Theta Delta Chi (ΘΔΧ) is a social fraternity that was founded in 1847 at Union College. It has nicknames Theta Delt, TDX, and TDC. Theta Delti Chi brothers refer to their houses as charges rather than using the word chapter like other fraternities do. Brothers at Union College (the Alpha charge) sometimes refer to themselves as OAX Bros. Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins and growth 1.2 Institutional development 1.3 Modern expansion 2 Famous alumni 2.1 Arts 2.2 Journalism 2.3 Medicine 2.4 Public Life 2.5 Education 2.6 Scholarship 2.7 Military 2.8 Architecture 2.9 Business 2.10 Engineering 2.11 Sport 2.12 Clergy 3 External links History Origins and growth Theta Delta Chi, the eleventh oldest of the college fraternities, was founded in 1847 at Union College in Schenectady, NY by six members of the class of 1849: William G. Akin, Abel Beach, Theodore Brown, Andrew H. Green, William Hyslop, and Samuel F. Wile. In 1849, Green and Akin along with Francis Martindale (the first initiate), organized the Beta Charge (later renamed Beta Proteron) at Ballston Law School. However, two years later the school itself moved and the new Charge was disbanded and the members put on Alpha's rolls. During the 1850s Theta Delta Chi spread rapidly, adding Charges at Vermont, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, William and Mary, Virginia, Hobart, Wesleyan, Harvard, Brown, Bowdoin, Kenyon, Tufts, Washington and Jefferson, and North Carolina. Few of these remained active for long, although several were later revived. Kappa at Tufts (1856) presently enjoys the honor of being the oldest active Charge in continuous existence. During the 1860s new Charges, at, among other institutions, Lafayette and Rochester (1867), Hamilton (1868), and Dartmouth (1869), continued to be chartered at a pace that kept slightly ahead of attrition caused by Charges going inactive. The Civil War, however, severely weakened most Charges as men left for military service; many of the earliest Charges went inactive during this period, and expansion in the South ceased for a century. Only after 1870 did Theta Delta Chi begin to acquire its present configuration. Westward expansion had traditionally been opposed by a large segment of the Fraternity, which worried that supervision and solidarity would suffer if Theta Delta Chi were to stray far from the East. The rise of the large state universities in the West, particularly in the Big Ten, eventually overcame that resistance and the Universities of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin welcomed Theta Delta Chi between 1889 and 1895. Further Midwest expansion included Illinois (1908) and Iowa State 1919). Berkeley (1900), Stanford (1903), the University of Washington (1913) and UCLA (1929) brought Theta Delta Chi in strength to the Pacific coast. Expansion in the East during the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s brought Charges to Cornell, Boston University, Wabash, CCNY, Columbia, Lehigh, Amherst, Yale, MIT, Williams, and George Washington. Pennsylvania (1915) was the last Eastern Charge to become active before World War I, although 1904 and 1910 saw the reactivation of the Southern Charges, Epsilon and Nu. Theta Delta Chi became an International Fraternity with charterings at McGill (1901) and Toronto (1912). The Great Depression and the Second World War saw a number of Charges go inactive and brought a halt to expansion. At its Centennial Convention in 1947, Theta Delta Chi stood at 28 Charges, a number that would begin to increase only in the 1950s. Institutional development The institutions of the Fraternity slowly took shape during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1867 anti-fraternity sentiment at Union led to the disbanding of the Alpha. As the Mother Charge, Alpha had exercised governing power over the Fraternity, but her demise, although temporary, brought about the creation of the Grand Lodge by action of the eight surviving Charges at the Convention of 1868. The Grand Lodge, originally three and now five officers (of whom two are undergraduates) remains the elected governing body of the Fraternity to this day (Alpha was rechartered in 1923, although executive power has remained with the Grand Lodge). The annual Convention has evolved into a major