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Beta Theta Pi (ΒΘΠ) is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. Beta, as it is nicknamed, was the first college fraternity to be founded west of the Allegheny Mountains, and 122 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada. 183,769 members have been initiated world-wide, with 125,946 of those living. [1] Beta Theta Pi currently has more than 5,000 undergraduate members. [1] Beta's Administrative Office is located at 5134 Bonham Road, Oxford, Ohio. In 2006, the driveway up to the administrative office was renamed "Lugar-Bates Drive" in appreciation for the work that Senator Richard Lugar and Brother Bert Bates Missouri '56 performed in the $20 million "Upon These Principles" capital campaign.
[edit] Founders
| “ |
At nine o'clock on the evening of the eighth day of the eighth month of the year 1839, eight earnest young men, all students of Miami University, held the first meeting of Beta Theta Pi in the Hall of the Union Literary Society, an upper room in the old college building known as "Old Main."
The eight founders in the order in which their names appear in the minutes were:
... of ever honored memory.
|
” |
— The "Founders' Paragraph"
[edit] Purpose
The purpose of Beta Theta Pi was laid out publicly in 1879, when Beta Theta Pi became the first college fraternity to publish its constitution. The Fraternity continues to guard certain secrets which are reserved for its members, it offers the widest knowledge of the objects and aspirations of Beta Theta Pi. The Code of Beta Theta Pi lays out the objects of the Fraternity as follows:
| “ |
It shall be constituted as hereinafter provided and shall have for its objects, the promotion of the moral and social culture of its members, the establishment of confidence and friendly relations among the universities and colleges of the United States and Canada, in securing unity of action and sympathy in matters of common interest among them, and the building up of a fraternity that recognizes mutual assistance in the honorable labors and aspirations of life, devotion to the cultivation of the intellect, unsullied friendship, and unfaltering fidelity as objects worth of the highest aim and purpose of associated effort. |
” |
-The Code of Beta Theta Pi, Article 1, Section 2
| “ |
Again, the Beta is distinguishable and distinguished from all other kinds of fraternity men whatsoever by just a little warmer and stronger, just a little tenderer and more enduring fraternity feeling than any of them can attain to. For it was always so. I do not in the least know how it happened, nor why it persisted after it happened, but a long time ago there came into Beta Theta Pi a fraternity spirit that was, and is, and apparently will continue to be, unique. We know it, who are inside, and they see and record it who are outside the Beta pale. Whether young or old, in college or out, from the small school or the great university, we are conscious of a heritage of genuine fraternalism that has not been vouchsafed in like measure -- I say it deliberately -- to any other of the great college fraternities. And we cannot doubt that in this, as in other respects, our 'future will copy fair our past, and that in the world of fifty years from now, as in that of years ago, as in that that lies around us today — the first mark of a Beta will be his Beta Spirit. |
” |
-Willis O. Robb, Ohio Wesleyan 1879
[edit] Famous Betas
| Thomas A. Bartlett |
Willamette 1951 |
Rhodes Scholar; Chancellor, Univ. of Alabama System |
| Stanley Coulter |
Hanover 1870 |
Dean, Purdue University |
| Andrew Dousa Hepburn |
Washington & Jefferson 1852 |
President, Miami University |
| Alfred Hume |
Mississippi |
Chancellor, University of Mississippi |
