Fraternity History & More

An Exercise in Futility?

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

I often wonder why I couldn’t be interested in blogging about something with more mass appeal than the history of fraternities and sororities. Convincing members of GLOs that is important to know the history of their own GLO as well as other organizations is not an easy task. After all, the world is a different place than it was even ten years ago and talking about the 1800s and 1900s is akin to droning on about the prehistoric world. Furthermore, most of people I write about are d-e-a-d and have been for decades. Discussing GLOs with those who are not members and have a definite opinion/dislike/disdain about GLOs is an exercise in futility.

(Courtesy of the Student Life and Culture Archives, Wilson Heller Collection)

I’m an introvert although I can manage well among people when I must. There are days when I seriously consider becoming a recluse, but my cat allergy puts a crimp on that thought. Dogs are just too demanding. At the memorial service I attended on Saturday, someone came up to me and said, “You’re the dog walker!” “Yes, I am,” was my reply, because walking our two dogs is what I do. Researching and writing about GLOs is what I truly love to do. While I’ve considered closing this blog and finding something more lucrative, say selling real estate, I keep coming across items that need to be shared.

Exhibit A – http://bit.ly/29Eg5rl. The men of Beta Theta Pi at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln set up a go-fund account for their former housefather, Erv Williams.

Exhibit B – Last year, I wrote about Mimi Baird, an alumna initiate of Pi Beta Phi, who wrote about a father she barely knew (http://wp.me/p20I1i-23X). The movie rights to her book, He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter’s Quest to Know Him, have been purchased by Brad Pitt. Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner will be working on the screen adaptation. Dr. Perry Baird, the subject of the book, was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. The Variety articles summed up his life very well, “Baird was a rising medical star in the late ’20s and ’30s who researched the biochemical root of manic depression, just as he began to suffer from it himself. By the time the results of his groundbreaking experiments were published, he had been institutionalized multiple times and he had become estranged from his family. He later received a lobotomy and died from a seizure.”

Exhibit C – Nu Alpha Kappa, a Latino-based fraternity was established on February 26, 1988 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Tony Arreola, one of the founders, recently donated $100,000 to the NAK National Alumni Association’s Scholarship Fund. On the Nu Alpha Kappa facebook pages, Arreola is quoted, “Nu Alpha Kappa and my college experience at Cal Poly have given me back so much over the years…The Arreola Family Award is my way of paying it forward by helping NAK brothers graduate from college.”

I am currently soliciting projects and speaking engagements for the fall. Use the contact form below.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2016. 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/

Posted in Alpha Tau Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Fran Favorite, Pi Beta Phi, University of Nebraska | Tagged Alpha Tau Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Brad Pitt, Mimi Baird, Nu Alpha Kappa, Pi Beta Phi | Comments Off

“And That Is How It Is That It Is As It Is”

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

My anthropologist friend posted a link to the digital collections at the New York Public Library and I spent a few hours in a rabbit hole. Among the collections are many menus bearing this seal.

nypl.digitalcollections.510d47db-85d6-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.003.w

I looked at dozens of menus from Greek-Letter Organization events. One of the most captivating items I looked at was this one from a 1907 meeting of Phi Gamma Delta men.*

nypl.digitalcollections.510d47db-85d6-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.001.w

Phi Gam menu

nypl.digitalcollections.510d47db-85d6-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.005.w

nypl.digitalcollections.510d47db-85d6-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.007.w

Since I dove into the treasures without reading about the collection, I became a little curious about the “Buttolph Collection.” Who was the mysterious person named Buttolph? Wikipedia’s entry includes only this information:

Frank E. Buttolph (born Frances Editha Buttles; 1844–1924) was an American collector known for initiating the Miss Frank E. Buttolph American Menu Collection, 1851-1930 at New York Public Library in 1899.

In 1899, Buttolph offered to donate her private collection of American menus to the New York Public Library. The director of the library at the time, John Shaw Billings, agreed to house the collection. Buttolph remained a steadfast presence at the library, continuing to expand the collection until her death in 1924. Today, it is part of the New York Public Library Menu Collection. It is one of the largest menu collections in the world. The collection continues to grow and is currently curated by culinary librarian, Rebecca Federman.

The wikipedia entry left me with many questions. I went searching again. I found a few answers on a blog written by Steve Orner, an arborist and tree surgeon who at Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pennsylvania.

Frank E. Buttles, Mansfield Normal School from Steve Orners blog)

Frank E. Buttles, Mansfield State Normal School from Steve Orner’s blog)

Buttolph, when she was known as known as Frank E. Buttles, graduated from Mansfield University, when it was Mansfield State Normal School. Orner cited an entry in a 1913 Mansfield alumni publication:

A letter of unusual interest has been received from Miss Frank E. Buttolph, of 476 Fifth Ave., N.Y., a member of the Class of 1866, the first class to be graduated, where the name was spelled “Buttles.

It is interesting to note that the New York Public Library is located at 476 Fifth Avenue and has been since 1911. The Mansfield alumni publication included this information about Buttolph:

She is also a ‘born collector’ and one of her collections—a very unique one—consists of 26,000 menu cards gathered from all quarters of the globe and commemorating many notable occasions. They are now housed for permanent exhibition in the new Astor Library, New York city—a testimony to their historical and artistic value.

