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About Theta
Theta Facts
Theta
History
Famous
Thetas
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History
of Kappa Alpha Theta
Founded in 1870 at Asbury University (now DePauw
University in Greencastle, Indiana), Kappa Alpha Theta is the first
Greek letter fraternity for women.
Bettie Locke Hamilton was one of the first women admitted to the newly
co-ed Asbury in 1867. She was familiar with the fraternity lifestyle,
as her father was a member of Beta Theta Pi and her brother of Phi
Gamma Delta. When a Phi Gamma Delta friend asked her to wear his badge,
she responded that she could not wear it if she did not know the
secrets and purposes of the letters represented. Though there was some
talk of initiating Bettie into the fraternity, they instead presented
her with a silver fruit basket engraved with their letters.
Impressed with the fraternity ideals, Bettie searched for a woman's
counterpart. Finding none, she followed her father's suggestion to
begin her own. And so, Kappa Alpha Theta was conceived. Bettie and her
friend, Alice Allen, together wrote a constitution, planned ceremonies,
designed a badge, and sought out other women on campus worthy of
membership. Along with Bettie Tipton and Hannah Fitch, the four
initiated themselves on January 27, 1870, becoming the first
Greek-letter fraternity known among women.
These four women proudly wore their black and gold badges to Asbury's
chapel service on March 14. The Alpha Chapter at Asbury grew to 22
sisters. Soon Theta spread to other colleges with Bettie's
establishment of the Beta chapter at Indiana University in May of the
same year.
Epsilon Zeta Chapter History
In 1978 Kappa Alpha Theta was granted the charter to come to the
Universtiy of Mississippi. Epsilon Zeta was the
first Kappa Alpha Theta chapter to be established in Mississippi. The
Epsilon Zeta chapter was the 98th chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta to be
founded. In our first year, Epsilon Zeta began with 40 women. Over the
past thirty years, our chapter has greatly increased in size.
The early Thetas lived in Brown dorm until our house was finally
completed in the spring of 1980. The Kappa Alpha Theta house was built
in a Colonial style. We still reside at #3 Rebel Drive on the
University of Mississippi campus. In 2008, Epsilon Zeta celebrated its
30th anniversary.
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