Chapter History

The Documentation of Zeta Beta's History

The chapter history was originally compiled in 1973, for the 25th anniversary. The booklet was titled Service in Silver and was written and edited by Tom Louthan. In 1978, for ZB's 30th anniversary, the next five years' history was added to the original booklet as a supplement. This supplement was edited by Historian Cheryl A. Collins. In 1983, the next five year supplement was added to the previous publication, and was titled Thirty Five Years of Service. This supplement was edited by Historian Chris Jepson.

In 1988, instead of adding a five year supplement, the chapter history was recompiled into one volume covering all forty years. This was titled Chapter History 1948-1988 and the cover was redesigned to resemble a pledge book. Through the guidance of Dr. Huffman, many corrections were made, the alumni roster was updated, and photographs were added. This history was compiled and edited by Historian Anthony Migliore, Brother Paul Louie, and Donna (Saunders) Khalil. In 1998, in celebration of 50 years of service, the chapter history was again rewritten and updated, and put in a bound version. The history was dedicated to Dr. James W. Dean, and compiled and edited by the Historian Sarah Weinberger and Sam Freeman.

Since then, each Historian of the Zeta Beta Chapter has continually updated our Chapter History by recording current service projects, Exec Boards, Pledge Classes and Namesakes, and other traditions as continued by our Chapter.

In 2012 for the 65th anniversary for the Zeta Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, an electronic version of our chapter history has been created and updated by Historian Brittanie Haas with the help of Brother Paul Louie and the 2012-2013 Historian Committee. Historians, Megan Burpo, ('14-'15), Amanda DiLeo ('15-'16), and Ashley Cimino ('16-'17) have updated and added to the original electronic history.

The year was 1934, and an interest in founding a chapter of Alpha Phi Omega was sparked on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Unfortunately, the country was firmly in the grip of the Great Depression. The students were unable to afford the finances required, and the attempt was abandoned.

During the following six years, Professor Marion Buford Blair, the District Scout Commissioner and the Director of Physical Education at V.P.I., kept interest alive. In 1940, he sent a letter to the national office in order to express interest in petitioning. By 1941, 25 men had already signed applications, and the chapter seemed well on its way. But once again our founding brothers met with misfortune as the outbreak of WWII halted their efforts.

Professor Blair remained undaunted. In the Fall of 1947, he began working with Richard Snedegar on the third (and ultimately successful) attempt at founding our chapter. On January 20, 1948, Brother Snedegar sent letters out to the scouts on campus, inviting them to a January 23 meeting with the purpose of forming a petitioning group. Once agreeing that joining Alpha Phi Omega was a worthy cause, the founding brothers voted to select three Honorary charter brothers. These were Paul N. Derring, Secretary of the YMCA, Mr. Joe Gutheridge, Advisor to the civilian students, and Dr. Walter S. Newman, President of Virginia Tech and a founder of FFA. Future meetings of the petitioning group were scheduled for Tuesday afternoons from 4:30 until 5:15.

On February 14th, 1948, the petitioning group elected its first officers, with Richard Snedegar as President. The following week, Brother Snedegar wrote a letter to Dr. R. E. Bates, Director of Student Affairs, explaining the purpose of the fraternity and requesting the endorsement of the administration. On March 2, Dr. Bates replied, "I believe that you have a real opportunity to contribute to the enrichment of student life on the V.P.I. campus." He wrote that the student life committee had approved the groups' request for endorsement.

It is obvious that Brother Snedegar attended the meeting, as he sent the application for charter to the National office on February 25, 1948, before the official announcement had been made.

In March, Brother Snedegar graduated and Brother Culpepper stood in as President of the petitioning group until the end of the quarter. At this time, new elections were held, and he was officially elected President.

On April 5, 1948, the group received a brief telegram informing them that their chapter name was to be Zeta Beta. National Secretary Sidney B. North congratulated them for their achievement of establishing the largest new chapter in Alpha Phi Omega history.

Zeta Beta's installation ceremony was held on May 30, 1948 in the William Preston Hotel, and was presided over by Frank D. Wood, Alpha Phi Omega's National Treasurer. During the banquet, Mr. Wood installed the Chapter's officers and presented the charter. The eighty-two pledges and three Honoraries of the petitioning group were initiated by four representatives from our sponsor chapter, Alpha Iota from Ohio State University.

In a special Ceremony, the guest of honor, Richard Snedegar, was retroactively installed as Zeta Beta's first President.

The Charter

Chapter Structure

I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.While Zeta Beta was a petitioning chapter, the Executive Board consisted of seven officers. These offices were President, First Vice-President (service), Second Vice-President (membership), Secretary, Alumni Secretary, Historian and Treasurer. These officers were elected in January of 1948.