international assembling of Theta Delts at which all Charges are represented by undergraduate and graduate delegates and at which the major business of the Fraternity is transacted. The 1881 Convention required that the President of the Grand Lodge visit every Charge once a year; Central Fraternity Office staff now performs these duties. In 1869, the first issue of The Shield was produced, qualifying it as the oldest fraternity magazine. Although it lapsed after one issue, The Shield was revived in 1884 and has been published continually since then. The Central Fraternity Office, or CFO, evolved over many decades from a virtually one-man job, filled by a Grand Lodge member, and housed in the now defunct Theta Delta Chi Club in New York City, to a professional staff consisting of an Executive Director, a Director of Operations, a Director of Charge Services, a Charge Consultant (formally called a Field Secretary), and one or more undergraduate interns, referred to as Member Service Coordinators. It currently operates from 214 Lewis Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. The financial health of Theta Delta Chi was ensured through the establishment of two entities, the Founders' Corporation in 1910 and the Educational Foundation in 1944. Any Theta Delt may join the Corporation on payment of $250 and thereby vote at its annual meetings. It also receives bequests and holds and invests all funds for the benefit of the Fraternity. The Educational Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) public charity, receives bequests and owns the property occupied by the CFO and other assets. It funds the educational activities of the Fraternity. Modern expansion Between 1951 and 1970 the Fraternity added Charges at Northwestern, Penn State, Arizona State, Rhode Island, Michigan State, Santa Barbara, Calgary, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Commonwealth; Bucknell was rechartered also. Several of these charterings brought into being some of the strongest Charges in the Fraternity, but in the increasingly uncertain climate of those times, with anti-fraternity sentiment gaining strength on a number of campuses, a significant number went inactive. The 1992 rechartering at Wabash continues a pattern of reviving inactive Charges; new charterings in the 1990s and 2000 include Northeastern, Nova Southeastern, Greensboro, SUNY Albany and the latest chartering at Merrimack which occurred on February 19, 2000. The Fort Lauderdale and Greensboro, NC Charges mark a significant re-entry into the South. The Chi Charge, originally founded in 1889, and active for most of the time since then was re-chartered in the summer of 2002 at the Annual Convention. Famous alumni Arts Robert Frost, Dartmouth 1896, four time Pulitzer Prize winning poet Alexander Woolcott, Hamilton 1896, drama critic NY Times, Herald-Tribune, Sun. Norman Hackett, Michigan 1898, actor Bellamy Partridge, Hobart 1900, author of “County Lawyer” Donald Parson, Havard 1905, author “Portraits of Keats” “Grass Flowers” Arthur Hornblow, Dartmouth 1915, film producer Paramount and MGM Frank Thomas, Stanford 1933, Thumpers (Bambi) creator George Mosel, Amherst 1944, Pulitzer Prize for “All the Way Home” John Nichols, Hamilton 1962, author “the Milagro Bean Field War” “the Sterile Cuckoo” James Woods, MIT 1969, actor Joseph J. Ellis, William and Mary 1965, author "Founding Brothers," "American Sphinx," "His Excellency" Journalism Charles Miller (journalist), Dartmouth 1872, Editor-in-Chief NY Times S. Emory Thompson, Michigan 1904, publisher Chicago Times Frazier Hunt, Illinois 1908, writer and war correspondent Richard Wilson, Iowa State 1927, President of the National Press Club Harrison Salisbury, Minnesota 1929, Pulitzer Prize journalist Medicine Frank Lahey, Harvard 1904, Founder of Boston’s Lahey Clinic Oliver Beahrs, Berkeley 1937, Head Surgery at the Mayo Clinic Public Life Abel Beach, Union 1849, Lt. Governor of New York, Secretary of State W.D. Bloxham, William and Mary 1854, Governor of Florida Clemment H. Sinnickson, Union 1855, New Jersey (Rep.) John Hay, Brown 1858, Abraham Lincoln’s secretary, Secretary of State Henry J. Spooner, Brown 1860, Rhode Island (Rep.) Henry Gibson, Hobart 1862, Tennessee (Rep.) Daniel L. Rockwood, Union 1869, Democratic Representative Hon. John