On Acacia’s Founding Day, the CliffsNotes Version

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

In the fall of 1903, two friends, William J. Marshall and Charles A. Sink, met in the University of Michigan library. They had been members of the Masonic Club, which had been founded in 1894; it was no longer a viable organization.  The two were lamenting the club’s demise.

Marshall and Sink along with 12 other men, all Master Masons who had belonged to the defunct Masonic Club, decided to organize it along fraternity lines.  On May 12, 1904, they founded Acacia Fraternity. The organization’s first official meeting was held two days later.

Twenty-five years after the founding, Acacia presented to the University of Michigan a limestone bench with a bronze plaque on it. The bench is located west of Hatcher Library on the Central Campus.

Initially, Acacia membership was restricted to those who were already members of the Masons. In 1931, sons of Masons were added to those who could join Acacia. Two years after that, brothers of Masons and any person recommended by two Masons were eligible for members. In 1960, all Masonic requirements were removed.

Acacia Bench given to the University of Michigan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fraternity's founding. (Photo courtesy of UM)

The Acacia Bench given to the University of Michigan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fraternity’s founding. (Photo courtesy of UM)

One of Acacia’s noteworthy members is someone whose name, Clifton Keith Hillegass, is virtually unknown outside of Nebraska. However, the product he created, CliffsNotes, brings back memories of high school English class to those who came of age in pre-google days.

An avid reader and lover of literature, Hillegass was the manager of a book company’s wholesale department. In 1958, with a $4,000 loan, he began CliffsNotes in his basement.

In 1988, Hillegass was a recipient of Acacia’s Award of Merit. The award is given members who have “given of their time and substance unstintingly for the promotion and furtherance of Acacia, both nationally and locally, and brothers who have rendered outstanding service in their chosen fields, and have attained high position therein, thus exemplifying the motto of Acacia, human service, and the teachings of the fraternity, which constantly admonish our members to prepare themselves as educated men to take a more active part in their communities.”

 By 1989, the company founded by Hillegas was making $11 million a year, according to Forbes magazine, and there were more than 200 titles in the CliffsNotes catalog. In 1998, he sold the company. Hillegass died in 2001.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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On Mother’s Day, the Sorority and Fraternity Few Want to Join

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

While it was started as a day to honor mothers, Mother’s Day can be a grim one for many people.  It’s tough for women who want to be mothers but, for whatever reason, can’t have children. It’s a hard day for mothers who have lost children. And it is equally rough for those of us, both men and women, whose mothers are no longer with us. I am a member of the Sorority of Motherless Daughters. It is an organization to which I would rather not belong.  I hear the Fraternity of Motherless Sons has a goodly number of members, too.

In 1914, Woodrow Wilson, a Phi Kappa Psi member, officially proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. One of the earliest efforts. In 1870,  Julia Ward Howe, who would later become an Honorary Initiate of the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter at Boston University, wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation.” In the aftermath of the American Civil War, Howe’s call to action asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace.A few years later, Howe campaigned for a “Mother’s Peace Day” to be celebrated every June 2. Anna Jarvis, following in the footstep of her mother Ann Jarvis, worked relentlessly to get the holiday establish. When commercialism took over, she sought to have the holiday stricken from the calendar.

Woodrow Wilson, Phi Kappa Psi

Woodrow Wilson, Phi Kappa Psi

 

For years after my mother passed away, I would pick up the phone and begin to call her number and then realize that she would not be on the other end of the phone. When she became ill, I spent about six months hopscotching between Florida and Illinois. Once during one of my visits to Florida, my daughter called with the excited news that she had become a legal driver. “Letting go with both hands” were the words I used to describe those six months.

It’s been almost a decade and a half since I lost Mom. And while time does ease the pain somewhat, trying to write even these few paragraphs was hard through tears.  There are days when I just say “I miss my Mommy,” out loud and to no one in particular.

If your Mom is still alive and you haven’t called or visited her yet, get to it. Resolve any petty differences while you still can. Give her extra hugs and kisses. So what if she isn’t the perfect mother? There are no perfect mothers. Parenting is the hardest job in the world. It has long hours, low pay, and no procedure manual to contend with all the problems and issues which are part of the job.  Be sure to thank those women who are like mothers to you.