| Deane W. Malott |
Kansas 1921 |
Chancellor, University of Kansas; President, Cornell University |
| Franklin David Murphy |
Kansas 1936 |
Chancellor, University of Kansas; Chancellor, UCLA |
| Russell E. Palmer |
Michigan State 1956 |
Dean, Wharton School of Business |
| James M. Sellers |
Chicago 1917 |
President, Wentworth Military Academy |
| Frank Hugh Sparks |
DePauw 1936 |
President, Wabash College |
| David Stanton Tappan |
Miami University 1864 |
President, Miami University |
| Byron K. Trippett |
Wabash 1932 |
President, Wabash College |
| Fredrick W. Ness |
Dickinson 1933 |
President, Fresno State |
| David T. McLaughlin |
Dartmouth 1954 |
President, Dartmouth College |
| John P. Crecine |
Carnegie Mellon 1961 |
President, Georgia Tech |
| David Alexander Wallace |
Miami University 1846 |
President, Muskingum and Monmouth Colleges |
| Samuel Weese |
West Virginia 1957 |
President, American College |
| Steven Sample |
Illinois 1958 |
President, University of Southern California |
| Thomas Litzenburg |
Washington & Lee 1957 |
President, Salem College |
[edit] Community Organizations[1]
[edit] Government and politics[1]
Vice President Schuyler Colfax
|
| Schuyler Colfax |
DePauw 1844 |
U.S. Vice President |
| Joe Allbaugh |
Oklahoma State 1974 |
Former Director of FEMA |
| Albert Beach |
Kansas 1905 |
Mayor of Kansas City, MO |
| William Borah |
Kansas 1884 |
Senator from Idaho and Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee |
| Robert Docking |
Kansas 1946 |
Governor of Kansas |
| Thomas Docking |
Kansas 1976 |
Lt. Governor of Kansas |
| Ozro J. Dodds |
Miami University 1861 |
US House of Representatives 1872-74 |
| William O. Douglas |
Whitman 1920 |
United States Supreme Court Justice |
| Robert Ellsworth |
Kansas 1946 |
US House of Representatives, Nixon Campaign Director, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Advisor to President Nixon, and Representative to NATO |
| W. Mark Felt |
Idaho 1935 |
Exposed the Nixon administrations' corruption as "Deep Throat" |
| David R. Francis |
Washington, St. Louis 1870 |
Mayor of St. Louis, Governor of Missouri, Secretary of the Interior, Ambassador to Russia, President of Louisiana Purchase Exposition |
| Richard Gephardt |
Northwestern 1962 |
Former United States House Minority Leader |
| John Brown Gordon |
Georgia 1854 |
Major General in CSA, U.S. Senator, and Governor of Georgia |
| Peter B. Halbin |
Ohio Wesleyan 1953 |
Social worker, newspaper columnist and Cleveland politician |
| H. R. Haldeman |
UCLA 1948 |
President Nixon’s Chief of Staff |
| Michael Harcourt |
British Columbia 1963 |
Premier of British Columbia |
| Charles Henry Hardin |
Miami (OH) 1841 |
Former Governor of Missouri |
| Mark O. Hatfield |
Willamette 1943 |
Former United States Senator and Governor of Oregon |
| David Karnes |
Nebraska 1971 |
Former United States Senator |
| Horace Lurton |
Cumberland 1867 |
United States Supreme Court Justice |
| Richard Lugar |
Denison 1954 |
United States Senator |
| Ray Mabus |
Mississippi 1969 |
Former Governor of Mississippi 1988-92 |
| James G. Martin |
Davidson 1957 |
House of Representatives and Governor of North Carolina |
| Arch A. Moore, Jr. |
West Virginia 1951 |
Former Governor of West Virginia |
| Oliver P. Morton |
Miami 1847 |
Civil War Governor of Indiana, and instigator of the DePauw, Indiana and Wabash Chapters |
| Bill Nelson |
Florida 1964,Yale 1965 |
United States Senator |
| Don Nickles |
Oklahoma State 1971 |
Former United States Senator |
| William Perry |
Stanford 1949 |
Former Secretary of Defense |
| David Peterson |
Western Ontario 1966 |
Premier of Ontario |
| John J. Rhodes |
Kansas State 1938 |
Former House Minority Leader |
| Charlie Rose |
Davidson 1961 |
Former Representative |
