Phi Kappa Tau

Phi Kappa Tau
ΦΚΤ
Founded	March 17, 1906 (1906-03-17) Miami University, (Oxford, Ohio)
Type	Social
Mission statement	"To champion a lifelong commitment to brotherhood, learning, ethical leadership and exemplary character."
Colors	Harvard Red and Old Gold
Flower	Red carnation
Philanthropy	Hole in the Wall Camps
Chapters	146 Chartered, 76 Active, 13 Colonies, 51 alumni associations and interest groups
Members	90,000+ initiates, 3,200 undergraduates collegiate
Headquarters	Oxford, Ohio, USA
Homepage	http://www.phikappatau.org

Phi Kappa Tau (ΦΚΤ) is a U.S. national collegiate fraternity.

History

Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity (commonly called Phi Tau) was founded in the Union Literary Society Hall of Miami University's Old Main Building in Oxford, Ohio on March 17, 1906. The four honored founders were Taylor Albert Borradaile, Clinton Dewitt Boyd, Dwight Ireneus Douglass, and William Henry Shideler.

The fraternity was founded as the Non-Fraternity Association to give Miami's non-fraternity men a voice in campus political affairs. The name was changed to Phrenocon on March 6, 1909. The two proposed names were the Miami Friends and the Miami Comrades, which were combined to form "Frenocom." "Phrenocon" was actually an alternate spelling of "Frenocom," the idea being to make the name sound more Greek.

Phrenocon became "national" in 1911 when an organization of independent men known as the Ohio University Union chose to become the Ohio University chapter of Phrenocon. Additional Phrenocon chapters were established at Ohio State University, Centre College, Mount Union College and the University of Illinois. At Miami, Phrenocon began to have difficulty retaining members by the early 1910s. Often, men would join Phrenocon, then later withdraw their membership and join Greek-letter fraternities. In fact, the Miami chapters of Delta Tau Delta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon were founded by Phrenocon members. For that reason, the Miami Chapter of Phrenocon withdrew from the National Phrenocon and adopted the name Phi Kappa Tau on March 9, 1916. The rest of the chapters agreed to the name change on December 21 of that year and invited Miami to return to the national organization as the Alpha chapter of Phi Kappa Tau. Eta Chapter at Muhlenberg College was the first chapter to charter after the change to Phi Kappa Tau.

Phi Kappa Tau has been a member since 1916 of the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) [1], a consortium of national men's social fraternities.

Philanthropy

Phi Tau's national philanthropy is the Hole in the Wall Camps founded by Phi Tau alumnus Paul Newman. In addition to annual financial contributions, Phi Kappa Tau is the single largest source of male volunteers to Hole in the Wall Camps.

Each year during the month of March, Phi Kappa Tau, holds its Founders Month of Service, emphasizing and recognizing community service among undergraduate and alumni members of the fraternity.

The Phi Kappa Tau Foundation

The Phi Kappa Tau Foundation was created in 1945 as a separate charitable organization and is one of the more successful foundations affiliated with a Greek letter organization. The Foundation's significant expansion began in 1983 with the announcement of a challenge gift of over $1-million from Ewing T. Boles, a member of fraternity's Delta Chapter at Centre College. The Boles gift was the largest gift to a fraternity or sorority foundation up until that time and became the lead gift in a $3.2-million capital campaign. That same year Boles was named an Honorary Founder by Phi Kappa Tau. Boles left an additional bequest of over $3-million to the Foundation upon his death. Boles' example has encouraged countless other gifts to the foundation and its current assets exceed $10-million.

Organization and leadership

Phi Kappa Tau chapters are organized into Resident Councils which include the current undergraduate members of a chapter and Graduate Councils made up of all members who have graduated or left school. Each council of a chapter is entitled to a vote at the National Convention, which typically meets every two years and is the highest level of authority in the organization. The convention elects a National Council which serves as a board of directors for the fraternity and governs between conventions.

Executive offices of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity and Foundation are at 5221 Morning Sun Road in Oxford, Ohio. C. Steven Hartman is the CEO, Gregory Heilmeier is National President of the Fraternity and David Ruckman is Chairman of the Phi Kappa Tau Foundation.

Phi Kappa Tau now has over 90,000 initiated members^{[citation needed]}.

Miami University at about the time of the founding of Phi Kappa Tau. "Old Main" is the twin-towered building at center.

Creed

Phi Kappa Tau, by admitting me to membership, has conferred upon me a mark of distinction in which I take just pride. I believe in the spirit of brotherhood for which it stands. I shall strive to attain its ideals, and by so doing to bring to it honor and credit. I shall be loyal to my college and my chapter and shall keep strong my ties to them that I may ever retain the spirit of youth. I shall be a good and loyal citizen. I shall try always to discharge the obligation to others which arises from the fact that I am a fraternity man.

Roland W. Maxwell (University of Southern California, 1922) National President, 1934 - 1959 November 19, 1950

Mission statement

The mission of Phi Kappa Tau is to champion a lifelong commitment to brotherhood, learning, ethical leadership, and exemplary character.

Vision

The vision of Phi Kappa Tau is to be recognized as a leadership organization that binds men together and challenges them to improve their campuses and the world.

Notable members

Members of Phi Kappa Tau have distinguished themselves in a number of fields including law and politics, the arts, medicine, business, the military, religion and education. Perhaps the fraternity's most recognizable member was the late actor and philanthropist Paul Newman. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is the fraternity's most visible political leader and from 2007 through 2010, three of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate were members. Paul Lauterbur won a Nobel Prize and two different members have been Commandants of the Marine Corps.

Main article: List of Phi Kappa Tau members

Chapters

Main article: List of Phi Kappa Tau chapters

External links

• Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity
• Phi Kappa Tau Foundation
• The phitaublog

Further information

• Anson, Jack L., The Golden Jubilee History of Phi Kappa Tau, Lawhead Press, Athens Ohio: 1957
• Ball, Charles T., From Old Main to a New Century: A History of Phi Kappa Tau, Heritage Publishers, Phoenix: 1996 ISBN 0-929690-29-X