Rebecca Shapiro Thesis (11 May 2011).pdf - Brandeis Institutional ...

criticism progressed, the four women turned to each other for academic and socialsupport.To counter the challenges on campus, Bettie Locke, one of the original femalestudents, with the help of her father, a professor and fraternity man, created Kappa AlphaTheta (ΚΑΘ), the first woman's fraternity. The sorority would allow the female studentbody to form closer bonds based on common interest and womanhood, which alsoallowing them to collectively fight the hostility on campus. In their charter they wrote:The object of this society shall be to advance the interestsof its member, to afford an opportunity for improvement incomposition and debate and elocution, to cultivate thosesocial qualities which become a woman, and to provide forits members associates bound by a common interest 33The group formed to prove to their male counterparts that they were equally as capable ofhandling the rigorous coursework. The women spent much of their time together readingand critiquing each other's essays and academic performance. During the 1870's, weeklyrecitations in elocution, oratory, composition and rhetoric, served as one way that thewomen publically proved their capabilities. They practiced debating, dialogues and thereadings of selected pieces during meetings, to then perform in front of classmates. Forthe fraternity women, class standing and grades served as quantitative measures by whichthey could compare themselves against their male counterparts. As ΚΑΘ spread to othercampuses, the women were evaluated by their academic performance. Theirconcentration on academics showed results. ΚΑΘ produced more than 90 Phi BetaKappa Honor's Society members in its first 30 years of existence 3433 Turk, 2234 Turk, 2910