In
the early days of our nation, and even until the early 20th Century when
Pi Kappa Phi was founded, college curriculums were much different than
they are today. Now, there are seemingly endless choices of majors, giving
students great opportunity to study a specific field that interests them.
Back then however, colleges were small and course work was rigidly structured.
Everyone studied Greek, Latin, mathematics and religion. With politics
in such a volatile state in 1776, college professors wanted the minds of
their young male students focused on books, not on modern thought. Discipline
and rules about dress and behavior were extremely strict.
Just
as students today find an escape from the daily rigors of their studies,
the students at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia,
found theirs. On certain evenings, a group of young men calling themselves
"The Flat Hat Club" would gather over a bowl of punch in an upstairs room
at the Raleigh Tavern to laugh and talk.
Some
believe that the club was founded by Thomas Jefferson, our third president
and author of the American Declaration of Independence. In any case, the
group was informal by today's standards. The Flat Hats had unknowingly
created what many consider to be the very first collegiate fraternity.
Other
groups at William and Mary followed their lead, but they soon caught the
notice of disapproving faculty members. To gain the approval of their faculty,
they incorporated educational elements of "literary societies" to their
meetings: debate and critique of compositions, oratorical contests, and
early forms of "campus politics."
John
Heath, a student at William and Mary in 1776, was denied membership in
one of these groups. In response, Heath gathered four friends and formed
Phi Beta Kappa on December 5, 1776. By giving his organization a secret
Greek name, he made it even more exclusive. Phi Beta Kappa created many
of the characteristics that mark the modern fraternity - use of Greek letters,
a secret grip, a motto, a ritual of initiation, a distinctive membership
badge and a constitution of fraternal laws.
As
Phi Beta Kappa thrived, its members believed that students at other colleges
would enjoy secret fraternal societies. In 1780, they opened a second chapter
at Yale University, then a third at Harvard in 1781.
An
"anti-secret society movement" caught momentum in the United States in
the 1830's, and the members of Phi Beta Kappa were forced to divulge the
society's secrets, including the meaning of their letters ("Philosophy,
the Guide of Life"). Today, Phi Beta Kappa is the highest recognized honorary
fraternity for collegiate men and women of superior academic achievement.
Many members of Pi Kappa Phi earn the coveted membership annually.
Before
it gave up its secrets, Phi Beta Kappa had sparked a movement. Other Greek-letter
groups formed, flourished and branched off to new campuses. |
