ZTA History - University of Illinois Archives

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The Castle in the Sky: The History of Alpha Kappa of Zeta Tau Alpha, 1921-2002
Eric McKinley, Greek Chapter Housing History Project
May 7, 2012
Information courtesy of University of Illinois Archives and the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing
This history was produced as part of the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing’s Greek Chapter History
Project. The Society was founded in 1988, with the goal of preserving the historic buildings that embody the history
of the nation’s largest Greek system, and educating the public about the historical significance of fraternities and
sororities on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. Dues paid by member fraternity and sorority
chapters and donations from chapter alumni fund the Society’s work. In keeping with their mission, the Society
began the Greek Chapter History Project in May 2000 in conjunction with the University of Illinois Archives. The
GCHP aims for nothing less than producing a complete historical record of fraternities and sororities on the
University of Illinois campus by employing a graduate assistant to research and write histories of campus chapters.
Making the work possible are the extensive collections of the University of Illinois Archives, especially its Student
Life and Culture Archival Program. Supported by an endowment from the Stewart S. Howe Foundation, the heart of
the SLC Archives is the Stewart S. Howe collection, the world’s largest collection of material related to fraternities
and sororities.
 2012 The Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing and the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
All rights reserved.
1
The Founding of the National Organization
Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) was established on October 15, 1898, at the small teachingoriented State Female Normal School (now named Longwood College) in Farmville, Virginia.
Established as a fraternity for women (the term “sorority” at the time was more often used for
“sister organizations” to established male fraternities; female fraternity was the preferred term),
its origins at an all-female school were not uncommon. In fact, ZTA, along with Kappa Delta,
Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Alpha Sigma Alpha, was part of the “Farmville Four,” referring to the
four female fraternities established at the State Female Normal School between 1897 and 1901.
The establishment of these four female fraternities at a southern school was a product of the time
period. In the late nineteenth century, it was commonly held within Greek circles that southern
fraternities had to “catch up” to their northern counterparts through an increased push to establish
fraternities (let alone chapters) and secure the large population of unaffiliated women in southern
schools. This was the context that allowed for the emergence and expansion of ZTA; however,
the agenda they pointed to for the founding was to establish an organization designed to continue
the friendships formed in college beyond those years and to spread this ideal to women at other
colleges.1 While this was certainly part of the motivation of the nine founders—Maud Jones (née
Horner), Alice Bland Coleman, Ethel Coleman (née van Name), Ruby Leigh (née Orgain),
Frances Yancey Smith, Della Lewis (née Hundley), Helen Crafford, Alice Welsh , and Mary
Jones (née Batte)—the unstated context must also be considered. The interaction between
circumstance and organizational ideals that do not always acknowledged at the everyday level is
a major theme of the history below.
1
All sources are located at the University of Illinois Archives, unless otherwise noted. Jack L. Anson and Robert F.
Marchesani, Jr., eds. Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities, 20th ed. (Indianapolis: Baird’s Manual
Foundation, Inc., 1991), I-12 & IV-70.
2
While these nine women established the fraternity at the State Female Normal School in
1898, organizational meetings were held as early as 1897, and while the fraternity was
established in 1898, it was not called Zeta Tau Alpha until 1889. Prior to Zeta Tau Alpha, the
organization was known as “? ? ?” (The Three Question Marks). This early signification reflects
the indecision regarding a Greek name while simultaneously gesturing toward the clandestine
nature of early fraternities. Of course, secrecy could not be held very long at such a small school
with a vibrant Greek culture. The nine founders held their first meeting known as “? ? ?” and,
according to ZTA historian Shirley Kreasan Krieg, the non-members attending the first gathering
told the future Zetas that they hoped “that [the nine] might soon be known by our real name.”2
The way this story is related is telling: rather than saying that they hope the girls would soon find
a name, they implied that the name was there, waiting to be discovered. This is probably
reflective of fraternity culture at the time, wherein the mission and ideals are acted upon by the
members in unison through initiation and appointment rather than individual impetus: they did
not find Zeta Tau Alpha, Zeta Tau Alpha found them.
The meaning behind the organization’s founding depends on the proportional weight
given to circumstance and idealistic motivations mentioned above. The founding members of
ZTA had additional assistance in their founding that was grounded in historical circumstance.
Two brothers of founding members, Plummer Jones of Kappa Alpha and Phi Beta Kappa at
William and Mary College, and Giles Mebane Smith of Phi Theta Psi and Phi Beta Kappa also of
William and Mary College, helped the women in Farmville to organize, decide on yells (Mebane
Smith is credited with establishing their first yell: Hido Kido/Siscum razzle dalpha/Here we
2
Shirley Kreasan Krieg, The History of Zeta Tau Alpha, 1898-1928, 3rd ed., 2 vols. Published by Zeta Tau Alpha,
vol. 1, 39.
3
are/Here we are/Zeta Tau Alpha), and consider expansion.3 This suggests that one of the things
that made the national founding of ZTA unique was its initial ambitions. Upon its founding, and
very likely prior to it, the nine founders of ZTA had expansionist aims, which were facilitated
due to their familiarity with the Greek system through family members and the atmosphere in
Farmville. While acknowledging this circumstance, Kreasan Kreig privileges a more idealistic
image of the founding: “Through brothers and friends they had a knowledge of the system, but
the existence of women’s groups, either in the North or South, was practically unknown to them.
Their aim was, first and foremost, to band together, in a union providing lasting qualities, girls
who were congenial companions and close friends, perpetuating these friendships beyond the
period of college days.”4 These real motivations notwithstanding, it is important to recognize the
more practical circumstances of founding. Without existing or budding fraternities in Farmville
and without assistance from family members, the form of maintaining collegiate bonds would
have looked very different.
One of the earliest photographs of the founding members and the very first rush class
(women called “almost founders”) provides an interesting view into what female sororities might
have meant to the participants beyond companionship. The photograph appeared in the school
paper Normal Light, and it shows the women dressed in a variety of different costumes. The
photograph had long caused confusion for interpreters, many of whom wrongly assumed that it
represented esoteric ZTA ritual or ceremony. Kreasan Krieg, in her first of several definitive
ZTA histories, tells her readers that by virtue of her personal contact with early members, in
particular Odelle Warren (née Bonham), she has “solved” the riddle of the photograph.5
3
Ibid, 33.
Ibid, 33.
5
The photograph appears in Kreasan Krieg, vol. 1, 44.
4
4
Kreasan argues that the picture was not “authentic” or “representative in any degree of
the group at that time.” It was, Kreasan relates, only a joke, and they wanted the photograph
suppressed because “in light of what they really stood for . . . they feared it might seem to
indicate a lack of dignity or seriousness of purpose, not consistent with the past or the present.”6
The joke was that every member dressed as her nickname. The names and roles are as follows:
Alice Coleman acts the flirt with a flirtatious handkerchief; Della Lewis is the Judge; Maud
Jones plays the Angel; Fannie Smith is dressed as the Preacher (“never would she have done it
lightly, for even in those days she lived the life that could come only from an intimate
acquaintance with the Book”);7 Helen Crafford is the Teacher; Ethel Coleman and Ruby Leigh
are the Lawyers; Alice Welsh performs the Poet; Cammie Jones is the Light; Grace Elcan is the
Child of Nature; Odelle Warren acts out the Grandma; and Ellen Armstrong performs the Baby.
6
7
Ibid, 43.
Ibid, 45.
5
Kreasan Krieg takes pains to argue that the picture was meaningless and a product of the age of
the women (most were only 18 or 19), but one can legitimately claim that it can be a joke while
at the same time be invested with meaning. As Kreasan Krieg indicates that teaching, the focus
of the State Female Normal School in Farmville, remained “practically the only genteel
occupation open to [women] at the time.”8 Hence it is important that these women were masking
as lawyers, judges, and poets. These were not professions open to females, and the photograph
can be read as a way of expressing dissatisfaction with this gendered convention at the time. It is
easy to make this case for those dressed as lawyers and judges, professions largely closed to
women, but it does not quite fit when recognizing that “child of nature” or “light” are obviously
not professions. However, one might still claim that this type of masking is important. By staging
themselves in such a way they, at the very least, took hold of their own voices. Indeed, the
preacher is a figure of piety with voice, as opposed to the popular turn of the century notion of
female piety through tending the family, protecting the body, and remaining meek.
This historian views the photograph as an act by the women in shaping themselves in an
environment in which they were very much at the margins. This sort of action was not unique to
ZTA—in some ways it is fundamental to all female fraternities—but this photograph
meaningfully encapsulates it. Finally, the photograph express what had early on been an
important ZTA idea, which was the claim that there was no Zeta “type” that could be identified
in its existing or potential members. Searching for a type of girl was viewed as a betrayal of the
ideals of the organization, which early on feared internal splintering if it became too
homogeneous and exclusive in its recruitment. This fear also contributed to early efforts to keep
chapters small. Over time, this would change both in practice and in organizational ideals, which
8
Ibid, 29.
6
is evident in the precipitous rise of the Alpha Kappa Chapter at the University of Illinois, as well
as its slow decline.
Expansion North and the Founding of the Alpha Kappa Chapter
There were three critical turning points that enabled national expansion for Zeta Tau
Alpha. The initial ZTA national convention that was held in 1903 was the first. Here the
members decided that expansion should be a priority and targeted likely spots to open new
chapters.9 Initial expansion of ZTA was confined to the south, and at first, women’s colleges and
seminaries were targeted, as well as educational institutions for women similar to the State
Female Normal School. Horizons broadened after that. The first coeducational chapter was
founded in 1903 at the University of Arkansas, followed by the University of Tennessee the
following year. The next crucial occurrence came in 1909, when ZTA became the thirteenth
organization to join the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC; then called the Intersorority
Conference). Joining the NPC gave ZTA a resource of support and experience, but more
importantly, it gave the organization national legitimacy, which would have been necessary to
expand beyond the south. Zeta Tau Alpha’s first northern chapter opened three years after they
joined the NPC, the Rho chapter opened at Boston University in 1912.
