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History of Kappa-Omega Zeta |
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History of Kappa-Omega Zeta |
The early 1920's would see a significant economic boom
sweep the country that would have profound effects on colleges and fraternities.
The increasing wealth of American families sent thousands of new students
into colleges. Increased enrollment and tuition dollars filled the coffers
of many educational institutions, and flooded established student living
quarters, including fraternity houses.
"Homeless" students began renting off-campus houses and starting local fraternities. These locals soon swamped the offices of national fraternities with chartering applications, and it quickly became obvious that new national fraternities needed to be established to satisfy the demand for new chapters.
One of the new national fraternities which came from this explosive growth was Theta Kappa Nu, organized in 1924 as a union of eleven local fraternities in Springfield, MO. QKN would become the fastest growing fraternity ever, and would establish a chapter at Georgetown in 1928. In 1939 QKN united with LCA, the largest merger ever in the fraternity world.
[Photo: Psi Delta - local fraternity at Georgetown, existing 1926-30; from 1927 Belle of the Blue]
Georgetown College likewise benefited from the economic boom
of the 1920's. Student enrollment almost quadrupled and an aggressive expansion plan
was begun, including construction of a new gymnasium and eventually an arts building
and campus-wide heating plant. The new gym was named in honor of alumni, whose
involvement with the college was greatly increasing at the time.
Georgetown's athletic teams also went from obscurity to dominiance in Kentucky
inter-collegiate competition (yes, even over UK!).
Though listed as a priority on the new "master plan," new dormitories were not constructed, sending many students, including most Georgetown men, off-campus to find housing. Just as at other colleges, by the middle of the decaded, this situation would lead to the organization of new local fraternities, but not before the whole Greek system almost disappeared completely.
[Photo: New gymnasium completed 1926, still in use]
In 1921 Georgetown had two chartered fraternities, KA and PKA,
along with Rhoton House which was petitioning to become the third. But the fledgling
fraternity system would be shattered when the college announced the banning of fraternities,
revoking the charters of the nationals and disbanding the petitioners. The primary reason
for the decision was stated as the exclusivity and elitist attitudes
the fraternity men portrayed.
However fraternalism would not die so easily at Georgetown. In 1922 the former Greeks formed two "social clubs" and continued operating in off-campus houses. The former Pi Kaps formed The Scarab Club while the remnants of the KA's and Rhoton formed Karho House, soon renamed the Squirrel Club. These two would be joined by a ladies group the next year and would carry the torch of fraternalism during the four years of the ban.
[Photo: The KaRho Club from the 1922 Belle of the Blue. The emblem is an overlay of the KA badge and the Rhoton House badge. The name was changed The Squirrel Club the next year.]
By 1923 student enrollment had increased so much that a housing crisis was developing.
The first women's group to occupy an off-campus house was the Rhoton House Girls in 1923.
Their existence along with Squirrels and Scarabs served
as a "vanguard" for the return of fraternities and establishment of sororities.
The "explosion" came in the fall of 1924 when a plethora of new social clubs, some serious and others frivolous, were organized. The establishment of a new club was practically a weekly event in The Georgetonian. The new clubs took on creative names, usually including an animal, but were careful not to use Greek letters which might be interpreted as violating the ban on "fraternities."
Obvious student interest, the housing crisis, and eventually a student petition to the board of trustees finally convinced the administration to lift the ban on "fraternities" in 1925. By the spring of 1926 the KA and PKA chapters had been re-chartered, and other local clubs occupied houses and adopted Greek-letter names. Fraternities, and now sororities, began to thrive at Georgetown.
[Photo: I Tappa Keg girls from the 1925 Belle of the Blue. The group lasted only two years, but probably had a good time!]
Just as all the excitement and social-club "hubub" of fall 1924 was about to begin, a new and lasting brotherhood was quietly organized in October. Three friends living in Pawling Hall dorm decided the Scarabs and Squirrels were not enough...Georgetown needs another fraternity. They invited ten other men to join them and the Quiet Thirteen Club was born. The Q.T.'s (cuties?) decided to keep their existence a secret (hence Quiet) until they occuppied a house on Military Street later in the semester.
When the ban on fraternities was lifted in 1925 and the clubs "went Greek", the Q.T. Club
changed its name to Gamma Tau Alpha.
In the spring of 1926 GTA decided to seek a charter with a
national fraternity, an almost impossible task for a new local at a small school at
the time. Fortunately one national fraternity "specialized" in chartering chapters
at small private schools: the recently-founded QKN.
A QKN alumnus, Fred Smith of Frankfort, assisted GTA with contacting QKN's headquarters in Cleveland, OH. Once the brothers studied the chartering requirements, they decided to give it a shot. Most of GTA's activities for the next two years would be aimed at obtaining a QKN charter.
One of QKN's requirements for a new chapter was that it have the highest academic ranking of all fraternities on campus. GTA accomplished this task in the 1926-27 school year by winning the Gill Nash Trophy, awarded annually to the Georgetown fraternity with the top academic ranking. QKN officials began making inspection visits soon thereafter in the fall of 1927, and an exciting telegram would arrive in April 1928.
[Photo: Gamma Tau Alpha House on Military St., from the 1926 Belle of the Blue]
Two years of work by GTA was finally rewarded on April 20, 1928, when a telegram from QKN headquarters in Cleveland was received: "Congratulations, GTA has been awarded the Kentucky Alpha charter of Theta Kappa Nu!"
The telegram initiated a great deal of excitment and end-of-semester activity for the Georgetown brothers. GTA alumni were contacted, and letters of congratulations were received from QKN chapters across the country.
The chapter was chartered on May 19, 1928, during formal installation
ceremonies. Officials from QKN headquarters, including
national president and founder Winslow S. Anderson, arrived in the morning, along
with a ritual team of undergraduate brothers from Indiana-Alpha of
QKN at Hanover College. Ritualistic ceremonies were
held in the afternoon and later that night in the Military Street house. A banquet
was held that evening in the newly-constructed Garth School on South Broadway,
the invited guests including college president Adams and representatives of
the KA and PKA chapters.
After attending church en-masse the next morning, the Hanover brothers were given a tour of the Bluegrass country before returning home. A reception was held at the house on Monday attended by faculty, students, and many Georgetown residents. The festivities complete, QKN became the third succesful fraternity chartered at Georgetown College.
[Photo: Charter members and national officers in front of Giddings Hall on May 19, 1928. Photo taken from Fall 1928 issue of The Theta News]
The Gamma Tau's weren't the only local group at Georgetown with national aspirations in the late 1920's. A local sorority founded in 1924 as the Peacock Club changed its name to Alplha Delta Sorority when the Greek ban was lifted the next year. The ladies occupied a stately home near campus.
The Alpha Deltas petitioned the Sigma Kappa national sorority for a charter. Sigma Kappa was founded in 1874 at Colby College in Maine, a Baptist institution with old ties to Georgetown College. The petition was successful and the Alpha-Chi chapter of Sigma Kappa was chartered in 1929, the first national sorority at Georgetown.
Another local sorority founded in 1924, the Butterfly Club, renamed Alpha Sigma Chi in 1925, would be absorbed by the Sigma Kappa chapter in 1931.
The history of the Sigmas at Georgetown parallels that of LCA more closely than any other group. Founded as a local in 1924 and chartered 1928/29, it could be said that the two "grew up together." Nationally, the second campus on which SK founded a chapter was Boston University in 1904, five years before LCA's first chapter was organized on the same campus.
[Photo: Alpha Delta Sorority from the 1927 Belle of the Blue. Note the Peacock
at the top of their crest.]
