In recent years fraternities have been looked upon with considerable disfavor on many campuses. At times it seems that we are caught up in changing times and inevitably our fraternities will become a thing of the past. Some of the hostility stems from a desire to get rid of any type of exclusive club that could give its members an edge over non-members. And, some of the hostility is brought on by irresponsible behavior on the part of the fraternity members.
But, lest we come to the conclusion that this is something brand new, I would like to share with you an interesting tale about similar pressures that our fraternity felt in the 1800s. This account is taken from The History of Theta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity written by Samuel Raymond Thornburg in 1915.
“In 1868 and 1869 the anti-fraternity spirit at Ohio Wesleyan became very strong under the leadership of a student by the name of W.G. Hubbard. By the year 1870, led by Dr. Merrick, who was then the President and by Dr. Whitlock, who were both opposed to fraternities, the faculty, through the recommendation of the above mentioned men, voted to put an end to fraternities at Ohio Wesleyan. The plan was simple. The fraternities were not to be allowed to initiate any more men.
But happily for the fraternities, the entire power in the matter did not lie in the hands of the faculty. The matter first had to be brought before the Board of Trustees. At that time, the now Bishop David H. Moore of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was pastor of one of the Delaware churches of that denomination. He was a man of great eloquence and with much influence on the orthodox faculty of Ohio Wesleyan. The fraternity men saw in Bishop Moore, who was a Beta of the Ohio Chapter, and very popular among the local fraternity men, their only salvation. They went to Bishop Moore and asked him to serve them in this matter and he graciously accepted. The Bishop writes concerning this incident:
The fight against the Greek Letter societies was bitter. Think it was while I was pastor in Columbus, wither I had gone from St. Paul’s Delaware, that I received an earnest request from the Greeks to be their representative before the Trustees, where the fate of the fraternities was to be decided. I cheerfully responded, ’tho feeling how weak I was, for a cause so great. I claimed that each fraternity should rise and fall on its own record, and asked only for that. I could see how a fraternity might be bad, in which event the sooner it were suppressed the better, and that such discipline would be a moral tonic to the others; and I doubted not that the principles and aspirations of each were good; and that if lived up to would make better students and men of its members.
That, I knew was the case with Beta Theta Pi, that I had to stand high in my classes and deportment before I could be considered for membership. That the day of my initiation was the proudest of my life, and filled me with the highest and noblest resolves; and that in every good work I was encouraged and sustained by the chapter; that personally, it had been a constant incentive to attain the best things and to maintain a high and unsullied character.
Such were the sentiments expressed by Bishop Moore to the Trustees. The effect can be realized when we relate that shortly after the fraternity question was laid upon the table, and further, in two years the fraternities succeeded in initiating so many members of the Trustees into the various fraternities that the antifraternity measure was rescinded, with the result that it has never again come up in a dangerous form.”
And, in another source, The Handbook of Beta Theta Pi, Brother William Raimond Baird says:
“In the early days, opposition of college faculties to secret societies led to the initiation of tutors, professors, and trustees. Thaddeus A. Reamy was one thus elected to membership. Many never acquired a deep interest in fraternities, yet there have been others like Dr. Reamy who have by their fidelity, won a place in the hearts of all of the brotherhood.”
Dr. Reamy was initiated in Theta chapter and went on to become the President of the General Fraternity and earn the sobriquet, “The Grand Old Man of Beta Theta Pi.”
Obviously the fraternities made it through their unpopular times in the 1800s. And they appear to be doing so again. Different times, different characters, yet so similar. It sort of reminds me of a quote from Confucius:
“The music of the ancients is pleasant to the ear, but the new music, who can stand it.” And, that was roughly 2,500 years ago.
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