Alpha Tau Omega

:"This article is about the student fraternity in the United States. For the student fraternity in the Philippines, see Alpha Tau Omega (Philippines)."Infobox Fraternity
letters = ΑΤΩ
name = Alpha Tau Omega
crest =
ATΩ Crest
motto = πι εψιλον πι
colors = Azure and Old Gold
symbol = Heraldic Cross Pattee
flower = White Tea Rose
founded = birth date and age|1865|9|11
birthplace = Virginia Military Institute
type = Leadership, Social
scope = National
National President = Cory J. Ciklin
address = One North Pennsylvania Street, 12th Floor
city = Indianapolis
state = Indiana
country = USA
chapters = 245 chartered 132 active
free_label = Nickname
free = Taus, Alpha Taus, ATOs
homepage = [http://www.ato.org http://www.ato.org]

ATΩ (Alpha Tau Omega) (commonly known as ATO, Taus, Alpha Taus, Blackfeet) is an American social fraternity that annually ranks among the top ten national fraternities for numbers of chapters and total number of members. ATO has more than 250 active and inactive chapters with more than 196,000 members and more than 6,500 undergraduate members. The ATΩ Foundation provides more than $150,000 in annual scholarships to members including scholarships to attend the LeaderShape Institute, Inc. ATO is also one-third of the Lexington Triad, along with Kappa Alpha Order and Sigma Nu. The oldest active chapter is the Delta Chapter located at the University of Virginia.

History

During and after the Civil War, families were torn apart, due to brothers fighting on opposite sides. A Virginia Military Institute student, Otis Allan Glazebrook, had a vision to reunite the North and the South in brotherhood. His ideals started Alpha Tau Omega as the first fraternity that would be considered a national fraternity, and it was with Erskine Mayo Ross, and Alfred E. Marshall that they sought to bring together the two factions that had been torn apart. ATΩ was not established in imitation of or in opposition to any existing fraternity. In June 1935, the ATΩ Foundation's inception occurred at the 34th Congress in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1950 Indiana University Worthy Master Robert Lollar created "Help Week" setting the pledges to doing good deeds around campus and replacing the traditional "Hell Week." The LeaderShape Institute, Inc. was created in 1986 by Alpha Tau Omega, and today is considered one of the nation's finest leadership skills training programs in the country. ATΩ was honored by the Smithsonian Institute for innovative use of technology with an award for Information Technology in the field of Government and Non-Profit Organizations in June 1995. The award was given for ATΩ's innovative use of CompuServe as a communications tool.

A more complete history of Alpha Tau Omega may be viewed on their homepage here → [http://ato.org/nat/hist_story.shtml]

Creed

The Creed of Alpha Tau Omega

cquote|To bind men together in a brotherhood based upon eternal and immutable principles, with a bond as strong as right itself and as lasting as humanity; to know no North, no South, no East, no West, but to know man as man, to teach that true men the world over should stand together and contend for supremacy of good over evil, to teach not politics , but morals; to foster, not partisanship, but the recognition of true merit wherever found; to have no narrower limits within which to work for the elevation of man than the outlines of the world: these were the thoughts and hopes uppermost in the minds of the founders of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.
-Otis Allan Glazebrook 1880

Founders

Otis Allan Glazebrook, Alfred E. Marshall, and Erskine Mayo Ross are recognized as the three founders of ATO. Following these, the next leader of ATO was Thomas Arkle Clark; Clark was the first Dean of Men at the University of Illinois and the President of the Gamma Zeta chapter at the University. Thomas A. Clark served the national fraternity as "Worthy Grand Chief" for several terms. To this day, the highest honor a graduating senior can achieve is the Thomas Arkle Clark Award.

Another man, Joseph Anderson, is known as the second founder of ATO. Because of a lack of organization and many chapters ignoring their responsibilities to the national fraternity -- including financial ones, ATO was on a devastating decline. In 1876, of the 22 chapters in existence at the time, only 2 attended the annual Congress. Joseph R. Anderson was appointed and accepted the position of Senior Grand Chief, or the National President, in 1870. Under Anderson, ATO was able to get back on track and become the well established fraternity it is today.

The Badge

Worn by initiated members of the Fraternity, the badge of Alpha Tau Omega was designed by Founder Glazebrook in 1865. For it Glazebrook selected a form he thought was the Maltese Cross, though actually it is the heraldic cross patee. The center and the arms are black enamel and the inscription devices are gold. In the center field are inscribed, beginning at the top of the field, a cresent, three stars, the Greek letter "Tau" and two clasped hands. Upon the lower vertical arms are the Greek letters "Alpha" and "Omega," respectively, and upon the left and right horizontal arms are the letters "Omega" and "Alpha" respectively. Reading from top to bottom the Fraternity's name appears, Alpha Tau Omega. Reading from left to right it becomes Omega Tau Alpha. This reverse arrangement has an esoteric significance to the initiate but does no violence to the essential meaning of the insigne; it still indicates that in Christ the beginning and the end are joined in One. [Alpha Tau Omega: The Positive Experience]

The Firsts

ATΩ was the first fraternity founded after the Civil War in 1865, striving to heal the wounds created by the devastating war and help reunite the North and South.

ATΩ was the first fraternity founded as a national fraternity, not a local or sectional fellowship.

The first meeting of ATΩ was at 114 E. Clay St. in Richmond, Virginia, where Glazebrook read the Constitution of ATΩ to Marshall and Ross for the first time.

The first chapter north of the Mason - Dixon line, was chartered at the University of Pennsylvania sixteen years after the founding of ATΩ, helping to bring a realization to the founders' dreams.

The ATΩ chapter at the University of the South (Sewanee) was the first of any fraternity in the South to have a chapter house in 1880.

ATΩ's first fraternity west of the Rockies and first of any fraternity in the Northwest was at Oregon State University with the chartering in 1882.

Thomas Arkle Clark, the first initiate of the Gamma Zeta chapter at the University of Illinois, was the nation's first college dean of men.

The first World War I Medal of Honor was given to Captain C. L. Irwin, Wyoming '13, as one of the first American heroes mentioned in dispatches to the U.S.

ATΩ was the first national fraternity to start a chapter free of alcohol and tobacco on fraternity property.

ATΩ was the first national fraternity to sponsor and conduct coeducational leadership conferences nationwide in 1992.

Famous ATO members

References

External links

* [http://www.ato.org/ ATO National Fraternity]
* [http://www.leadershape.org/ Leadershape]
* [http://www.joinato.org/ JoinATO.org]
* [http://www.atoroadshow.org/ ATO Roadshow]