History

Our National History:

The Creed of Alpha Tau Omega

The Founders of Alpha Tau Omega

The Founders of Alpha Tau Omega

To bind men together in a brotherhood based upon eternal and immutable principles, with a bond as strong as right itself, and as lasting as humanity; to know no north, no south, no east, no west, but to know man as man, to teach that true men the world over should stand together and contend for supremacy of good over evil; to teach not politics, but morals; to foster not partisanship, but the recognition of true merit wherever found; to have no narrower limits within which to work together for the elevation of man than the outlines of the world; these were the thoughts and hopes uppermost in the minds of the founders of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.

- Otis Allan Glazebrook, 1880

THE FACTS

  • ATO was founded by Otis Allan Glazebrook, Erskine Mayo Ross and Alfred Marshall, at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 upon Christian-not Greek-principles.
  • ATO was not established in imitation of or in opposition to any existing fraternity.
  • The ATO Foundation was officially recognized in June of 1935 at the 34th Congress in Memphis, Tenn.
  • The LeaderShape Institute, Inc. was created in 1986 by Alpha Tau Omega, and is considered one of the finest leadership skills training programs in the country.
  • ATO was honored by the Smithsonian Institute for innovative use of technology with an award for Information Technology in the field of Government and Non-Profit Organizations in June 1995. The award was given for ATO’s innovative use of CompuServe as a communications tool.
  • After more than 84 years with its national office in Champaign, Ill., the ATO National Headquarters moved to Indianapolis,Ind., on December 13, 1995.
  • ATO annually ranks among the top ten national fraternities for number of chapters and total number of members. ATO has more than 240 active and inactive chapters with more than 181,000 members and more than 6,500 undergraduate members.
  • The ATO Foundation provides more than $150,000 in annual scholarships to members-including scholarships to attend the LeaderShape Institute, Inc.
  • Alpha Tau Omega is a participating member in the National Interfraternity Conference, the Fraternity Executives Association, the College Fraternity Editors Association, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, FIPG, Inc., and the Fraternal Risk Management Trust.
  • In 1950 Indiana University Worthy Master Robert Lollar created “Help Week” setting the pledges to doing good deeds around campus and replacing the traditional “Hell Week.”

THE FIRSTS

  • ATO was the first fraternity founded after the Civil War in 1865, striving to heal the wounds created by the devastating war and help reunite the North and South.
  • ATO was the first fraternity founded as a national fraternity.
  • The first meeting of ATO was at 114 E. Clay St. in Richmond, Va., where Glazebrook read the Constitution of ATO to Marshall and Ross for the first time.
  • The first chapter north of the Mason-Dixon line, was chartered at the University of Pennsylvania 16 years after the founding of ATO, helping to bring a realization to the founders’ dreams.
  • In 1880, the ATO chapter at the University of the South (Sewanee) became the first of any fraternity in the South to have a chapter house.
  • ATO’s first fraternity west of the Rockies and first of any fraternity in the Northwest was at Oregon State University in 1882.
  • Thomas Arkle Clark, the first initiate of the Gamma Zeta chapter at the University of Illinois, was the nation’s first collegiate dean of men.
  • The first World War I Medal of Honor was given to Captain C. L. Irwin, Wyoming ’13, as one of the first American heroes mentioned in dispatches to the U.S.
  • ATO was the first national fraternity to start a chapter free of alcohol and tobacco on fraternity property.
  • ATO was the first national fraternity to sponsor and conduct coeducational leadership conferences nationwide in 1992.
  • ATO was the first fraternity to implement a spiritual development program.
  • ATO was the first to develop and implement a member success initiative

THE SYMBOLS

  • The ATO Badge was designed by Otis Allan Glazebrook in 1865 and is worn by the initiate.
  • The Grand Seal was painted in 1872 by VMI Arts Instructor Richard N. Burke.
  • The White Tea Rose became the ATO Flower in 1892.
  • The Coat of Arms was redesigned and approved by committee in 1910.
  • The ATO Flag was designed by William C. Smiley and approved in 1914.
  • Colors: Azure and Gold.
  • Nickname: Taus, Alpha Taus, ATOs

Our Local History:

In 1977 Baylor University officially allowed national fraternal organizations to affiliate on the Baylor campus. The university already had several social and service organizations and each of these began to seek membership with national organizations. The Kappa Sigma Chi service group chose to partner with the Alpha Tau Omega national fraternity. The Kappa Sigma Chi group at Baylor University was originally established in 1953 as a Circle- K social service men’s organization. Circle- K is affiliated with the Kiwanis national service organization. In 1975, Kiwanis International became a coed organization and in turn all Circle K chapters in the nations became coed. At that time, the current membership of Baylor Circle K withdrew its affiliation with Kiwanis and became an independent social-service organization and chose the name of Kappa Sigma Chi. In 1976, after much investigating and searching, Kappa Sigma Chi approached the Alpha Tau Omega National Fraternity for affiliation and colonization because they shared similar goals, and values of leadership, service, and academic excellence. After a year of colonization, the Texas Theta Nu chapter was charted with 82 charter member and 2 charter alumni on May 7, 1977. The Texas Theta Nu Chapter remained active from 1977-1994 bringing home True Merit Recognitions from ATO National in 1978, 1983, 1984, 1989 and 1990. In 1989, the ATO National Chapter Advisor of the Year was awarded to Chapter Advisor Bill Dube. However, in 1994 the chapter was closed by the Alpha Tau Omega’s National Headquarters due to a risk management violation.

