Alpha Theta

Alpha Theta (ΑΘ) is a gender-inclusive Greek house at Dartmouth College. Alpha Theta is a 501(c)(7) non-profit and the chapter house and property are owned by the Alpha Theta House Corporation, a 501(c)(2) non-profit.

This article is about the local Dartmouth fraternity. For other uses, see Alpha Theta (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with the local sorority which would evolve into Alpha Delta Theta, later merging with Phi Mu.
Alpha Theta
ΑΘ
FoundedAs Iota Sigma Upsilon – 1920

Joined Theta Chi – 1921

Became Alpha Theta – 1952 (1952)
Dartmouth College
TypeSocial
Scopelocal
Colors  Red and   white
Headquarters33 N. Main Street
Hanover, NH 03755
United States
WebsiteOfficial website

History

Early years

Alpha Theta was founded as a local fraternity named Iota Sigma Upsilon on March 3, 1920, by a group of seven students:

  • Robert L. Farwell
  • James W. Frost
  • Howard A. Hitchcock
  • Robert L. Loeb (Alpha Theta / Theta Chi's first president)
  • Robert J. Minor
  • Burdette E. Weymouth
  • Ralph K. Whitney

In 1921 the fraternity received a charter as the Alpha Theta chapter of Theta Chi. John Sloan Dickey, later president of the college, joined the fraternity in 1928 and was elected house president only two weeks later, while still a pledge.

Coal furnace accident

Nine brothers of Alpha Theta chapter of Theta Chi died in a tragic accident on the morning of Sunday, February 25, 1934, when the metal chimney of the building's old coal furnace blew out in the night and the residence filled with poisonous carbon monoxide gas.[1][2]

The bodies were not discovered until the afternoon of the same day, when M.B. Little, a janitor, entered the chapter house and found the students dead in their beds. A pet collie dog was also found dead in one of the bedrooms. News of the tragic deaths was widely reported in papers and magazines. This is still the most fatal accident ever to occur at Dartmouth College.

At the time the chapter had 35–40 members (reports vary), and seventeen of them lived in the chapter house. Eight residents escaped death because they had left campus for the weekend. The deceased were:

  • William F. Fullerton '34
  • Edward F. Moldenke '34 (president)
  • William M. Smith Jr. '34
  • Edward N. Wentworth Jr. '34
  • Americo S. De Masi '35 (vice president)
  • Harold D. Watson '35
  • Wilmot H. Schooley '35
  • John J. Griffin '36
  • Alfred H. Moldenke '36 (Edward's younger brother)

Following the tragedy people asked if the members would move out of the house, but faculty advisor Professor William H. Woods said: "Of course they will move back, we have men with blood in them." The surviving members met at the Hanover Inn shortly after the disaster. John Trickey Jr. '33 T'34, past president of the chapter and a student at the Tuck School of Business, was elected to replace Moldenke. The surviving members moved back into the house after the furnace that caused the accident was replaced. But membership did suffer after 1934, and eventually the chapter house was razed in 1940 and a new building, the current chapter house, opened in 1941.

Breaking from Theta Chi
Alpha Theta's original building

Alpha Theta was one of the first collegiate fraternities in the United States to break from its national organization over civil rights issues, and the first at the Greek-dominated Dartmouth College. In 1951, while Dickey served as president of the college, the student body passed a resolution calling on all fraternities to eliminate racial discrimination from their constitutions. The Theta Chi national organization's constitution contained a clause limiting membership in fraternity to "Caucasians" only. On April 24, 1952, the members of the Dartmouth chapter voted unanimously to stop recognizing the racial clause in Theta Chi's constitution.[3] Upon learning that the Dartmouth delegation to Theta Chi's national convention later that year planned to raise questions about the clause, the Alpha Theta chapter was derecognized by the national organization on July 25, 1952.[4] The house reincorporated as a local fraternity and adopted the name Alpha Theta.

Coeducation

Alpha Theta was one of the first all-male fraternities to admit female members. In 1972, Dartmouth admitted the first class of female students and officially became a coeducational institution. Alpha Theta also voted to become coeducational. After a few years, most of the women in the fraternity had become inactive and the house voted to become male-only again on November 10, 1976. The house returned to a coeducational membership policy in 1980.[5]

Embezzlement case

In February 2011 the Alpha Theta House Corporation filed suit against a former treasurer, Bruce McAllister, alleging that he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fraternity.[6] McAllister was also sued by the Meccawe Club, a private fishing club in Vermont, and became the target of a federal investigation later that year.[7]

In November 2011 McAllister, a former financial auditor at Dartmouth College, was indicted for wire fraud following an investigation by the United States Secret Service.[8][9] He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was also assigned a court-appointed attorney.[10] However, on April 25, 2012, he changed his plea and entered a plea of guilty.