PiPhiFlowersblog

Since I think it’s always good to add some laughter to the mix, I offer these reflections on my life as a Mother.

One of our daughter’s favorite bedtime stories was a book called Picnic. In it, a family of mice go on a picnic. The book was illustrated by Emily McCully. Our daughter was 18-months-old when her twin brothers were born, so by the end of the day I was usually a bit frazzled. That book, and the Cat in the Hat which I could recite from memory talking a mile a minute thanks to my native New York roots, were two of the old staples. Some days, we would take a long time “reading” Picnic, with stories about each of the mice on the page. Other days, it was a quick story. “Look, Emily and her mouse family go on a picnic. She gets left behind. They come back to get her and they live happily ever after.” That summed up the story. And yes, I named the mouse after the illustrator. It was the easiest way to come up with a name. We had copies of McCully’s other books about the mouse, too. I vividly recall the day that our daughter, who became and still is an avid reader, came home from school and decided to take Picnic off her shelf to read, this time to herself. She came to me with the saddest face and asked me if I knew that the book had no words. It was page after page of wondeful watercolor illustrations. “I loved this story, but there are no words to read.” That’s when we had a little talk about imagination. (I discovered that the book was recently reissued with text and I find that sad.)

Twin A and Twin B were born a minute apart. Between their birth and the time they started kindergarten they spent virtually all of their time together. When it came time to go to school, I took them to the preregistration. They each were “tested” by a different teacher. At the first consultation with teachers, I was told by Twin B’s teacher, “Mrs. Becque, Twin B is about 18 months behind in his development.” I was a little taken aback by that, but said nothing and finished up our meeting. I went to Twin A’s classroom where I was told that Twin A was 18 months ahead in his development. That would make them approximately 3 years apart in their development. Two children who had spent their entire lives playing with each other were three years apart developmentally? I wasn’t buying it. I cornered the twins and asked if they remembered when they had their one-on-one with the teacher. Twin B blurted out, “Yea, and she asked me some really stupid questions, so I gave her really stupid answers.” Into the principal’s office I went to request a retest, this time with Twin B’s assurance that he would not provide stupid answers.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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GLO News From Arkansas to Southern Illinois

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

This has been an important week for Chi Omega. On Wednesday, the Chi Omega Greek Theatre at the University of Arkansas was rededicated after undergoing a renovation. Today, there is a groundbreaking for a new Chi Omega chapter house. My friend Lyn Harris, Chi Omega’s Archivist, is in Fayetteville reveling in all things Chi Omega. Her Facebook feeds tells of her adventures visiting the graves of founder Jobelle Holcombe and Dr. Charles Richardson. She spent some time in the University of Arkansas archives going through items with a Chi Omega connection. She’ll be speaking later today at the groundbreaking for the new Psi chapter house. Do not let the Greek letter designation fool you. The Psi chapter of Chi Omega is the founding chapter. Chi Omega was founded at the University of Arkansas on April 5, 1895.

On June 28, 1930, Chi Omega presented a gift to the University of Arkansas to commemorate its founding at the university. Dr. Richardson and Mary Love Collins, Chi Omega’s National President for 42 years and NPC Chairman from 1919-1921, conceived the idea. Their vision was to create a replica of the Theatre of Dionysus which sits at the foot of the Acropolis in Greece. The cost of the Theatre in 1930 was $31,225 (more than $400,000 in today’s funds).

The Theatre’s five aisles honor the five Chi Omega founders and the columns represent the fourteen original members of the Psi Chapter. Chi Omega’s ideals are expressed in the words on the frieze above the columns – KNOWLEDGE, INTEGRITY, COURAGE, CULTURE and INTELLIGENCE. A tablet bears the inscription, “Given to the University of Arkansas by Chi Omega as an expression of appreciation for its founding and as a symbol of its devotion to the human struggle for enlightenment.”

