The brothers of Phi Delta Theta, armed with a metal ladder, 400 crickets, six mice, and four rotten trout, darted up the moonlit sun porch of their neighbor’s four story mansion. Their steadfast footsteps creaked across the vinyl and their bodies swooped through the creaking attic door. Out the attic, down the narrow stairs, and through the stark-white hallways, the four Phi Delts retaliated against their enemies, the women of Chi Omega.

The result of this fraternity prank? Girls jumping from one piece of furniture to another, desperately trying to avoid the masses of crickets roaming the wood floors; furniture reeking of rotten trout; and a hunt for stray mice nesting in the dark corners of Chi Omega. Cleaning up the aftermath of fraternity pranks, such as the Phi Delt prank of Memorial Day weekend 1995, is not officially part of Betty Berg’s job description, but Berg gladly accepts it with a chuckle.

          “It is just clean, practical jokes,” Berg says. “I had to laugh.”

           As House Director, otherwise known as “house mom,” Berg has watched boyfriends crawling up the Chi Omega fire escape desperately seeking their girlfriends. She has seen the salad cart driven around the block of 14^th and Alder late into the night. She has witnessed a six-foot inflatable penis displayed on Chi Omega’s front lawn. Berg has seen it all.

          Curly white-haired Berg, 68, never pictured herself as a House Director while growing up. “I wanted to be a Suzy Homemaker, a good mother with a good family and go to all my children’s activities.” And that she was able to do with her husband and two daughters, Pamela and Darla. After her marriage of 26 years ended in divorce, Berg moved to Eugene in search for a job. Her Suzy Homemaker days had come to an end. She worked for Chef Francisco for 10 and a half years until the company was sold to by Heinz and she was left unemployed. While searching for a new career, a “gal” gave Berg some direction: “I don’t know much about you, but I think you’d be a good house mom.” With the advice in-hand, Berg was on the road to starting a new chapter in her life; one that would last over 13 years.  

       Berg wrote a letter to Oregon State University, inquiring about the House Director position. After three interviews in Corvallis, and two interviews in Eugene, at Chi Omega and Kappa Delta, Berg knew which chapter she would call home. “I already knew in my heart which one I wanted,” Berg said of Chi Omega, “The girls were all very friendly and very comfortable.”

Chi Omega is an epic looking Tudor house covered in worn bricks and stained-glass windows. The dark wood interior gives a warm, rich feel. On the first floor, in between the Psi Alpha members’ mailboxes and Chi Omega’s side door, is Berg’s office, a foyer to her apartment. On Betty’s Dutch door sits a fresh bowl of candy, with a new assortment of red, green and yellow gummy bears, Hershey chocolate kisses, and Tootsie Rolls expected daily by the women of Chi Omega. In her office, decorated with sparkling crystal ornaments, silver picture frames, owl figurines and bears clothed in Victorian velvet, Berg sits performing her daily tasks.

Berg wakes up everyday at 6:30 a.m. to her alarm. At 6:45 a.m. she shuffles to the dining room in her blue house coat and slippers, her hair looking “like hell,” and makes the coffee, fills the hot water and pulls out the cereal cart. On a usual work day she dresses very casual, but always sports an impressive broach or dazzling beaded necklace. She makes phone calls (both for professional and “pleasure”), deals with vendors and sales people, checks over invoices, and signs off postal deliveries. The cooks, housekeeper, and house boys are all under Berg’s watchful eye.

With the exception of occasional staffing disputes, Berg’s daily routine is rather consistent. But what brings excitement is the atmosphere of a house filled with 50 young women. “I think it’s healthy to work, especially around young people,” said Berg. Chi Omega definitely keeps Berg on her toes. The Chi Omega women have a history of stealing and hiding Berg’s decorative displays of owls, topiaries, ornaments and figurines. Her Halloween pumpkins are a popular target. “Every year it never fails. I started out with 12 and now I’m down to four.” But Berg laughs it off with a weary smile, exclaiming, “Kids will be kids.”

Last year, she explained, one late night a group of the girls decided to have a water fight in the dining room. The water dispensers, filled with gallons of ice cold water, spilled across the floor. “They tried to tell me they didn’t know how to mop…but they learned how and I said keep mopping because you look like Cinderella,” says Berg, chuckling her warm-heart out. “I try to make light of it. I mean, it’s home.”

Apart from the wild late-night water fights, Berg reminisces about what really fills her heart with happiness. “I have many daughters [at Chi Omega] and they generate a lot of love,” expresses Berg, and that love makes her happy and content. 

Berg prides herself in the women of Chi Omega’s accomplishments. Berg’s favorite success story is the recovery of one girl named "Brittany" (not her real name) from unhealthy drinking habits. When Brittany was a sophomore she experienced alcohol poisoning and Berg had to send her in an ambulance to the hospital. Her second year living in Chi Omega, Brittany was a whole new person. “Junior year she was just so beautiful,” exclaimed Berg. Brittany had stopped drinking. Now Brittany holds a professional communications job in Portland and Berg gleams with pride over Brittany's success.

Not only does Berg love her profession, but her family is fully supportive as well. When her four-year-old grandson, Kian, comes to visit with her daughter’s family from Minneapolis, he tells people, “We’re going to the castle.” Not everyone’s grandmother lives in a mansion. Betty’s living situation is definitely unique. When Berg moved in, she made a personal decision to live by the rules of Chi Omega: no men, no liquor. She has male visitors, but they never spend the night. “I just didn’t want to question anything,” said Berg.  

Chi Omega is more than a full-time job for Betty Berg. It is her life. While sitting in her office, she doesn’t just pay the bills, hire the staff, and check off invoices. She watches. Berg watches the girls change and grow through their time in Chi Omega, and even after. “Having them come back to visit after graduation is a real joy of mine,” says Berg. Berg pictured herself as a stay-at-home mother when she was younger, but never a mother to this many. Some people work for money, others work for success, but Berg works to nurture and care. “My goal is just to love them to death,” says Berg, and that she does.