To read Orner’s blog about Buttolph, see https://frankbuttolph.wordpress.com/. To view the NYPL’s digital collections see http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/. There is also a collection of Buttolph’s menus in the British Library. To view some of the digital files belonging to the British Library, see https://lovemenuart.com/collections/miss-frank-e-buttolph-british-library-menu-collection.

*From Towner Blackstock, Phi Gamma Delta’s Curator of Archives:

These “Fiji Jamborees” resulted in the organization of the New York Club. The banquet lasted four hours, 8 to midnight, with 214 attending. The speakers include three Archon Presidents: Orion Cheney (NYU 1897), Horace Brightman (Columbia 1892), and Newton D. Baker (Johns Hopkins 1892, W&L 1894) . . . yes, the same folks for whom the Cheney Cup, Brightman Trophy, and Baker Cup are named. “On Saturday, February 2, and the Hotel Astor, occurred the most splendid and successful meeting of Phi Gamma Delta ever held in New York,” crowed The Phi Gamma Delta. “The immediate cause of this assemblage was a call sent out by Section Chief Cheney to the Columbia, New York, Trinity and Yale chapters for a convention at which the things that were of most importance to the fraternity could be discussed. Inasmuch as New York is the home of many hundreds of Fijis, it was thought advisable to have as many of these men present as possible, and to extend a general invitation to all members of the fraternity, and in order to accomplish this the inducement was held out that President Baker and Secretary Pogue would be on hand ….Each chapter presented a paper on fraternity topics, and Yale put on a model initiation. Discussions then turned to organizing a club for the thousand or so brothers in New York…..Before the crowd dispersed steps had been taken toward organizing a Phi Gamma Delta Club and a committee appointed with power to secure permanent quarters.”

***

My Saturday afternoon was spent at a memorial service for a member of my Rotary club who was also a member of my P.E.O. chapter. I mentioned her a few posts ago. Blanche Carlton Sloan, Ph.D. was a gracious, articulate, and intelligent woman. At age 92, she no longer made it to the club’s 7 a.m. meetings, but she attended the March 29 Fifth Tuesday potluck. I remember asking her about Harper Lee, who had died in February; the author spent a year at Huntingdon College, Blanche’s alma mater. Blanche was the first female District Governor in Rotary District 6510 and she was a “steel magnolia” in her dealings in what was a man’s world. She also served Rotary on an international level. She was an ardent supporter of the organizations in town and she will be sorely missed. To read about her service to Rotary in her own words, written sometime after 2008, see https://www.rghfhome.org/first100/women/seconddgs/sloan.htm#.V4OKh7grKM8.

Blanche Carlton Sloan cheering on the Saluki basketball team during the 2015-2016 season.

Blanche Carlton Sloan cheering on the SIUC Saluki basketball team during the 2015-2016 season.

Posted in Fran Favorite, Phi Gamma Delta | Tagged Blanche Carlton Sloan, Frank E. Buttles, Frank E. Buttolph, Hotel Astor, Mansfield University, NY Public Library, Phi Gamma Delta, Rotary International. Phi Gamma Delta, Steve Orner | Comments Off

Fraternity and Sorority Members Competing in the 2016 Olympics

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

It’s an Olympic year! Here is an on-going list of fraternity and sorority members who will be competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Please help me compile this information; comment with the names of those I haven’t discovered yet. You can use the contact form below or tweet me at @GLOhistory. Four years ago, the list was comprised of only NPC sorority women who competed in 2012 (http://wp.me/p20I1i-jt). I’d like to include as many members of GLOs as I can.

rio

DIVING (MEN’S)

Kristian Ipsen, Kappa Alpha Order, Stanford University

DIVING (WOMEN’S)

Kassidy Cook, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Stanford University

Abby Johnston, Delta Delta Delta, Duke University – Silver medal, 2012

CYCLING (WOMEN’S)

Kristin Armstrong, Kappa Kappa Gamma, University of Idaho – Gold medal 2008, 2012 WON GOLD IN RIO making her first person to win the same Olympic cycling event three consecutive times.

Evelyn Stevens, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Dartmouth College

EQUESTRIAN (WOMEN’S)

Lucy Davis, Pi Beta Phi, Stanford University WON A SILVER MEDAL!

ROWING (WOMEN’S)

Eleanor (Elle) Logan, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Stanford University – Gold medal 2008, 2012, WON GOLD IN RIO! (Women’s Eight)

Lauren Schmetterling, Delta Delta Delta, Colgate University, WON GOLD IN RIO! (Women’s Eight)

Genevra “Gevvie” Stone, M.D., Kappa Kappa Gamma, Princeton University, WON SILVER IN RIO! (Single Sculls)

RUGBY (MEN’S)

Danny Barrett, Beta Theta Pi, UC – Berkeley

RUGBY (WOMEN’S)

Ryan Carlyle, Zeta Tau Alpha, University of South Carolina

SAILING (WOMEN’S)

Paige Railey, Delta Delta Delta, University of South Florida

SOCCER (WOMEN’S)

Kelley O’Hara, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Stanford University – Gold medal 2012

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING (WOMEN’S)

Mariya Koroleva, Delta Delta Delta, Stanford University

TRACK AND FIELD (MEN’S)

Marvin Bracy, Pi Kappa Alpha, Florida State University

Sam Kendricks, Alpha Tau Omega, University of Mississippi, WON BRONZE IN POLE VAULT!