The Program for the Rededication photo courtesy of Lyn Harris)

The Program for the Rededication  (Photo courtesy of Lyn Harris)

As an outdoor venue, the Theatre has weathered 85 years of Arkansas winters and summers. It was renovated for its 50th anniversary in 1980. On June 23, 1980, a rededication ceremony was held. In 1995, in conjunction with the Centennial of Chi Omega’s founding, it went through another renovation. The  semi-circular wood pergola was disassembled, preserved, and reconstructed in 2006. The most recent renovation included repairs to the columns, steps, and seats. The stucco and limestone was restored. In addition, the lighting and landscaping was updated. 

In 1992, the Chi Omega Greek Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It  is used for Panhellenic Council Bid Days, concerts, plays, convocations, commencements, and pep rallies during football season.

The Chi Omega Amphitheater at the University of Arkansas

The Chi Omega Amphitheater at the University of Arkansas

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According to my twitter feed, last night was Awards Night for the GLOs at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Congratulations to Dr. Andy Morgan, Dean of Students at SIUC. To honor his more than 25 years of unwavering service and devotion to the SIUC fraternity and sorority community, an award was named in his honor. He was the  first recipient of the Dr. Robert Andrew Morgan Engagement Award. I am certain that the clock began ticking on those 25 years when he became a new member of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter at SIUC and not when he was officially hired as a Student Development staffer.

It was Andy’s wife Connie, although she wasn’t yet his wife when I first met her, who told me about SIUC’s College Student Personnel program. It was shortly after we moved to Carbondale and I was attending an Alumnae Panhellenic lunch at the Delta Zeta house, where Connie was a chapter adviser. I had been accepted into a graduate program in journalism, but after talking with Connie, I went and spoke with the Director of the College Student Personnel program. That’s when I started researching the history of Greek-letter organizations in earnest. 

Dr. Andy Morgan, the first recipient of an award named in his honor.

Dr. Andy Morgan, the first recipient of an award named in his honor.

Congratulations, Dr. Morgan!

Another picture made me think of Betty Lou Mitchell, who was not only a member of the SIUC English faculty but was also a long-time Alpha Gamma Delta chapter adviser. When I started my master’s thesis on the history of the fraternity system here at SIUC, she was the first person I contacted for information.

The Betty Lou Mitchell Award being presented at the SIUC IGC Awards Ceremony (photo courtest SIUC IGC)

The Betty Lou Mitchell Award being presented at the SIUC IGC Awards Ceremony (Photo courtest SIUC IGC)

She lived a good deal of SIUC’s GLO history, having been a member of Delta Sigma Epsilon. In 1956, when Delta Sigma Epsilon became a part of Delta Zeta, the chapter at SIUC asked to be released from the terms of the merger since a Delta Zeta chapter had been installed on campus a few years earlier. The undergraduates were released, but the alumnae weren’t. That did not sit well with either group. After much angst and discussion and a year as a local organization, Nu Delta Sigma, as well as intervention by University President Deltye Morris, the alumnae were released from the merger terms. They chose to affiliate with Alpha Gamma Delta and a good many alumnae became initiated members when the chapter was installed. Betty Lou Mitchell was one of those women. It warms my heart to know that her legacy still lives on at the IGC Awards in the form of a scholarship presented by Alpha Gamma Delta.

Mitchell was also SIUC’s unofficial historian. She wrote several books on SIUC’s history including one on the life of Delyte Morris, who, at SIUC’s helm, transformed the institution from its normal school roots to a comprehensive university. If anyone is looking for a copy of Mitchell’s book about Morris, please let me know and I will get you a copy from the Friends of the Library book sale. 

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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Oldest Fraternity Chapter West of the Mississippi and More!

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

In 1856, the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built. It connected the Rock Island Arsenal in northwestern Illinois to Davenport, Iowa. The Eads Bridge in St. Louis was completed in 1874. Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, was established in 1851.

Although the charter for the Beta Theta Pi chapter at Westminster College was issued in 1860, it was not installed until 1868. From 1861-65, there was a war going on in the country and that may have had something to do with the lapse of time.

The marker at the Alpha Delta chapter of Beta Theta Pi (photo courtesy of Beta Theta Pi)

The marker at the Alpha Delta chapter of Beta Theta Pi (photo courtesy of Beta Theta Pi)

The Alpha Delta chapter of Beta Theta Pi chapter at Westminster College recently dedicated a marker to acknowledge this historic event. It recognizes the chapter as the oldest of any college fraternity in continuous existence west of the Mississippi River. Congratulations Alpha Delta chapter of Beta Theta Pi!

