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Delta Theta Phi

Delta Theta Phi
ΔΘΦ
FoundedSeptember 15, 1900; 124 years ago (1900-09-15)
Cleveland Law School
TypeProfessional
AffiliationPFA
Former affiliationPIC
StatusActive
EmphasisLaw
ScopeInternational
Member badge
Colors  Green and   White
FlowerWhite carnation
PublicationThe Adelphia Law Journal and The Paper Book
Chapters150+
Members138,000 lifetime
Headquarters1967 East Maple Street, Suite 319
North Canton, Ohio 44720
United States
Websitewww.deltathetaphi.org

Delta Theta Phi (ΔΘΦ) is a professional law fraternity and a member of the Professional Fraternity Association. Delta Theta Phi is the only one of the two major law fraternities to charter chapters (senates) in the United States at non-American Bar Association-approved law schools. Delta Theta Phi can trace its roots to Delta Phi Delta on September 15, 1900 at the then-named Cleveland Law School, now Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Ohio.[1] Delta Theta Phi has initiated more than 138,000 members across the country and in several other nations.

Delta Theta Phi is the only law fraternity with an authoritatively recognized law review, The Adelphia Law Journal. Membership is the only requirement to submit a note for consideration for publication.

Governance

The governing body for the fraternity, called the Supreme Senate, has overseen the operation of the fraternity since 1913. The Supreme Senate was originally composed of seven elected officers until a student was added to the board to assure a more complete student representation. In the 1970s, a second student position was added.

History

Delta Theta Phi was established September 26, 1913, by the amalgamation or union of three previously existing professional fraternities, viz.: Alpha Kappa Phi, Delta Phi Delta and Theta Lambda Phi.[2][3][4]

Consolidating Groups

Delta Phi Delta

Delta Phi Delta (law) was founded at the Cleveland Law School of Baldwin University, September 15, 1900, by C. E. Schmick, E. Quigley, F. W. Sinram, J. L. Barrett, W. F. Mackay, J. H. Orgill and Arthur Born. It went national with the establishment of a Beta chapter (now the Harlan-McKusick Senate) at the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1904. Delta Phi Delta's Magazine was The Syllabus, first published in 1911. Delta Theta Phi now uses that name for the newsletter distributed to elected members of the administrative organization.[5][4]

Alpha Kappa Phi

Alpha Kappa Phi was founded at the law school of Northwestern University October 6, 1902. Seeking to secure the advantage of an earlier date of origin its founders took the name of an old undergraduate fraternity called Alpha Kappa Phi which originated at Centre College, Ky., in 1858 and established a number of chapters in the South, the last one of which at the University of Mississippi became Beta Beta chapter of Beta Theta Pi in 1879,[6] becoming extinct a few years later. They also sought to secure some sanction for their conduct by securing permission of the living members of the extinct society to such assumption of their abandoned name. But no expedient of this kind could alter the date of the organization of this fraternity or serve as a basis for a claim to an earlier date than 1902.

The fraternity became national in 1904 with the installation of the Beta chapter at Illinois College of Law (now the Warvelle Senate at DePaul University College of Law).[5][4]

Theta Lambda Phi

Theta Lambda Phi was founded February 18, 1903, at the law school of Dickinson College by Thomas S. Lanard and Walter P. Bishop. The first chapter was founded as the Holmes chapter with permission of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. A representative of West Publishing when visiting the law school learned of the formation of the fraternity, and the next issue of the Docket (published by West) announced the organization of Theta Lambda Phi as a new national law fraternity. Students at the Detroit College of Law, after seeing the article formed the Cooley chapter to actually make the fraternity national. In November 1903, Theta Lambda Phi started The Paper Book as its official form of communication. Delta Theta Phi still uses that name for its official publication mailed to all members.[5][4]

Merger with Sigma Nu Phi

Sigma Nu Phi was founded in 1903 at National University School of Law. In 1916, Sigma Nu Phi started publishing The Owl.

Delta Theta Phi merged with Sigma Nu Phi in 1989, taking all of Sigma Nu Phi members into membership and gaining The Adelphia Law Journal, giving Delta Theta Phi its own authoritatively recognized law review.[5][4]

Chapters

As of 1920, the following senates (chapters) existed, with fourteen having been established after consolidation.[2] There are now more than 150 student senates of Delta Theta Phi. Schools in italics are now closed. Delta Theta Phi has chartered a number of additional chapters since 1920. The national website does not list its chapters, so until a current reference is established this list does not include those new chapters nor those gained through the national merger in 1989 with Sigma Nu Phi.