| Angelo Scott |
Kansas 1877 |
Founder of Oklahoma City, OK |
| Charles Scott |
Kansas 1881 |
Regent, Kansas State Senator, and Member of Congress |
| Frank Smith |
Mississippi |
Former Mississippi Congressman |
| Zack Space |
Kenyon 1983 |
Representative from Ohio |
| Mike Synar |
Oklahoma 1972 |
Former Representative |
| John Turner |
British Columbia 1952 |
Former Prime Minister of Canada |
| Willis Van Devanter |
DePauw 1881 |
United States Supreme Court Justice |
| John Warner |
Washington & Lee 1950 |
United States Senator |
| Kenneth S. Wherry |
Nebraska 1914 |
Former United States Senator and Minority Leader |
| Durbin Ward |
Miami University 1843 |
Civil War General and United States Attorney |
| Jamie Whitten |
Mississippi |
Former Mississippi Congressman |
| Wendell Willkie |
Indiana 1916 |
1940 Republican Party Nominee for President |
Senator Richard Lugar, Denison
[edit] Arts, entertainment, and media[1]
| William Anderson |
Whitman 1951 |
aka. Adam West actor, Batman |
| James Arness |
Beloit 1946 |
aka. Marshall Matt Dillon actor, Gunsmoke |
| James Batton |
Davidson 1957 |
Former President, Knight Ridder Newspapers |
| George Bellows |
Ohio State 1905 |
Artist |
| Thom Brennaman |
Ohio 1986 |
Sports Broadcaster |
| Percy Jewett Burrell |
Boston 1897 |
Dramatist and Playwright |
| Jay Chandrasekhar |
Colgate 1990 |
Actor/director, Super Troopers, Beerfest, Arrested Development |
| Conor Devitt |
University of Western Ontario |
Actor/original O'Doyle from Billy Madison |
| Neil Everett |
Willamette 1984 |
ESPN Anchor |
| Howard Fineman |
Colgate 1970 |
Journalist |
| Avery Friedman |
University of Louisville |
Legal Correspondent, CNN Saturday |
| Chet Forte |
Columbia 1957 |
Former TV Director ABC Monday Night Football |
| Cary Guffey |
Florida |
Actor, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" |
| Kevin Heffernan (comedian) |
Colgate |
Actor, Super Troopers |
| David Hirshey |
Dickinson 1971 |
Vice President and Executive Editor at HarperCollins publishers |
| Kermit Hunter |
Ohio 1931 |
Author, Encyclopædia Britannica |
| Jeffrey Jones |
Lawrence 1968 |
Actor, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Amadeus |
| Richard Karn |
Washington 1978 |
Actor, Home Improvement |
| Ken Kesey |
Oregon 1957 |
Author, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| Steve Lemme |
Colgate |
Actor, Super Troopers |
| George Peppard |
Purdue 1952 |
Actor, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Carpetbaggers, The A-Team |
| Robert Reed |
Northwestern 1954 |
Actor, The Brady Bunch |
| Doug Russell |
Wisconsin-Oshkosh 1995 |
Talk show host, Sporting News Radio |
| Stephen Sondheim |
Williams 1950 |
Lyricist, West Side Story |
| Paul Soter |
Colgate |
Actor, Super Troopers |
| Erik Stolhanske |
Colgate |
Actor, Super Troopers |
| Elias Soriano |
Florida Atlantic 1999 |
Musician, Nonpoint[1] |
| David Samuel |
MIT 1994 |
Founder and president of Grouper Networks |
| Andrew E. Spey |
Washington & Lee University 2003 |
Satire/humorist writer and radio personality |
| Brian J. White |
Dartmouth |
Actor, Stomp the Yard |
George Bellows, Ohio State
[2]
| John Coburn |
Wabash 1846 |
Civil War General and founder of the Wabash College Chapter |
| John Brown Gordon |
Georgia 1854 |
Major General in CSA, U.S. Senator, and Governor of Georgia |
| Terrence C. Graves |
Miami 1967 |
Medal Of Honor recipient (posthumous); 2nd Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps; Infantry Officer/Force Recon |
| Thomas McGuire |
Georgia Tech 1944 |
Major in US Army Air Corps, P-38 Fighter Pilot and World War II Ace, Medal of Honor recipient, namesake of present day McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey |
| Jerry M. Blsech |
Centre 1960 / US Naval Academy 1962 |