The third and perhaps most important turning point that enabled expansion was the
confluence of historical circumstance and internal motivations. After the conclusion of World
War I in 1918, enrollment at public universities in the United States increased. Female
enrollment witnessed a particularly sharp rise, partly due to the fact that female enrollment was
9
Greek letter parlance would use the term “colonization” for identifying and opening a new chapter at a college or
university. With the exception of direct quotations, I will avoid this term due to the political and moral issues with
which it is associated. Instead, I will alternately use terms such as “installation,” “chapter (re-)opening,”
“establishment,” etc.
7
particularly low prior to the war—there was nowhere to go but up. In this context, ZTA held its
1919 national convention in Chicago, where the members explicitly made expansion a priority to
counteract the “lull in fraternity life” seen during and immediately after the war. Increased
enrollment was a fortuitous circumstance that facilitated this action. They were successful in this
call for expansion, as seventeen new chapters were opened between 1919 and 1923. The Alpha
Kappa chapter at the University of Illinois was part of this era of growth.10
The Alpha Kappa Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha was installed at the University of Illinois in
1921. Before Alpha Kappa became Alpha Kappa, however, it went through two brief
organizational iterations before circumstances allowed their national affiliation to ZTA. The
organization’s origins are at the Dacia House, located at 1115 West Illinois Street in Urbana. The
residents of the house in 1920 selected the house for the explicit purpose of organizing into an
official group. Soon after organization at the Dacia house, the University granted them
permission to take the name of Chi Delta. At the outset, Chi Delta was distinguished by its
collective academic excellence, although they reportedly also “had a very good basketball team.”
Unsatisfied with remaining a local organization, Chi Delta sought national affiliation. This is
when the presence of important Zetas at the University of Illinois became critical.11
Crucial in the establishment of the Alpha Kappa chapter was perhaps the most famous
Zeta in the history of the organization: Shirley Kreasan Krieg (later Shirley Kreasan Strout),
author of the ZTA histories repeatedly cited above and below. Krieg became a member of the
Tau chapter of ZTA at Millikin, in Decatur, Illinois, in 1915. As a journalist, she worked at the
Daily Illini and was also the University Editor of Champaign’s News-Gazette for two years.12
Working in Champaign in 1921 and evidently the only member of ZTA on campus at the time,
10
Baird’s, IV-70; Kreasan Krieg, vol. 1, 169-177.
Kreasan Krieg, vol. 2, 364-365.
12
Themis of Zeta Tau Alpha 30:2 (March 1922), 149.
11
8
Kreasan Krieg had contacts and friends within the university’s administration, the most
important of which was Dean of Women, Ruby E. C. Mason. Once Chi Delta’s desire to affiliate
with a national group was made known to Mason, she made contact with Krieg and inquired
about affiliating Chi Delta with ZTA. Kreasan Krieg took advantage of the opportunity, and as
luck would have it, Grand Secretary of ZTA, Helen Donaldson, was travelling nearby and was
able to detour and visit the house and girls with Kreasan Krieg. The visit was unsanctioned, and
done out of circumstance, convenience, and Krieg’s conviction that an ideal situation was at
hand. The situation was in fact ideal: not only did Chi Delta’s affiliation with ZTA have the
support of Mason, but also university President Dr. David Kinley and Dean Thomas Arkle
Clark.13
Shortly thereafter, Chi Delta was renamed the Alpha Kappa chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha,
with the following charter members: Rosamond Meeks ’23, Lucy Woods ’22, Gladys Trager ’22,
Inez D. Andren ’23, Louise Joyner ’23, Gladys Kennedy, ’23, Jean Makeever, ’24, Clara Tanner,
’24, Hazel McGraw, ’24, Ruth Lawton, ’22, Alta Hahn, ’22, Margaret Strohm, ’22, Hazel Ann
Erlandson, ’24, Grace Woosley, ’24, Fay Harris, ’23, Lurena Perrine, ’24, Ruth Wolgast, ’24.14
Among others, Helen M. Donaldson and Kreasan Krieg, serving as toastmistress, performed the
installation ceremonies at the Hotel Inman. They were assisted by sixteen members of the Tau
Chapter of Millikin.15 The dinner had a pink and lavender color scheme, with all tables decorated
with pink roses. Between courses, charter member Kennedy played Edvard Grieg’s Love and
13
Shirley Kreasan Strout, The History of Zeta Tau Alpha, 1898-1948, 367. For more on Thomas Arkle Clark and his
monumental significance for Greek life at the University of Illinois, see the excellent “A History of Gamma Zeta
Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega, 1895-2003,” by Kate Meehan Pedrotty, September 5, 2007, Society for the
Preservation of Greek Housing, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The history can be found here:
http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/archon/?p=collections/controlcard&id=4663.
14
Themis, 30:2 (March 1922), 157.
15
Ibid.
9
Arnold Srindberg’s The Butterfly on piano.16 Thus, the establishment of the Alpha Kappa
Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha was facilitated by institutional support and the lucky presence of one
of the organization’s most important figures. It also helped that an infrastructure and house were
already in place. The women would not stay long at 1115 West Illinois Street, however.
Changing, identifying, and ultimately building a suitable residence is the next part of the Alpha
Kappa story.
Alpha Kappa, 1921-1937: Defining and Building at the University of Illinois
The Alpha Kappa chapter only spent a couple of years at the Dacia house. However, it
was here where the chapter can locate its early accomplishments and the path toward defining an
identity on campus. In 1922, just a year after founding, the chapter was awarded the Scholarship
Cup for academic “pre-eminence.”17 The award was given annually to the female fraternity with
the highest collective grade point average. While they did not repeat their victory, and only
reached as high as fifth place over the course of the following years, it nevertheless ensured that
Alpha Kappa would immediately be noticed by their counterparts on campus.
In addition to an emphasis in academics, the early days of ZTA at Illinois can be
characterized by campus activity. They focused on membership participation in all campus
activities. The goal was for the members to have a presence and positive influence on the campus
community. In its first years of existence, members Lurena Perrine and Vina Lindstrum served as
officers for the campus Women’s League, which Kreasan Krieg describes as “the largest and
most important student organization for women at Illinois.” Additionally, members served as
contributors to the Daily Illini and the freshman commission. Rachel Weber was president of the
16
17
Ibid., 56.
Kreasan Krieg, vol. 2, 368.
10
Athenian Literary Society and Mary Margaret Clark served as president of the Jamesonian
Literary Society.18 Social events such as teas and dances also occupied the new Zetas. “Social
functions,” writes Alta Hahn, “we find are becoming more and more enthralling. The modern coed at Illinois leads a hectic life. Dances, theater parties, teas, and other functions, are so
numerous that she scarcely has time to breathe between times.”19 This sentiment, typical of the
early reports of chapter life, was always balanced by the qualification that despite these social
events, academics remained important.
One of the most popular types of party for Alpha Kappa, other Zeta Tau Alpha chapters,
and assuredly just about every other sorority and fraternity in the United States during the
interwar period, was the themed party. This occurred more often in rush season. Typically, these
parties were centered on something viewed as exotic and what they imagined to be
characteristics of particular regions—Japanese and Chinese themed parties were particularly
popular. Perhaps most uncomfortably were the racially tinged southern themed parties. A
scrapbook from a charter member of Alpha Kappa includes a minstrel mask from the “Dark
Town Party” held at Presby Hall.20 Another example is the 1934 January “Cabin in the Cotton
Tea and Dinner,” wherein a mammy greeted guests at the door.21 The chapter, the national
organization, and the University of Illinois cannot necessarily be condemned outright for holding
and sanctioning these types of parties, however indefensible they were and remain. Nor can they
all be absolved by historical context and popular practice. The fact of the matter is that social
fraternities throughout the United States participated in discourses and practices of exclusion and
inclusion designed to marginalize some groups and elevate others based on race. What the reader
18
Ibid, 368.
Themis 21:2 (January 1923), 396.
20
Gladys May Brown Scrapbook, 1921-1924, Record Series 41/20/115, Box 2.
21
Themis 32:2 (January 1934), 96
19
11
should take away from this is that race played a role in the history of the Alpha Kappa chapter of
Zeta Tau Alpha, just as it is one of the defining characteristics (some would say the defining
characteristic) of the history of the United States of America.
In addition to social events, sports were also emphasized in the early years, although the
fraternity was never an explicitly athletic one. Nevertheless, Alpha Kappa actively participated in
sports, particularly hockey, swimming, soccer, and basketball.22 Not only was participation
important, but chapter letters to Zeta Tau Alpha’s national periodical, Themis, as well as existing
scrapbooks from early members indicate that many chapter members were passionate observers
and consumers of sports at the University of Illinois. They were particularly interested in
football. Just five days after the chapter was established, it was the annual Dad’s Day weekend at
the university. The women hosted five dads from Friday until Sunday and took them to the
football game to watch Illinois play Michigan. Following the game, they held a dinner at the
house with forty guests, including two Zetas from the Michigan chapter.23
Some members were more invested in football than others. One charter member, Gladys
Brown—affectionately known as “Brownie”— took pleasure in supporting Illinois football in
particular. Her scrapbook includes numerous photos of her getting ready for Saturday games,
home and away. Programs and newspaper clippings about Illinois football also speak to her
support.24 Then as now, support of the football team resulted in economic support, as the chapter
donated 1,000 dollars to the building of Memorial Stadium, which was a large enough donation
to have a column named for Zeta Tau Alpha. Athletic hyperbole, widespread today, was also a
part of the texture of sports life in the 1920s. For example, one member noted the attendance of
many Zetas at the inaugural game at Memorial Stadium, which was against “our ancient enemy,”
22
Themis 21:1 (November 1922), 214.
