Phi Lambda Theta () was a social fraternity founded at

Pennsylvania State College The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

in 1920 for students who belonged to the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political and non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Order of Odd ...

. It was originally named Three Links.

History

November 18, 1920, is designated as Founders' Day as on that date the body first met as an organization officially recognized by the Pennsylvania College college board on fraternity affairs. The name was changed from Three Links to Phi Lambda Theta on May 11, 1922. Modification of the non-college lodge requirement was effected on September 13, 1922, and all lodge affiliations and connections were severed in January, 1924. In 1930 it was admitted to Junior membership in the

North American Interfraternity Conference The North American Interfraternity Conference (or NIC; formerly known as the National Interfraternity Conference) is an association of intercollegiate men's social fraternities that was formally organized in 1910, although it began at a meeting a ...

Chapters

These were the chapters of Phi Lambda Theta. All were active at dissolution: The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage

Dissolution

Rather than a coordinated merger strategy, dissolution of Phi Lambda Theta appears to have been a sudden rush for the door, late in the Great Depression. The Kansas State and Susquehanna chapters became chapters of

Beta Kappa Beta Kappa () was a Social Fraternity founded at Hamline University in 1901, which merged with Theta Chi in 1942. Development Beta Kappa was formed at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota on with the name The Knights of Beta Omicron Sigma ...

in through separate petitions, and the founding chapter was absorbed into

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

. Shortly after these departures the chapter at Bucknell became a local under that name. In it would join

Chi Phi Chi Phi () is considered by some as the oldest American men's college social fraternities and sororities, fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The earliest o ...

as the ''Phi Lambda Theta chapter''. Meanwhile, the Waynesburg chapter opted for

Kappa Sigma Kappa Kappa Sigma Kappa () is the name of three separate college fraternities, sharing a common history and traditions but disconnected by decades and a break in organizational continuity. The original incarnation of Kappa Sigma Kappa was formed at Vi ...

, its home for 18 years in what looked to be the fourth of the scattered nationals. But it would later withdraw from that fraternity and merge into

Theta Chi Theta Chi () is an international college fraternity. It was founded on April 10, 1856 at Norwich University then-located in Norwich, Vermont, and has initiated more than 200,000 members and currently has over 8,700 collegiate members across Nort ...

, as did the vast majority of chapters of . Thus eventually, three of 's five chapters were absorbed by Theta Chi, considering mergers.

References

{{North American Interfraternity Conference Defunct former members of the North American Interfraternity Conference Student organizations established in 1920 1920 establishments in Pennsylvania