With members pledging and graduating each year, most Greek houses have an institutional memory that is relatively short. But with its 75th anniversary approaching, Alpha Theta coed fraternity is making an effort to delve deep into its rich history.
Chris Robinson '86 and Geoffrey Bronner '91, historians for the house, have compiled an extensive house history using previous accounts and the 1958 pledge manual.
With alumni as well-known as former College President John Sloan Dickey and History Professor Jere Daniell, the project is of interest to the fraternity's members as well as the average Dartmouth student.
Alpha Theta was originally incorporated in June of 1921 by seven students. The house was a chapter of the Theta Chi national house corporation and eventually took on the name of Theta Chi so that the chapter could have a home at Dartmouth.
The house was immediately intertwined with the history of Dartmouth when Dickey, a member of the Class of 1929, joined Theta Chi in his junior year.
Within two weeks, Dickey volunteered to go a Theta Chi national convention in Indianapolis.
There he secured funds from a rich Theta Chi alumnus critical to the survival of the house. Upon his return to Hanover, Dickey was made president of the house.
Theta Chi was a popular house on campus until February, 1934, when a gas leak caused by the coal furnace in the basement of the house killed nine brothers.
In 1939 it was decided that the Theta Chi house would have to be torn down and a new structure built for the fraternity to survive. The current physical plant of the house was built in 1940, except for a small section of the basement, known to members of the house as "Appalachia".
House lore maintains that this room, the only remaining structure from the original Theta Chi house, is haunted by the nine men who died in 1934.
Supposed sightings of the supernatural nature have occurred in "Appalachia" as recently as a few years ago.
In 1952, during his term as College president, Dickey called on all Greek houses to write to their national chapters and express displeasure with the racial and religious biases that the national chapters forced the houses to hold when accepting new members.
Though Theta Chi originally failed to comply with Dickey's mandate, the house decided in 1952 that in order to avoid bias in accepting pledges it go local and split with the national chapter.
At that time, Theta Chi became Alpha Theta, a local fraternity with the power to have men of all races and religions join the house.
Daniell said that while an undergraduate at the College he "group-rushed" the house with eight friends, a few of whom were Jewish.
Alpha Theta "was a magnet for liberal folk," Daniell said. "People liked the idea that they had taken a stand."
In 1972, Alpha Theta went coeducational along with Dartmouth, as did five other fraternities on campus, Robinson said.
But four years later in 1976, the house returned to being a male-only house.
Alpha Theta President Robert Puckett '97 attributed the switch to the unequal treatment of women in the house.
In the spring of 1979, Alpha Theta made another change, A group of freshmen block-rushed the house and made it coed again, as it has remained.
Puckett said he considers coeducation a great strength for the house.
Alpha Theta bridges "a gender gap on campus that is exacerbated by the fraternity and sorority system. There will be no gender equity until we no longer have bifurcation of social space," he said.
In celebration of its 75th anniversary, Alpha Theta plans to host a talk by Daniell on the history of Dartmouth and Alpha Theta. Puckett said the house is also planning for a birthday party for the house later in the year, as well as smaller social events on a weekly basis.