Jeff Porter, Omega Psi Phi

TRACK AND FIELD (WOMEN’S)

Amber Campbell, Zeta Phi Beta

Kristi Castlin, Alpha Kappa Alpha

Francena McCorory, Delta Sigma Theta

TRIATHALON (WOMEN’S)

Laura Bennett, Chi Omega, Southern Methodist University

VOLLEYBALL (MEN’S)

Kawika Shoji, Kappa Alpha Order, Stanford University WON BRONZE MEDAL IN RIO!

Erik Shoji, Kappa Alpha Order, Stanford University WON BRONZE MEDAL IN RIO!

Phil Dalhausser, Lambda Chi Alpha, University of Central Florida

WATER POLO (MEN’S)

Troy Azevedo, Kappa Alpha Order, Stanford University (Captain)

Bret Bonanni, Kappa Alpha Order, Stanford University

Alex Bowen, Kappa Alpha Order, Stanford University

Jesse Smith, Kappa Alpha Order, Stanford University

WATER POLO (WOMEN’S)

Kaleigh Gilchrist, Pi Beta Phi, University of Southern California WON A GOLD MEDAL IN RIO!

Melissa (Mel) Seidemann, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Stanford University – Gold medal 2012 WON A GOLD MEDAL IN RIO!

Maggie Steffens, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Stanford University – Gold medal WON A GOLD MEDAL IN RIO!

WATER SKIING (WOMEN’S)

Erika Lang, Chi Omega, Rollins College

WEIGHTLIFTING (MEN’S)

Kendrick Farris, Kappa Alpha Psi, Centenary College

***

NON-USA TEAM MEMBERS

Belarus Women’s Basketball Team, Lindsey Harding, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Duke University

Bermuda Track and Field Team, Tyrone Smith, Kappa Alpha Psi, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Canadian Canoe/Kayak/ Slalom Team, Michael Tayler, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Carleton University

Canadian Sailing Team, Nikola Girke, Gamma Phi Beta, University of British Columbia

Canadian Track and Field Team, Inaki Gomez, Beta Theta Pi, University of British Columbia

Jamaican Swim Team, Alia Atkinson, Sigma Gamma Rho

Nigerian Basketball Team, Olaseni Abdul-Jelili “Shane” Lawal, Omega Psi Phi, Pontiac, MichiganI Alumni Chapter

Nigerian Rowing Team, Chierika Ukogu, Kappa Alpha Theta, Stanford University. She will row in the women’s singles and she is the first female rower for Nigeria. SHE WON A SILVER MEDAL IN RIO!

Nigerian Track and Field Team, Uhunoma Osazuma, Sigma Gamma Rho, Syracuse University

Palau Swimming Team, Shawn Dingilius-Wallace, Triangle, Missouri School of Mines.

U.S. Virgin Islands Track and Field Team, Eddie Lovett, Phi Beta Sigma, University of Florida

***

OTHER OLYMPIC CONNECTIONS

Sharrieffa Barksdale, Sigma Gamma Rho, USA Track and Field, Events Manager

Jim Boeheim, Delta Upsilon, Syracuse University, Assistant Coach of the Men’s Basketball team.

Aimee Banghart Boorman, Delta Phi Epsilon, Northern Illinois University, Head Coach of the Women’s Gymnastics team.

Christine Brennan, Chi Omega, Northwestern University, sports writer and analyst.

Carol Leimer Callan, Chi Omega, William Woods, Women’s Basketball Team Director

Nicole Chrzanowski, Gamma Phi Beta, University of Georgia, U.S. Olympic Committee communications staff

Caroline Engels, Phi Mu, NBC Social Media Manager

Jennifer Firoved, Pi Beta Phi, Ball State University, Ball State at the Games

Alex Flanagan, Gamma Phi Beta, University of Arizona, NBC Sports

Claire Fry, Kappa Alpha Theta, Columbia University, NBC intern

Curtis Frye, Alpha Phi Alpha, East Carolina University, Coach of the Men’s Sprinters and Hurdlers

Mitch Goldich, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Lehigh University, Sports Illustrated at te Games podcast

Dan Hicks, Sigma Phi Epsilon, University of Arizona, NBC broadcaster

Hoda Kotb, Delta Delta Delta, Virginia Tech, Today Show anchor, reporting from Rio.

Courtney Kupets, Alpha Omicron Pi, University of Georgia, NBC Gymnastics Commentator.

Lewis Johnson, Kappa Alpha Psi, University of Cincinnati, Broadcaster

Abby Lutz, Pi Beta Phi, Ball State University, Ball State at the Games

Talia Mark, Sigma Gamma Rho, USA Swimming, Manager of Marketing

Al Michaels, Sigma Nu, San Diego State University, NBC daytime host

Carrie Moore, Alpha Xi Delta, Missouri Valley College, Women’s Wrestling Trainer

Brandon Rosolowski, Sigma Phi Epsilon, University of Toledo

Kelli Savast, Gamma Phi Beta, NBC Broadcaster

John Speraw, Phi Kappa Psi, UCLA, Men’s Volleyball Coach

Sarah Stier, Gamma Phi Beta, Ohio University, Photojournalist, Ball State at the Games

DeVin Taylor, Pi Kappa Phi, Queen’s University of Charlotte, Studying journalism and digital media at the games.

