Theta Question!!!

[AZTheta]

thanks for asking, 33girl. Here's the official version, taken from the official Theta website:

"Bettie Locke—the daughter of a professor—was among the first women to enroll at Indiana Asbury in 1867. During her sophomore year, a member of one of the Greek-letter fraternities asked Bettie to wear their badge. When she learned, however, she would not become a member—simply a welcomed supporter of the group—she declined the opportunity."

The unofficial version is that Bettie Locke's brother was a Phi Gamma Delta and his fraternity asked her to be a supporter, a "mascot" as it were. No way, Bettie replied (politely of course); if she couldn't be fully initiated into the fraternity, she would not wear the badge or be a mascot. There's much more to this story, including a silver cake basket that was given to the founders of Kappa Alpha Theta by the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta.

Here's what's commonly found on many Theta websites (this one comes from a Texas page)

"To be sure, there were societies for women before 1867, and some of these had secret rituals with badges, passwords, mottos, and other symbols. But in 1870, Theta became the first women's Greek-letter fraternity because its primary founder, Bettie Locke, wanted full membership in a male fraternity. When the men asked her to wear their fraternity badge as a "mascot," she responded, "If you won't initiate me into your fraternity, I'll start my own." Thus Kappa Alpha Theta was established on January 27, 1870."

Again, the Phi Gamma Delta website has some great stories/history on the early days of Kappa Alpha Theta, including a delightful (if apochryphal) story about the first wearing of the Theta badge.

Long story short: we have no mascot. Bettie Locke was, IMO, a proud and fiercely independent woman who was way ahead of her time.

[IrishLake]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

Long story short: we have no mascot.

I don't care for it when I see it listed that a "Cat" is our mascot. I'm sure some chapters consider it their unofficial mascot... but that is a individual chapter thing, does not apply to everyone. A Cat has no significance to me, aside from "Cats" (the broadway musical) was the theme of the skit round during rush my freshman year.