Phi Kappa Tau
Encyclopedia
Phi Kappa Tau is a U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
national collegiate fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
.
History
Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity (commonly called Phi TauPhi Tau (disambiguation)
Phi Tau is a local, coeducational fraternity at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.Phi Tau may also refer to: as a ryan mack...
) was founded in the Union Literary Society Hall of Miami University's
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
Old Main Building in Oxford, Ohio
Oxford, Ohio
Oxford is a city in northwestern Butler County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern portion of the state. It lies in Oxford Township, originally called the College Township. The population was 21,943 at the 2000 census. This college town was founded as a home for Miami University. Oxford...
on March 17, 1906. The four honored founders were Taylor Albert Borradaile
Taylor A. Borradaile
Taylor Albert Borradaile was an American chemist and one of four founders and the first president of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.Borradaile was born near Camden, Ohio into a prominent local Quaker family...
, Clinton Dewitt Boyd
Clinton D. Boyd
Clinton DeWitt Boyd was a Middletown, Ohio attorney, Common Pleas judge and politician and was one of four founders of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity as an undergraduate at Miami University....
, Dwight Ireneus Douglass
Dwight I. Douglass
Dwight Ireneus Douglass was an American mining engineer and short story writer who was one of four founders of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity in 1906....
, and William Henry Shideler
William H. Shideler
William Henry "Doc" Shideler was an American geologist who was founder and longtime chair of the department of geology at Miami University and was a founder of the national college fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau.-Early life and education:His family moved to Hamilton, Ohio, when he was quite young...
.
The fraternity was founded as the Non-Fraternity Association to give Miami's non-fraternity men a voice in campus political affairs. The name was changed to Phrenocon on March 6, 1909. The two proposed names were the Miami Friends and the Miami Comrades, which were combined to form "Frenocom." "Phrenocon" was actually an alternate spelling of "Frenocom," the idea being to make the name sound more Greek.
Phrenocon became "national" in 1911 when an organization of independent men known as the Ohio University Union chose to become the Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
chapter of Phrenocon. Additional Phrenocon chapters were established at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, Centre College
Centre College
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, USA, a community of approximately 16,000 in Boyle County south of Lexington, KY. Centre is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution. Centre was founded by Presbyterian leaders, with whom it maintains a loose...
, Mount Union College
Mount Union College
The University of Mount Union is a 4-year private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Alliance, Ohio.Mount Union enrolls 2200 undergraduates. Approximately 50 percent are women and 50 percent are men, representing more than 22 states and 13 countries. Mount Union has an active alumni base of...
and the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. At Miami, Phrenocon began to have difficulty retaining members by the early 1910s. Often, men would join Phrenocon, then later withdraw their membership and join Greek-letter fraternities. In fact, the Miami chapters of Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...
and Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
were founded by Phrenocon members. For that reason, the Miami Chapter of Phrenocon withdrew from the National Phrenocon and adopted the name Phi Kappa Tau on March 9, 1916. The rest of the chapters agreed to the name change on December 21 of that year and invited Miami to return to the national organization as the Alpha chapter of Phi Kappa Tau. Eta Chapter at Muhlenberg College
Muhlenberg College
Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America.- History...
was the first chapter to charter after the change to Phi Kappa Tau.
Phi Kappa Tau has been a member since 1916 of the North-American Interfraternity Conference
North-American Interfraternity Conference
The North-American Interfraternity Conference , is an association of collegiate men's fraternities that was formally organized in 1910, although it began on November 27, 1909. The power of the organization rests in a House of Delegates where each member fraternity is represented by a single delegate...
(NIC) http://www.nicindy.org, a consortium of national men's social fraternities
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
.
Philanthropy and educational foundation
Phi Tau's national philanthropyPhilanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
is the Hole in the Wall Camps
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Connecticut is a non-profit, residential summer camp and year-round center serving children and their families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses and conditions.-History:...
founded by Phi Tau alumnus Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
. In addition to annual financial contributions, Phi Kappa Tau is the single largest source of male volunteers to Hole in the Wall Camps.