The Alpha Delta chaper of Beta Theta Pi with the marker before it was installed (photo courtesy of Beta Theta Pi)

The Alpha Delta chaper of Beta Theta Pi with the marker before it was installed (photo courtesy of Beta Theta Pi)

 

From my favorite twitter posts….

(And congratulations to Kappa Alpha Theta for a clever and successful campaign to raise $25,000 in celebration of the organization’s 25th anniversary of a partnership with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), a wonderful program which serves the most vulnerable of children.

 

“Before I even knew what the word sorority meant, Theta loved me.” —Wesley Ware, .

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5/5/1961 The first American in space is cheered on by his father, Alan Shepard Sr. (Dartmouth 1913).

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Past International President Peg Crawford, alumna of Iota Chapter/U of Illinois, was recently inducted into the..

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Unveiling statue tmrw to honour poem written 100 yrs ago during 2nd Battle of Ypres

McCrae was a Zeta Psi

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fsupanhellenic headed to Nicaragua this morning to break ground on CofS school number 3!

 © Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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Phoenix Panhellenic Association’s $700,000+ of Scholarships and a Special Gift

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

The Phoenix Panhellenic Association (PPA) celebrated its 95th anniversary this weekend. I had the pleasure of being among the women of the PPA; they spend their year raising money to fund scholarships for sorority women attending Arizona universities. Since 1975, the PPA has awarded more than $700,000 in scholarships. Many of this year’s scholarship winners attended the luncheon. In addition, a raffle of gift baskets raised funds for the Circle of Sisterhood. It was wonderful to be among such an impressive group!

In 1920, Phoenix had no air conditioning and 29,000 residents. Some of those residents were sorority women. A 1919 Alpha Phi Quarterly included a short blurb titled “A DESERT PANHELLENIC.” I suspect the organization had a meeting or two before it was officially chartered. The article continued, “A city Panhellenic in far off Phoenix, Arizona, is the latest addition to the roll. Sixteen fraternity women representing eleven national sororities organized at a lunch and laid the foundation of a permanent Panhellenic group. The sororities represented were KKΓ, KAΘ, ΠBΦ, ΓΦB, ΣAΙ, XΩ, ΔΔΔ, AΟΠ, AΓ (likely a typo, my guess is ΔZ), BΣΟ and AXΩ.” Margaret Mae Hurley, an Alpha Omicron Pi from the University of California – Berkeley was the first president of the PPA.

photo 1 (23)

In 1938, there were more than 300 members of the PPA. At that point, a dance in the spring helped raise money for a scholarship loan program which was available to women attending college in Arizona.

To read more about the PPA see http://www.phoenixpanhellenic.com/ and to read the wonderful history compiled by Susan Norman, Delta Zeta, see  http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b3aad23c91eb472f2cf21b6c2&id=ae4c8c62aa

Raffle supporting Circle of Sisterhood

The gift basket raffle proceeds supported the Circle of Sisterhood.

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I’ve been wanting to post this, but just didn’t get the opportunity. Kudos to the Gamma Phi Betas at the University of Southern California. They coordinated a fund raising effort among the chapter alumnae, undergraduates and their parents and presented their long-time housekeeper, Fannie Randle, with a check to purchase a car.

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/california-sorority-surprises-housekeeper-21000-car/story?id=30731950

 © Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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Phi Gamma Delta + Calvin and John Coolidge = Fiji Sires and Sons

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Phi Gamma Delta was founded on May 1, 1848. John Templeton McCarty, Samuel Beatty Wilson, James Elliott, Daniel Webster Crofts, Ellis Bailey Gregg and Naaman Fletcher – the Immortal Six – were students at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, when they founded the fraternity. The fraternity’s Beta chapter was established the same year at Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania. The chapters became one when the colleges merged to form Washington and Jefferson College in 1865.