Chapter Date Institution City State Source Reference
Ranney 1900 Cleveland Law School Cleveland OH Alpha of ΔΦΔ [7]
Harlan 1904 University of South Dakota Vermillion SD Beta of ΔΦΔ [7]
Cooley 1903 Detroit College of Law East Lansing MI Cooley of ΘΛΦ (1903)
Delta of ΔΦΔ (1907)
[7]
Epsilon 1908 University of Arkansas Fayetteville AR Epsilon of ΔΦΔ [7]
Ramsey 1910 St. Paul College of Law St. Paul MN Eta of ΔΦΔ [7]
Bryan 1912 Creighton University Omaha NE Theta of ΔΦΔ [7]
Benton 1912 Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis MO Iota of ΔΦΔ [7]
Wigmore 1902 Northwestern University Chicago IL Alpha of ΑΚΦ [7]
Warvelle 1904 DePaul University Chicago IL Beta of ΑΚΦ [7]
Douglas 1909 University of Illinois-Chicago Chicago IL Gamma of ΑΚΦ (1909)
Zeta of ΔΦΔ (1912)
[7][a]
Lincoln 1909 University of Chicago Chicago IL Delta of ΑΚΦ [7]
Mitchell 1909 University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN Gamma of ΔΦΔ (1905)
Zeta of ΑΚΦ (1909)
[7]
Magruder 1909 Chicago-Kent College of Law Chicago IL Eta of ΑΚΦ [7]
Ingalls 1912 Washburn University Topeka KS Theta of ΑΚΦ [7]
Christiancy 1912 University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Iota of ΑΚΦ [7]
Holmes 1903 Dickinson College [b] Carlisle PA Holmes of ΘΛΦ [7][b]
Finch 1900 Cornell University Ithaca NY Finch of ΘΛΦ [7]
Bleckley 1904 University of Georgia Athens GA Bleckley of ΘΛΦ [7]
Freeman 1904 University of Tennessee Knoxville TN Freeman of ΘΛΦ [7]
Kent 1907 New York Law School Tribeca NY Kent of ΘΛΦ [7]
Day 1907 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland OH Day of ΘΛΦ [7]
Lurton 1907 Chattanooga College of Law [c] Chattanooga TN Lurton of ΘΛΦ [7][c]
Burks 1908 Washington & Lee University Lexington VA Burks of ΘΛΦ [7]
Marshall 1910 Ohio Northern University Ada OH Marshall of ΘΛΦ [7]
Parker 1911 Union College (NY) Schenectady NY Parker of ΘΛΦ [7]
Von Moschzisker 1911 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA Von Moschzisker of ΘΛΦ [7]
While 1911 Georgetown University Washington DC White of ΘΛΦ [7]
Jefferson 1911 University of Richmond School of Law Richmond VA Jefferson of ΘΛΦ [7]
Field 1912 University of Southern California Los Angeles CA Field of ΘΛΦ [7]
Fuller 1912 Fordham (NY) Law School Manhattan NY Fuller of ΘΛΦ [7]
Deady 1913 University of Oregon Eugene OR Deady of ΘΛΦ [7]
Chase 1913 Ohio State University Columbus OH Chase of ΘΛΦ [7]
Wayne 1914 Atlanta Law School [d] Atlanta GA ΔΘΦ [7][d]
Dwight 1914 Columbia University New York NY ΔΘΦ [7]
Webster 1915 Webster College of Law (Chicago) Chicago IL ΔΘΦ [7][8]
Snyder 1915 U of MO-KC Law School Kansas City MO ΔΘΦ [7]
John Adams 1915 Boston University Boston MA ΔΘΦ [7]
Howatt 1915 University of Utah Salt Lake City UT ΔΘΦ [7]
Pitney 1915 Rutgers Law School (orig. NJ Law School) Camden & Newark NJ ΔΘΦ [7]
Hosmer 1916 University of Detroit Mercy Detroit MI ΔΘΦ
Gibson 1916 University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA ΔΘΦ
Russell 1916 New York University New York NY ΔΘΦ
Brewer 1916 University of Kansas Lawrence KS ΔΘΦ
Woodrow Wilson 1916 George Washington University Washington DC ΔΘΦ
Sam Houston 1916 University of Texas Austin TX ΔΘΦ
William McKinley 1919 John Marshall School of Law, Cleveland (Merged with Ranney)
Robert E. Lee 1919 University of Virginia, Department of Law
Chester Cicero Cole 1921 Drake University Law School
George H. Williams 1921 Northwestern College of Law
Franz C. Eschweiler 1921 Marquette University Law school
John Forrest Dillon 1921 College of Law of the State University of Iowa
Howell E. Jackson 1921 University of Memphis Law School
Bliss 1921 School of Law of Missouri University
  1. ^ John Marshall Law School (Chicago) merged with the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2019, becoming the UIC John Marshall Law School.
  2. ^ a b Dickinson's Law school merged with Penn State University in 2000.
  3. ^ a b This school closed in 1942.
  4. ^ a b This school closed in 1994.

Notable members

Notable initiates of Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity include four U.S. Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Calvin Coolidge, and Lyndon B. Johnson), Robert Menzies, an Australian Prime Minister, nine Chief or Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, including among them Edward Douglass White Jr., Charles Evans Hughes, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, and William K. Suter, Alfred Lawrence, 1st Baron Trevethin, a Lord Chief Justice of England, 33 current or former U.S. Senators and 77 current or former U.S. Representatives and at least one state representative (Illinois) David Ivar Swanson.

References

  1. ^ Professional Fraternities by Professional Interfraternity Conference - 1950
  2. ^ a b Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities. G. Banta Company. 1920. p. 678.
  3. ^ Anson, Jack L.; Marchenasi, Robert F., eds. (1991) [1879]. Baird's Manual of American Fraternities (20th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Baird's Manual Foundation, Inc. p. V-18–20. ISBN 978-0963715906.
  4. ^ a b c d e York, Kenneth H. (1952). "Legal Fraternities" (PDF). Michigan Law Review. 50 (7). The Michigan Law Review Association: 1047–56. doi:10.2307/1284939. JSTOR 1284939. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d Delta Theta Phi - About Us - History
  6. ^ Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities. G. Banta Company. 1905. p. 431.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am As listed in Baird's Manual, vol 8 (1915), p.539, accessed 29 Oct 2021.
  8. ^ Webster was eventually consolidated with Kent College of Law, sometime after 1921.