Each year during the month of March, Phi Kappa Tau, holds its Founders Month of Service, emphasizing and recognizing community service among undergraduate and alumni members of the fraternity.
The Phi Kappa Tau Foundation was created in 1945 as a separate charitable organization and is one of the more successful foundations affiliated with a Greek letter organization. The Foundation's significant expansion began in 1983 with the announcement of a challenge gift of over $1-million from Ewing T. Boles
Ewing T. Boles
Ewing Thomas Boles was an American investment banker and philanthropist who served as president, CEO and chairman of the Ohio Company ....
, a member of fraternity's Delta Chapter at Centre College
Centre College
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, USA, a community of approximately 16,000 in Boyle County south of Lexington, KY. Centre is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution. Centre was founded by Presbyterian leaders, with whom it maintains a loose...
. The Boles gift was the largest gift to a fraternity or sorority foundation up until that time and became the lead gift in a $3.2-million capital campaign. That same year Boles was named an Honorary Founder by Phi Kappa Tau. Boles left an additional bequest of over $3-million to the Foundation upon his death. Boles' example has encouraged countless other gifts to the foundation and its current asset
Current asset
In accounting, a current asset is an asset on the balance sheet which can either be converted to cash or used to pay current liabilities within 12 months...
s exceed $10-million.
Organization and leadership
Phi Kappa Tau chapters are organized into Resident Councils which include the current undergraduate members of a chapter and Graduate Councils made up of all members who have graduated or left school. Each council of a chapter is entitled to a vote at the National Convention, which typically meets every two years and is the highest level of authority in the organization. The convention elects a National Council which serves as a board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
for the fraternity and governs between conventions.
Executive offices of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity and Foundation are at 5221 Morning Sun Road in Oxford, Ohio. C. Steven Hartman is the CEO, Gregory Heilmeier is National President of the Fraternity and David Ruckman is Chairman of the Phi Kappa Tau Foundation.
Phi Kappa Tau now has over 90,000 initiated members .
Creed
Phi Kappa Tau, by admitting me to membership, has conferred upon me a mark of distinction in which I take just pride. I believe in the spirit of brotherhood for which it stands. I shall strive to attain its ideals, and by so doing to bring to it honor and credit. I shall be loyal to my college and my chapter and shall keep strong my ties to them that I may ever retain the spirit of youth. I shall be a good and loyal citizen. I shall try always to discharge the obligation to others which arises from the fact that I am a fraternity man.Roland W. Maxwell (University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, 1922)
National President, 1934 - 1959
November 19, 1950
Mission statement
The mission of Phi Kappa Tau is to champion a lifelong commitment to brotherhood, learning, ethical leadership, and exemplary character.Vision
The vision of Phi Kappa Tau is to be recognized as a leadership organization that binds men together and challenges them to improve their campuses and the world.Notable members
Members of Phi Kappa Tau have distinguished themselves in a number of fields including law and politics, the arts, medicine, business, the military, religion and education. Perhaps the fraternity's most recognizable member was the late actor and philanthropist Paul NewmanPaul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell
Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky and the Republican Minority Leader.- Early life, education, and military service :...
is the fraternity's most visible political leader and from 2007 through 2010, three of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate were members. Paul Lauterbur
Paul Lauterbur
Paul Christian Lauterbur was an American chemist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 with Peter Mansfield for his work which made the development of magnetic resonance imaging possible.Dr...
won a Nobel Prize and two different members have been Commandants of the Marine Corps.
Further information
- Anson, Jack L.Jack L. AnsonJack Lee Anson was an important leader in the American college interfraternity movement, and was known as "Mr...
, The Golden Jubilee History of Phi Kappa Tau, Lawhead Press, Athens Ohio: 1957 - Ball, Charles T., From Old Main to a New Century: A History of Phi Kappa Tau, Heritage Publishers, Phoenix: 1996 ISBN 0-929690-29-X