Over the years, Beta Theta Pi became known for its entrepreneurial spirit, adopting the “Pioneering Fraternity” and “Leadership Fraternity” monikers.
Indeed, by 1850 Beta had already racked up several fraternal firsts, including being the first college fraternity founded west of the Allegheny Mountains (1839) and the first to host a General Convention (1848).
During these formative years, many of Beta Theta Pi’s signs, symbols, and traditions begin to take shape, including the creation of the Fraternity’s first badge and coat of arms and the adoption of “delicate shades of pink blue” as its colors.
Most notable during these years, however, is that fraternities (Beta included) frequently faced hostility from college and university authorities and were required to operate sub rosa. This hostility was perceived to be caused by the mistaken belief that college secret societies were formed to interfere with discipline and rules.
In order to instill confidence in its campus partners of the organization’s noble ambitions, in 1879, Beta became the first Fraternity to publish an open constitution for public distribution. Therein, Beta Theta Pi proclaimed its objects, which have held true in the year since:
“It shall be constituted as hereinafter provided and shall have for its objects the promotion of the moral and social culture of its members, the establishment of confidence and friendly relations among the universities and colleges of the United States and Canada, in securing unity of action and sympathy in matters of common interest among them, and the building up of a fraternity that recognizes mutual assistance in the honorable labors and aspirations of life, devotion to the cultivation of the intellect, unsullied friendship and unfaltering fidelity, as objects worthy of the highest aim and purpose of associated effort.”
