Beta Phi Alpha () was an American collegiate sorority. It was formed at the University of California, Berkeley in 1919. It was absorbed by Delta Zeta in 1941.
History The group had a succession of names. Founded on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley on , Beta Phi Alpha began as Bid-A-Wee, a group created to meet the needs of a "very difficult housing situation".The Spring 1995 edition of The Lamp of Delta Zeta, p.10, has an article about the sorority's several mergers. Accessed 25 Aug 2020.Miner, Florence Hood (1983). Delta Zeta Sorority 1902-1982: Building on Yesterday, Reaching for Tomorrow. Delta Zeta Sorority, Comploith Graphics, Muary Boyd and Associates, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana. Through future name changes, the fraternity continued to count its Founders Day as 8 May 1909. The founders were Edith May Harriman, Elsa Erva Meta Ludeke, Anna Belle Nelson, Hattie Belle Paul, Ida Luise Rinn, and Lydia Maude Taylor.
In 1912, the name changed to Aldebaran, after the star. This change, and an expanded symbolism, mark the point where interest began among members for expansion to other campus groups.
On November 24, 1919, the group chose to rename itself as a Greek letter organization with the name Kappa Phi Alpha.University of California, University of California Chronicle, University of California Press, 1920, v. 22, p. 38. But within a year, discovering that a men's fraternity in Boston had been operating under those letters, in 1920, the sorority took on its final name, Beta Phi Alpha. The 1919 date appears to be the juncture where the group, now solidly interested in connecting with other campus organizations, began to establish structures that would aid such growth. This process was led by Mary Gordon Holway, who wrote the ritual and advocated for a Greek letter identity.
Beta Phi Alpha then began the process of nationalization and expansion. On October 18, 1923, it was granted membership in the National Panhellenic Conference.Banta's Greek exchange v18 n4 1930 Oct. p440 Beta Phi Alpha - Pioneer of the West Expansion was often effected by the absorption of local chapters or restless chapters of struggling non-NPC sororities. One of these was a five-year-old local at the University of Minnesota called Zeta Alpha that became the Kappa chapter of Beta Phi Alpha in 1927.Kappa chapter became dormant at Minnesota in 1940, just before the national merger with Delta Zeta, which was also present at Minnesota at that time with their Gamma chapter. Members and alumnae of Beta Phi Alpha would have been welcomed as part of the merger. That campus also hosted a chapter of Phi Omega Pi (originally Achoth) that similarly had failed four years before its merger with Delta Zeta in 1946. A total of 35 chapters were installed by 1936, but only a portion of them survived due to the economic downturn of the Great Depression. For example, in 1936, two of the six chapters of a small national sorority called Phi Delta affiliated with Beta Phi Alpha, creating chapters at New York University and George Washington University.These joined Beta Phi Alpha, according to this article on NPC organizations that no longer exist, accessed 26 Aug 2020. However, it appears these did not survive, as five years later they were not reflected in the final chapter list at the time of merger with Delta Zeta.
On June 22, 1941, Beta Phi Alpha joined in a friendly merger with Delta Zeta sorority. Delta Zeta gained eight undergraduate chapters from the merger. At the time of the merger, Beta Phi Alpha had chartered thirty chapters with 3,295 initiates.
Beta Phi Alpha's Convention Lights is still sung at the close of Delta Zeta national conventions. The gavel that opens Delta Zeta's convention is an artifact of Beta Phi Alpha. It was given to Beta Phi Alpha by Founder Elsa Ludeke. The gavel is inscribed with the names of both sororities' founders and national presidents.
Symbols
Delta Zeta's history book (1983) described the insignia as follows: Its badge "was a pearled with Greek letters and embossed on a field of black enamel at either side of the 's stem". Its colors were Kelly green and gold. Its flower was the yellow tea rose. The fraternity's open motto was or or "Knowledge, Virtue, Friendship". Its publication was Aldebaran.
The Creed of Beta Phi Alpha was:
We believe in service, the keynote of our daily lives, the foundation of our Fraternity, and its power to reveal the worth of woman. We believe in knowledge and its broadening influence, in understanding and unselfish love as the creators of our happiness.
We pray for grace to meet success with humility, for strength and courage to rise above failure with spirit renewed, for wisdom to judge man by the spiritual values he may possess. We strive to keep faith in ourselves. We believe in the brotherhood of man and in our kinship to God, our Creator.