24
Gladys May Brown Scrapbook, 1921-1924, Record Series 41/20/115, Box 1.
23
12
the University of Chicago Maroons.25 After the University of Chicago dropped its football
program in 1939 and withdrew from the Big Ten in 1946, Illinois football presumably had to
find a new “ancient enemy.” In 2011, at the time of this writing, ubiquitous “Muck Fichigan”
shirts at the Champaign-Urbana campus indicate that Michigan currently occupies the seat of
opposition, although students in Ann Arbor would probably maintain that their only real rival is
The Ohio State Buckeyes; however, ancient enemies are subject to change.
The Alpha Kappa Chapter only lived at the Dacia house on Illinois Street for three years.
In 1924, they moved into their second house at 112 East John Street in Champaign. By all
accounts, the chapter enjoyed this house. Member Vinita Smith even got married in the house in
1926.26 In an issue of Themis, another member wrote affectionately about “The Home of Alpha
Kappa:” “Upstairs is where each girl expresses her individuality. There are eight rooms on the
second floor, with a suite of two rooms for the chaperon. On the third are three study rooms and
four dorms. One third-floor room has a coy little balcony, which is very handy when we are
serenaded.”27 It is unclear what is meant here by an expression of individuality, just as it is vague
what precisely is meant by the women being “serenaded.” There is certainly a bit of coyness in
the letter, perhaps more so than this balcony had. Regardless, the description indicates overall
satisfaction with the house because there was a combination of privacy and community
necessary for building an association of a strong group of women and cultivating a positive
image on campus. While they were happy with the John Street residence, it was really no more
than a hold-over house for their next residence, which is nothing less than legendary in the
annals of Zeta Tau Alpha history.
25
27
26
13
“Only a few years ago,” writes Kreasan Krieg, “the chapter [Alpha Kappa] occupied a
most unpretentious house. Seven years after installation Alpha Kappa moved into a palatial home
that stands as a monument to united interests and loyal co-operation, a house of which the entire
fraternity may be as proud as is Alpha Kappa.”28 The story of this house begins in 1926, when
the Alpha Kappas, with money obtained from selling bonds, purchased a lot on Vermont Street
in Urbana.29 The venture was lucky, as the lot was being bid on by other campus fraternities as
well. In addition to bonds, the chapter also conducted its own fundraising for the house. For
example, they rented out their jewelry, hats, curling irons and other accessories, mostly to one
another. Every time one of these things was borrowed the borrower paid a nickel into a fund;
hats were more expensive at ten cents per borrowing. They also did manicures, pressing, and
sowing, all of which made them about $3.50 per week, and all of it was banked for the house.30
28
Themis 24:3 (March 1926), 305.
30
Themis 26:4 (May 1928), 523.
29
14
The house, which would be completed in 1928 at 808 West Vermont Street in Urbana,
was built specifically for ZTA. Leading up to the opening of the house, there was a great deal of
anticipation felt by the chapter, which reveals just how important the residence was for Alpha
Kappa. “We are all so enthusiastic about the prospects of a new house next year that that is the
first thing that enters any of our minds,” wrote one member. After receiving the plans of the near
completed house, the girls “pored over them.” In addition to being the new home of the chapter,
the location was important because it better integrated the young chapter into the fabric of
campus life. For one, the location placed Alpha Kappa minutes from campus. More importantly,
however, Vermont Street in the late 1920s was the central location for new sorority houses—
seven were already present and more were planned. By many accounts, the ZTA house was the
most impressive. 31 The building committee consisted of Nina Henry, chairman, Vinita Smith
(née Simpson), and Garnette Houts. Styled in a Norman French architectural style, it had a
chapter room, dining room, and kitchen. It was built of scintel brick and timber. It contained 36
rooms in total, which included a living room, a gallery, a solarium, a music room, a living room
for local members living with parents, 17 study rooms, and two dorms.32
The new house garnered national fanfare from Zeta Tau Alpha, which is evident by its
feature in the 1929 issue of Themis. The issue was a sort of special edition that included a “Trip
over Zeta Land,” covering new and interesting things about existing chapters in greater depth
than regular chapter letters, from the perspective of an outsider (that is, the editors wrote the
pieces rather than chapter members.) Within this was a section titled “Houses We Own,” and it
started with and featured the house on Vermont. “Alpha Kappa’s Castle in Spain Come True,”
31
32
Ibid, 523.
15
the headline reads. While the architect is not mentioned (and appears to be lost to history), the
article indicates that alumna Margaret Horn Linnard did the landscaping . In addition to the
aforementioned rooms, the article contains details of the house, emphasizing a wrought iron
winding stairway, which they maintain contributed to the castle feel of the house. The fanfare
was not just, or even mostly, about the house. Rather, the praise was primarily directed toward
the members. The chapter’s “courage, spirit, and resourcefulness” is attributed to the successful
completion of the house. “The achievement of such a comfortable and attractive home only
seven years after installation indicates an enterprise and ability which speaks volumes for the
chapter and its respective members,” the Themis article reiterates.33
As always, Kreasan Krieg was not a passive observer of the opening of the chapter house.
The members note that shortly after the opening of their new house, they held a dance on
November 23, 1928, to “show off a bit.”34 This was their just reward after conducting part of
rush season living in a hotel. The members attribute the success of this transitional period to
Kreasan Krieg, who was their honored guest at the dance. The opening of the Vermont Street
house was by far the proudest moment in the chapter’s young history, and it also signaled the
hopes of the future. In this, as in so much else, Kreasan Krieg gets the final word. She was very
optimistic about Alpha Kappa due the building of such a house in a short period of time and saw
pure ingenuity: “her [Alpha Kappa] future has unlimited possibilities.”35
After the fanfare came the experience of daily life at the new house. Over the next few
years, it appears that it was business as usual for the Zetas. They did, however, experience some
moments of drama, as well as develop quotidian traditions that would prove to be long lasting. In
1930, the Zetas hosted a guest for the Army and Illinois football game, and the guest came down
33
Themis 27:4 (May 1929), 320-325, photo inclusive.
35
34
16
with scarlet fever. This resulted in the quarantining of the house. “Being quarantined isn’t all
fun!” declares a Zeta to all the readers of Themis, “We didn’t think we’d mind so much having
no classes for a week when we were being quarantined for scarlet fever, but we were very glad
when we could finally go back to the daily routine.” The interruption to daily life accentuated
how important campus activity was for the chapter. They found ways to occupy themselves
though: “Since we all felt entirely too well to stay inside, the only thing to make life bearable by
the third day was a continual round of parties; one followed another in between the relays of a
bridge marathon.”36
While the brief quarantine proved to be a minor interruption to daily life of the Zetas, the
chapter experienced a more frightening threat to their house in 1934. At nine in the evening on
February 9th, a resident discovered a fire in the third floor of the house that evidently originated
in a “paper chute.” They quickly called the fire department, but the fire had quickly and burned
between the walls. The fire was, evidently, not easy to contain, and an eyewitness indicates that
the fire chief thought that the entire house might burn down. It took roughly two hours to put the
fire out, and forced many of the residents to stay with neighbors or local alumnae. While
dramatic, the fire damage was not severe. One of the members describes it as “an
inconvenience.” Despite a quick return to normalcy, the fire was certainly frightening to those
who experienced it: “We did not suffer greatly from it, but we certainly experienced a peculiar
and terrible sensation as we stood outside that cold winter night watching our own Zeta house
burning.”37
Throughout the 1930s, the Zetas had numerous weddings in the house, something that
would continue for some time. The women were particularly proud of their winding staircase for
36
37
Themis 32:4 (May 1934), 221.
17
weddings.38 The chapter developed several other traditions during this time period. Starting in
the early 1930s, the chapter began donating food, clothing, and toys to underprivileged children
in Champaign-Urbana during the Christmas season. Also during the Christmas season, it became
customary for the members to exchange inexpensive gifts with one another. These gifts most
often came with the attachment of a humorous poem about the recipient.39 Rush season was
another optimal moment for cultivating new rituals. It became tradition to attach a diamond to
the pin of the newest member “most representative of her group of pledges, gai[n]ng recognition
for activities and scholarship.”40 This tradition reveals that participation on campus remained an
important part of campus life for the Zetas.
Not all traditions were maintained. Specifically, university administration banned the
campus-wide tradition of hazing, known as “Hell Week,” in 1934. The ban applied to all campus
fraternities and sororities, and the goal was to make initiation into Greek life fondly memorable.
Hence, Dean of Women Maria Leonard suggested that the name be changed to “Preparation” or
“Courtesy Week.” Not simply cosmetic, the abolishment also included the official condemnation
and ban of the tradition of paddling. Action against hazing in Greek life is most often associated
with the issues raised by deaths due to excessive drinking in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
However, this early campus action indicates that university administration was aware of the
potentially ill-effects of hazing traditions. It is unclear how affective the ban on “Hell Week” and
the abolishment of paddling was though: “it is evident by the pained expression on many a
fraternity pledge’s face when he sits down, that this rule has not been strictly obeyed.”41
38
Themis 28:3 (March 1930), 351.
