In recent years fraternities have been looked upon with considerable disfavor on many campuses. At times it seems that we are\u00a0caught up in changing times and inevitably our fraternities will\u00a0become a thing of the past. Some of the hostility stems from a desire\u00a0to get rid of any type of exclusive club that could give its members\u00a0an edge over non-members. And, some of the hostility is brought\u00a0on by irresponsible behavior on the part of the fraternity members.<\/p>\n
But, lest we come to the conclusion that this is something\u00a0brand new, I would like to share with you an interesting tale about\u00a0similar pressures that our fraternity felt in the 1800s. This account\u00a0is taken from The History of Theta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi\u00a0Fraternity written by Samuel Raymond Thornburg in 1915.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1868 and 1869 the anti-fraternity spirit at Ohio Wesleyan\u00a0became 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\u00a0then the President and by Dr. Whitlock, who were both opposed to fraternities, the faculty, through the recommendation of the above\u00a0mentioned men, voted to put an end to fraternities at Ohio Wesleyan. The plan was simple. The fraternities were not to be\u00a0allowed to initiate any more men.<\/p>\n
But happily for the fraternities, the entire power in the matter\u00a0did 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\u00a0David 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\u00a0much influence on the orthodox faculty of Ohio\u00a0Wesleyan. The fraternity men saw in Bishop\u00a0Moore, who was a Beta of the Ohio Chapter, and\u00a0very popular among the local fraternity men, their\u00a0only salvation. They went to Bishop Moore and\u00a0asked him to serve them in this matter and he graciously accepted. The Bishop writes concerning\u00a0this incident:<\/p>\n
The fight against the Greek Letter societies was\u00a0bitter. Think it was while I was pastor in Columbus, wither I had gone from St. Paul\u2019s Delaware,\u00a0that I received an earnest request from the Greeks\u00a0to be their representative before the Trustees, where the fate of the fraternities was to be decided.\u00a0I cheerfully responded, \u2019tho feeling how weak I\u00a0was, for a cause so great. I claimed that each\u00a0fraternity should rise and fall on its own record,\u00a0and asked only for that. I could see how a fraternity might be bad, in which event the sooner it\u00a0were suppressed the better, and that such discipline would be a moral tonic to the others; and I\u00a0doubted not that the principles and aspirations of\u00a0each were good; and that if lived up to would\u00a0make better students and men of its members.<\/p>\n
That, I knew was the case with Beta Theta Pi, that\u00a0I had to stand high in my classes and deportment\u00a0before I could be considered for membership. That\u00a0the day of my initiation was the proudest of my\u00a0life, and filled me with the highest and noblest\u00a0resolves; and that in every good work I was\u00a0encouraged and sustained by the chapter; that\u00a0personally, it had been a constant incentive to\u00a0attain the best things and to maintain a high and\u00a0unsullied character.<\/p>\n
Such were the sentiments expressed by Bishop\u00a0Moore to the Trustees. The effect can be realized\u00a0when we relate that shortly after the fraternity\u00a0question was laid upon the table, and further, in\u00a0two years the fraternities succeeded in initiating so\u00a0many members of the Trustees into the\u00a0various fraternities that the antifraternity measure was rescinded, with\u00a0the result that it has never again come\u00a0up in a dangerous form.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, in another source, The\u00a0Handbook of Beta Theta Pi, Brother\u00a0William Raimond Baird says:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the early days, opposition of\u00a0college faculties to secret societies led to\u00a0the initiation of tutors, professors, and\u00a0trustees. Thaddeus A. Reamy was one\u00a0thus elected to membership. Many\u00a0never acquired a deep interest in\u00a0fraternities, yet there have been others like Dr. Reamy who have by their\u00a0fidelity, won a place in the hearts of all\u00a0of the brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Reamy was initiated in Theta\u00a0chapter and went on to become the\u00a0President of the General Fraternity and\u00a0earn the sobriquet, \u201cThe Grand Old\u00a0Man of Beta Theta Pi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obviously the fraternities made it\u00a0through their unpopular times in the\u00a01800s. And they appear to be doing so\u00a0again. Different times, different\u00a0characters, yet so similar. It sort of\u00a0reminds me of a quote from Confucius:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music of the ancients is pleasant to\u00a0the ear, but the new music, who can\u00a0stand it.\u201d And, that was roughly 2,500\u00a0years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In recent years fraternities have been looked upon with considerable disfavor on many campuses. At times it seems that we are\u00a0caught up in changing times and inevitably our fraternities will\u00a0become a thing of the past. Some of the hostility stems from a desire\u00a0to get rid of any type of exclusive club that could give its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,4],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-2246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-news","category-theta-data","tag-january-2000-theta-data","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2246"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2247,"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246\/revisions\/2247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetachapterbtp.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}