Category Archives: Men’s Fraternities

Park Valentine Perkins on Theta Chi’s Founders’ Day

A few years ago, I was asked to write a history of the Theta Chi chapter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I was a bit apprehensive about the task. Prior to that I wrote histories of fraternity and sororities … Continue reading

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My “Found” Volumes of The Fraternity Month

This week during our “Shelter in Place” order, I began cleaning out my GLO History cabinet. In the way back I found an unopened box with a bookstore’s label on it. I just put it aside while I whittled down … Continue reading

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On the Eighth Day of the Eighth Month – Francis H. Sisson, Beta Theta Pi

On August 8, 1839, eight young men established Beta Theta Pi, the first men’s fraternity founded west of the Allegheny Mountains. The men, “of ever honored memory” were John Reily Knox, Michael Clarkson Ryan, David Linton, Samuel Taylor Marshall, James George Smith, Charles Henry … Continue reading

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Kappa Sigma Honors Chi Omega Founder at 150th

On Saturday night, Kappa Sigma celebrated 150 years at a banquet during the organization’s 72nd Bienneial Grand Conclave. The festivities took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the fraternity was founded in 1869. Chi Omega and Kappa Sigma share a very … Continue reading

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Remiss + Catch-up = Today’s GLO History Post

Remiss is my word of the day. I have been remiss in acknowledging many accomplishments of GLO members over the past year. This week, I plan to play catch-up. I am also saddened to hear of the passing of a … Continue reading

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In DC at a #MonumentalSisterhood Convention

I’ve been to every state east of the Mississippi, but I’ve never to Washington, D.C. Well, thanks to Pi Beta Phi, that situation has been rectified. I left home on Wednesday at 3:45 a.m. to arrive in D.C. at about … Continue reading

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Begin the Beguine on Cole Porter’s Birthday

Cole Porter was born on June 9, 1891, in Peru, Indiana. His family was well-to-do thanks to the industriousness of his grandfather, J.O. Cole, who struck gold in California and returned to Indiana to parlay it into a greater fortune. … Continue reading

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On Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, one sometimes hears the haunting poem, In Flanders Fields. It was written by John McCrae, M.D., a Lieutenant Colonel in the Canadian Army during World War I. He was a Zeta Psi from the University of Toronto chapter. … Continue reading

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R.I.P. George Spasyk, a Lambda Chi Alpha Builder

Not all of us can be founders but we can all be builders. We can work on behalf of an organization and make it better. Lambda Chi Alpha just lost one of its best builders with the passing of George … Continue reading

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Silent Cal, My Favorite Phi Gamma Delta, on Its Founders’ Day

Calvin Coolidge is my favorite Phi Gamma Delta, hands down. It is my feeling the press did not understand the Vermont zeitgeist of the 30th President, but that is neither here nor there because it is Fiji’s Founders’ Day. On … Continue reading

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