Themis 29:3 (March 1931), 295.
40
Themis 29:4 (May 1931), 379.
41
Themis 33:4 (May 1935), 279.
39
18
Alpha Kappa events and accomplishments serve to recall the founding of the national
organization, and thus serve well to conclude this section of the history. The Zetas of Alpha
Kappa were in tune with the history of Zeta Tau Alpha. One piece of evidence in support of this
is the fact that all ZTA chapters were required to hold all issues of Themis.42 However, the
requirement of all chapters to hold all issues of the periodical does not mean that they read them.
More convincing is the fact that ZTA Grand Editor-Historian, Shirley Kreasan Krieg, maintained
a presence in the chapter’s life. She is repeatedly cited as telling the history of ZTA and its
founders to the chapter. The women translated this history into everyday practice when, in 1937,
they held a luncheon with the theme “? ? ?.”43 Reverence and reproduction is evident in this
luncheon.
While not in direct reference to the past, individual accomplishments also recall the
national founding. Two women serve as poignant examples of this. First, in 1935 Bonita
Matthews was the first woman at the University of Illinois to be awarded the Judge O.A. Harker
Prize for the senior law student with the highest GPA.44 Second, alumna Gertrude Abercrombie
was featured in Themis in 1937. An artist, Abercrombie won the Eisendrath Prize at the 1936
Annual Chicago Artist’s Exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute.45 The somewhat rambling and
histrionic profile (the author compares her to El Greco) does nothing to mitigate the fact that
Abercrombie was a successful artist. In the end, these two women of Alpha Kappa might
demonstrate that Zetas in the 1930s were realizing the masked desires of professional freedom
and intellectual expression evident the 1899 photograph of 12 young Zetas.
42
44
45
Themis 35:3 (March 1937), 160-161.
43
19
Stability and Change during the War Years: 1937-1946
The history of Zeta Tau Alpha between 1937 and 1956 can be defined by relative
stability and growth, even within the larger context of depression, war, and postwar
transformations that affected the entirety of the United States. The first task of this section is to
outline the effects of war on Alpha Kappa, how they responded to the situation, and where they
were left after the conclusion of the war. Following this will be an overview and analysis of the
changes experienced by Alpha Kappa actives and alumnae that set the stage for the post-World
War II years.
Like every other fraternity on campus, Alpha Kappa of Zeta Tau Alpha felt the effects of
war. The first mention of World War II occurred in 1939, when the war in Europe began but two
years prior to the United States’ entrance into the war. In 1939, alumna Vinita Smith Simpson
and her husband Larry “were on the German boat Columbus when war was declared. They were
not allowed to enter some of the ports and were put off at Havana (Cuba). A chartered boat took
them back to Miami and chartered trains took them to New York.” Smith described this as “quite
an experience,” and it signaled that change was coming to the chapter in light of war.46
The United States entered the war in 1941. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan, which then caused Japan’s ally
Germany to declare war on the United States, thus sending the country to war in Europe and the
Pacific. Once the United States entered the war, Alpha Kappa had to adjust to a new campus
environment. The chapter remained open during the war, which was not the case for all campus
fraternities (male fraternities, for obvious reasons, had a harder time remaining open). While
ZTA remained open, they did face difficulties in securing pledges. In June 1942, the chapter
reported that gaining pledges and rushing young women was going to be more difficult due to a
46
The Alpha Kappa, October 1937-October 1946. Record Series 41/72/847, Box 1.
20
general drop in enrollment.47 While a decrease in enrollment changed the atmosphere on campus,
it could not compare to the change evident in the increased military presence at the University of
Illinois. Numerous campus buildings were used as military training schools, and according to
one Zeta, “the campus has taken on a war-like garb with naval training schools occupying the
Old Gym, Illinois Field, the Illini Union Ball Room, the Women’s residence halls, and the new
Men’s Dorm.”
Alpha Kappa supported the war effort monetarily through the purchase of war bonds in
the name of the organization. On campus, their greatest task was to counteract the changes to
everyday life and maintain a sense of normalcy in Champaign-Urbana. For example,
Homecoming was a tradition that groups like ZTA attempted to preserve. The “war-like garb”
“blend[ed] with the Homecoming colors and excitement,” notes one Zeta. A year later, in 1943,
the chapter reported that the “glorious Illini tradition founded 33 years ago [Homecoming] won’t
be a war casualty this year!” The events that regulated campus and chapter life continued, but
with the specter of war in the background. Rather than simply being a tradition, Homecoming
during the war became a tradition designed to balance unavoidable change with something
familiar.48
As the war continued and eventually concluded members of the chapter, actives and
alumnae, found solace in one another. Sources available indicate that brothers and husbands of
Alpha Kappa members were injured, taken as prisoners of war, or listed as missing in action.
However, it appears that none of these resulted in immediate death. The loss was relatively
minimal for Alpha Kappa; however, that does not mean that they did not feel the ill-effects of
war. The December 1942 edition of the chapter newsletter closed with the following words:
47
48
Ibid.
Ibid.
21
And now to wish you the usual Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I feel I should
add that if life is such for you this Christmas that it cannot be merry, I give to you your
memories of past Christmases when life has been kinder. I cannot promise you a bright
future for life itself makes no guarantee of happiness; but I can remind you of the
beautiful days of the past that you all have had and those, no one can take from you. This
is a somber note, but we are living in a time of tragedy and who knows about 1943?
The war ended in 1945, not 1943. It was only then that Alpha Kappa began to see change
once again. In October of 1945, the chapter reported that “things on campus are beginning to
look more like the pre-war every day. Loads of the fraternities are re-opening . . . The veterans
are coming back in droves and that horrid ration of seven-to-one and not in our favor is rapidly
diminishing.” The ratio to which she referred was women to men, and the disproportionate
campus population surely would have been the most notable transition back to pre-war years.
They also note that “homecoming this year [1945] was closer to pre-war gayety than any of us
have ever known it.”49 The postwar years, however, did not signal a “return,” but a new phase in
the life of the chapter as it continued to evolve.
Alpha Kappa’s newsletter, simply called “the Alpha Kappa,” is a critical source of
information for the chapter in the years covered above. Aside from the informational content
held within, the form and function of the newsletter is also revealing. Established in 1937, the
newsletter began as a venue for all alumnae and actives to hear news of the active chapter. In
1938 the alumnae newsletter was joined to the active one. Thereafter the newsletter took the
form of active news and alumnae news that regularly appeared in Themis, although “The Alpha
Kappa” was more detailed. The newsletter during this time period is revealing on three levels:
first, the importance of networking; second, the disparity of ZTA activity among alumnae and
49
Ibid.
22
active members; third and last, it highlights how the newsletter served as a venue for some
members coming to address and come to terms with events in their own lives. While these
characteristics of chapter life are not confined to the years 1937-1946, they serve as an example
of how these issues manifested in these years and at least suggest how they might have played
out in other contexts.
First, the newsletter shows the importance and travails of networking. The core of every
fraternity, in some respect, is to cultivate networks of friends and acquaintances that last well
beyond the college years. The importance of keeping everyone connected is the explicitly stated
goal in the very first issue of the newsletter that appeared in 1937.50 Chapter and alumnae news,
however, takes this notion to the extreme. “The Alpha Kappa” detailed the most quotidian things
in the name of keeping all of the women connected, in addition to regularly announcing life
events such as marriage, divorce, childbirth, and death.
Sometimes, the communication of such news uncovered levels of personal anxiety from
the writer. In the active member edition, editor Ellen Kimbrell announced several recent
marriage engagements, and then wrote, “Like I say, I’m going to start using Pepsodent—I feel
left out.” The declaration to start using minty toothpaste was not the same as stating that she
would start brushing her teeth, which was common by the 1930s; rather, it was an expression and
acceptance of the evolution of daily hygiene and the advertisement of it from something healthy
to something necessary (especially for women) in order to be desirable and marry.51 In another
edition, Kimbrell confided to her readers, her Zeta sisters: “And then there are those people who
50
Ibid.
This advertising phenomenon is still with us today; For example, see the recent article by Libby Copeland, “The
Cure for your Fugly Armpits: How advertisers create body anxieties women didn’t know they had, and then sell
them the solution,” Slate.com, April 14, 2011: http://www.slate.com/id/2291205/. Accessed 7/29/2011.
51
23
insist upon getting engaged and married and giving the rest of us horrid inferiority complexes.”52
Stating these things in such a public forum meant not only that Kimbrell really wanted to get
married, but also that the venue was a place in which such a public posture was natural and
relatable for her readers. It displays a high level of comfort, despite (or maybe because of) the
tongue-in-cheek nature of the expressions of anxiety. Still, she probably was not encouraged by
this statement from the alumnae section of the newsletter: “Of our 261 alumnae in Alpha Kappa
Chapter 173 or 66 and one quarter percent are married. When you consider that the average for
college graduates is around 50%, you will realize that Alpha Kappas must be especially nice to
marry. Remind your husbands . . . of this now and again.” 53
The premise of the newsletter, especially the alumnae edition, was to inform all members
of the activity of others. One edition intones: “where are you gals and what are you doing?
Moral: WRITE MORE LETTERS!”54 This indicates two things: first, it reveals the significance
of keeping all members of the chapter, past and present, informed of one another’s actions and
life changes. The driving assumption is that if everyone knows what everyone else is doing, then
everyone knows everyone else. Secondly, the injunction demonstrates that there was a dearth of
letters coming in to the editor. The example above is just one example of many pleas for news
and letters in order to maintain a vibrant newsletter full of chapter tidbits. The most forceful
pleas often resulted in a temporary influx of news, followed by an immediate decline. There are
two unacknowledged possibilities in the lack of letters. The first is the possibility that there
simply was not anything interesting to tell, and the second is there is a disparity of engagement in
the chapter after graduation. Obviously, anyone willing to be the editor of the newsletter is
highly invested, but the incorrect assumption seems to be that this level of engagement is the
52
The Alpha Kappa, October 1937-October 1946. Record Series 41/72/847, Box 1.
