| |
|
|
|
East College was the center of DePauw in 1885. It is here that our founders saw the colors of scarlet and olive green in the autumn foliage and declared them to be our colors. |
|
MeHarry Hall, inside East College, was the sight of the public unveiling of Alpha Chi Omega on October 15, 1885. Our founders paraded through the hall with ribbons of scarlet and olive green trailing from their dresses. |
The bell tower of the Performing Arts Center at DePauw is dedicated to the founders of Alpha Chi Omega. Originally founded as a music sorority, the founding women of Alpha Chi highly valued the arts. This is still reflected in the sorority's philanthropical commitment to the McDowell Colony for artists.
|
Traditions
Our Name:
Alpha Chi Omega’s Founders chose “Alpha,” the first letter of the Greek alphabet, because they were forming the first fraternity in the school of music. Since they thought they might also be founding the last such fraternity, “Omega” seemed appropriate because it meant end. “Kai,” meaning “and,” was added to form the beginning and the end. “Kai” was soon changed to “Chi,” a letter of the Greek alphabet.
Our Colors:
Alpha Chi Omega’s colors of scarlet and olive green were chosen to commemorate the Fraternity’s autumn founding in Greencastle, Indiana.
Our Flower:
Alpha Chi Omega’s flower is the red carnation, exemplifying the Fraternity’s colors.
Open Motto:
Alpha Chi Omega’s open motto is: “Together let us seek the heights.”
Our Badge:
Our Founders chose the lyre of Alpha Chi Omega after much research. The design that appealed most to the Founders was a replica of the harp because it seemed in keeping with their musical interests. Not quite satisfied, though, they turned to Greek mythology where they found that the first instrument played by the gods on Mt. Olympus was a lyre. The original badge was purchased by Founder Bertha Deniston and is now in the Fraternity archives at Headquarters.
Our Pin:
The stick pin, which is worn with the lyre badge, is diamond-shaped with the top half enameled in scarlet and the bottom in olive green. It features a lyre across its face.
Our Coat of Arms:
The coat of arms includes a square shield, a crest, and a scroll. The shield is red, cut by a bar of olive green. The first section of the shield displays an open book in gold; at the base is a sheaf of wheat, also in gold. The bar has three white stars. The crest, a lyre bird, is in its natural color. The scroll at the bottom bears our open motto, “Together let us seek the heights.”
Our Poem
In the days of 1880
That was many years ago
The requirements of a maiden
Were to cook and clean and sew. |
But there were some there who dared to break
The fetters that enslaved
And seek an education. Thus,
the way for us was paved. |
At an Indiana college,
DePauw is now the name,
Seven enterprising maidens
to its halls of learning came. |
The obstacles they battled,
Very few would dare to try,
But they had a wondrous vision,
known to us as Alpha Chi. |
Five other women's unions
of Greek fraternal kind
had just come into being
When this new one was designed. |
The seven maidens surveyed the five
We know as Alpha Phi
and Kappa, Theta, Gamma Phi,
along with Delta G. |
But none of the other sororities
Were what the seven wanted.
They searched and hoped and planned that year
With spirit never daunted. |
They told their problems to a pair
Of gentlemen they knew,
and asked their kind assistance
In the thing they planned to do. |
Now one of these two gentlemen
Was a well-known music dean
Whose interest in their problem
Was purposeful and keen. |
The other was an undergrad
A Beta Theta Pi,
Who worked and helped to lay the plans
for what's now Alpha Chi. |
At last the plans were completed
And the great announcement came.
The thing remaining to be done
Was the choosing of a name. |
They thought and thought, they tried and tried
Greek letter combinations, but
All the ones they conceived
Lacked proper inspiration. |
They knew in their affection
Their sorority was the first,
But in choosing the other letters,
They arrived from bad to worse. |
The first Greek letter Alpha
They chose at the beginning.
But what to go beside it
Almost caused a scoreless inning. |
The Alpha and Omega
Looked so wonderful together
Then each in turn they visualized
And seven brains they racked. |
The time was autumn and the air
Was crisp, and hearts were free,
And as they sat there pondering,
Beneath a maple tree, |
"That's it" they cried as falling leaves
Were swirling overhead.
Two fell to earth, one olive green,
The other scarlet red. |
The badge came next and it must be
a pin beyond compare.
A pin that through the ages
Chosen ones with pride will wear. |
It must express the spirit
of fraternal bond and love,
The kind the Greeks of ancient times
Perceived from up above. |
The instrument of harmony
Upon whose strings were played
The odes from Mount Olympus
That Orpheus once made |
Were chosen as the symbol
To feel fraternal fire
And keep the bonds of love aglow,
The ever-golden lyre. |
Thus grew our great fraternity
from such a simple start.
Our numbers grew, our chapters, too,
In every distant part. |
And so today you find us
Alpha Chis on every hand
From East to West, from North to South,
Throughout this mighty land. |
|