In the summer of 1920, a Phi Gamma Delta  alumnus from the Amherst College chapter won the Vice Presidential spot on the Republican ticket for the 1920 election. At the time of the nomination, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge was at Amherst attending his 25thcollege reunion and the 99th anniversary of the college. A reception at the chapter house was arranged with his wife Grace Goodhue Coolidge, a Pi Beta Phi member, helping the chapter plan the event on short notice.  More than 1,500 people – students, faculty, alumni, students and community members – attended.

Calvin Coolidge became President after the death of Warren G. Harding on August 2, 1923. The Coolidges were planning  to attend Phi Gamma Delta’s 75th anniversary celebration in Pittsburgh in September 1923, but the plans had to be cancelled. Later, a founders badge was presented to the President. On that occasion, President Coolidge said, “I am very glad to have this badge. My wife wears mine most of the time.”

On November 17, 1924, the Coolidges’ oldest son, John, became a member of his father’s Phi Gamma Delta chapter at Amherst College. On the following Founders’ Day, May 1, 1925, FIJI Sires and Sons was organized.  Its purpose is to “impress upon all fathers and sons, who are members of the fraternity, and in time upon their sons, a realization of the noble trinity of principles of the fraternity, with the hope that they may outrun the fervor of youth.”

The Coolidge family - Calvin, Jr., Calvin, Grace, and John shortly before Calvin, Jr.'s death. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The Coolidge family – Calvin, Jr., Calvin, Grace, and John shortly before Calvin, Jr.’s death. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The idea was conceived on March 17, 1925 when T. Ludlow Chrystie and Fraternity Historian William F. Chamberlin discussed creating a list of all the fathers and sons who have been initiated into the Phi Gamma Delta. Chrystie, Chamberlin and three other men, Robert D. Williamson, Charles H. Bosler, and Abram S. Post, visited the White House. President Coolidge, Sire No. 1, signed the preamble of the organization. The men then joined the President for lunch at the White House.

There is no membership fee to be a member of Sires and Sons, but there is a suggested donation of $100 to receive a certificate. There are a limited amount of certificates signed by John Coolidge, who died in 2000; they are available for a $500 gift to the Phi Gamma Delta Educational Foundation. Half of the donation is then forwarded to the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

Although the postcard reads “Phi Gamma Delta – Calvin Coolidge Fraternity – Amherst College, Mass.”, Calvin Coolidge never lived in this house. He helped the chapter obtain it. The chapter is no longer active.

 

 © Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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30 Days Hath…April’s GLO Round-Up

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

From the heartwarming stories file:

In 1950, while a student at the University of North Texas, Jack Marr became a member the Falcon Fraternity, a local organization which was hoping to join a national organization. After graduating in 1952, Marr was called into the Army and sent to participate in the Korean War effort. About the same time that he was across the Pacific, the Falcons became a chapter of Kappa Sigma.

Once he returned, he was busy with a wife, a growing family, and a career. When the current Kappa Sig chapter president, Miguel Pulido, heard about Marr’s situation, he and the chapter officers sought permission to finally initiate Marr as a member of the fraternity.

When the chapter’s latest new member class was initiated, Marr was included in the group. And although he was old enough to be their great-grandfather, he was just as excited as they were. Marr said in an interview to the local television station,”It’s just been in my heart forever and I finally achieved it today. It’s a thrill, it’s a genuine thrill,” (to view the television feature see http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Korean-War-Vet-Inducted-into-UNT-Kappa-Sigma-Frat-300549401.html)

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Here’s another heartwarming story, and it’s also about a Kappa Sigma, one who is balancing a lot of things, including fraternity membership. My feeling is not an anomaly, there are many more like him in chapters and campuses all over the country. http://virtual-rebel.com/2015/04/27/aspiring-neurosurgeon-already-making-an-impact-at-unlv/

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An article on the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombings featured Omega Delta Phi members Brian and Ivan Martinez and their family.  http://m.ocolly.com/news/article_a1a0a64c-e70c-11e4-9449-bbb344336a80.html?mode=jqm

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The fraternity and sorority members who were lobbying Congress are leaving DC as I am writing this, but I want to thank them for their efforts.  The FSPAC and undergraduate GLO leaders urged the passage of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (CHIA) which would make contributions for student housing  fully deductible under the law. If the bill is passed, raising funds to renovate and upgrade chapter housing, most of which was built decades and decades ago, would become much easier. At this point, most contributions to update housing are not tax-deductible. Many thanks to those staff members, volunteers, and student leaders who gave of their time to work on behalf of the GLO system.

npc buttons crop

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Kappa Alpha Theta and the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) are celebrating 25 years together. Since 1990, CASA has been Theta’s official philanthropy. To read more about Theta and CASA’s partnership,  see a video which brought tears to my eyes, see https://www.kappaalphatheta.org/learnabouttheta/philanthropy/casa/index.cfm?from=HomeHeaderLink.