Alpha Tau Omega expressed interest to Baylor University that they would like to return their organization to the campus. At this juncture, the university coordinated with Alpha Tau Omega in starting an interest group and developing the idea further. At this same time a group of seven men had expressed an interest to Baylor and Alpha Tau Omega in bringing a chapter to the university; and this group of men became the interest group. This group consisted of Aditya Malhotra, Drew Snyder, Graham Gourley, Jonathan Fant, Kirk Marshall, John Byrne, and Thomas Cemo. They were put into contact with Mr. Bill Dube, a former ATO advisor and Baylor faculty member. Then they were put into contact Mr. Lance Jones, Director of Expansion for Alpha Tau Omega, who met with them to assess their level of interest and ability. After accepting these men as the formal interest group Mr. Jones began to discuss colonization with the men. With the enormous help of Mr. Bill Dube and Mr. Lance Jones they immediately developed a recruitment plan in order to find other men of true merit to form the colony. With the help of several alumni the interest group was able to host four recruitment events during the fall semester of 2004. At the conclusion of the recruitment cycle Mr. Jones and the interest group brought in twenty-seven men to make up the Baylor colony. On February 7, 2003 the group of thirty-five men were joined by alumni, faculty, Mr. Dube, and Mr. Jones and officially colonized.

The colony met for their colony retreat with Mr. Jones on February 7, 2004 in order to teach them about the organization and to develop a set of goals for which the colony could complete. At this retreat the colony was introduced to its executive council selected by Mr. Jones and the original interest group members. The Executive Council was made up of: Martin Davis- President; Aditya Malhotra- Vice President; John Byrne- Chaplain; Alec Ylitalo- Treasurer; Kirk Marshall- Secretary; Drew Snyder- Sergeant at Arms; Michael Halloran- Historian; Christopher Deonarine- Doorkeeper; and Freeman Field- Risk Management Officer. The Colony also elected committee chairmen and made preparations for a second recruitment cycle during the fall of 2004.

The second recruitment cycle started in April of 2004 after a recruitment seminar hosted by two National Leadership Consultants. The recruitment chairman and his committee executed the event planning and recruitment goals set forth during the recruitment seminar. On April 16, 2004 the Baylor Colony inducted thirteen new members to the founding father class. The total number of members at the end of the 2003/2004 school year was 48.

During this period of colonization the Baylor Colony was extremely successful at creating a presence on campus. They networked with the university’s administration and gained support from the Dean of Student life, Dub Oliver; the Vice President of Student Life, Eileen Hulme; Director of Fraternities, Kevin McCord; and University President, Robert Sloan. Each of these administrators addressed the colony in formal meetings and several were present for the second colonization.

Scholastically our colony established itself as one of the finest organizations on campus. During our first semester as colony we had a cumulative GPA of 3.2. This accomplishment placed us at the top of Baylor’s Greek community and near the top, 8th overall, among ATO chapters.

In the Fall, the colony participated in rush and added 16 new members to our membership. The colony spent the fall working on the charter petition along with Director of Expansion, Jonathan Manz. This all led up to the re-chartering of the Texas Theta Nu Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega on Saturday, January 8, 2005, at First Baptist Church, Waco, Texas. Alumni and initiates joined representative from the ATO National office and National Board of Trustees, as well as ATO brother from other chapters in Texas and Oklahoma. Sixty undergraduates and one special initiate (Lee A. James BU’74) met in the fellowship hall of First Baptist Church for breakfast hosted by Jim and Peggy Hudson prior to the initiation ceremony. Bill Muir, ATO National Secretary, served as chaplain in the initiation ceremony and had been present at the original charter on May 7, 1977. Later that evening, Wynn Smiley, Executive Director of the ATO National Fraternity, presided over the charter banquet held in the Barfield Drawing Room in the Bill Daniel Student Center—-the same location of the original charter banquet in 1977. During the banquet the chapter announced the establishment of the William J. Dube, III/Texas Theta Nu Alumni Award for Outstanding Service by alumni and presented the first awards to Glen Guthrie, Jim Hudson and Keith Jaehne for their outstanding service and support of the chapter during the past year of colonization. Approximately 160 members, alumni, administration and parents attended the banquet. The ATO National Office presented the chapter with the original charter (re-framed) and a framed certificate that recognized the 60 re-founding fathers.