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
53
24
norm. This disparity is most notable not in the repeated calls for news, but in asking the readers
of the newsletter to send in yearly dues. “Edythe Lund Smith is the only one who paid her 1941
dues in this interval,” longtime alumnae-editor Fran Linquist Warren indicates, “thanks, Edythe!
If interested in being on the List of the Good, please send your dollar on to . . .”55 Warren
thought that dues and news should be automatic for all alumnae, but her pleas for both suggest
otherwise.
The inconsistent flow of information and payment of dues did not mean that the
newsletter did not continue to gather information. In one issue, the editor writes that “Louise
Joyner [was married] to ? on ?—details please!” And “Mildred Carroll is teaching school but we
don’t know where.”56 This information most likely came from other members who did write in.
The spotty information, however, suggests that even this information was heard perhaps second
or third-hand. Ultimately, it intimates that the alumnae were keeping in touch with their own
circles of friends and acquaintances, and that each woman had many circles from which
peripheral information about others were garnered. Someone heard that Mildred Carroll was
teaching, but was not sure where, and this person perhaps heard it from another member who
knew Mildred better, but did not need to pass on specifics. “The Alpha Kappa” was not the only,
and for many not the most critical, means of communication.
The above example demonstrates one of the most salient characteristics about Alpha
Kappa in the late 1930s and early 1940s: growing pains. Alumnae-secretary Warren, in the
process of stepping down and searching for a replacement, succinctly sums it up:
As our organization grows older, it becomes increasingly difficult to find a girl who
knows LOTS of the alums. We reach now from 1921-1940. I myself am fortunate enough
55
56
Ibid.
Ibid.
25
to know many of the 1921s and then on down to the 1938s – not all of them to be sure by
MANY. However, it may not be possible to find a secretary who can reach either back so
far or forward so far. Then, if she cannot find news about all classes, the letter loses
appeal for it contains no news about many of the girls and particularly little news about
girls who never write in or are never written in ABOUT. I am myself faced with this
problem. It is, I fear, a very serious one.
Perhaps the conundrum was as serious as Warren suggests, perhaps not. What is certain,
however, is that the problem was inevitable. Alpha Kappa, like all other campus fraternities at
the University of Illinois, had to make sure to keep up its rushing quota, which meant filling the
house every year. The forward march of time and continued growth caused the network to strain.
This was a problem experienced for the first time in the chapter’s young history: it could neither
go away, nor could it be reversed. Hence, these years were a critical turning point for the chapter
and its growth.
Warren was the author of the eloquently melancholic wartime Christmas letter cited
above. In addition to addressing world tragedy, she also had to deal with personal tragedy during
her tenure as Alpha Kappa alumnae secretary. At the conclusion of the June 1942 edition of the
newsletter, she gives thanks to those who gave condolences and confides in the rest of the group
that earlier in the year her son died of spinal meningitis caused by pneumococci. She then closes
with a poem: “I am lost and lost and lost—forever lost—and as the circle is broke, so too am
I.”57 In between the “I”s that begin and end the poem are eternity, loss, and a broken circle. With
respect to the very real loss Warren experienced, the newsletter she edited that composes the core
of information at hand for Alpha Kappa between 1937 and 1946 speaks against those three
things. They do not reveal eternity, but a particular moment in an always evolving organization;
57
Ibid.
26
nor do they reveal a sense of loss or a broken circle, but one of connections and networks,
however challenged or limited they might be by the progression of time and organizational
growth. None of these things could ever compensate for the loss of a child, but they do reveal
Warren’s place within an organization whose most important function is support and the
knowledge of support, especially during difficult times, such as the years in Zeta Tau Alpha
history—and indeed in American history—covered above.
Troubling Expansion: 1947-1980
Information about the Alpha Kappa chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha in the 1950s is spottier
than the time covered thus far. The University of Illinois archives only holds issues of “The
Alpha Kappa” until 1947 (with the exception of an excerpt from an issue in a different file), and
the chapter reports to Themis became more irregular as the format of the periodical evolved. The
information available suggests that the 1950s was a time of relative stability, although this
conclusion in fact might be a product of the dearth of sources rather than evidence in support of
it. Like other periods in the history of the Alpha Kappa chapter, the chapter’s experience mirrors
the tone of the era. During the 1950s, Themis contained several warnings against communism.
These cautions place the chapter in the context of the cold war and show that global politics were
considered by the national office. They assumed that campus life might have made the threat
even more real. The 1960s was a period of transition for the chapter. Growth and internal
conflict, which were most likely not mutually exclusive phenomena, are pronounced in this
decade. The 1970s can be characterized by the confrontation with the difficulties of the 1960s,
and then in about 1980 the most pressing issue became declining membership, the outcome of
27
the difficulties. The chronological arc from the stability of the 1950s to membership difficulties
in the early 1980s is the focus of this section.
An event of national importance for ZTA occurred in 1956. In that year, Shirley Kreasan
Strout (formerly Shirley Kreasan Krieg—her first husband died in 1931 and she later remarried
an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois), editor of Themis
since the 1920s and author of Zeta Tau Alpha histories, retired from her positions. The
significance that Kreasan Strout had on the national fraternity cannot be overestimated, and, as
stated above, she was also critical in the establishment of Alpha Kappa at the University of
Illinois. Her geographical location and frequent appearances at the Alpha Kappa house made her
an even more visible figure for the chapter.
In a 1956 letter from Kreasan Strout to Fran Myers, columnist for Champaign’s News
Gazette, she describes her experience in ZTA as well as her retirement dinner. Kreasan Strout’s
letter was in response to an initial one by Myers, who was writing an article about the retirement
dinner for the News Gazette, although the initial letter is probably lost. The tone of Kreasan
Strout’s response is familiar. Given Kreasan Strout’s proximity to the University of Illinois and
ties to the News Gazette, it is not too much to assume that the women knew one another.
Referring to herself, Kreasan Strout wrote, “this is, really, the ‘retiring’ story of someone who
has long been prominently identified with the Greek letter world.” She went on to assert that “the
real story of my experiences, activities, offices, honors and my contribution over the years along
with the development of Themis, and the writing of the Histories, looks almost fantastic in extent
and scope when put down on paper.” Indeed, her list of accomplishments is impressive.
28
According to Kreasan Strout, her husband japed that the critical problem with the outline of her
accomplishments in ZTA was that it was “unbelievable.”58
Kreasan Strout wrote that she was pleased with the retirement party. Wearing her
Founder’s badge, which she indicated she was entitled to wear, she was invested with the title
“Historian for Life.” According to Kreasan Strout, someone said to her that “to thousands
[Shirley Kreasan Strout] was synonymous with Zeta Tau Alpha . . . Shirley IS Zeta.” Moving
from the third person to the first person, she averred that “It was I who gave Zeta Tau Alpha TO
Zeta Tau Alpha, and thousands, including the Founders, know it.” The tone of these statements
seems defensive, but it does not appear that there was any critique against which she was
defending. Rather, it seems that she was writing a panegyric to herself. Regarding the
monumental histories she had written, she continued to tell Warren that the histories were
“written in such a form that the years I have covered never need be covered or written about
again. The story is completed. It is final! No one could ever duplicate my experiences or my
knowledge . . . So they made me Historian for Life.” The office Historian for Life, she
highlighted, was akin to the University of Illinois retiring Red Grange’s number 77. Just as the
number was retired after Red Grange ceased playing football, so the office of Zeta Tau Alpha
Historian would be retired with her.59
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Kreasan Strout’s letter to Warren was what
Warren did with it. As stated above, the letter has a familiar feel to it, present in the greeting and
salutation. Therefore, the women probably knew each other. It is significant to note, however,
that Kreasan Strout was not responding to questions in the form of an interview in order to
supplement Warren’s article; rather, the publication of the article indicates that Kreasan Strout
58
59
Student Organizations Publications, 1871-. Record Series 41/6/840, Box 36.
Ibid.
29
was in some way writing the article herself. Many of the descriptions of Kreasan Strout’s
experience as a leading member of Zeta Tau Alpha (and the Greek system in general) are
restated in the article verbatim: Warren’s paean to Kreasan Strout was Kreasan Strout’s own
characterization of her importance.60 Kreasan Strout was certainly important for the development
of Zeta Tau Alpha; however, it is important to remain critical toward such statements of grandeur
when the object is also the subject. This is particularly pressing in her statement about the
histories. While Kreasan Strout was well deserving of the title Historian, she was in the end not a
professionally trained historian, but a professionally trained journalist. The statement that most
contemporary historians would take issue with is that her telling of the story of Zeta Tau Alpha is
“complete” because, rather than merely list of events and facts, history is also an interpretation.
What this means is that no story is ever told definitively because history is a living thing. “The
past is never dead,” William Faulkner wrote in Requiem for a Nun, “it’s not even past.” The
writer of a new history of Zeta Tau Alpha would be indebted to Shirley Kreasan Strout, who was
herself indebted to the time and place with which she wrote. Every writer of history brings his or
her interaction with the living past to their moment in their present. Strout had hers, and someone
else will eventually bring another to the history of Zeta Tau Alpha.
