Tag Line: Leading Women
Colors: Black and Gold
Symbol: Kite and Twin Stars
Philanthropy: Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
History at DePauw:
Kappa Alpha Theta's ritual, organizational structure, badge, and coat of arms were drawn in part upon two fraternities with which Bettie Locke had close connections: Beta Theta Pi, her father's fraternity, and Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI), her brother's fraternity. Locke had many friends in FIJI, and when the members asked her to wear their badge as a "mascot," Locke declined. She said she could not wear it as she did not know the secrets and purposes the badge represented. The brothers of FIJI took a vote to determine whether to admit and initiate Locke as a full member of FIJI. They decided they wished to remain an all-male fraternity, and gave Locke a silver fruit basket instead as a symbol of their special relationship with her. At the suggestion of her father, a professor at Indiana Asbury, Locke investigated whether any fraternities for women existed with whom she could establish a chapter at Indiana Asbury. Discovering that only literary societies for women existed at the time, Locke decided to begin her own Greek letter fraternity for women, and Kappa Alpha Theta was conceived.
