About Theta

Kappa Alpha Theta’s rich history began in 1870, just five years after the Civil War ended in the United States. It was in 1837 that the Methodist church established Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) in Greencastle, IN. In 1867, Indiana Asbury officially opened its doors to women, but not without great uproar from the male students.

The first women students at Indiana Asbury were looking for ways to make friends and find support and encouragement for their academic pursuits. They were insulted by their teachers, taunted by their classmates, and ignored by their childhood friends who did the “right” thing and attended conservatories for girls.

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 to be established 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.”

Bettie and her three forward-thinking friends thought that the close friendship of women with similar scholastic goals and personal values would ultimately encourage and attract more young women to coeducational colleges in the future. Thus, Kappa Alpha Theta was established on Jan. 27, 1870, at what is known today as DePauw University.