While Kreasan Strout’s retirement signaled the end of an era for Zeta Tau Alpha, the
national organization, as well as Alpha Kappa, continued to grow as they both entered a new age
of development and expansion. In the mid-1950s national expansion is evident in Alpha Kappa’s
move to new Provinces. National reorganization caused Alpha Kappa to move from the Epsilon
Province to the Theta Province in 1953. In the following year, ZTA abandoned naming
Provinces after Greek letters, probably due to the growth of the organization. The national
included Alpha Kappa in Province X of XVI. As the organization continued to grow, these
60
Alumni Archives, National Fraternity Reference Files, 1885-2009. Zeta Beta Tau-Zeta Tau Alpha, Box 77.
30
Provinces were broken down into regional categories.61 The national growth is reflected in the
chapter’s growth. Chapter reports from the 1950s reveal that every year, as the girls returned to
school, they contributed to upkeep in the house in the form of painting and buying new furniture.
Growth cannot be sustained with necessary maintenance, however, and soon it became evident to
the women that they would have to expand the house.62
On October 1, 1961, Alpha Kappa held the groundbreaking ceremony that would
culminate in an expansion of the house at 808 West Vermont Street.63 The reason that the
chapter decided to expand the house was simple: the members were over-crowded. Solving the
problem of not being able to house all of the Zetas, expansion of the house was the natural
conclusion. Luckily, ZTA owned the empty lot next to the house, and per the recommendation of
Kreasan Strout, Alpha Kappa used this space to build. This expansion, completed in 1963, would
culminate in the addition of fourteen rooms large enough to house two women each, a formal
living room, an entry foyer, and a three room director’s apartment. Additionally, there was a new
kitchen, and the basement that was previously used to cook became a lounge, laundry, and late
night study space. Finally, the expansion changed the address of the Alpha Kappa house from
808 West Vermont to 1404 South Lincoln Avenue. On February 17, 1963, the chapter held an
open house that attracted seven hundred guests to celebrate and praise the comfortable new
addition to their existing and already celebrated home.64
Mildred White, Zeta and wife to Geology Professor George White, chaired and oversaw
the addition to the house. In sum, the expansion increased the capacity of the house from forty to
61
Province reorganization maintaining Greek letters appears first in Themis 51:4 (May 1953), 214-237; Province
reorganization according to numbers first appear in Themis 52:4 (May 1954), 195-220.
62
Themis 54:4 (May 1956).
63
Urban and Regional Planning Department, Urban Group Fraternity Houses Study Records, 1984-85, 1988-1989,
Record Series 12/8/23, Box 1.
64
Themis 62:2 (October 1964), 17.
31
sixty-three.65 The increase of over fifty percent was significant, and the demands of the time
regarding Alpha Kappa membership make the desire to expand the house understandable.
Indeed, the expansion of the house proved to be a critical moment in the history of Alpha Kappa,
but not necessarily a positive one. The addition occurred in a context of general fraternity
expansion, mentioned above, that would continue into the following decades. Perhaps the most
important, and certainly the most controversial, person in promoting this macro-trend was
Wilson Heller, to whom we will now turn.
Wilson Heller provided council to numerous Greek letter groups. His emphasis and
philosophy was expansion and competition. This is most evident in his newsletter “Greek
Insider,” which ranked every fraternity and sorority in the country from best to worst. This type
of ranking, of course, left a bad taste in many a mouth: there always had to be someone in last, or
close to last place.66 Heller characterized his rankings as irrefutable because they were completed
by peers. Every group ranked all other groups, except their own, and the product was ostensibly
an objective perception of who the best is and who the worst. Of course, this ignores the
possibility and likelihood that politics and personal like or dislike informed rankings.
Additionally, the measures to be used for the rankings were three vague terms: Importance,
Prominence, and Power. His actual measures appear to be quantity and competition. Increase in
size, according to Heller, signaled increased importance, prominence, and power. This
fetishization of growth probably worked against the intended ethos of many social fraternities. It
certainly worked against the founding notion of ZTA to remain small and avoid internal splinter
groups.67
65
Student Affairs Panhellenic Files 1927-1970, Record Series 41/2/63, Box 3.
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=93137. Accessed 7/29/2011.
67
Wilson Heller Papers, Record Series 41/2/52 , Box 9.
66
32
The contradiction in philosophies notwithstanding, it appears that ZTA accepted the
terms outlined by Heller and let it inform their growth policies, which had a direct effect on
Alpha Kappa. Internal dissemination of reports on chapter growth was acutely sensitive to
Heller’s rankings. The reports included newly formed “immutable laws” that outline a massive
shift in organizational principles that appear to be in direct response to Heller: “Controversy and
Dis-satisfaction always accompany forward progress.” This is not a truism, but it is a way of
reading progress through rankings. The assumption behind this “immutable law” is that a low
ranking spurs innovation through competition. “Every wanted quality parallels and soon follows
comparative size.” The conflation of quality and quantity was another one of Heller’s principles
that was not a principle of ZTA. The acceptance of this might have been the impetus for internal
demands for expansion; Alpha Kappa is but one example. “Quality is not much or easily
obtained until first comes quantity.”68 Many a ZTA founder might argue that this formulation is
backwards.
Heller’s ability to influence and alter the course of a national organization with its own
set of principles is astounding. This is especially true when reading his inquiries to the national
organization, which border on incoherence: “what individual – if any – extra deserves credit for
earlier expansion; or for such in 20s when it was most active at such? (until the 1960s). Name
one or 2 or 3 definitive honestly surely LEADERS who really got results during epochs since
start: (be careful and not name ones who merely donated or such or have funds named for them)
(such we do not want):[;] does any one [sic] deserve extra credit for your long largest & best U.
Texas? Even in the 60s expansion splurge is there one deserving credit?”69 Parsing through this
ramble one notices his emphasis on expansion. Leadership, to Heller, was expansion, and results
68
69
33
were an increase in numbers. He referred directly to expansion in the 1960s, precisely when
Alpha Kappa provided the addition to the house.
Heller’s communiqué might be dismissed as the query of a newsletter editor with too
little time to make sense of the words being put down to paper, if it were not for the evidence
that shows the acceptance of his terms on the national level, acquiescing to his standards, most
notably the “immutable laws” cited above. However, there was some opposition to Heller, but
even opposition tended to accept his terms ad hoc: “It will come as no shock to you that I
disagree with your new annual ratings,” ZTA President Martha Helms wrote to Heller in 1971,
“there is no way that you or anybody else could convince me that Phi Mu or Delta Zeta are better
organizations than Zeta Tau Alpha.”70 This example of opposition simply shows that in
disagreement there was an unstated acceptance of the atmosphere of competition that Heller
desired. Even more explicit rejections of Heller standards could not do enough to alter the course
of development. In an earlier letter, Helms wrote to Heller, “We obviously do not judge chapters
by the same standards. Size isn’t everything though it is important.”71 In this last example, the
final qualification tempers the initial statement, if it does not nullify it outright. In any case, these
types of sentiments were probably the brief missives that Heller quickly read and dismissed
without changing anything and exerting what now appears to be an unreasonable amount of
power over the Greek letter system. The ethos of expansion internalized in the 1960s resulted in
an addition to the Alpha Kappa house and would be the core of later internal struggles for the
chapter. Growth is never easy, and it was difficult for the Alpha Kappa chapter, as will be shown
below. While one cannot track a direct causal relationship between a controversial figure such as
70
71
Ibid.
Ibid.
34
Heller and the difficulties of a single chapter, the acquiescence shown on the national level to
Heller’s standards and the concomitant growth of Alpha Kappa cannot be ignored.
In 1960, the Alpha Kappa house was at full capacity, housing 17 active members and 23
pledges. Shortly after the opening of the new addition in 1963, 70 women resided in the house,
67 in 1966 and as many as 76 in 1967.72 These numbers suggest that in the first years of the
expansion, the house was able to continue to sustain the requirement that the house remain at or
very near capacity. However, there is also an indication that during this time of growth there was
an increased amount of internal fracturing within Alpha Kappa. “Ever since ZTA built the
addition to its house, the sorority has experienced some membership difficulties,” noted a report
that most likely appeared in 1968. The membership difficulties were twofold: there were
financial issues between alumnae and actives regarding the increased house bills and demands of
regular maintenance of a larger house. The second had to do with “troubles in pledging
additional girls.” It is unclear precisely to what this final phrase referred, but it was likely an
immediate problem of sustaining a growing number of active members. The report reveals some
growing pains, but it is also optimistic. It noted improvement over the course of 1967-1968,
especially in collective GPA, but also in house relationships: “the girls get along quite well with
each other and the subgroup bickering has been eliminated.”73
Again, the minimal information available does not exactly reveal the cause or
manifestation of “sub-group bickering,” but a bitter resignation from 1967 might provide a clue.
In an open letter from October 23, 1967, Marge Pinc officially resigned from all ZTA activity.
Her reason of writing the letter was “to provide a basis of thought and ideals which the house
might possibly choose to adopt for the sake of its social and moral improvement.” Pinc claimed
72
Panhellenic Organizations File,1960-1968, Record Series 41/2/64.
Student Affairs Programs and Services Fraternity and Sorority Chronological Correspondence and Subject Files,
1954-1993, Record Series 41/2/75, Box 10.