Theta-CASA-25th-Anniversary

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Happy Founders’ Day Theta Phi Alpha! On August 30, 1912, Theta Phi Alpha was founded at the University of Michigan. Although founded on August 30,  Theta Phi Alpha celebrates Founders’ Day on April 30, the Feast Day of St. Catherine of Siena.* St. Catherine is the patroness of the organization and her motto, “Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring, ” is Theta Phi Alpha’s motto as well.

One of the most well-known Theta Phi Alpha members of today has dedicated her life to the betterment of the GLO community. She has also been a dedicated Theta Phi Alpha in many roles including National President; she continues to be a role model, mentor, and cheerleader for her Theta Phi Alpha, NPC and the GLO world. Mari Ann Callais describes herself in her LinkedIn profile, “I love working with people and challenging them to meet their potential. I am a writer, facilitator, presenter, musician, and someone who enjoys change.” And she’ll be speaking at the Pi Beta Phi Convention this summer.

Mari Ann Callais and the 2015 AFLV room key with her picture on it.

Mari Ann Callais and the 2015 AFLV room key with her picture on it.

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Beta Sigma Phi, although it has Greek letters, is primarily a community organization. The sorority was founded April 30, 1931 in Abilene, Kansas, by book salesman Walter W. Ross. The organization was first called “The National ‘What to Read’ Club.” According to a 1938 article by Ross’ lawyer, Ross formed Beta Sigma Phi because “he felt that the need for educational opportunity and the field for its development among young women was large. And, then, Beta Sigma Phi just grew! And as it matured, Walter Ross grew with it.”

According to the organization’s website Beta Sigma Phi chapters “average 10 – 15 women, meet in members’ homes either once or twice a month depending on the format of the chapter. Cultural programs are held to encourage personal growth, whether it’s to overcome shyness through group interaction, while members holding officer positions enhance their leadership skills.” There are chapters in other countries including Australia and Germany and several at colleges, including community colleges. Beta Sigma Phi is a non-profit organization, although it has a contract with Walter W. Ross & Company; the company manages of all its business affairs. 

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* Saint Catherine was canonized in 1461. From 1597 until 1628, the feast of Saint Catherine of Siena was celebrated on April 29, the date she died. In 1628, due to a conflict with the feast of Saint Peter of Verona, hers was moved to April 30. In 1969, the Catholic Church reinstated her feast date as April 29.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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April 29 – Flunk Day, ΘΞ’s and ΧΥΣ’s Founders’ Day, ΦΚΘ’s Chartering Date, and World Wish Day!

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

April 29 is Founders’ Day for several GLOs – Theta Xi, Phi Kappa Theta, and Chi Psi Sigma. It’s Make-a-Wish’s World Wish Day. And this year it’s also Flunk Day at Knox College.

Flunk Day at Knox College is a raucous celebration held every year in the spring. Its date and even the organizers of the event are a secret. On the morning of Flunk Day, the campus wakes up to shouts of students running around and proclaiming it is Flunk Day. The bells of Old Main signal that classes are cancelled and the only thing on the agenda is a good time.

Old Abe even made it to Flunk Day 2014 at the only remaining site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate. (Photo courtesy of Knox College)

Old Abe even made it to Flunk Day 2014 at the only remaining site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate. (Photo courtesy of Knox College)

Theta Xi Fraternity was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, on April 29, 1864. It is the only fraternity in existence today which founded during the Civil War. Its founders are Peter Henry Fox, Ralph Gooding Packard, Christopher Champlin Waite, George Bradford Brainerd, Samuel Buel Jr., Henry Harrison Farnum, Thomas Cole Raymond, and Nathaniel Henry Starbuck.

