollville, Sigma Alpha Kappa. After the incident, the fraternity was disbanded and Trollville was shut down. However, another fraternity, OXE, has recently bought out the property and renamed the spot “Thetaville.” James Wilson, a junior and member of OXE said, “Thetaville is something new from Trollville.” “It’s cleaned up,” Wilson said. “I think a lot of people are going to come since there isn’t much to do. It’s different because there is no alcohol or drugs allowed at all.” With the loss of Trollville,
Photos by AnnGardner Eubank
it almost seemed like Greek life in Ferrum was going to become much less prominent on campus. “Greek life adds something to Ferrum. It’s such a big part of social life, especially at such a small school. Trollville played a big part in Greek life. We had a house and they had a house, so a lot of the social scene was either at our house or theirs. It was just somewhere fun to be,” Wilson said. OXE, however, hasn’t always had the cleanest reputation either. Due to some “technicalities,” Wilson said, the fraternity cannot have any new pledges for the first semester of the year. Also, the
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Ferrum College Involved In Biomass Lawsuit by Patrick Duggan Ferrum College has been sued by English Biomass Partners for allegedly failing to meet the terms of its contract. EBP is responsible for the Biomass Energy and Research Facility located just off campus, near Bassett Hall. The property was leased by FC for 10 years in 2010. The facility there includes two boilers purposed to burn sustainable fuels; the primary boiler runs off wood chips provided by local lumber-yards, and the smaller boiler is designed to combust wood and process other alternative energy sources. According to information in a press release, the facility was initially intended to provide thermal energy, electricity, and edu-
cational opportunities to FC students. However, the college decided the project was too costly, and entered a new agreement in which EBP would build and operate the facility while the college payed it for thermal energy and electricity. In October of 2011, the college announced that around 65 percent of heat and hot water on campus would be provided by the facility. EBP claims that the college has only partially paid its bill for the heating period of October 2015 to April 2016, for which they demand $534,589.36 in damages. The press release also states that FC has neither purchased nor received electricity for the facility, seeking $1.75 million in damages. The college has been offered a way out of the
contract under the condition that it pay $5 million in damages. FC has shown public enthusiasm for the biomass facility in the past. Since 2011, three separate articles about the facility have been published on the college’s website, outlining the function of the facility and its advantages over non-renewable fuel sources. In April of 2015, the college announced the facility had begun heating seventeen buildings on campus and called itself “one of the greenest private colleges in Virginia.” The lawsuit cites “a change in leadership” as a possible factor in the contract breach. President Joseph “Jody” Spooner, who is in the midst of his first semester at FC, declined to comment.