73
35
that she joined ZTA in order to “give back” to the community rather than “the taking of an
education,” which she described as selfish. “I joined ZTA with the impression that a sorority was
a group of well-intentioned Christian girls with the same philosophy,” she continued, “I was led
to believe that sororities encouraged scholarship, Christian fellowship [and] virtue.” According
to Pinc, she found the opposite. She viewed “the main purpose of this sorority (ZTA) to be to
create a group of social barflys [sic]—women of no better repute than some lowly, uneducated
city office girls and nightclub entertainers.” This extremely harsh letter does not get any more
flattering as Pinc continued outlining the chasm between her experience and her expectations. In
addition to complaints about smoking after meals, she also condemns Alpha Kappa members
who swear publicly as “not lady-like,” almost on par with “those aftermaths of heavy
intoxication known as hangovers or appreciable enough intoxication to attain such a state.” Her
final accusation of the “house’s lack of moral character or concern over responsibility and human
dignity” is a description of an event on October 18 at which time, according to Pinc, “musical
mattresses was played in the semi-lighted livingroom with a fraternity group in the absence of
the house mother.”74
Pinc’s letter was acrimonious and bitter, but it does reveal a possibility for internal
fractures; namely, the disconnect between expectations and reality of campus life. One might ask
where, exactly, Pinc would have formed the idea that sororities and ZTA in particular were so
puritanical. One possibility is the magazine that the national organization sent to every chapter in
1966, the year before her resignation, titled Ladies First. This guide to being a refined lady on
campus in the mid-1960s contains directives and advice that appear in Pinc’s resignation letter.
For example, there is a chapter on manners, which notes the lady-like protocol of smoking and
swearing. More than swearing, it states that slang is funny, but when used by women can be
74
Panhellenic Organizations File,1960-1968, Record Series 41/2/64.
36
“termed cheap.” It expressly notes that “if you see a woman intoxicated, she is not a lady. A lady
is never seen on the dance floor with a cup or glass in her hand,” even while acknowledging that
drinking is becoming more socially acceptable on campuses in the United States. All of this is
under the broader theme of deference to men and taking advantage of the opportunity presented
by the college years to attain “the MRS Degree”—that is, finding a husband.75
Pinc’s resignation letter, coupled with the Ladies First manual, suggests a discrepancy
between reality and fantasy in the mid-1960s, on both ends. It is quite possible, likely even, that
Pinc came across the Ladies First manual and that it colored her perception of ZTA. Taking such
a manual at face value would have been naïve and blind to social realities at the time though.
While we should take Pinc at her word that she vehemently disliked her experience as an Alpha
Kappa, her opinion was certainly not representative. The fact is that neither document presents
the whole truth. The Alpha Kappa house in all likelihood was not a hedonistic den of
debauchery, nor was it relevant to the daily life of the average Zeta to inform her of the
appropriate times to wear their “badges of femininity,” meaning hats (the answer was all social
occasions before 6 p.m. but not after). What these documents collectively reveal though, is a
possible reason for internal strife at the Alpha Kappa house. Not only might some members have
had experiences vastly different from their expectations, but active members appear to have had
different expectations for their pledges. It is surprising that neither Pinc nor the active chapter
realized that she might not fit well in Zeta Tau Alpha, and this mutual oversight might be another
example of the troubles of privileging growth over all else.
The 1970s leading into the early 1980s was a period of ebb and flow for Alpha Kappa. In
1970, the chapter was awarded the Panhellenic award for scholastic improvement at the
75
Alumni Archives, National Fraternity Reference Files, 1885-2009, Zeta Beta Tau-Zeta Tau Alpha, Record Series
26/21/4, Box 77.
37
University of Illinois.76 As noted earlier, they also improved greatly between the years 1965 and
1968, and another year of improvement suggests a level of inconsistency in maintaining the
required collective GPA. This is probably something experienced by most fraternities. The
chapter also continued its philanthropic pursuits. In 1971, they joined with Lambda Chi Alpha
for a cause; Lambda Chi Alpha “kidnapped” the ZTA housemother, and the ransom was 250
pounds of food for needy families in the Champaign-Urbana area.77
The chapter likely continued their philanthropic work throughout the 1970s, but they also
came across other difficulties. In 1979, the Department of Community Developmental Services
communicated numerous housing violations to the house director. In addition to mundane
citations, such as lights that needed to be replaced, the report also noted that fire extinguishers
that had been used during parties had to be replaced with full and functioning ones in the case of
an emergency. By the end of 1979, everything was done and the women of Alpha Kappa were
allowed to continue occupying the house at 1404 South Lincoln.78 The health of the chapter,
however, was far from secure. A letter from the province president to the campus Panhellenic
Advisor acknowledged that the image of ZTA on campus had deteriorated, but they were
“working hard to improve [it] and [ZTA’s] position in Panhellenic.” Finally, by 1980 there was
increased concern regarding declining membership, which is evident in a petition designed to
extend the Rush period beyond the formal dates.79 Most significantly, the Alpha Kappa chapter
in the period covered above experienced the difficulties of growth. Within the larger context of
fraternal and university growth, Alpha Kappa continued its philanthropy while also expanding
their home and their chapter. Nobody could have guessed the difficulties that attended
76
Themis 68:4 (May 1970), 70.
Themis 69:4 (May 1971), 69-70.
78
79
Ibid.
77
38
expansion, but they had to confront them throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The competitive
environment at the University of Illinois would not make things easier for Alpha Kappa in the
1980s or the 1990s: these decades constitute the last section of this history.
Decline, Chapter Closing, and Efforts of Revival: 1980-2000.
The chapter’s outlined goals for the 1980s were revival and sustainability. They wanted
to continue repairs to the house and keep up on regular maintenance, improve “the attitudes of
the members towards the chapter and towards themselves,” and participate more in campus
activity by joining committees and organizations.80 In this last respect, they endeavored to
reinstate one of the earlier hallmarks of the chapter, summed up by the saying “Every Zeta in
Something, a Zeta in Everything.”81 Hence, one of the ways in which the chapter attempted to
redefine itself on campus during the 1980s was by identifying with previously held ideals. In
Alpha Kappa’s attempts to find a new niche on campus, they were not alone. The national
organization believed in and attempted to help the chapter in every way. This was the case in the
midst of the chapter closing in 1993, and the subsequent attempts at re-installation at the
University of Illinois. As will be explained shortly, one of the central reasons for the closing of
the chapter in the early 1990s was lack of membership. This issue presented itself in the early
1980s, but it was even more pronounced in the latter half of the decade. Throughout this section
we will speculate about the potential reasons for this lack of membership, but the reader should
keep in mind that no one speculation is the answer, and that each speculation is perhaps partially
true, while there are most likely other undocumented reasons for membership decline.
80
81
Ibid.
Themis 27:2 (October 1929), 164.
39
Continued difficulties confronting growth and general stagnancy appear to be two
potential reasons for Alpha Kappa’s membership troubles. In undated notes that most likely
come from the late part of the 1980s, a member (probably a chapter secretary) wrote that “our
chapter has not really learned how to deal with the increase in size that has occurred i[n] the past
5 or 6 years and I believe that in order to keep improving we as a chapter must learn to deal with
communication in a large house.” For whatever reason, they could never really reconcile a large
membership and a congenial atmosphere. The evidence provided above suggests that this issue
can be traced back to the late 1960s—although there were surely periods of satisfaction along
with periods of difficulty, the difficulties tend to be easier to trace in the documentation. The
same document also suggests that the members were simply fatigued by the demands of sorority
life. After Bid Night, “everyone seems to want a break from the house and in the meantime we
lose girls who were uncertain as to the rightness of their decision.”82 This had a deleterious effect
at a large school such as the University of Illinois with a high level of competition with other
sororities.
Considering these thoughts about declining membership, it is curious that in both 1987
and 1988, Alpha Kappa received the Chapter Crown Award from the national organization. The
award was designed to recognize ZTA chapters that excel in membership, finances, fraternity
operations, and activities. National President Becky Kirwin, in 1987, wrote to Alpha Kappa:
“We are proud of your chapter, and we believe in you. Now you are faced with the challenge of
repeating your success.” This injunction was made “whether this is your first Crown Chapter
Award or your fifth.” The following year, new National President Sherry S. Tilley signed a
similar letter, indicating that it was an accomplishment “whether this is your first Crown Chapter
82
40
Award or your sixth.”83 The similarity in both of the letters evokes a sense of depersonalization
in them. This sterile form of the letter provides a clue to the apparent paradox of receiving
awards from the national while internal documentation suggests decline and a lack of
improvement. One might conclude that the national was attempting to prop up the chapter
through awards, and hopefully make it more attractive to young women at the University of
Illinois. It is not totally clear whether or not the award was reserved for a single chapter, or if it
was an award that might have went to many chapter, but the latter seems more likely.
Despite struggles in membership, the chapter continued its philanthropic work and
participated in some of the most pressing issues in Greek letter life in the late 1980s and early
1990s. In 1988, Zeta Tau Alpha paid off the house on 1404 South Lincoln Street, a building that
ZTA still owns as of 2011. The membership of the chapter was 135 at the time, meaning that
about half of the members could reside in the house.84 This number is indeed high, which
suggests that despite fears of declining membership and increased competition, membership was
still robust. In the same year, the chapter held what appears to be a successful philanthropic
event. The “Call it Love” tennis tournament raised 700 dollars, although the beneficiary is
unclear.85 Finally, in the late 1980s, Alpha Kappa, with strong support and materials provided
form the national chapter, participated in campus wide awareness programs regarding sexual
assault, particularly date rape. In 1988 Alpha Kappa cosigned an open letter from the Greek
community to the Champaign City Council asking for assistance in combating “the disturbing
number of sexual assaults on our campus.”86 The national organization also disseminated
83
Ibid.
Urban and Regional Planning Department, Urban Group Fraternity Houses Study Records, 1984-85, 1988-1989,
Record Series 12/8/23, Box 1.