The Theta Xi chapter at Southern Illinois University Carbondale was chartered on November 17, 1951 as Beta Delta, the 49th chapter of Theta Xi. Actives and alumni of the local organization, Kappa Delta Alpha, traveled to the Iota Chapter at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The installation began on Friday night with the initiation of 12 undergraduate members. The chapter officers initiated on Friday spent most of Saturday becoming familiar with the ritual, which had to be memorized before the installation Saturday afternoon. The remaining actives and 50 Kappa Delta Alpha alumni were initiated on Saturday. A banquet on Saturday night at the Candlelight Room in St. Louis capped the weekend’s festivities. William L. Randle and William R. Winkelmeyer, who on September 15, 1933, were founding members of Kappa Delta Alpha, made brief remarks. Randle was also Beta Delta’s first adviser. When the members returned to Carbondale, they initiated nine Kappa Delta Alpha members who had been traveling with sports teams and missed the St. Louis festivities. On Monday, February 23, 1948, in Shryock Auditorium, Kappa Delta Alpha sponsored the first All-School Variety Show. Today that show is known as the Theta Xi Variety Show.

Phi Kappa Theta was founded on April 29, 1959, Phi Kappa and Theta Kappa Phi, two fraternities for Catholic men, merged. Each had been founded because, at the time of their founding, Catholics were not typically welcomed into the other fraternities. Phi Kappa was founded in 1889 at Brown University and Theta Kappa Phi was founded at Lehigh University in 1919. The merger resulted in completely redesigned badge, pledge pin and coat of arms incorporating elements from each of the organizations. 

Chi Upsilon Sigma, was founded on April 29, 1980 by seven Latinas at the New Brunswick Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The seven founders are Evelyn Burgos, Nancy Collazo, Mariela Freay, Catherine Miranda, Maricel Rivera, Sonia Rosa, and Maria E. Tejera. Its official name is Corazones Unidos Siempre (Hearts United Always). There are currently more than 70 chapters. Its national philanthropy is the I Have a Dream Foundation.

It’s also the Make-a-Wish’s World Wish Day. It’s the anniversary of the 1980 wish-come-true which sparked the creation of the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Chris Greicius received his wish to be a police officer for the day. More than 290,000 wishes have been granted since then.  Chi Omega and Make-A-Wish have been in alliance since 2002. In that time, Chi Omega members have raised more than 13 million dollars. Chi Omega have volunteered more than 500,000 hours on behalf of Make-A-Wish.  Chi Omega is recognized as one of their Cause Champion sponsors.

make awish

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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Ring, Ching, Ching, Ho, Hippi, Hi, Ra, Ro, Arrow, Pi Beta Phi!

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

When I pledged the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Syracuse University, I learned that the organization was founded in Monmouth, Illinois. As a native Long Islander, with a New Yorker’s view of the world, I likely would not have been able to locate the state of Illinois on a map, let alone find the location of Monmouth. It was just somewhere to the west of New York.

I made my first visit to Holt House in 1991, after the St. Louis convention. It was a post convention trip and several buses of convention attendees added an extra day to their convention fun. This year Pi Phi’s convention will be held in Chicago and there is another post-convention trip to Monmouth.

Monmouth is located in northwestern Illinois, about 20 or so miles from the Mississippi River. Monmouth College was opened in 1856. Students who did not live in town needed to find lodging and board from local families. Ada Bruen and Libbie Brook, friends from Henderson County, found a room to share in Jacob Holt’s home. That southwest second-floor bedroom is where Pi Beta Phi was founded on April 28, 1867. The name they chose for their “women’s fraternity” was I. C. Sorosis. They modeled their organization on the men’s fraternities that were then at Monmouth. Its grip was accompanied by the motto “Pi Beta Phi.”

Chapters began using the Greek letters prior to the official name change at the 1888 convention. The first edition of The Arrow has “Organ of Pi Beta Phi” on its masthead even though it began publishing three years before the name change was official. The chapter at the University of Kansas was charged with the magazine’s publishing and they were one of the chapters making use of the Greek letters.

