Every year at the start of the new school year, our Sigma Pi Chapter hosts a student event known as the Pig Roast.
Typically, this happens the first week of school following Labor Day during what Oakland University dubs “Welcome Week.” This event is open to OU students and alumni, and it’s free of charge with various food options and music.
The location has changed a number of times since this event began in Fall 1995, moving from the Lower Athletic Fields to the Upper Fields, and then by Bear/Beer Lake before moving to the Elliott Tower clocktower area.
The 2022 Pig Roast marked the first and only time this annual event was not be held during Welcome Week in early September, but instead took place during Homecoming Weekend in mid-October.
Brother Mike Grant says: “The Pig Roast was designed to be a school-sponsored event while maintaining a ‘rogue’ edge. OU had a huge problem that on Friday nights all the students would go home, even those in the dorms. OU wanted an event that would make them want to stay and we delivered.”
Other brothers from those years in the mid-90s recall that it was also a time when the Chapter had very few undergraduate men as Actives, and so the Pig Roast was also seen as a way to possibly boost the numbers.
A symbol of the Pig Roast for many years was a handmade wood, chicken wire & fabric pink pig created by the brothers in the chapter at the time.
As Brother Grant tells it: The first iteration was named “Raggedy,” made by Brothers Aaron Malgeri and Gabe Gazoul for the very 1st Pig Roast in Fall 1995. It was rigged with a loudspeaker and CB radio and towed in a trailer to promote the event.
That first year, Brother Michael Szetella of the Phi Pledge Class offered his trailer and truck to pull the pig around campus. The pig was also periodically dropped around campus with the speaker on and would “speak” to passers-by. It was so beloved that OU even stored it for us at no charge.
That first Raggedy lasted roughly 5 years and was eventually replaced with another, and there were at least a couple more versions through the years.
In 2019, leading up to the 25th anniversary Pig Roast event, Brother Mike Hoskins saw a little scrap-metal pig sculpture at Eastern Market in Detroit. He bought this pig for $25 and crowd-sourced the name on social media with actives and alum, finally choosing Sigmund “Siggy Pi,” the Scrappy Pig. The little artistic pig was then presented to Brother Mike Grant, in recognition of his role in our Chapter’s history and pig roast creation. It also served as a sort of “new business warming gift,” marking the opening of Grant’s Pizza in downtown Rochester. From then on, Siggy Pi the Scrappy Pig was on display at our brother’s pizza shop location.
Due to the COVID-19 global health emergency, our Chapter postponed what would’ve been the usual 26th annual pig roast in 2020. Instead, this signature event was held October 3, 2020 on a smaller scale at the Chapter house.
The 2021 event took place near the OU clocktower, between Kresge Library, the Oakland Center, and O’Dowd Hall.
In a notable change, the 2022 Pig Roast event was pushed back from the first “welcome week” in early September to OU’s Homecoming weekend on October 15, 2022.
29th Annual Pig Roast (2023)
Our 2023 Pig Roast took place on Friday, Sept. 8, during the first week students return to school. It was held near the Elliott Tower clocktower, alongside many of the other school-sponsored Welcome Week activities.
More than 400 people attended this latest Pig Roast, and the undergraduate chapter considers it a “huge success.” Some Alumni Association brothers gathered for a happy hour for drinks and dinner beforehand.
30th Annual Pig Roast (2024)
The Chapter held its milestone 30th pig roast on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.
(Yes, this is the 30th consecutive year for the event—it was first held in 1995 and has been held every year since, making this most recent event the 30th time it has been held. However, if you determine that very initial pig roast in 1995 was the “inaugeral event,” and the first-recognized event was in 1996, then that would make the 2025 Pig Roast the big 30th event.)
These are all typically near Elliott Tower (the clocktower) behind the Oakland Center. Given that this is a school-sponsored event run by the Student Program Board, all location and event details are subject to change on the fly given the school’s control.
