Omicron Alpha Tau () was an historically Jewish fraternity founded in 1912. It merged with

Tau Delta Phi Tau Delta Phi (), whose members are commonly known as Tau Delts, is a national Fraternities and sororities in North America, social fraternity founded on , in New York City. Since its inception, dozens of chapters have been founded and thousands o ...

in 1934.

History

Omicron Alpha Tau was founded at Cornell University in the Spring of 1912. No intention at this time was made to forming a Greek Letter Fraternity which would develop into a national. Founders were Joseph Seidlin, James Castelle, Jack Grossman, Benjamin Brickman, Nat Shiren, Jules Jokel, Abraham Haibloom. The fraternity remained a local fraternity until 1915 when David Browman founded a second chapter at the College of Dental and Oral Surgery of New York. Growth continued through New York, extending to eastern and southern schools. Its first Midwest chapter was established in 1924 at Valparaiso. An international branch at

McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...

in Montreal was established in 1927 as ''Rho chapter'', with additional Midwestern chapters established at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, also in 1927. The Marquette chapter was formed in 1928 as the Fraternity's ''Upsilon chapter''. This Marquette unit may have been the last chapter formed; Baird's notes "at least 18 chapters were installed", ending its list with ''Upsilon'', but the 1930 edition of ''The Illio'' notes there were 21 chapters as of its publication. Baird's notes that several chapters died in the early Depression, predicating national dissolution. In 1934,

absorbed the chapters at Rutgers, NYU, Marquette and Cornell. The chapter at Syracuse was absorbed by

Phi Epsilon Pi The Phi Epsilon Pi () fraternity, active between 1904 and 1970 with a predominantly Jewish membership, was founded in New York City and eventually opened at least 48 chapters on college campuses across the United States and one in Canada. After se ...

and the chapter at the University of Pennsylvania by Phi Beta Delta. The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage

Symbolism and traditions

The colors of the Fraternity were orange and blue.As noted i
''The Record'' yearbook for Valparaiso University, 1930
accessed 2 Apr 2021. The Fraternity's flower was the Goldenrod. Omicron Alpha Tau was particularly known for their houses having adherence to traditional

Jewish dietary laws (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), from ...

. Several chapters maintained kosher kitchens. It was known at Cornell as "the most Jewish of fraternities." One of the songs of the Fraternity was "Onward Our O.A.T.":

Magazine

The Fraternity's magazine, as of 1923, was called the ''OAT Digest'' and was distributed monthly. Later, the magazine's name was changed to ''The Oath'' issued three times a year.

Conventions

*9th -

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

- April 28, 1935

Honorary members

David Sarnoff David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career, he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly afte ...

Radio Personalities 1935 - p142
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Chapter list

The Chapters of Omicron Alpha Tau include:

Notes

References

{{North American Interfraternity Conference Defunct former members of the North American Interfraternity Conference Student organizations established in 1912 Historically Jewish fraternities in the United States 1912 establishments in New York (state) Jewish organizations established in 1912