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PARALYMPICS

SOCCER (MEN’S)

Alex Hendricks, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Ashland University

SWIMMING (MEN’S)

Evan Ryan Austin, Pi Kappa Phi, Indiana State University

TRACK AND FIELD (WOMEN’S)

Tatyana McFadden, Phi Sigma Sigma, University of Illinois – Gold medal 2012, four medals in 2008, two medals in 2004.

Posted in Fran Favorite | Tagged 2016 Olympics | Comments Off

A Coolidge and a Sisson and a Patriotic Convention

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

It’s July 4th, the date upon which America celebrates its independence. Here are some 4th of July appearances in the GLO world.

Yesterday’s most viewed most was the one about Calvin Coolidge being the only U.S. President to be born on the 4th of July. I suspect the readers were trying to find the answer to a trivia question.

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., the 30th President of the United States, was born on July 4, 1872 in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts where he became a member of Phi Gamma Delta.

After graduation, while working as a lawyer in nearby Northampton, he met Grace Goodhue, a Pi Beta Phi who had recently graduated from the University of Vermont. She was working at the Clarke School for the Deaf. They married in the Goodhue family home in Burlington, Vermont. Although they spent their married life living in Massachusetts with a side trip to Washington, D.C. , Vermont seemed to be always in their hearts.

Festivities to honor President Coolidge are planned for today in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. I wish I could be there.

***

Below is the guest book for an event which took place on July 4, 1891, somewhere in Galesburg, Illinois. When I took a quick picture of it, in the archives of the Illinois Beta-Delta Chapter at Knox College, I was under the impression that it had been attended by Francis H. Sisson, a Beta Theta Pi from Knox’s Xi Chapter who would later serve as Beta Theta Pi’s National President. The Sisson Award was named in his honor. Upon closer examination, I noticed that there is no dot over what should have been an “i” and furthermore, I know all too well that the feminine spelling of the name has an “e.” The Sissons who attended this event were the Beta’s cousins, according to a family tree prepared by Cara Sutcliffe, a member of Pi Phi’s Grand Council. (For the story of the Sissons, Francis Hinckley, who would serve as Beta’s National President, and his wife Grace Lass Sisson who married the Beta during her tenure as Pi Phi’s Grand President, see http://wp.me/p20I1i-eD).

***

I love the graphic below and so I am “borrowing” this from something I wrote for the Pi Phi blog a few years ago. It’s about the convention which took place at the Inn at Charlevoix over July 4, 1918.

Pi Beta Phi’s 50th Anniversary Convention was to have taken place in 1917, but it was postponed due to the country’s entrance into World War I. When the convention finally took place a year later in Charlevoix, Michigan, many concessions were made. Due to wartime restrictions and rationing, there wasn’t a dedicated Pi Phi Express train to get Pi Phis there and meals were served family style on the advice of Grand President May Lansfield Keller.

On the morning of July 4, 1918, a patriotic program took place. An address by Eva Jones, Principal of Rupert’s Land Ladies College in Winnipeg, Canada, started the program. She was not a Pi Phi, it was noted in The Arrow, but her choice as speaker was explained, “For a long time the selection of a right speaker for the Fourth of July program troubled Grand Council. Then came the happy suggestion; ‘Why not ask our Canadian girls to select a representative Canadian woman to address us?’ It was certain that such a speaker would have a real message and the idea seemed most appropriate because England was planning to observe our national holiday for the first time in history. Everyone was charmed with the representative selected by our Canadian sisters and readily believed them when they declared they had secured for us ‘one of the foremost women speakers in all Canada.’”

It is a rather wet and rainy Fourth here in the midwest. I hope the weather is better for you. As you celebrate this holiday, please remember that freedom isn’t free.

Posted in Beta Theta Pi, Fran Favorite, Knox College, Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Beta Phi | Tagged Beta Theta Pi, Calvin Coolidge, Francis H. Sisson, Grace Lass Sisson, Inn at Charlevoix, Knox College, Plymouth Notch | Comments Off

Happy Canada Day, GLO Friends!

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends! Many fraternity and sorority conventions have taken place in Canada. The Bigwin Inn, Lake of Bays, Ontario was the site of many fraternity and sorority conventions including: Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma in 1925; Phi Kappa Tau in 1927; Zeta Tau Alpha, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Zeta’s Silver Anniversary convention in 1928; and Sigma Phi Epsilon in 1930, to name a few. Some of the other Canadian convention locations include: the Empress Hotel, Victoria, British Columbia; Lake Louise, Alberta; and Jasper Park, Alberta.

5750 - Bigwin Inn

2658 - lake of bays fwl iss jht

GLOs have been a part of Canadian higher education since 1879. Zeta Psi became the first fraternity in Canada when its chapter at the University of Toronto was chartered on March 27, 1879. Zeta Psi’s Grand Chapter met in 1877 and it was agreed that the fraternity should venture into Canada. The Xi Chapter at the University of Michigan was given the task of founding a chapter at the University of Toronto. It was a challenging task given what travel and communications were like in the 1870s, but the Michigan Zeta Psi’s were successful. The chapter designation, Theta Xi, honored the efforts of the Michigan chapter by incorporating the “Xi” into its name.