Chapters
Following are the chapters of Beta Phi Alpha.The Greek Chat blogsite provided several chapter names, with their colleges and dates. Accessed 28 Aug 2020.Another Greek Chat blog post proved additional chapter names, accessed 29 Aug 2020.
Name Charter date and range Institution Location Status Notes <noinclude> Alpha – June 22, 1941University of California, BerkeleyBerkeley, CaliforniaMerged () Beta–1937University of IllinoisChampaign and Urbana, IllinoisInactiveNoted in the 1926 Illio yearbook, p.458, accessed 29 Aug 2020.Gamma – June 22, 1941Colorado State Agricultural CollegeFort Collins, ColoradoMerged () Delta–1938University of WashingtonSeattle, WashingtonInactiveEpsilon–1937Southern Methodist UniversityUniversity Park, TexasInactive Zeta–1933Lawrence UniversityAppleton, WisconsinInactive Eta – June 22, 1941University of PittsburghPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaMerged Theta – June 22, 1941Syracuse UniversitySyracuse, New YorkMerged () See Fran Becque's Women's Fraternity blog for more information on the Syracuse chapter, where she says, "Delta Zeta, founded in 1924, had been a local society (at Syracuse, called) Lambda Delta Sigma, founded the previous year. The Alpha Kappa chapter of Delta Zeta became inactive in 1937. In 1923, a local group, Delta Epsilon Phi, was founded. It became a chapter of Beta Phi Alpha in 1925. When Beta Alpha Phi amalgamated with Delta Zeta in 1941, the former became a chapter of Delta Zeta and took the Alpha Kappa chapter designation. The chapter closed in 1957. Accessed 29 Aug 2020.Iota–1933University of WisconsinMadison, WisconsinInactive Noted in the 1931 Badger yearbook, p.382, accessed 29 Aug 2020.Kappa – 1939University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MinnesotaInactive From Minnesota Gopher yearbook sources.Lambda – June 22, 1941University of California, Los AngelesLos Angeles, CaliforniaMerged () Mu–1932Ohio Wesleyan UniversityDelaware, OhioInactive Nu–1934Kansas State UniversityManhattan, KansasInactive Xi–1932Ohio State UniversityColumbus, OhioInactive Omicron – June 22, 1941Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityLincoln, NebraskaMerged () Pi–1939Coe College Cedar Rapids, IowaInactive Rho – June 22, 1941Oregon State University Corvallis, OregonMerged () Aldebaran v.5 no.2 1928 Jun p 30Sigma–1937Samford UniversityHomewood, AlabamaInactive Tau – June 22, 1941Tulane/Newcomb UniversityNew Orleans, LouisianaMerged () Upsilon–1941 Miami UniversityOxford, OhioWithdrew () Phi–1934Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IndianaInactive Chi – June 22, 1941 Oglethorpe University Brookhaven, GeorgiaMerged () Psi – 1940Florida State UniversityTallahassee, FloridaInactive according to the Florida Flambeau newspaper in a front page article, accessed 29 Aug 2020.Omega – June 22, 1941Wittenberg University Springfield, OhioMerged () Alpha Alpha–1939Randolph-Macon Woman's CollegeLynchburg, VirginiaInactiveAlpha Beta – June 22, 1941Adelphi UniversityGarden City, New YorkMerged () Alpha Gamma–1935University of OregonEugene, OregonInactiveAlpha Delta–1935 Louisiana Tech University Ruston, LouisianaInactiveAlpha Epsilon–1937Westminster CollegeNew Wilmington, PennsylvaniaInactiveAlpha Zeta – June 22, 1941College of CharlestonCharleston, South CarolinaMerged () As noted by the school's Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, accessed 29 Aug 2020.Alpha Eta–1938George Washington UniversityWashington, D.C.InactiveAlpha Theta – June 22, 1941New York University New York City, New YorkMerged () Noted on a GreekRank blog, accessed 29 Aug 2020.Alpha Iota – June 22, 1941University of MiamiCoral Gables, FloridaMerged () University of Miami Ibis Yearbook 1939 p 128
Notable members
Caroline Brady (philologist) Viola Van Katwijk (honorary)Aldebaran v.4 no.1 1927 May
See also
List of social sororities and women's fraternities
References