Omicron Delta Kappa

Omicron Delta Kappa
Omicron Delta Kappa
ΟΔΚ
Founded	December 3, 1914; 109 years ago; Washington and Lee University
Type	Honor society
Affiliation	HSC
Former Affiliation	ACHS
Status	Active
Scope	National
Motto	"Success Achieved in Worthy Undertakings"
Colors	Sky blue, White, and Black
Symbol	A Laurel with Stars
Flower	Blue delphinium
Publication	The Circle
Chapters	300+ active; 418 chartered
Members	330,000+ lifetime
Headquarters	224 McLaughlin Street; Lexington, Virginia 24450; United States
Website	odk.org

Omicron Delta Kappa (ΟΔΚ), also known as The Circle and ODK, is an honor society located in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded on December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, by fifteen student and faculty leaders. The society recognizes achievement in five areas: scholarship; athletics; campus and community service, social or religious activities, and campus government; journalism, speech, and the mass media; and creative and performing arts. Some circles of ΟΔΚ are quasi-secret, in that newly selected members remain undisclosed for some time.

Membership in the Omicron Delta Kappa Society is regarded as an honor in the tradition of Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. To be selected as a member of ΟΔΚ, students must be among the top 35 percent of all students at that particular institution and hold a leadership role in one of the society's five areas of recognition.

History

Founding

On December 3, 1914, the Omicron Delta Kappa Society was founded by fifteen men who met in an office on the third floor of Reid Hall at Washington and Lee University. J. Carl Fisher first introduced the idea of creating such a society to a close friend, Rupert Latture. The two soon included mutual friend William Brown in the discussion, and thus these three are referred to as the principal founders of the society. Together with the president of the University, the dean of engineering, and another faculty member, the founders selected nine others to join them. A complete list of the fifteen founders follows:^[1]

James Edwin Bear, ΒΘΠ, editor of the student magazine
William Moseley Brown, ΔΚΕ, ΦΒΚ, debater and president of the YMCA
Carl Shaffer Davidson, ΚΣ, student instructor in civil engineering
Edward Parks Davis, ΚΣ, athlete
Edward A. Donahue, ΦΚΣ, captain of football and baseball teams
De la Warr Benjamin Easter, PhD, ΚΣ, ΦΒΚ, professor and the founding president of ΟΔΚ
James Carl Fisher, business manager of the student magazine and founder of the campus radio station
Philip Pendleton Gibson, ΠΚΑ, president of student government and editor of the student newspaper
Thomas McPheeters Glasgow, ΦΔΘ, orator and athlete
David Carlisle Humphreys, FIJI, professor and dean of the School of Applied Science
Rupert Nelson Latture, ΔΥ, ΦΒΚ, a president of the YMCA
John Eppes Martin, ΑΧΡ, business manager of the yearbook
William Caulfield Raftery, ΦΚΣ, athlete
John Purver Richardson Jr., ΣΧ, instructor in biology
Henry Louis Smith, PhD, ΦΔΘ, ΦΒΚ, president of Washington and Lee University

The founders of the Omicron Delta Kappa Society

All fifteen men were prominent leaders on campus. The rallied around the idea that all-around leadership in college should be recognized, that representative men in all phases of college life should cooperate in worthwhile endeavors and that outstanding students and faculty should affiliate in the spirit of mutual interest and understanding. The founders intended that ΟΔΚ not be yet another society in which members would simply earn a societal key. Instead, members of ΟΔΚ would remain active as leaders, upholding spiritual and moral values and providing service to the campus and community.

The founders decided that the organization would be kept a complete secret until keys could be designed and produced. The keys arrived shortly past the winter holiday. The student newspaper, Ring-Tum Phi, broke the news on d January 12, 1915, of a new society to be known as "The Circle," with the secret significance of its three Greek letters known only to its members.^[2]^[3] The members first wore their keys on January 15, 1915.

Women in ODK

Only men could become members of Omicron Delta Kappa in the first sixty years of its existence. At the 1970 and 1972 National Conventions, the University of Alabama Circle introduced an amendment to the national constitution to admit women into the society. In June 1972, Title IX of the "Education Amendments Act of 1972" prohibited sex discrimination in federally assisted educational programs and amended parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Professional and honor fraternities were included in Title IX. The society's special committee on the possible role of women met in January 1973 and recommended changes to the national constitution that would abolish segregation based on gender within the Society. On March 12, 1974, the national convention convened in New Orleans and approved the initiation of women into the society. The first women members were initiated that day, including Carolyn Julia Kucinski, and Diane Christine Ragosa of the Newark College of Engineering Circle and Robbie Lynn Cooney, Maria Dolores Delvalle, Roxane R. Dow, Catherine Ann Rohrbacher, Karen Diane Janzer, Linda Ann Touten, Martha Gwyn Van Deman, and Cathy Sue Welch of the University of South Florida Circle.