The chapter remained the sole fraternity on the University of Toronto campus until the 1890s when it was joined by Kappa Alpha Society, Alpha Delta Phi, Phi Kappa Sigma, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Delta Upsilon, and Delta Chi. The first National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) women’s organization at the University of Toronto was Kappa Alpha Theta. According to Theta’s 1956 history, We Who Wear Kites, “A letter from M.R Robertson of the University of Toronto explained that ‘one of the Zetas’ had given the seven girls of a local group ‘information about society matters and also your address.’ After favorable action by the Convention in 1887, Anna Louis Benham of Iota (Cornell University) was sent to Toronto to initiate the seven.”

The Sigma Chapter was chartered in 1887 giving Theta the distinction of being the first women’s fraternity in Canada. The faculty had a strong feeling against the Greek-letter organizations and the seven women who were initiated kept their membership a secret. By 1899, the chapter became dormant. In 1905, Sigma Chapter was revived. It was was soon followed by Alpha Phi in 1906 and Pi Beta Phi in 1908. Together the three created a Panhellenic Council at the University of Toronto.

In 1883, McGill University’s fraternity system came to life when Zeta Psi chartered a second Canadian chapter. Again, as in the case of the University of Toronto, Zeta Psi was the only fraternity there in the 1880s. In the 1890s, it was joined by Alpha Phi Delta, Delta Upsilon, and Kappa Alpha Society. In 1922, Delta Phi Epsilon became the first NPC group to establish a chapter at McGill.

Today, there have been more than 150 chapters of North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) men’s fraternities and more than 75 NPC organization chapters at Canadian institutions. About three-quarters of those chapters are currently active.

I get most of my Canadian GLO news from @CanadianGreeks.

Posted in Fran Favorite, Kappa Alpha Theta, McGill University, University of Toronto, Zeta Psi | Tagged Canada, Kappa Alpha Theta, Zeta Psi | Comments Off

GLO Truth or Fiction?

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

The excitement of recruitment season is upon the Greek-Letter Organization world. Offering examples of men and women who have worn GLO badges seems like a good selling strategy. Is it?

Here are a few questionable social media posts I’ve read with my own eyes. There was a time when chapters could make all sort of spurious claims and no one would ever know whether these claims were true or false. After all, it would take hours and days of research in stacks of books in a library to refute the claims. Today it takes only a few minutes on the internet to determine whether urban myths are just that or if they have some truth to them. I remember how crushed I was, a few years ago, to find out that Marlo Thomas’ kite flying at the end of the That Girl intro was just kite flying and not a shout out to her Theta sisters.

Are these recent claims made on social media true or false?

All but two presidents since 1825 have been Greek. Variations include “born after 1825” and “all but three.”

FALSE See http://wp.me/p20I1i-Vb for an explanation. Off the top of my head, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon are recent (during my lifetime) Presidents who have not been fraternity men. Others have been honorary members. The number of U.S. Presidents initiated into GLOs while college students is the more impressive list.

frater reagan

Both female Supreme Court justices are sorority women.

FALSE. And never mind that four women have served as U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Only one, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alpha Epsilon Phi, is a member of a National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organization. Although there are rumors to the contrary, Sandra Day O’Connor is not a sorority woman. She attended Stanford University when there were no NPC chapters on campus.

Ruth Bader as a student at Cornell University

Every Apollo 11 astronaut was a fraternity man.

FALSE. There were three men aboard Apollo 11, Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr.; Collins and Aldrin went to West Point where there are no social fraternities. Aldrin was elected to Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honor society. Armstrong was a fraternity man having been initiated into the Phi Delta Theta chapter at Purdue University.

The first American woman in space was a sorority woman.

FALSE. Sally Ride was not, but there have been many other female astronauts who are sorority women. See http://wp.me/p20I1i-lefor that list.

This book about astronauts, had these two female astronauts on the same page. One is a sorority woman and the other is not, The sorority woman is Judith Resnick, Alpha Epsilon Phi, and not Sally Ride.

There is one sorority badge which has been voted “most beautiful fraternal (or sorority) badge” and is on display in American fraternal and sorority collegiate collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

FALSE. I’ve seen at least three women’s organizations make this claim. I asked a friend who has been at the Smithsonian for decades to help me track this down urban myth. Is there an American fraternal and sorority collegiate collection? The contact who researched this query responded that the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian does not have any sorority pins and there is no an American fraternal and sorority collegiate collection. There are a few fraternity pins which may have come in as singular items within larger collections.

It’s OK to call new sorority members “babies.”

Do I even have to respond to this one? When the term “pledge” fell out of favor, somehow “babies” seemed, to some chapter members, to be a good substitute. REALLY? Please if you are a sorority woman and are you are calling your chapter’s new members “babies” please stop. Stop now. It’s degrading to call intelligent women that name.