W. Griggs, Lafayette 1868, Governor of New Jersey, Attorney General Nathan F. Dixon, Jr., Brown 1869, Senator Rhode Island John Bellamy, Virginia 1875, Senator North Carolina Walter Stiness, Brown 1877, Rhode Island (Rep.) Thomas B. Kyle, Dartmouth 1880, Ohio (Rep.) Frederic C. Stevens, Bowdoin 1881, Minnesota (Rep.) Daniel J. McGillicuddy, Bowdoin 1881, Maine (Rep.) John A. Dix, Cornell 1883, Governor of New York Gonzalo de Quesada, CCNY 1888, founder of Cuban Republic (statue at Havana Park) J.H. Bartlett, Dartmouth 1894, Governor of New Hampshire Rollin Stanford, Tufts 1897, New York (Rep.) Earle S. Warner, Hobart 1902, US Supreme Court Justice William F. Love, Rochester 1903, New York Supreme Court Justice Frank H. Buck, Berkeley 1907, California (Dem.) Hans Schoefeld, Washington 1907, US Minister to Finland Maurice E. Crumpecker, Michigan 1909, Oregon (Rep.) Eric A. Johnston, Washington 1917, US Chamber of Commerce President Irving M. Ives, Hamilton 1919, Senator New York Arthur Kelly, Toronto 1920, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario Louis P. Baeubien, McGill 1925, Senator of Canada from Quebec Herman P. Smith, Dartmouth 1933, Member of Congress from Pennsylvania Henry P. Smith, Dartmouth 1933, New York (Rep.) John W. Tuthill, William and Mary 1932, Ambassador to Brazil Alvin M. Bentley, Michigan 1940, Michigan (Rep.) John W. Brook, Toronto 1946, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario Donald R. Steele, Toronto 1946, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario Richard Holland, Toronto 1947, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario Edward Saunders, Toronto 1949, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario Robert L. Leggett, Berkeley 1948, Congressman from California Thomas R. Pickering, Bowdoin 1953, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jerry Lewis, UCLA 1956, California (Rep.) Wesley C. Uhlman, Washington 1956, Mayor of Seattle Michael K. Powell, William and Mary 1985, Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission Education Albert W. Smith, Cornell 1878, Dean of Cornell Law School Ernest W. Huffcut, Cornell 1884, Dean of Cornell Law School Frederick C. Ferry, Williams 1891, President of Hamilton College Alexander Meiklejohn, Brown 1893, President of Amherst College Guy S. Ford, Wisconsin 1895, President of University of Minnesota, Phi Beta Kappa Samuel P. Capen, Tufts 1898, President of the University of Buffalo Winfred F. Smiter, Bowdoin 1899, President of John Hopkins University Edmund E. Day, Dartmouth 1905, President of Cornell University Chauncy Boucher, Michigan 1909, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Robert E. Doherty, George Washington 1909, President of Carnegie Institute of Tech Leonard Carmichael, Tufts 1921, President of Tufts University, Secretary of Smithsonian Alvin D. Chandler, William and Mary 1922, President of College of William and Mary Francis H. Horn, Dartmouth 1930, President of the University of Rhode Island Norman Topping, Washington 1930, Chancellor of the University of Southern California Robert V. Schnabel, Bowdoin 1944, President of Valparaiso University Julian Gibbs, Amherst 1946, President of Amherst College W. Lawrence Gulick, Hamilton 1952, President of St. Lawrence College Elmer H. Capen, Tufts 1960, President of Tufts University Scholarship Stephan M. Babcock, Tufts 1886, inventor of the Babcock Centrifuge (butterfat testing) Herbert E. Bolton, Wisconsin 1895, President of the American Historical Association Carlos Baker, Dartmouth 1932, Hemingway biographer, scholar of Princeton University Lester C. Turow, Williams 1960, Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management William A. McClung, Williams 1966, literary and architectural historian Michael K. Powell, Epsilon 1985, Rector of The College of William and Mary 2006 Military Benjamin Lamberton, Dickinson 1862, Admiral U.S. Navy Arthur J. Hepburn, Dickinson 1896, Admiral Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet Donald B. MacMillan, Bowdoin 1897, Arctic explorer, Rear Admiral, U.S.N. Robert W. Manss, Michigan 1930, Judge Advocare General of the U.S. Air Force Robert Lee Scott, Arizona State 1932, U.S. General Rudolf F. Peskens, Tufts 1966, Brigadier General U.S. Air Force Architecture Raymond M. Hood, Brown 