Captain, US Navy, Surface Warfare Officer, Commanding Officer - frigate USS Richard L. Page (FFG 5), Commanding Officer - destroyer tender USS Puget Sound (AD 38), Commodore - Destroyer Squadron 25 (COMDESRON 25), Commanding Officer - battleship USS Wisconsin (BB 64) |
|
| John Edward Anderson |
UCLA 1940 |
Founder of Topa Equities, Ltd., namesake of UCLA Anderson School of Management |
| Bill Bowerman |
Oregon 1933 |
Founder of Nike, Inc. |
| Justin Dart |
Northwestern 1929 |
Founder of Dart Industries |
| Joel Hyatt |
Dartmouth 1972 |
Founder Hyatt Legal Services |
| Dan Irwin |
Ohio State University 1983 |
Part Owner Buffalo Bills |
| Samuel Laws |
Miami University 1848 |
Inventor of the ticker tape machine |
| Kenneth Lee Lay |
Missouri 1967 |
Former chairman and CEO of Enron |
| J. C. Nichols |
Kansas 1902 |
Real Estate |
| Bruce A. Nordstrom |
Washington 1955 |
Former chairman and CEO of Nordstrom |
| Blake W. Nordstrom |
Washington 1982 |
Current Chairman and CEO of Nordstrom |
| Everett W. Nordstrom |
Washington 1923 |
Former chairman and CEO of Nordstrom |
| Steven Rogel |
Washington 1965 |
CEO of The Weyerhaeuser Company |
| John Opel |
Westminster 1948 |
Former President of IBM |
| John H. Patterson |
Miami University 1867 |
Founder National Cash Register |
| Marvin Pierce |
Miami University 1916 |
President McCall Corporation and father of Barbara Bush |
| Frank Shrontz |
Idaho 1954 |
Past Chairman and CEO of The Boeing Company |
| Jeffrey Skilling |
Southern Methodist 1975 |
former CEO of Enron |
| Kenneth A. Spencer |
Kansas 1921 |
Founder, President, and CEO of Spencer Chemical Company |
| Warren Staley |
Kansas State 1965 |
Chairman and CEO of Cargill |
| G. Kennedy Thompson |
North Carolina |
Former President and CEO of Wachovia |
| N. T. Veatch |
Kansas 1902 |
Co-Founder and CEO of Black and Veatch |
| Sam Walton |
Missouri 1940 |
Founder of Wal-Mart |
| Fred Wilson |
MIT 1983 |
Venture capitalist and prominent blogger |
| James Wilson |
Southern California 1957 |
International Grocery Store Mogal |
| John D. Zeglis[3] |
University of Illinois 1969 |
President of AT&T and the Chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless |
| Joseph P. Allen |
DePauw 1959 |
Former Astronaut; Space Flight Executive; Senior Scientist Astronaut; Mission Specialist for STS-5 mission aboard Columbia and STS-51A mission aboard Discovery |
| Kenneth D. Cameron |
MIT 1971 |
Management Astronaut; Naval Aviator-Astronaut; Colonel, USMC (Ret); Pilot for STS-37 mission aboard Atlantis (STS-37); Commander for STS-56 mission aboard Discovery and STS-74 mission abaord Atlantis; currently Deputy Director for Safety, NASA Engineering & Safety Center, Langley Research Center, Virginia |
| Bill Nelson |
Florida 1964/Yale 1965 |
Former astronaut; former United States Congressman (D-FL), currently the senior United States Senator from Florida (D-FL);
NOTE: Not a career astronaut. Flew single mission (STS-61C) as a Payload Specialist aboard Columbia while serving as a U.S. Congressman and Chairman of the House Space Science and Applications Subcommittee
|
| Paul J. Weitz |
Penn State 1954 |
Former astronaut; Naval Aviator-Astronaut; Captain, USN (Ret); Pilot, Apollo-Skylab 2 (SL-2); Commander for STS-6 mission aboard Challenger; former Deputy Director, Johnson Space Center |
[edit] Other Prominent Betas[1]
| Walter P. Chrysler |
Dartmouth 1933 |
Philanthropist |
| Robert O'Carroll |
Mississippi 1999 |
Philanthropist |
| Jesse R. Newsom |
Middle Tennessee State 2005 |
Executive Director of Sports |
| Ovid R. Sellers |
University of Chicago 1904 |
Old Testament Scholar and Biblical Archaeologist |
[edit] Chapters
-
[edit] References
[edit] External links
[edit] Source
- Brown, James T., ed., Catalogue of Beta Theta Pi, New York: 1917.
