Theta Phi Alpha

Founding Father Edward D. Kelly (later bishop), a pastor of the student chapel at the University of Michigan saw a need for Catholic women to have a place to go for socialization and friendship. From this need, he started the women's fraternity Omega Upsilon in 1909 for Catholic women. Several women students were originally very interested in joining, partly because Catholics were not always welcome in the other Greek-letter sororities on campus. By founding this new Greek letter organization, Catholic women had fraternity life open to them. By the spring of 1912, Omega Upsilon was failing financially and membership was low. Father Kelly requested the assistance of Amelia McSweeney, who graduated from the university in 1898. Amelia and other alumnae of Omega Upsilon began actively to redesign the failing organization. Throughout the summer of 1912, the ten founders prepared for the new organization. Pi Lambda Sigma at the time of the merger had four chapters that joined Theta Phi Alpha: their chapters at Boston University and University of Cincinnati merged with the Theta Phi Alpha chapters present there; the chapter at Creighton University became Chi chapter of Theta Phi Alpha; and the one at Quincy College became Psi chapter. The fraternity initiated the national president of Pi Lambda Sigma at the 1952 convention and welcomed all Pi Lambda Sigma sisters to become Theta Phi Alpha sisters. 1970s–1980s In 1969, Theta Phi Alpha hit a chapter count of 18 with the loss of Rho at Penn State. At the National Convention in 1972, Theta Phi Alpha began considering expansion to Junior and two-year colleges. Two years after this consideration, only ten chapters (Epsilon, Kappa, Sigma, Upsilon, Chi, Alpha Gamma, Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Iota, and newly installed Alpha Mu (Northern Kentucky University) and Alpha Nu (General Motors Institute)) were represented at the convention. This chapter count was well below the required number for membership in NPC. At the following convention in 1976, the Fraternity began discussing options of dissolution, merger, or commitment to growth. The chapter count began to grow over the next four years with the reinstatement of three chapters (Alpha Beta, Alpha Xi, Alpha Zeta) until 1981 NPC notified Theta Phi Alpha they were placed in Associate Member Status due to low chapter count. The Fraternity had until 1987 to obtain 14 active chapters, the youngest had to be two years active. Due to its associate status and financial strain, Theta Phi Alpha gave up its spot as NPC treasurer in rotation for NPC Chairmanship. This also hindered the organization from acting as Vice Chairman for the following two years, and finally Chairman. Despite this setback, Theta Phi Alpha was committed to expansion. Over the subsequent six years, the fraternity gained eleven chapters and was granted full membership status in NPC in 1987. 1990s Looking into the new millennium, the conversation on a national level turned to the role of religion in ritual. In 1968, Theta Phi opened its doors to women of all faiths and replaced the crucifix used in rituals with a cross. In 1988, there was a discussion of removing the cross in ritual. The discussion was tabled during the convention but it was decided that the cross would have a less prominent role in ritual In 1990, Theta Phi Alpha surveyed the sisters about the Catholic influences in the ritual. The most positive response was to adjust the ritual to match the current views of the national fraternity, while the most negative response was to remove all references to God in the ritual. This dissonance between the sisters is still discussed today. However, Theta Phi Alpha has slowly removed religious aspects, in 1990 the ''Lord's Prayer was removed from the ritual. In 1992, the Theta Phi Alpha Prayer was removedand the following year a less religious ritual for deceased members and a nonreligious national philanthropy, The House that Theta Phi Alpha Built'' was introduced. Other efforts were made to create a new national identity during this time. In 2003, the logo and tagline were developed. At this time, the fraternity was also looking to honor its history as a singing fraternity. In 2010, a national songbook was developed and a CD with the songs called Everlasting Melodies was given out as grab bag gifts at the National Convention. During this time there was also an interest to strengthen existing chapters, now that the fraternity was in good standings with NPC. The fraternity began to develop programs to increase the leadership abilities of each chapter. These efforts included instating the leadership conference in 1991 as well as developing standards for sisters as well as new members. The standards for new members were focused on new member education through the development of a program called My Sister, My Friend. The fraternity also created Leadership Consultants to advise chapters throughout the country. The fraternity also began to look at risk management concerning hazing and alcohol abuse in 1987. In 1993, a national risk management and chapter operation manual was created. In 1998, the majority of chapters fell below the minimum chapter size, were in violation of hazing or alcohol policies, or did not meet financial obligations. This sparked the establishment of many programs such as Compass Point and Reflections to help chapters grow and look at chapter life. The National Office also began to improve communication through the development of a national website. In 2003, a fine was instated for chapters with membership numbers under the campus total number of girls possible to recruit for its campus. This controversial fine was created to keep chapters active in recruitment. The following year a GPA minimum and value-based recruitment system were put in place as a way to strengthen chapter membership. Theta Phi Alpha approved the expansion of its Grand Council from five to seven members in 2006 to have more of a focus on chapter assistance. == Founders ==