1902, Rockefeller Center and Chicago Tribune Business James R. Mellon, Washington and Jefferson 1865, President of Ligonier Valley Railroad Eugene Grace, Lehigh 1899, Chairman of the Board of Bethlehem Steel J. Frank Drake, Dartmouth 1902, Chairman of the Board of Gulf Oil Corporation Harvey Dow Gibson, Bowdoin 1902, President of the Manufacturers Trust Co Stanton Griffs, Cornell 1910, Chairman of the Board of Madison Square Garden Willard H. Dow, Williams 1919, President of Dow Chemical Corporation Leo D. Welch, Rochester 1919, Chairman of the Board of Standard Oil Myford Irvine, Stanford 1921, landholder in California, City of Irvine named after him George L. Smith, Columbia 1925, President of Kinney Shoe Company William H. Elliot, William and Mary 1928, President of Border Corporation Charles C. Tillinghast, Brown 1932, President of TWA, Chancellor of Brown University Karl J. Neer, Illinois 1933, President of Neer Oil Company James W. Kerr, Toronto 1937, President of TransCanada Pipelines William Edwards, Michigan 1939, President of Hilton Hotels Edwin A. Gee, George Washington 1941, CEO International Paper Charles K. Fletcher, Jr., Stanford 1950, Chairman of the Home Federal Saving Assoc Mark H. McCormack, William and Mary 1950, CEO International Management Group William J. Henry, William and Mary 1963, President Time Life Books, Inc. Michael J. Saylor, MIT 1987, Founder MicroStrategy Engineering Alexander Holley, Brown 1853, Bessemer Steel, statue in Washington Square, NYC Dan Geer, MIT 1972, computer security specialist Peter Diamandis, MIT 1983, space flight entrepreneur Sport Edward Marsh, Lehigh 1894, gold medalist 1900 Olympics – rowing Walter H. Snell, Brown 1913, player Boston Red Sox Clarence P. Houston, Tufts 1914, President of NCAA Leon Tuck, Dartmouth 1915, silver medalist 1920 Olympics – hockey Stanley Lomax, Cornell 1923, radio sports broadcaster Walter F. O’Malley, Pennsylvania 1926, owner of Brooklyn/LA Dodgers William F. McAfee, Jr., Michigan 1929, player Chicago White Sox John W. Allyn, Lafayette 1939, owner of Chicago White Sox Donald B. Canham, Michigan 1941, University of Michigan Athletic Director Harry Dalton, Amherst 1950, Executive VP Milwaukee Brewers William P. Ficker, Berkeley 1950, Winner of America’s Cup Race Benjamin L. Abruzzo, Illinois 1952, Crewmember of “Double Eagle II” (first trans-Atlantic balloon flight) Mark Donahue, Brown 1959, Indianapolis 500 Winner Darrin Nelson, Stanford 1981, Stanford All-American, player Minnesota Vikings Chuck Muncie, Berkeley 1975, player New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers Garin Veris, Stanford 1985, player New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers Clergy Rt. Rev. John H. D. Wingfield, William and Mary 1853, Bishop of North Carolina Rt. Rev. A. M. Randolph, William and Mary 1855, Bishop of Virginia Rev. Franklin Clark Fry, Hamilton 1921, President of the Lutheran Church of America Rt. Rev. Robert C. Rusack, Hobart 1947, Bishop of Los Angeles External links http://www.tdx.org/ - Official site North-American Interfraternity Conference Acacia | Alpha Chi Rho | Alpha Delta Gamma | Alpha Delta Phi | Alpha Epsilon Pi | Alpha Gamma Rho | Alpha Gamma Sigma | Alpha Kappa Lambda | Alpha Phi Alpha | Alpha Phi Delta | Alpha Sigma Phi | Alpha Tau Omega | Beta Chi Theta | Beta Sigma Psi | Beta Theta Pi | Chi Phi | Chi Psi | Delta Chi | Delta Phi | Delta Psi | Delta Sigma Phi | Delta Tau Delta | Delta Upsilon | FarmHouse | Iota Phi Theta | Kappa Alpha Order | Kappa Alpha Psi | Kappa Alpha Society | Kappa Delta Phi | Kappa Delta Rho | Lambda Chi Alpha | Lambda Phi Epsilon | Lambda Sigma Upsilon | Lambda Theta Phi | Order of Omega | Phi Gamma Delta | Phi Iota Alpha | Phi Kappa Psi | Phi Kappa Sigma | Phi Kappa Tau | Phi Kappa Theta | Phi Lambda Chi | Phi Mu Delta | Phi Sigma Phi | Pi Kappa Alpha | Pi Kappa Phi | Pi Lambda Phi | Psi Upsilon | Sigma Alpha Mu | Sigma Chi | Sigma Nu | Sigma Phi Delta | Sigma Phi Epsilon | Sigma Phi Society | Sigma Tau Gamma | Tau Delta Phi | Tau Epsilon Phi | Tau Kappa Epsilon | Theta Chi | Theta Delta Chi | Theta Xi | Triangle | Zeta Beta Tau | Zeta Psi Search Term: "Theta_Delta_Chi" Categories: 1847 establishments | International student societies | North-American Interfraternity Conference | Union College, New York