Pi Beta Phi’s twelve founders included two sisters, Emma Brownlee (Kilgore) and Clara Brownlee (Hutchinson), and their friends Ada Bruen (Grier), Nancy Black (Wallace), Inez Smith (Soule), Fannie Whitenack (Libbey), Libbie Brook (Gaddis), Rosa Moore, Jennie Horne (Turnbull), Margaret Campbell, Jennie Nicol, M.D., and Fannie Thomson.

I have never taken any of those facebook quizzes, just as a matter of course. I made an exception to my policy for the “Which Pi Phi Founder Are You?'” which debuted for Pi Beta Phi’s Founders’ Day, today. 

photo (79)

Apparently I am Emma Brownlee Kilgore. She was our first President. It is for that reason that the Brownlee family crest is a part of the Pi Beta Phi coat of arms. The blazing sun with the word lux, Latin for light, in the center is from the Monmouth College seal. In the eagle’s right talon is the monogram “IC,” and the left talon holds the arrow of Pi Beta Phi. This signifies the absolute identity between I.C. Sorosis and Pi Beta Phi Fraternity. The coat of arms was adopted as the official Fraternity crest at the 1912 Evanston Convention. Happy Founders’ Day, my dear Pi Beta Phi!

Pi Beta Phi Crest

Pi Beta Phi Crest

The title of this post, “Ring ching ching Ho hippi hi Ra ro Arrow Pi Beta Phi !” is the official yell of Pi Beta Phi. It was adopted in 1892, when yells were part of everyday fraternity life. This was, of course, pre-cell phone and hearing a yell or whistle (see http://wp.me/p20I1i-q7 ) was a way of communicating with members and showing pride in an organization.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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Cheers and Tears in Bloomington for the World’s Greatest College Weekend

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Bloomington, Indiana, is a college town, with a large, old state university. Herman B Wells, a Sigma Nu, was the 11th President of Indiana University leading the University from 1938-62. David Starr Jordan, Delta Upsilon, served as IU’s President from 1885, when he was 34, until 1891, when Leland and Jane Stanford lured him to Palo Alto to be the first president of the university the Stanfords created as a monument to their late son, Leland, Jr.  Jordan was the first IU President who was not an ordained minister. Both  men’s fingerprints are on so many things that make IU a very special place

This weekend, the third in April, has been called the “World’s Greatest College Weekend.” It is the time when the Little 500 bike race is held. The race began in 1951 when the Executive Director of the IU Student Foundation, Howard “Howdie” Wilcox, Jr., an alumnus of Alpha Tau Omega’s IU chapter, modeled a bicycle race after the Indianapolis 500.

In 1988, a women’s race, the Women’s Little 500, was added to the weekend’s events. The men ride 200 laps (50 miles) and the women do half that. Both are relays with four- member teams competing. (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqynO_zo5ZE for a trailer of the documentary One Day in April.)

On Friday, the Kappa Alpha Theta team won the race for the second time in a row (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ2riXh6X54). Due to weather conditions, Saturday’s race was postponed until today. (Update – Sigma Phi Epsilon won the 2015 Little 500). Money raised from the competition is used for scholarships for IU students and more than $1 million in scholarships has been raised over the years.

Many people know of the Little 500 from Breaking Away, the 1979 film about a group of Bloomington guys who form a team and race against the largely fraternity comprised competition. Steve Tesich, an IU Phi Kappa Psi, wrote Breaking Away, It was based loosely on the experiences he had as part of the 1962 Phi Kappa Psi Little 500 Team. His team mate, Dave Blase, provided  the  inspiration for the Dave Stoller character.

Yearbook article about the 1959 Little 500 courtesy of 1959 Arbutus)

Yearbook article about the 1959 Little 500 courtesy of 1959 Arbutus)

This weekend, however, has been marred by tragedy. Hannah Wilson, a senior and member of Gamma Phi Beta, was found murdered on Friday. College should be a time for learning and making deep friendships and sharing new experiences. It should not be a time to bear the deep pain of loss and the grief of losing one so young. My heart breaks for Hannah’s family and friends. May they find peace in their memories of Hannah.

pink carnation

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

 

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