Just stumbled across your ladies discussion about mergers,
pardon a male for interrupting
The largest merger ever was that of Theta Kappa Nu (36
active chapters of over 50 chartered) with Lambda Chi Alpha
(about 73 active chapters) in 1939. The term used was "Union"instead of merger/absorption/etc.
While the united fraternity retained the name and ritual of
LXA intact, there were some significant agreements made
to make it more a "union" than an absorption:
- TKN national officers were immediately placed on LXA's board
- Elements of TKN's coat-of-arms were added to LXA's
(center shield with lion and rose; motto at bottom VIR QUISQUE
VIR)
- TKN chapters, instead of just receiving the "next chapter
names available in the list", were given names starting
with Theta, Kappa, or Nu, in the order they were chartered
by TKN...all chapters, even those closed, were given names.
In a few cases there were some colleges that had both
LXA and TKN chapters....in that case, the LXA one was used,
but the TKN chapter name is "eternally reserved" in honor
of the TKN chapter.
- TKN chartering dates were recognized as LXA chartering
dates.
- At the time, LXA had no ritual/ceremony for becoming a
pledge...they
just gave you the pledge pin and said "wear it!" So TKN's
ritual was "condensed" (severely) into a "Pledge Ceremony"
which is still used.
- A new pledge pin: the old LXA pin (gothic arch) was placed
on a background of the old TKN badge (central triangle
overlapping three smaller ones) to get the pin used today.
- Interestingly enough, LXA and TKN found that they used
many of the same symbols, but had different secret meanings
for them. So the TKN meanings are "revealed" in the Pledge
Ceremony (now called the Associate Member Ceremony), and
the LXA ones at initiation....so many symbols on LXA's
Coat-of-Arms have 3 meanings: public/common, AM meaning
(from TKN) and initiate.
- TKN alumni were encouraged, but not required, to witness
the LXA ritual at their earliest convenience, but it was
agreed that anyone initiated by TKN's ritual was a
full-fledged LXA.
FYI,
Kevin Joiner
Lambda Chi Alpha (Kappa-Omega chapter)