McAllister was sentenced on November 26, 2012, in United States District Court in Burlington, Vermont, to 18 months of imprisonment following his guilty plea to wire fraud. U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III also ordered that McAllister serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison term and pay slightly more than $800,000 in restitution to Alpha Theta and the Meccawe Club. McAllister was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on January 8, 2013, to begin serving his sentence. McAllister's sentence was reduced due to McAllister's medical condition, which includes bladder cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney blockage. The court recommended that McAllister be confined at the Bureau of Prison's medical facility in Massachusetts.[11]

Physical plant
Alpha Theta, 2007

The current building and property is owned by the Alpha Theta House Corporation, a New Hampshire nonprofit corporation.

The original physical plant used by Theta Chi fraternity was built by 1852 and was used as a candy shop by confectioner E. K. Smith. Of Smith's confectionery operation, only the building housing his candy factory to the north of Alpha Theta still survives (now the Native Americans at Dartmouth house). Subsequent owners used the candy shop as a dwelling and Theta Chi fraternity eventually bought it from J. V. Hazen in 1921.[12]

After the tragedy of 1934, membership suffered[13] and it was decided to build a new chapter house. The house was demolished soon and the current building was constructed in 1940.[14] The only part of the original building that remains is part of the basement that leads to the back stair and contains the laundry room, called Appalachia.[15]

Appalachia gets its name from its proximity to the Appalachian Trail. Hikers from the trail used to be able to stop in the house, an activity which is no longer possible. House tradition still has it that ghosts walk this part of Alpha Theta, and in 2007, a ghost-hunter attempted to gain access to this part of the house. Believing it would be disrespectful to the spirits, Alpha Theta refused access, though they did allow a student to take a look.[16]

In 2008 the Alpha Theta House Corporation did an extensive two-year renovation of the house to improve the safety features of the building and the quality of life for members. Upgrades included a new fire alarm system, upgraded fire escapes, a wheelchair lift, a handicapped bathroom, a new wireless data network, and upgrades of existing bathroom and kitchen spaces.

Famous alumni
  • John Sloan Dickey – class of 1929, president of Dartmouth College from 1945 to 1970.
  • Owen Chamberlain – class of 1941, one of Dartmouth's only three Nobel Prize winners (Physics 1959), participated in the Manhattan Project.
  • Ira Michael Heyman – class of 1951, chancellor of University of California-Berkeley, 1980–1990. Trustee of Dartmouth College from 1980 until 1992. Chair of the board of trustees from 1990 until 1992.[17]
  • Mark B. Mitchell – class of 1956, successful architect noted for his work on libraries. Member of the Vermont state legislature from 2006 to 2011, participated in legalization of same sex marriage in Vermont.
  • Cameron Myler – class of 1992, member of four United States Olympic teams in the sport of luge, flag-bearer for United States team at 1994 Olympic Winter Games. Seven-time U.S. national champion and winner of eleven World Cup medals.

See also

References
  1. "Nine Dartmouth Students Die in Fraternity House from Monoxide Poisoning". The New York Times. February 26, 1934.
  2. "Education: Dartmouth's Saddest". Time. March 5, 1934. Archived from the original on March 17, 2007.
  3. "Dartmouth Society Drops Bias Clause". The New York Times. April 26, 1952.
  4. "Charter is Revoked: Dartmouth Theta Chi Chapter Rejected Racial Clause". The New York Times. July 28, 1952.
  5. Bronner, Geoffrey & Robinson, Chris (1999). "Alpha Theta History". Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  6. "Alpha Theta sues former treasurer". The Dartmouth. April 18, 2011. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  7. "Meccawe's Treasurer Hit With Lawsuits Over Funds". Vermont Standard. May 18, 2011. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  8. "Bruce Mcallister Pleads Not Guilty to Not-For-Profit Embezzlement". United States Attorney's Office District of Vermont. November 9, 2011. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  9. "Ex-Dartmouth College auditor accused of misuse of groups' funds". The Burlington Free Press. November 2, 2011. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  10. "Dartmouth ex-auditor denies embezzling from not-for-profits". The Burlington Free Press. November 10, 2011.
  11. "Ex-Dartmouth College official gets 18 months in prison". The Burlington Free Press. November 26, 2012. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  12. "Dartmo.: Buildings T-Z, Street Nos". www.dartmo.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  13. "Theta Chi to Leave Dartmouth". The New York Times. January 7, 1938.
  14. "Notes toward a Catalog of the Buildings and Landscapes of Dartmouth College". Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
  15. "Alpha Theta History". Archived from the original on 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  16. Leavitt, Dylan (October 26, 2007). "Murders and grave robbers: The skeletons in Dartmouth's closet". The Dartmouth. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  17. "Ira Michael Heyman '51". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.
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