Founders of Kappa Alpha Theta in 1870
History
In 1867, Indiana Asbury (now Depauw University) allowed women to enroll into the college. The women were taunted and ignored by classmates and teachers due to their gender. Just two years after the end of the Civil War, women were still thought to be working in the home instead of receiving an education. History then changed after Bettie Locke, the second woman admitted to Indiana Asbury, had a vision about the community of women on campus.
Belonging
Bettie believed in creating an organization where women would be more encouraged to seek a college education. She wanted to base this organization on the fraternity ideas in order to unite young women in common goals, a lasting loyalty and ideals of the organization.
Bettie's father was a member of Beta Theta Pi and brother was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. When a friend from her brother's fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, gave Bettie his badge to wear as a token of their friendship with the fraternity, she ended up not accepting. Her reasoning was that she would not wear a badge if she could not know the secrets and purposes that the badge symbolized.
Bettie's father was a member of Beta Theta Pi and brother was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. When a friend from her brother's fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, gave Bettie his badge to wear as a token of their friendship with the fraternity, she ended up not accepting. Her reasoning was that she would not wear a badge if she could not know the secrets and purposes that the badge symbolized.
The Idea
Alice Allen was one of Bettie's closest friends and was one of the first to know Bettie's dream of creating a women's fraternity. They then chose Hannah Fitch and Bettie Tipton with careful consideration to be members of their fraternity. These four women then made up the founders of Kappa Alpha Theta.
Analysis
The history behind the struggles that Bettie Locke and the other women had to face reflects onto the women in the fraternity today. The founding ladies passion and dedication to the ideals of the fraternity continue to be expressed through a family of women striving for the benefits of women.
Kappa Alpha Theta emblem