At least one fraternity badge has been to the moon

TRUE. The first fraternity badge which made its way to the moon was the one belonging to Neil Armstrong, an initiate of the Phi Delta Theta chapter at Purdue University. He was the first man to walk on the moon. Upon his return to Earth, he presented the badge to Phi Delta Theta and it is on display at the fraternity’s headquarters in Oxford. However, contrary to rumor, he never pinned it on the American flag on the moon, nor did he pin his wife’s Alpha Chi Omega badge to the American flag.

Posted in Alpha Epsilon Phi, Fran Favorite, Notable Sorority Women, Phi Delta Theta | Tagged Neil Armstrong, Phi Delta Theta, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sally Ride, Supreme Court Justices, US Presidents | Comments Off

Pat Summitt, Cardinal and Straw and UT Orange

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Pat Summitt, an initiate of the Chi Omega chapter at the University of Tennessee-Martin, passed away early today at the age of 64. Summitt was coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974-2012 during which she coached the team to eight NCAA national championships. She is the only coach in NCAA history with at least 1,000 victories. She won a Presidential Medal of Freedom and is a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame. The graduation rate for her players who completed their eligibility at Tennessee was 100 percent!.

pat summitt

She played on the first Olympic women’s basketball team and has a silver medal to prove it. She also coached the 1984 gold medal team.

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In 1971, while a student at the University of Tennessee-Martin,, Summitt became a member of the Xi Zeta Chapter of Chi Omega. According to a Chi Omega press release, Summitt “remained involved with the Fraternity during her 40-plus years of membership, speaking at local and national events for Chi Omega and inspiring Sisters all over the country.” In 1988, she was awarded Chi Omega’s Malinda Jolley Mortin Woman of Achievement Award.

In 2014, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees approved the naming of one of the four new sorority structures being built on the UT-M campus. The Chi Omega lodge will be called the Pat Head Summitt Chi Omega House.

Pat Summitt and her Chi Omega sister Lyn Harris, Chi Omega’s Archivist.

My condolences to her family, friends, and the myriad of women whom she coached and mentored.

***

Founders’ Day greetings to Sigma Chi and Sigma Tau Gamma. Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 and Sigma Tau Gamma on June 28, 1920.

Sigma Chi was founded at Miami University in Miami, Ohio. It is one of the Miami Triad. Sigma Tau Gamma was founded at Central Missouri State Teachers College, now the University of Central Missouri, in Warrenton, Missouri. Warrenton is where the fraternity headquarters is located.

Posted in Chi Omega, Fran Favorite | Tagged Chi Omega, Pat Summitt, UT-Martin | Comments Off

A Rotary Club Year in Pictures

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

This past Tuesday marked my last time hitting the gavel at the Rotary Club of Carbondale-Breakfast meeting. Except for opening the year-end changeover dinner tonight and writing a report or two, my term is over. A year-end report is required and here is mine.

Rotary International began on February 23, 1905, in Chicago, Illinois (see http://wp.me/p20I1i-22E). It grew to the west coast first and later to the east coast. My friend Eric Drumheller (see http://wp.me/p20I1i-1Gl), Phi Gamma Delta’s representative to this year’s Fraternity and Sorority Archivists Conference, is a member of the Lincoln, Nebraska Rotary Club, founded in 1910 as the 14th Rotary Club in the nation. He spent the year as secretary of his club, checking the 300+ members in to each week’s meeting. My club has a tenth of his club’s membership. In Champaign, for the conference at the beginning of June, we both had started our countdown clock to the end of our respective terms.

Eric in a Rotary polo shirt, the sale of which was a fundraiser for his club. Eric found his way to Rotary through taking part in a Rotary Group Study Exchange to Sweden.

My year as Club President started in July 2015, after I returned from the Pi Beta Phi Convention. I agreed to step up a year early because the woman who was to be President before me asked if we could switch. With 20-20 hindsight, I should have declined, but I didn’t and luckily I lived to tell the tale (barely!).

The RCC-B sponsored several high school students to the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA) which took place at the end of July. We helped sponsor a CommUnity Dinner for students interested in joining the Rotaract Club at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and we provided a scholarship for our outbound exchange student who was off to spend a year in France.

The club has adopted a spot to clean up. It’s along the route most people use to come to SIUC, so we planned a clean up just before the semester started. It was a hot August Sunday morning, but I was able to get some help from visiting family members by promising to take them to a restaurant for breakfast after we were done.

Adopt-a-Spot Clean Up Crew with a few extra Becques.

One of our fundraisers, coordinating a Community Yard Sale at the SIU Arena, took place on September 12. It was followed by a mum sale, the proceeds of which were donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale.

Mum delivery from the grower, 7 a.m. on my lawn.

In late October, with support from the Friends of Carbondale Public Library, we distributed nearly 400 dictionaries to all the third graders in the elementary schools which feed into the Carbondale Community High School district. The students love to get a book of their own and the club members delight in distributing the dictionaries. The Friends gave each student a coupon for three free children’s books redeemable at its fall book sale.

A third grader enjoying his new dictionary.

On Halloween, the club held Great Pumpkin Race. Participants use pumpkins, adding wheels and decorations, and then they are raced down a hill. The event netted $2,400 which was given to the Women’s Center. A 50/50 raffle at the event brought in $200 for the Good Samaritan House.

