ABOUT US
Starting in 1967, 3 men came together, Richard Abel, Scott Barnett and Phil Cohen forming a Fraternity origianlly named Phi Sigma Xi. Later on the group voted to join a national Fraternity in the first wave of local USF Fraternities. A split in the group caused the Fraternity to divide with half the Brothers colonizing Tau Kappa Epsilon and the other half becoming the Beta Tau Colony of Zeta Beta Tau. The Colony was later chartered as the Gamma Chi Chapter in 1968. The Chapter closed in 1974 and was recahartered in 1984 as Gamma Chi II. The Chapter was then closed again in 1997.
During the Spring Semester of 2005, 12 men joined together and proposed a new Fraternity, a place for legacy and incredible friendships. With the commitment and passion of the founding fathers as well as ZBT's non-hazing and non-pledging policies, it was decided that ZBT should be given a chance in the Greek System at USF. On February 10, 2005 the Gamma Chi Colony at the University of South Florida was founded.
The founding fathers aspired an organization of exceptional gentlemen with outstanding leadership, brotherhood, and moral integrity. In August of 2010 this became a reality. The Gamma Chi Colony became the Gamma Chi III Chapter, cementing the hard work and dedication for many years to come.
It's great to be a Zeeb!
HISTORY
Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity was inspired by Richard J. H. Gottheil, a professor of languages at Columbia University and a leader in the early American Zionist movement. On December 29, 1898, Professor Gottheil gathered together a group of Jewish students from several New York City universities to form a Zionist youth society. The society was called Z.B.T.
During this brief period, the society came to serve as a kind of fraternal body for college Zeta Beta Tau expanded rapidly. By 1909, it had established 13 Chapters throughout the Northeast and a 14th at Tulane University at New Orleans, thereby taking on a truly national dimension. In 1913, it established its first Canadian Chapter at McGill University in Montreal. Five years later, it founded its first West Coast Chapter at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. At the 1954 National Convention, the delegates amended Zeta Beta Tau's Constitution, ritual and internal procedures both in theory and in practice to eliminate sectarianism as a qualification for membership.
Spearheaded by the growth of state and municipal university systems, hundreds of new institutions were opened in the quarter-century following World War II. By the 1960′s virtually every American had an opportunity to attend college. From 1945 to 1969, the number of ZBT chapters increased from 30 to 80 units.
The history of mergers in the Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood followed a pattern of linking common traditions. In 1959, Phi Alpha merged into Phi Sigma Delta, and in 1961 Kappa Nu merged into Phi Epsilon Pi. In 1969-70, Phi Sigma Delta and Phi Epsilon Pi merged into Zeta Beta Tau.
Traumatic experiences were generated by the polarization over the Vietnam conflict. The American fraternity system – including Zeta Beta Tau, was subsequently affected by the great wave of anti-establishment feeling that was pervasive throughout the country. Many of the Chapters which survived this period of turmoil did so in a weakened condition. During the late 1970′s and the early 1980′s, there was a renewed interest in fraternity life, resulting in increased initiation statistics, revival of many dormant Chapters and expansion to new campuses.
During the 1980′s, every Greek-letter group continued their efforts to stop hazing. Despite ZBT's best efforts, hazing continued and increased in frequency and severity. ZBT concluded that all efforts to reform the institution of pledging had failed; pledging was the problem. This was because pledges were considered second-class citizens, with no rights and no chance to refuse even the most outrageous demands of a Brother, unless he quit the Fraternity. In 1989, in a last-ditch effort to eliminate hazing, ZBT eliminated pledging and all second-class status from the Fraternity. In its place, ZBT established a Brotherhood Program, with minimum standards (Brotherhood Quality Standards), as well as programs of education, bonding, and earning one's Brotherhood status that applied to all Brothers of ZBT.
Today, the merged Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood is some 110,000 Brothers strong, and ZBT Chapters and Colonies are established at over 90 campus locations. Through good times and bad, ZBT has been in the forefront in pioneering new concepts – as evidenced by its very founding, its elimination of sectarian membership practices, its acceptance of mergers, its elimination of pledging, and its ability to solve enormous problems when others abandoned the effort.