Cheryl Hogle was elected as the first woman national president at the convention in Knoxville, Tennessee on February 25, 1998.^[4]

Affiliations and memberships

A similar honorary society, for exceptionally outstanding women leaders, known as Mortar Board, was established in 1918, with many similar ideals and purposes of Omicron Delta Kappa. With the passage of Title IX in 1972, each of those two societies was then required to accept candidates of either gender into its membership. As a result, the two organizations found themselves competing to tap many of the same distinguished students, and those formerly complementary societies became rivals at many institutions, perhaps fiercely so during membership selection, while more congenially so during the rest of the year, as the two rivaled one another in service, athletics, or other campus activities.

On March 22, 1992, the national convention passed a resolution authorizing the incorporation of the society. On July 1, 1992, the Omicron Delta Kappa Society was merged into the corporation, The Omicron Delta Kappa Society, Inc.

Omicron Delta Kappa became a member of the Association of College Honor Societies since March 30, 1930. It resigned that membership in 2005. Today, the society participates in a more loosely coordinated lobbying association called the Honor Society Caucus. Its members include Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and Omicron Delta Kappa.^[5]

Membership

Unlike some honor societies that accept all potential members who meet the selection criteria and pay the required fees, ΟΔΚ chooses a highly select group from a pool of potential and qualified students through a process known as tapping. Eligibility for membership in ΟΔΚ requires at least sophomore academic standing. ΟΔΚ accepts candidates from every field of study who distinguish themselves as outstanding leaders in at least one of the five areas celebrated by the society: scholarship; athletics; campus and community service, social or religious activities, and campus government; journalism, speech, and the mass media; and creative and performing arts. Members may be chosen annually or semi-annually depending on the tradition of each circle. The number of candidates tapped each year is limited to 35 percent of the undergraduate population, but most circles limit membership to fewer than the top one-quarter of one percent of the students on their respective campuses.

Once a circle votes on who will be tapped for membership, it keeps that secret from all but those few chosen for initiation. Once tapped, each candidate must maintain the secret until the circle reveals it to the campus and community in a public ceremony, only after the circle has initiated the new members into the bonds of the society through its private ritual. At some institutions, such as the University of Missouri, with several such elite societies that tap new members, the public revelations are all held in conjunction, with an annual ceremonial Tap Day celebration on campus.

Circles

Omicron Delta Kappa uses the term circle to indicate chapters. As of May 4, 2023, 431 circles have been chartered. The practice of automatically designating circles with Greek letter names was abandoned in 1949, although some circles have adopted Greek letter nicknames in later years. Members who have died are said to have entered the Eternal Circle.

Notable members

References

^ "New Honor Society – ' 'The Circle' '". Washington and Lee University Bulletin. Vol. XIV, no. 3. 1915. p. 22.
^ "Commemorating the Silver Anniversary, Omicron Delta Kappa Fraternity, 1914–1939"
^ "New Society formed for Washington & Lee". The Ring-Tum Phi. Vol. XVIII, no. 1. January 12, 1915. p. 7.
^ "Women in ODK"
^ "Honor Society Caucus | Honor Society". www.phikappaphi.org. Retrieved 2021-10-22.

External links

Official Circle Website
ODK (Omicron Delta Kappa) Collection (MUM00598) at the University of Mississippi, Archives and Special Collections.areass

[1] "New Honor Society – ' 'The Circle' '". Washington and Lee University Bulletin. Vol. XIV, no. 3. 1915. p. 22.

[2] "Commemorating the Silver Anniversary, Omicron Delta Kappa Fraternity, 1914–1939"

[3] "New Society formed for Washington & Lee". The Ring-Tum Phi. Vol. XVIII, no. 1. January 12, 1915. p. 7.

[4] "Women in ODK"

[5] "Honor Society Caucus | Honor Society". www.phikappaphi.org. Retrieved 2021-10-22.

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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

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