Cathy McClanahan gladly accepts the donation from our club to

The Women’s Center Executive Director Cathy McClanahan accepted the $2,400 donation, the net proceeds from our Pumpkin Race. On the left is Marcia Sinnott, a charter member of the club, and Chairman of the Pumpkin Race.

Another $200 for the Good Samaritan House was raised at our Holiday Social on December 15. The gift exchange had a twist this year. A fee was charged to “steal” gifts.

Happy Holidays!

A Club Assembly took place on Saturday, February 12, and it lead to a restructuring of the club and a by-laws revision which I think will serve the club well as it nears its 30th birthday.

A Pay It Forward day at the S&B Burger Joint in the University Mall in early April gave members the opportunity to talk to diners about the club and ask them to tell their server that a percentage of their bill could be donated to the club. The proceeds will help the club sponsor high school students to the 2016 Rotary Youth Leadership Academy this coming July.

The Beautiful Southern Ride took place on April 9. While it was a little colder than usual, the participants thought it was a great ride.

The Beautiful Southern Ride starts out with a tour of the SIUC campus.

In late April members had the opportunity to help out at the Murdale Spring Carnival for Boys and Girls Club and at a booth at the SIUC Civil Service Council Yard Sale.

At each weekly meeting, a pig is passed around to collect contributions to the scholarship fund. Members can opt to go “whole hog” and feed the pig just once at the beginning of the year or “half hog” at the middle of the year. In May, three scholarships were awarded to Carbondale Community High School graduates.

The CCHS scholarship winners with club members Bob Fox and Tessie Ojewuyi.

The club was awarded a District 6510 grant to help install bike racks at the new Splash Park. Due to circumstances well beyond our control, the bike racks (and the entire Splash Park) were casualties of the quagmire that is Illinois state politics. Instead of opening as planned on May 31, 2015, the Splash Park was not completed and opened until a year later. The bike racks were installed and the paperwork for the grant were completed days before the absolute final deadline. I have it on good report that the bike racks are being used.

The bike racks after they were delivered but before they were installed.

Removing the packaging was harder than it looked. Past District Governor Jack Langowski accepted the challenge.

The trees which were purchased will be planted in the fall.

The bike rack signage

There are some other items I’d like to add about my year. There is the memory of DeMarcus Huddleston (see http://wp.me/p20I1i-2jE) attending a business meeting with the intention of becoming a member and without me having the opportunity to talk to him about Theta Xi.

There’s the excitement of our outbound Rotary Youth Exchange student, Juliette, who is going to Slovakia for the year. Her mom is a Gamma Phi Beta and a new member to our club.

There are thanks to the members who attend our fifth Tuesday potluck socials, with special gratitude to Joyce Hesketh for her decorating skills.

I would be remiss if I did not mention two very special women, both charter members of the club. They are pictured below, a few months ago, at a Saluki Women’s Basketball game. On the left is Marcia Sinnott, a mentor extraordinaire and one of the first women to be a Rotary club president, since our club was chartered just as women were allowed to join Rotary. On the right is nonagenarian Blanche Carlton Sloan, the first female District Governor in our district. She is a graduate of Huntingdon College and she earned a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She is also a P.E.O. She encouraged me to join Rotary even though our Monday night P.E.O. meetings and the Tuesday at 7 a.m. Rotary Club meetings could present a bit of a challenge.

Marcia Sinnott and Blanche Sloan

If you are in the market for a new swivel rocker and don’t want to pay $1,100, we have one we’d be happy to sell to you for $450 with all proceeds going to the Rotary Club of Carbondale-Breakfast.

This swivel rocker is new and has not been used. Purchased for $1,100+. Selling for $450. Pickup in Carbondale, IL and all funds will help the RCC-B with its programs.

As I end this tome, I’d like to thank those members I knew I could count on week after week. Your loyal support sustained me and I appreciate it beyond words.

Posted in Fran Favorite | Tagged Paul Harris, Rotary Club of Carbondale-Breakfast | Comments Off

Green With Envy – Sorority Conventions and a KD Blog Post

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

“Kappa Delta Wasn’t For Me” is a blog post written by Heather Burke, Kappa Delta’s Communications and Technology Manager. It begins, “I didn’t want to be a sorority woman. When I took a job at Kappa Delta National Headquarters in 2012, I walked in the door with a lot of stereotypes in mind. I believed sorority women were a very specific type of woman, and I was definitely not that type.” It is a very worthwhile read about what happened when stereotypes met reality. The post is at http://www.kappadelta.org/kappa-delta-wasnt/.

Many of my Panhellenic friends are at their respective conventions as I write this and I am green with envy. There is nothing like a fraternity or sorority convention to get the official family and the rank and file members excited about the beginning of another year.

Kylie Towers Smith on stage at Kappa Kappa Gamma’s convention in San Diego. I suspect she is playing a Kappa song or maybe she is serenading her Monmouth Duo friends.

For those P.E.O.s reading this, Kylie will preside over Ohio State Chapter during P.E.O.’s sesquicentennial year.

The facebook feed of Lyn Harris, Chi Omega’s Archivist, is filled with pictures of the Chi Omega festivities at the Ritz Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes.

Chi Omega’s convention. I know Lyn Harris is having a fabulous time and I am sure her owl shoes are a bit hit with the attendees.

