Theta Kappa Nu () Fraternity was founded in 1924 by delegates from 11 local fraternities. It later merged with Lambda Chi Alpha in .

History

Theta Kappa Nu Fraternity was founded on when delegates from 11 local fraternities from nine different states united to form the new fraternity. The organizing meeting took place in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. Theta Kappa Nu had, over its first decade, become the fastest-growing fraternity until that time, chartering 40 chapters with almost 2,500 initiates by the close of 1926. The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage
Most of Theta Kappa Nu’s chapters were established at small,

private colleges Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grants. Depe ...

as local fraternities. The fraternity placed great emphasis on

academics An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, offering graduate

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

s throughout its history, even during dire financial crises.

A change of direction

The Great Depression hit small colleges, and Theta Kappa Nu very hard. Expansion nearly ceased and chapters began closing in the early 1930s. By the end of the decade, fraternity leaders realized that a merger with another fraternity was necessary to continue solvency.

Merger with Lambda Chi Alpha

Throughout its lifetime, leaders of Theta Kappa Nu had established numerous friendships with peers within

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

, whose expansion program had preferred chapters at larger institutions. Initial informal talks quickly led to a formal merger committee. In 1939, Lambda Chi Alpha merged with the Theta Kappa Nu in what was regarded as the largest fraternity merger to date. The ceremony was held in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, at Howard College (now Samford) at the home of the oldest chapter among the original founding chapters of Theta Kappa Nu, Alabama Alpha chapter, where the documents were signed. The union of Lambda Chi Alpha and Theta Kappa Nu resulted in 105 active chapters for the combined fraternity and over 27,000 initiates. Theta Kappa Nu’s heritage entered that of the united fraternity with additions to the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, the white

tudor rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists o ...

as the fraternity flower, a new pledge pin (now the associate member pin) design, a new pledge ceremony (Now the associate member) which is a condensed version of Theta Kappa Nu’s ritual, and the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

open motto ''Vir Quisque Vir'', or "Every man a man". It also brought an infusion of leadership to Lambda Chi Alpha that helped steer the united fraternity through the end of the Depression Era and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Chapters

The following chapter list is taken from ''Vir Quisque Vir'' (1936/37), the pledge manual of Theta Kappa Nu. It is augmented with the chapter designation assigned by Lambda Chi Alpha at the time of the union in 1939. Where chapters of both fraternities had been chartered at a single institution, the Lambda Chi Alpha chapter designation was retained by the merged chapter and the potential ''Theta-'' or ''Kappa-'' series designation (indicating origin as a Theta Kappa Nu chapter) was reserved (unused) to honor the origin of the former chapter. Added to the 1937 list is the

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

chapter, chartered at the last grand chapter one day before the merger with Lambda Chi Alpha took effect. Chapters that were active at the time of the merger indicated in bold, inactive chapters, or those few that did not participate in the merger, are indicated by ''italics''. *- some inactive dates taken from a July 1939 short special edition of ''The Theta News''.

References

External links

ΘΚΝ HistoryUnion of ΘΚΝ and ΛΧΑTheta Kappa Nu's Fifth Grand Chapter
{{North American Interfraternity Conference 1924 establishments in Missouri Lambda Chi Alpha Student societies in the United States 1939 disestablishments in Alabama Student organizations established in 1924 Defunct former members of the North American Interfraternity Conference