Beta Theta Pi
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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 has over 131 chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada. More than 183,000 members have been initiated world-wide. [1] Beta Theta Pi has more than 6,000 undergraduate members. [1] Beta Theta Pi is annually ranked in the top ten nationally known fraternities for number of chapters, members, and philanthropy. 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.
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[edit] Founders
| “ | At 9 o'clock in the evening of the eighth day of the eighth month of the year 1839, eight earnest young men, all students at 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. | ” |
[edit] Purpose
| “ | Again, the Beta is distinguishable and distinguished from all other kinds of fraternity men whatsoever by just a little warmer and just a little 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 vouch safed 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
In 1879, Beta Theta Pi was the first college fraternity to publish its constitution. While the organization continues to guard certain secrets reserved for members, it does publicly offer wide knowledge of objects and aspirations.
The Code of Beta Theta Pi - Article 1, Section 2.
Name and Objects:
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 worthy of the highest aim and purpose of associated effort.[1]
[edit] Famous Betas
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[edit] Academia[1]
| Thomas 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]
| Ernest Kent Coulter | Ohio State 1892 | Founder, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America |
[edit] Government and politics[1]
| 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 | 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 |
| 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 |
Image:H R Haldeman, 1971 portrait.png
H.R. Haldeman, UCLA
Image:Dick Lugar offical photo.jpg
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, Arrested Development |
| Neil Everett | Oregon 1984 | ESPN Anchor |
| Howard Fineman | Colgate 1970 | Journalist |
| Chet Forte | Columbia 1957 | Former TV Director ABC Monday Night Football |
| Kevin Heffernan | Colgate | Actor, Super Troopers |
| David Hirshey | Dickinson 1971 | Vice President and Executive Editor at HarperCollins publishers |
| 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 |
| Kermit Hunter | Ohio 1931 | Author, Encyclopædia Britannica |
| Elias Soriano | Florida Atlantic 1999 | Musician, Nonpoint[2] |
| Pat Green | Texas Tech | Musician Pat Green |
| 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 |
| Conor Devitt | University of Western Ontario | Actor/original O'Doyle from Billy Madison |
Image:George bellows.jpg
George Bellows, Ohio State
|- |Benjamin Edward Stiller||UCLA||Actor, There's Something About Mary, Dodgeball, The Heartbreak Kid... |-
[edit] Sports[1]
| Frankie Baumholtz | Ohio 1941 | Professional basketball and Major League baseball player |
| Earl "Red" Blaik | Miami University 1918 | Head football coach, Army |
| Matt Borland | GMI-EMI 1994 | NASCAR Crew Chief for Ryan Newman, Dale Jarrett |
| Mike Brown | Dartmouth 1957 | President & GM, Cincinnati Bengals |
| Guy Chamberlin | Nebraska 1916 | College and Pro Football Hall of Famer |
| Peter Cipollone | California 1994 | Olympic Gold Medalist, Rowing, 2004 |
| Eddie Collins | Columbia 1907 | Baseball Hall of Famer |
| Donald D. Coryell | Washington 1947 | Retired San Diego Chargers Coach |
| DeLoss Dodds | Kansas State 1959 | Athletic Director of The University of Texas at Austin |
| Bobby Douglass | Kansas 1969 | Quarterback, Chicago Bears |
| Gene L. (Red) Estes | Oregon 1959 | Head Track & Field Coach, Fresno State |
| Max Falkenstien | Kansas 1947 | Legendary Kansas Jayhawks Radio Personality |
| Jay Fiedler | Dartmouth 1994 | Football |
| Dow Finsterwald | Ohio 1952 | Professional Golfer |
| Ken Forsch | Oregon State 1969 | Baseball |
| Gail Goodrich | UCLA 1965 | Basketball |
| Dan Guerrero | UCLA 1974 | UCLA Athletic Director |
| William Koch | MIT 1962 | Skipper and Champion America’s Cup |
| Jerry Lucas | Ohio State 1962 | Basketball |
| Leland (Larry) MacPhail | Beloit 1910 | Brooklyn Dodgers Owner/GM; Hall of Fame/Introduced night games |
| Scott McCarron | UCLA 1989 | Professional Golfer |
| David Edward "Chip" Reese | Dartmouth | Professional Poker Player |
| Jamey Rootes | Clemson 1988 | Former GM Columbus Crew Major League Soccer and current Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing for Houston Texans |
| Ed Roski Jr | Southern California 1968 | Owner Los Angeles Kings Hockey Team/Realtor |
| Mike Schmidt | Ohio 1971 | Baseball Hall of Famer |
| Eran Horodniceanu | George Washington 1998 | George Washington Women's Basketball Coach |
| Stan Smith | Southern California 1969 | Professional Tennis |
| Bill Veeck | Kenyon 1936 | Major League Baseball franchise owner |
| Rick Volk | Michigan 1967 | Miami Dolphins |
| John Wooden | Purdue 1932 | Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach |
| Brian White | Dartmouth 1995 | New England Patriots |
[edit] Military[1]
| 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, United States Marine Corps |
| Thomas McGuire | Georgia Tech 1944 | Major in US Army Air Corps, Fighter Pilot and World War II Ace, Medal of Honor recipient |
[edit] Business[1]
| 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 |
| Samuel Laws | Miami University 1848 | Inventor of the ticker tape machine |
| Kenneth Lee Lay | Missouri 1967 | Former chairman and CEO of Enron |
| 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 |
| John H. Patterson | Miami University 1867 | Founder National Cash Register |
| J. C. Nichols | Kansas 1902 | Real Estate |
| Marvin Pierce | Miami University 1916 | President McCall Corporation and father of Barbara Bush |
| Jeffrey Skilling | Southern Methodist 1975 | former CEO of Enron |
| Warren Staley | Kansas State 1965 | Chairman and CEO of Cargill |
| John Opel | Westminster 1948 | Former President of IBM |
| Frank Schrontz | Idaho 1954 | Past Chairman and CEO of The Boeing Company |
| 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 |
| Dan Irwin | Ohio State University 1983 | Part Owner Buffalo Bills |
| G. Kennedy Thompson | North Carolina | President and CEO of Wachovia |
[edit] Astronauts[1]
| Joseph P. Allen | DePauw 1959 | Astronaut; Space Flight Executive |
| Kenneth D. Cameron | MIT 1971 | Space Shuttle Flight Commander |
| Bill Nelson | Florida 1964/Yale 65 | Former astronaut; United States Senator |
| Paul J. Weitz | Penn State 1954 | Former astronaut; Space Center Director |
[edit] Other Prominent Betas[1]
| Walter P. Chrysler | Dartmouth 1933 | Philanthropist |
| 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.
