The post-war years saw Alpha Psi return to its former status at McGill. Throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s, the chapter reaffirmed its position as the undisputed leader in academic achievement, as well as athletics. The 1960’s, however, saw a developing trend of thought that was highly unfavorable to fraternities in general, which began to be viewed as elitist organizations. A period of decline began, during which many fraternities were forced to close down under the resultant financial strain. The population of Greek societies at McGill declined from nearly 7,000 in 1965 to under 300 by 1970.
This attrition eventually led to the closing of the chapter midway through the 1970 school year. It was still hoped that something could be done to restart it the following year, or at the very most in the next couple of years. However the situation on campus was not changing fast enough. Even though a strong elder chapter existed, there simply was no interest on McGill campus in the Greek system. From 1970 until 1974 the Memorial Chapter house was rented out to a few McGill clubs for meeting space, and some of the rooms upstairs were rented out as residence for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. In 1974 the elder chapter met to decide the fate of the chapter house. The taxes were increasing, and the rent income was simply not enough to cover the costs of the house. If closing the chapter was a difficult thing to do, selling the chapter house became even more difficult. The home of the Alpha Psi Chapter, for 50 years, and one of the most magnificent houses throughout the entire fraternity. Many long meetings took place, everyone wanted to keep the house, but reality would have to set in. There was just not enough money anymore for the bricks and mortar, the chapter would have to survive in spirit alone.
The Elders, by the end of 1974, had sold the chapter house to McGill University for $65,000. It was hoped that within the next few years, something could be done to restart the chapter, and the elders would then buy back the house. McGill had purchased the house in hopes of renovating it and turning it into classrooms or offices. However, McGill would also run over budget trying to renovate, and they too were compelled to sell the house. The exact date of this sale, and to whom the sale was made is not recorded in our archives as it happened during a rather dark period of our history.
Continue to the reactivation of the chapter…