85
Student and Faculty Org. Constitutions and Registration Cards, Record Series 41/2/41, Box 74.
86
84
41
information to Alpha Kappa (and its other chapters) regarding substance abuse and eating
disorders. Risk management also included injunctions against hazing, which had been banned at
the University of Illinois for some time already, as well as the promotion of parties without
alcohol.87 They also provided a crisis hotline for members designed to facilitate stronger
communication and enable problem solving.88 It is clear that the national organization
recognized these problems on campus. They were obviously not confined to ZTA, but rather
were part of a national story promoting protection on campus.
While the late 1980s proved to be a difficult time for Alpha Kappa, things would get
worse in the early 1990s. In 1991, the chapter was called to the Panhellenic judicial board
because they held a philanthropic event at Bub’s Pub. It was against the rules to serve alcohol at
philanthropic events at the University of Illinois. The chapter attempted to circumvent this rule
by reserving space at this bar but not serving alcohol themselves. Attendees simple went “to the
back of the bar” to buy alcohol before returning to the event. Additional research would be
necessary to find out how widespread this sort of practice was in other fraternities—it is safe to
assume that other social organizations were reported for similar events, and it is also likely that
more went unreported. The important thing to take away from this event is that the Panhellenic
Conference concluded that ZTA did not recognize the necessity of ensuring that philanthropic
events not have alcohol.89 While this conclusion and event was not terribly damaging to the
chapter, it did not help chapter morale that they were being censured for avoidable actions.
Internal communications between members from the same year indicate that some were
strongly considering leaving the chapter. The reason was low morale among the membership.
87
Greek Affairs Subject File. Chapter files-fraternities, Record Series 41/2/48, Box 50.
Alumni Archives, National Fraternity Reference Files, 1885-2009, Beta Tau-Zeta Tau Alpha, Record Series
26/21/4.
89
88
42
The fatigue problem from the late 1980s appears not to have gone away, and the chapter as a
whole was having trouble rekindling the passion of representing ZTA at the University of
Illinois. This was not lost at the national level. On February 22, 1991, ZTA reviewed the status
of the chapter and decided by unanimous vote to place it on membership probation. The reasons
for this were concerns over membership and retention. From 1988 until 1992 the chapter
experienced a dramatic fall in membership numbers as they were becoming less competitive on
campus and started to have difficulty fulfilling financial and housing obligations. The national
organization declared that in order to revive the chapter, they needed to focus on improving
rushing practice, strengthening their pledge programs, and increasing campus visibility by
elevating participation in campus activities.90
Despite decline in numbers, optimism in Alpha Kappa continued. An undated and
unsigned letter that appears to come from an administrative office at the University of Illinois
and seems to refer to the 1992 rush year suggests a sense of buoyancy:
This chapter began the year with not making quota in rush and never quite recovered.
Despite expectations from our office and their national who made many efforts to
cooperate, they gained few new members. This is probably due to the way they project
themselves and their sorority experience. Past internal differences have caused
difficulties; however, the group returning seems solid. Their leaders are involved, try
hard and are motivated . . . Their philanthropies are great and they make a difference with
the publicity on breast cancer, their rush management program and information on eating
disorders.91
90
91
Ibid.
Ibid.
43
The communication refers to the internal struggles described above. The issues concerning “the
way they [Zetas] project themselves and their sorority experience” is left vague, but it is
probably referring to general apathy. These words also paint a bright picture about the difference
Alpha Kappa made on campus. The conclusion one should get from this characterization is that
the chapter was viewed as an asset to the texture of campus life, and efforts should be made to
save it.
Efforts might have been made within the university, but they could not do enough to
prevent the chapter from closing. The first steps toward this occurred on August 29, 1993, when
Alpha Kappa of Zeta Tau Alpha did not participate in bid matching. The choice was made in part
because “the chapter had decided that they didn’t want the new members to have to struggle like
they had done over the past years.” Some chapters close in the midst of scandal, but as the
copious evidence above indicates, this was not the case for Alpha Kappa. Choosing not to
participate in bid night signified the chapter’s listless transition to dormancy. This is evident in
the immediate hopes of re-opening at the University of Illinois “in three to four years, or sooner.”
Rather than having to rehabilitate a poor campus image, “the chapter has really no image . . . so a
[sic] extended period of time to down play that would not be necessary.”92 The chapter seemed
to have simply run out of steam, which caused a dramatic decline in membership. As the chapter
officially closed on December 6, 1993, all current members in good standing were granted
alumna status: there were 38 of them.93
The remaining members continued to live in at 1404 South Lincoln through the 19931994 academic year. Then, starting in 1994, ZTA leased the house to Theta Chi. The motive for
leasing the house to another Greek social organization was to keep it on an academic schedule
92
93
Ibid.
Ibid.
44
and to ease the transition back into the house. Not all alumnae viewed even this as a positive
thing. In a note of objectives for an upcoming meeting between an alumna and the Greek Affairs
office at the University of Illinois, an Alpha Kappa wrote: “MY SORORITY is under ‘fraternal’
control and I WANT IT BACK IN OUR HANDS (ZTA) . . . I do not want to see ANY beautiful
homes turned over to the university or to an apartment complex – that’s ridiculous!! Our house
was built for ZTA and its meant FOR ZET TAU ALPHA fraternity.”94 Although it is not certain
that these passionate notes translated well to the meeting, it is clear that this alumna held an
intimate connection between her identity as a Zeta and the house as the place for University of
Illinois Zetas. This is unsurprising for the reasons the writer enumerates. The house had been the
home of Alpha Kappa for 65 years. Theta Chi occupied the house from 1994 until 2009.95 They
left the house prior to the 2009-2010 academic year and as of 2011 the house has, most likely to
the disappointment of the writer quoted above, turned into an apartment complex.
Re-opening Alpha Kappa proved to be more difficult than initially expected. On March
21, 1996, ZTA National President noted that re-installation was “not a good idea at the time,”
although she remained optimistic for the future. Over the next few years, this became the
repeated narrative. In 1997, optimism was still evident, and ZTA attempted to gauge interest
based on statistics of unaffiliated women on campus. Nineteen ninety-eight did not present itself
as a more opportune year either: “after much consideration, Zeta Tau Alpha has decided the
factors do not favor a colonization on your campus.” In a curious and unexplained reversal of
terms, this statement implies that ZTA was making the decision not to recolonize, when in fact
politics within the Panhellenic Conference impeding re-establishment were much more critical.
An internal memorandum from the Office of Greek Affairs to ZTA notes that “our current
94
Ibid.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/slc/researchguides/greekhouses/frat-tau-zeta/thetachi.php. Accessed
7/29/2011.
95
45
members were not exactly open to another sorority coming to campus” because the market was
already “saturated.” ZTA closed because of lack of membership, which prevented them from
making quota. They were not the only organization with this problem, and another impediment
to re-installing Alpha Kappa was that they would then be competing for membership with other
fragile social organizations on campus. As 1998 came and went, however, another year passed
without reopening the chapter. Hopes were then put to 1999 with the understanding with the
University of Illinois that ZTA would have first priority if expansion were to be sanctioned.96
The new millennium did not reverse the fortunes of ZTA’s hope to re-open Alpha Kappa.
In an internal email from the university’s Office of Greek Affairs, the strong desire of ZTA to reinstate its campus presence is evident, but so are the difficulties. While “it is a big deal for
them,” the requirements of time and money seem prohibitive. In the end, “the cons against this
are easier to articulate than the pros of doing it. That’s mainly because the pros are difficult to
quantify in any way.”97 Based on this evidence, it is clear that ZTA had a difficult time making a
compelling case to the Panhellenic Conference. While the latter could point to numbers that
spoke against the value of re-installation, the former could only gesture toward vague notions of
sentimental significance and a long history that would have mattered less to others than it did to
them. In 2001, it was once again recommended that ZTA wait, although they remained “first on
the list” for new sororities on campus. To this day, ZTA has yet to neither gain the unanimous
support of the Panhellenic Conference nor garner the resources to successfully re-establish Alpha
Kappa at the University of Illinois.
96
97
Ibid.
46
Conclusion
The official history of Alpha Kappa of Zeta Tau Alpha begins in 1921 and concludes in
1993; however, the chapter’s history has a notable prologue, going back to the establishment of
the national organization and the transition of twelve University of Illinois students from
residents of the Dacia House, to Chi Delta, and finally to charter members of Alpha Kappa. The
stories in the following years show ingenuity, success, stability, and conflict. Perhaps the greatest
success of the chapter was the opening of the house at 808 Vermont Street in Urbana. This
house, built for Zeta Tau Alpha in 1928, garnered well deserved fanfare from the national
organization and admiration from campus. The notoriety the chapter gained at this time could not
be reproduced in the future. The chapter enjoyed success until around the late 1960s. At this
time, the evidence available indicates that the chapter had to deal with internal conflicts. This
internal strife, which was evidently settled over time, appears to have eventually contributed to
membership decline. This was the primary reason for the chapter’s closing in 1993. The history
of Zeta Tau Alpha at the University of Illinois also contains an epilogue, characterized by
attempts to revive Alpha Kappa and reinvent it in the process. This epilogue, however, might not
be the final word in the history of Alpha Kappa. Although efforts to discover the extent to which
the national organization is still attempting to re-open at the University of Illinois have not
yielded results, the reappearance of Alpha Kappa is not terribly unlikely. Competition has not
waned, but if the organization could cultivate a clear definition of what being a Zeta at the
University of Illinois should mean and find women to support and disseminate this idea, then
Alpha Kappa might once again find a comfortable niche on campus.
47

ZTA History - University of Illinois Archives

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