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History of Kappa-Omega Zeta |
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History of Kappa-Omega Zeta |
The first national fraternity to charter at Georgetown, FDQ, was twice banned in 1857 and 1876. KA and PKA were successfully chartered in 1904 and 1906 respectively, and Georgetown's Greek system would consist of these two for about twenty years. World War I called many college men away from their studies in the late 1910's, depleting the active rolls of fraternities. However after the war fraternalism grew rapidly across the country.
In the spring of 1919 a group of Georgetown men occupied the Rhoton house near campus and
founded a local organization named the Rhoton Club House. Rhoton was organized
with the intention of becoming the third fraternity on campus. Whether they intended
to be local or petition for a national charter, and if so which one, is unknown.
However Rhoton submitted a petition to Georgetown's Board of Trustees seeking
recognition as the third fraternity "on equal footing" with KA and
PKA.
By early 1921, the Board had not yet responded to the petition, and the frustration of the Rhoton men turned out to be a harbinger of the disaster about to befall Georgetown's fledgling fraternity system.
[Photo: Rhoton Club House from the 1921 Belle of the Blue]
In 1921 President M. B. Adams announced that he and the Board of Trustees had decided to ban the fraternity system on campus. According to records in the archives, the decision was not made lightly, as much discussion occurred and much ink spilled on the subject.
The official reason stated in the announcement was the exclusivity and elitism of the fraternities. They had a reputation for extending invitations only to the "socially elite," while at the same time "looking down their nose" at non-fraternity men on campus. It wouldn't be surprising to discover that many faculty voiced opposition to the fraternity system in general, as was common at many colleges in those days. Pressure from leaders of Kentucky Baptists may also have been a factor.
One issue which seems not to have played a role was the secrecy
of the national fraternities (secret initiation, handshakes, etc.), which was
the primary reason for banning FDQ in 1857. Secrecy
is not mentioned, and President Adams was himself a member of a secret society,
the Masons, and faculty advisor/member of the campus Masonic club.
In an ironic twist, when the ban was enacted by the Board of Trustees, the President of the Board was himself an alumnus of Georgetown's first national fraternity! G. H. Nunnelly was an 1876 graduate of Georgetown College and one of the seventeen initiates of the short-lived KY-G chapter of FDQ fraternity. He was elected a Trustee in 1909 and later elected President of the Board. (Nunnelly Music Hall was named in his honor.)
[Editor's Note: I am hoping to do more research on "the ban" in the near future. It would be interesting to know whether or not Nunnelly supported the ban, and if not, if he had any intentions/ideas of assisting Rhoton in re-establishing the chapter of his own fraternity...yes, I am prone to conspiracy theories!)
[Photo: "Frat Row: Gone but Not Forgotten" taken from the 1922 Belle of the Blue
The ban apparently took effect in the spring of 1921, probably at the end of the
semester. In that year's Belle of the Blue the Rhoton men expressed
their sentiment that while their two-year effort had failed, the fraternal
spirit of brotherhood they shared would remain with them for the rest of
their lives. This was probably intended as a sentimental farewell, but may also
have been a very subtle hint that they, along with the other two brotherhoods, would
not give up so easily.
In 1922 the remnants of the Rhoton House and the KA's banned together and founded
a "social club" called KaRho House, the name obviously taken from KA and
RHOton. Their emblem, found in the 1922 Belle of the Blue, was a combination
of the badges of KA and Rhoton. In the meantime, former members of
PKA organized The Scarab Club. Karho changed its name
to The Squirrel Club the next year.
Both of these "clubs" occupied off-campus houses, recruited new members in "rush",
and held many social events. Perhaps a secret at first, the activities of the
clubs were openly reported in Georgetonian articles and their group
photos appeared in the Belle of the Blue, apparently without any
repercussions from the administration. Like later groups formed during
"the ban" they avoided Greek-letter names, but eventually adopted almost
all other attributes of "fraternities." Hence it is somewhat unclear what
the administration meant when they banned "fraternities."
A third club was apparently in existence in 1922, The Diamond Club, as their
composite (group photo) appears in the 1922 Belle of the Blue. However no
other information on this group has yet been found by this editor,
and it seems they only lasted one year. One possibility is that in 1923 they, like
the Rhotons earlier, merged with the ex-KA's. This merger may have prompted the name
change (from Karho to the Squirrels). The other clue to this possibility is
that their emblem, a Club from playing cards, appears on the crest of the
Squirrel Club the next year. This use of the club symbol for the word club may
have been adopted by a 1924 group, The Q.T. Club, as its emblem would be a
Club with the letters G. Q. T....the "Georgetown Quiet Thirteen...CLUB"
(which of course would eventuallly become LCA).
In 1923 the boys were joined by the ladies when a group of co-eds occupied
the Rhoton house and started an organization called The Rhoton Girls.
The Rhoton house had been vacated a year ealier by the men. By 1923 Rucker
Hall, the only women's dormitory, was apparently full and the administration
for the first time allowed female students to live in off-campus housing
as a group. Being the first women's group with an off-campus house was a
point of pride for the ladies for many years. The group would eventually
become the KD Sorority.
The Scarabs, Squirrels, and Rhoton Girls would keep the fraternal torch alive, though perhaps only a small flicker, until it would explode in flame in the fall of 1924 and eventually lead to the lifting of the ban in 1925.
[Photos: Karho 1922; Squirrels 1924; Scarabs 1924;
Diamond Club 1922; Rhoton Girls 1924. All taken
from the Belle of the Blue]
