Delta Theta Phi

Delta Theta Phi
Delta Theta Phi
ΔΘΦ
Founded	September 15, 1900; 124 years ago; Cleveland Law School
Type	Professional
Affiliation	PFA
Former affiliation	PIC
Status	Active
Emphasis	Law
Scope	International
Member badge
Colors	Green and White
Flower	White carnation
Publication	The Adelphia Law Journal and The Paper Book
Chapters	150+
Members	138,000 lifetime
Headquarters	1967 East Maple Street, Suite 319; North Canton, Ohio 44720; United States
Website	www.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

^ John Marshall Law School (Chicago) merged with the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2019, becoming the UIC John Marshall Law School.
^ ^a ^b Dickinson's Law school merged with Penn State University in 2000.
^ ^a ^b This school closed in 1942.
^ ^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

^ Professional Fraternities by Professional Interfraternity Conference - 1950
^ ^a ^b Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities. G. Banta Company. 1920. p. 678.
^ 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.
^ ^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.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Delta Theta Phi - About Us - History
^ Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities. G. Banta Company. 1905. p. 431.
^ ^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.
^ Webster was eventually consolidated with Kent College of Law, sometime after 1921.

[UIC-8] John Marshall Law School (Chicago) merged with the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2019, becoming the UIC John Marshall Law School.

[Dickinson-9] Dickinson's Law school merged with Penn State University in 2000.

[Chattanooga-10] This school closed in 1942.

[ALS-11] This school closed in 1994.

[PIC50-1] Professional Fraternities by Professional Interfraternity Conference - 1950

[Bairds1920-2] Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities. G. Banta Company. 1920. p. 678.

[Baird's_20th-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.

[York-4] 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.

[AboutUs-5] Delta Theta Phi - About Us - History

[6] Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities. G. Banta Company. 1905. p. 431.

[Baird's1915-7] ^ ^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.

[12] Webster was eventually consolidated with Kent College of Law, sometime after 1921.

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v t e Greek Letter Organizations in the field of Law
Founded as Professional Fraternities and Sororities	Delta Theta Phi Gamma Eta Gamma Kappa Alpha Pi (pre-law) Kappa Beta Pi Nu Beta Epsilon Phi Alpha Delta Phi Beta Gamma Phi Delta Delta Phi Delta Phi (law and pre-law) Sigma Delta Kappa
Founded as Honor Societies	Order of the Coif (law) The Order of Barristers (law; litigation) Alpha Phi Sigma (criminal justice) Lambda Epsilon Chi (paralegal)

v t e Professional fraternities and sororities organizations and members
Currently active members of the Professional Fraternity Association	Alpha Zeta Alpha Kappa Psi Alpha Rho Chi Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Chi Sigma Alpha Omega Epsilon Delta Chi Xi Delta Epsilon Mu Delta Theta Phi Delta Kappa Alpha Delta Omicron Delta Sigma Pi Delta Sigma Chi Epsilon Nu Tau Theta Tau Kappa Epsilon Kappa Epsilon Psi Kappa Eta Kappa Kappa Kappa Psi Kappa Lambda Chi Kappa Psi Lambda Kappa Sigma Mu Beta Phi Mu Phi Epsilon Pi Sigma Epsilon Rho Pi Phi Sigma Alpha Sigma Alpha Iota Tau Beta Sigma Phi Alpha Delta Phi Beta Phi Gamma Nu Phi Delta Epsilon Phi Delta Chi Phi Sigma Pi Phi Chi Theta
Former and formerly active members of the Professional Fraternity Association or its predecessors: Professional Panhellenic Association or Professional Interfraternity Conference	Alpha Delta Theta Alpha Delta Sigma Alpha Kappa Kappa Alpha Sigma Alpha Alpha Tau Delta Alpha Omega Beta Alpha Psi Gamma Eta Gamma Gamma Iota Sigma Delta Epsilon Iota Delta Sigma Delta Delta Psi Kappa Epsilon Eta Phi Zeta Phi Eta Theta Kappa Psi Theta Sigma Upsilon Theta Sigma Phi Iota Sigma Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Beta Pi Kappa Delta Epsilon Kappa Phi Kappa Nu Sigma Nu Xi Psi Phi Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Nu Pi Lambda Theta Sigma Delta Chi Sigma Nu Phi Sigma Sigma Sigma Sigma Phi Delta (now social) Phi Beta Gamma Phi Beta Pi Phi Delta Delta Phi Delta Gamma Phi Delta Kappa Phi Delta Pi Phi Delta Phi (now honor society) Phi Epsilon Kappa Phi Lambda Kappa Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (now social) Phi Rho Sigma Phi Upsilon Omicron Phi Chi Chi Beta Phi Psi Omega Omega Tau Sigma Omega Upsilon Phi Pershing Rifles Scabbard and Blade Scarab
North American Interfraternity Conference	Alpha Gamma Rho Alpha Gamma Sigma
Active independent professional fraternities	Alpha Gamma Kappa Alpha Zeta Omega Alpha Eta Rho Alpha Iota Alpha Psi Gamma Epsilon Tau Delta Sigma Theta Delta Theta Sigma Delta Kappa Gamma Delta Kappa Phi Delta Phi Epsilon Kappa Gamma Psi Kappa Pi Nu Beta Epsilon Phi Delta Kappa (sorority) Phi Sigma Gamma Phi Psi Chi Delta Mu Chi Eta Phi Block and Bridle Queens' Guard
Inactive independent professional fraternities	Aleph Yodh He Alpha Epsilon Iota Alpha Tau Sigma Chi Zeta Chi Delta Omicron Alpha Pi Delta Nu