Kappa Alpha Theta delegate chairs for the Grand Convention in Phoenix.

kat (2)

Two sisters who read this blog are attending two different conventions – one is at the Kappa Alpha Theta convention and the other is at the Gamma Phi Beta convention.

“Crescent Corner is excited to welcome everyone to Convention 2016! We have a monogram machine available for items that you would like to personalize. Stop by the boutique downstairs in Chicago ABCD for all your Gamma Phi Beta fashion needs! #MakingOurMark”

Another friend is at the Alpha Sigma Tau convention. Congratulations to Dave Westol who was honored at the Alpha Sigma Tau Convention. My twitter feed tells me he was just honored at AST’s convention in Jacksonville, Florida.

‏@alphasigmatau

Congratulations to our McCrory Order of Interfraternity Excellence Award recipient: Dave Westol, J.D! #ASTJAX

ast

Alpha Phi’s convention is in session. Alpha Chi Omega and Delta Gamma are opening their conventions and I await pictures and news of those events. Best wishes to all the convention attendees. Have a great time!

alpha chi

P.S. Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Omicron Pi, and Sigma Delta Tau are having leadership seminars, in the off year of convention. And Tri Sigma’s convention was a few weeks in Chicago. And I suspect there will be some more conventions and off-convention year activities happening throughout the summer.

Posted in Fran Favorite | Tagged Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Sigma Tau, Dave Westol, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, sorority conventions | Comments Off

A Cuba Connection as Delta Kappa Epsilon Turns 172

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Today is the day on which Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded 172 years ago. There are many people, places, and things which have DKE connections. I’ve learned about many of them through This Day in Deke History posts on social medials (see https://www.facebook.com/TDIDEKEH/)

Here is today’s post:

This Day in Deke History

June 22, 1844
The Fraternity is founded at Yale in Room 12, Old South Hall when 15 men of the sophomore class came together to form our great Fraternity. Some in their number had been offered membership in Psi Upsilon but declined to be initiated as others associated with them had not been chosen. The 15 formed Delta Kappa Epsilon to compete with Alpha Delta Phi and Psi Upsilon which, until then, had monopolized junior year Greek-letter society interests at Yale. Only 15 men were chosen each year to join each Junior Society. That is why 15 brothers became the Charter Members of the Fraternity. Initially, it was not anticipated that the Fraternity would expand beyond Yale and that is why the Phi designation was not chosen at the first meetings. The badge was designed by the Charter Members and resembles that of Psi Upsilon, except that in the center of the black field, the gold letters of Delta Kappa Epsilon appear upon a white scroll.

The fifteen founders of Delta Kappa Epsilon are William Woodruff Atwater, Edward Griffin Bartlett, Frederic Peter Bellinger, Jr., Henry Case, George Foote Chester, John Butler Conyngham, Thomas Isaac Franklin, William Walter Horton, William Boyd Jacobs, Edward VanSchoonhoven Kinsley, Chester Newell Righter, Elisha Bacon Shapleigh, Thomas DuBois Sherwood, Albert Everett Stetson, and Orson William Stow. Bartlett later wrote about the founding and the ideal DKE man, “one who combined in the most equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar, and the jolly good fellow.”

Although, at the very beginning, it was founded with the intention of being only an organization at Yale, a second chapter was founded at Bowdoin College a few months later in November 1844. The chapter at Yale took on the Phi designation and the Bowdoin chapter became Theta. The first convention took place in 1846 in New Haven.

Grant Burnyeat, DKE History and Archives Committee Chair, wrote about another memorable DKE convention. On December 26, 1920, “The New York Times, under the headline ‘DKE Men off for Cuba’ reported that 150 members and officers of Delta Kappa Epsilon left Pennsylvania Station in New York in a special train to visit Cuba and attend the 76^th Annual Convention of the Fraternity. The article also stated: ‘All the trains will meet at Savannah, where there will be a reunion of members as guests of Mayor M.M. Stuart [Stewart] and other City officials. Part of the entertainment for the visitors an old-fashioned barbeque. President Menocal of Cuba is a graduate member of the Cornell Chapter of the Fraternity. He heads the committee arranging for the visit of the Americans [and Canadians], and will provide a Cuban warship to convey the delegates and officers from Key West to Havana. Steamers are to be provided for others and airplanes are to make round trips with passengers. The convention banquet and the President’s annual ball and reception at the palace are to conclude the visit.’”

On December 30, 1920, “the first American College Fraternity Convention held off the North American Continent was held in Havana, Cuba under the auspices of President Menocal of Cuba (Delta Chi-Cornell University). The special train that had left Pennsylvania Station on December 26, made stops in Philadelphia, Savannah and Key West, before setting sail on the ship ‘Governor Cobb’. The Convention souvenir was an inlaid box containing 25 Cuban cigars. 300 of the boxes were made and one is available for viewing at the International Headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Another box is housed at Cornell University.”

For a post about my visit to the DEKE Shant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, see http://wp.me/p20I1i-2dz.

Posted in Delta Kappa Epsilon, University of Michigan, Yale University | Tagged Ann Arbor, Cuba, Delta Kappa Epsilon, University of Michigan, Yale University | Comments Off

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Green With Envy – Sorority Conventions and a KD Blog Post

A Cuba Connection as Delta Kappa Epsilon Turns 172

This Day in Deke History

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