“Alpha Chi Omega – originally named Alpha Kai Omega – was founded at DePauw University, Oct. 15, 1885, with the assistance of Dr. James G. Campbell, Beta Theta Pi.” — Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities, Eleventh Edition, pg. 240
Beta’s Influence and Founding of Alpha Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha Theta Women’s Fraternities In The Kappa Alpha Theta Magazine, early in 1924, an article was published entitled “To Greencastle for History.” It told of the first four girls to enter Indiana Asbury University in the fall of 1867, two of whom, Bettie Locke and Alice Allen, were among the founders of the first Greek-letter society for women. One paragraph read: “Bettie Locke’s father, Dr. John W. Locke, was a professor of mathematics at [DePauw] during the time Bettie was in college. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi, and it was he who suggested to her, ‘Why don’t you organize a fraternity of your own?’ when the Phi Gamma Deltas had asked her to wear their pin and she had refused because she could not wear
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it as an uninitiated member. So that was how it began, and many days and hours Bettie spent with her friend, Alice Allen, compiling a constitution and planning a pin and deciding what other girls they should ask to share the wonderful undertaking with them.” On Jan. 27, 1870, the first official meeting of Kappa Alpha Theta was held. To this statement from Kappa Alpha Theta itself may be added that a study of the Kappa Alpha Theta badge, with its stars, its three Greek letters, and its use of the Greek notation for 1870, the year of the founding, is suggestive of Beta influence in its design. — Beta Lore, pg. 430