Kappa Pi Kappa

This article is about the real-life fraternity. For the fictional sorority, see MADtv recurring characters.

Tri-Kap, view from front lawn looking west.

Kappa Kappa Kappa (Tri-Kap) is a local men's fraternity at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fraternity founded in 1842 is the second-oldest fraternity at Dartmouth College and the second-oldest local fraternity in the nation. Its house is at 1 Webster Avenue.

Despite offers to establish additional branches at other institutions, the brotherhood has remained a single-school institution for the duration of its history and is not a chapter of any national organization. Today it is one of the many recognized Dartmouth College Greek organizations.

The organization has no affiliation with the later post American Civil War Ku Klux Klan, which first formed 24 years later (in 1866) and adopted Roman-alphabet initials, “KKK”, similar to the Greek letters of Tri-Kap. According to legend, Kappa Kappa Kappa sued the Ku Klux Klan for defamation of name but lost because the judge ruled that the similarity in initials of the organizations was sheer coincidence. File:Headertrikap.gif

History

Early history

Dartmouth College was founded by Eleazar Wheelock in 1769. Fourteen years later the first student society came into existence, and student societies and the College have been intertwined ever since.

For much of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, two societies vied for preeminence: the "Socials" (officially the Society of Social Friends, est. 1783) and the "Fraters" (the United Fraternity, est. 1786). By 1815, half of the College were members, and a fierce competition existed between the two in order to attract the finest students.

In 1842, a dispute arose within the Fraters as to a vote for the organization's leadership. The fracture resulted in the formation of Psi Upsilon, by those who supported John Tyler in the contest, and Kappa Kappa Kappa, by those who supported Harrison Hobart.

The Society

Tri-Kap was founded on July 13, 1842, by Hobart and two of his close companions, Stephen Gordon Nash and John Dudley Philbrick. The society was based on the principles of Democracy, loyalty to Dartmouth, and equality of opportunity. Originally a literary and debating society, in 1905 Tri-Kap has officially become a social society and has remained so ever since.

Physical Plants

Tri-Kap was the first student society at Dartmouth with its own meeting place, a building called The Hall that originally was located where the Hopkins Center stands today. Opened on July 28, 1860, the Hall served as Tri-Kap's home until the Society moved into the Parker House in 1894, located where the modern-day Silsby Hall stands. In 1923, the Society moved into 1 Webster Avenue, where it resides to this day.

Modern History

Since 1905, Tri-Kap has remained a popular society on the Dartmouth campus. Tri-Kap has survived the Dartmouth administration, racial integration in the 1950's, as well as several challenging periods in the mid-1980's and early-1990's. During the late 1990s, membership had fallen dramatically to only 11 active members and the house was in danger of losing its charter. In 1997 a block approximately 10 Asian American students rushed the fraternity in an attempt to save it. Since then, Tri-Kap has emerged as a large and highly active fraternities at Dartmouth College.

Famous alumni

• Andrew Park 2000, Investor The Carlyle Group
• Paul Kim 1999, American Idol Finalist
• Alex M. Azar 1988, Deputy Sec. of U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
• Peter Robinson 1979, White House Speechwriter
• David Shribman 1976, Pulitzer Prize winner
• John F. Lundgren 1973, President & CEO of Stanley Works, a Fortune 500 Company
• Douglas Walgren 1963, U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania
• David Rosenbaum 1963, New York Times Journalist
• Nitya Pibulsonggram 1962, Foreign Minister of Thailand and former Thai Ambassador to the United States
• Dr. Bob 1902, Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
• Channing H. Cox 1901, Governor of Massachusetts
• Sherman Burroughs 1894, U.S. Congressman from New Hampshire
• John Barrett 1889, U.S. Minister to Siam, the Argentine Republic, Panama, & Colombia
• Winfield Scott Hammond 1884, Governor of Minnesota
• Samuel D. Felker 1882, Governor of New Hampshire
• Samuel Walker McCall 1874, Governor of Massachusetts
• Irving Webster Drew 1870, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire
• Henry Eben Burnham 1865, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire
• Henry Moore Baker 1864, U.S. Congressman from New Hampshire
• Col. Frank Haskell 1854, wrote famous first-hand account of the battle of Gettysburg
• Charles Henry Bell 1844, U.S. Senator and Governor of New Hampshire
• Ambrose A. Ranney 1844, U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts
• Benjamin Franklin Flanders 1842 (honorary), Governor of Louisiana
• Daniel Clark 1834 (honorary), U.S. Senator
• Rufus Choate 1819 (honorary), U.S. Senator
• Levi Woodbury 1809 (honorary), Gov. of New Hampshire, U.S. Senator, Sec. of the Treasury, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• Daniel Webster 1801 (honorary), U.S. Senator, Congressman, and Secretary of State
• Lewis Cass (honorary), Governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and Presidential nominee
• Leonard Chang (transferred to Barnard after sophomore year), writer of short stories and novels
• Mark Dillen Stitham 1972, actor Hawaii TV series [Jake & the Fatman, Raven, Unsolved Mysteries, Lost]

External links

Society Websites

• Kappa Kappa Kappa Society
• Kappa Kappa Kappa Blog

General information

• Dartmouth College Inter-Fraternity Council
• Halls, Tombs and Houses: Student Society Architecture at Dartmouth
• Greek Houses at Dartmouth (incomplete)