A new set of officers were elected in May of 1948, just prior to the installation of Zeta Beta as a chapter. When this election took place, the office of Secretary was split into two offices - Recording and Corresponding Secretaries. Those officers served until November of 1948, at which point new officers were elected to serve through May 1949.

Another change to the Executive Board occurred when the chapter elected its first Sergeant-at-Arms, John W. Powell, and the board grew to nine officers.

During these years the chapter held semi-annual elections of officers, causing major turnovers to occur during the 1950's and the early 1960's. In 1962, it was decided that officers would remain in office the entire year with only minor substitutions when the need arose. The year 1973 started the tradition that officers for the new year would be elected each spring.

The next change occurred in 1974 when the office of the Third Vice-President was created. This officer coordinated the publicity for all chapter service projects, in addition to overseeing social activities, sports and recreational activities and rush meetings. Dave Whitcomb was the first brother to serve as the Third Vice-President.

In 1979, the offices of Recording and Corresponding Secretaries were rejoined under the office of Secretary.

When our membership exceeded 100 brothers, the chapter felt that it needed to commit itself to promoting friendship and brotherhood within the chapter. Therefore, the duties of the Third Vice-President were now to emphasize the development of a program of friendship for all brothers.

As the responsibility of education and retention of the large brotherhood grew more demanding, the chapter created a Pledgemaster position to relieve the Second Vice-President of the duty of educating the pledges. In spring of 1982 Jennifer Wayne became the first Pledgemaster, appointed by the Second Vice-President. In the spring of 1983, Sam Barrow became the first elected Pledgemaster, and in the fall of 1984, the Pledgemaster, Ricky Shamp, became a member of the Executive Board.

As our intra-chapter communications and public relations responsibilities grew, so did the need for a new executive office. In 1998 the office of Communication Secretary was formed. This office combined the public relations chair, communication committee and publicity chair. The Communication Secretary is in charge of all public announcements of chapter activities and events. In the Spring of 1998, Amanda Bourne was elected the first Communications Secretary.

The Executive Board today consists of the ten offices of President, Vice-President of Service, Vice-President of Membership, Vice-President of Friendship, Communication Secretary, Alumni Secretary, Treasurer, Historian, Pledgemaster and Sergeant-at-Arms, as well as the Chair of the Advisory Committee.

Family Tree

Zeta Beta has the unique tradition of creating non-linear families. The chapter participates in the "Big Brother" tradition but sets no limit on the number of times a brother can act as a big. It is up to the Pledgemaster and the Vice President of Membership to match the Bigs and littles in time for ritual; they often base their pairings off the the knowledge of the brothers and the pledge's Big Brother survey results. In order to provide a greater sense of connection and community Zeta Beta pairs families together (two Bigs and two Littles) each semester.

Women as Brothers of Alpha Phi Omega

National History

Discussion to include women in some way into the fraternity began on the national level in 1972. It was then when our national Board of Directors made a recommendation concerning the admission of women to be considered before the 1972 national convention in Denver, Colorado.

At the 1974 national convention, by a vote of 284 in favor and 57 against, legislation was enacted to permit chapters to admit women into Alpha Phi Omega as affiliate members. The requirements for affiliate membership and the rights, duties, benefits, and privileges of affiliate members were left up to the individual chapters.

There were certain limitations imposed on letting women become affiliate members. Women could not be initiated with the official ritual used by the men of the fraternity, and could not hold sectional, regional, or national offices. They could not vote at regional conclaves or sectional conferences unless decided otherwise by those bodies.

Then, in December of 1976 at the National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, women were granted full membership rights as brothers in Alpha Phi Omega. This marked a great moment in Alpha Phi Omega history, which would forever change the course of Alpha Phi Omega both nationally, and on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Little Sisters

Mike Medney chaired a committee in 1975 that started it all for women in Zeta Beta. Zeta Beta started a Little Sister program in the fall of 1975. The Alpha Class of the Little Sisters overwhelmed the all male fraternity with their 24 pledges. It was a shock to many having a female touch during the service projects. In the spring of 1976 the Beta Class had four pledges, and an additional four in the fall of 1976 in the Gamma Class. Women were taking a more active role in the fraternity, as their numbers grew within Zeta Beta. The Margaret Blair Award was given, as a counterpart to the M. Buford Blair Award of Merit, for outstanding service by a little sister. It was awarded to Lauren Lewis in spring 1976 for her work with the U.M.O.C. project. In December of 1976, at the national convention in Atlanta, Georgia, women were given full membership rights in Alpha Phi Omega. Under the guidance of Advisor James Dean, Zeta Beta was the first chapter in the nation to admit women as full brothers. Zeta Beta held an initiation on January 24, 1977, to induct the Little Sisters as brothers.

In fall 2016, there are ___ active and associate female brothers in the Zeta Beta chapter.