History of Beta Kappa Phi
In 1909, Dr. Albert Jenks decided in his own mind that there was a place on the campus of Mass. Aggie for another fraternity. Dr. Jenks along with four other men, and the support of the college President Butterfield, drew up a constitution and organized Beta Kappa Phi. On February 10, 1910, it was formally announced that the college would recognize the new fraternity.
For the first few years, as the fraternity grew, meetings were held in available rooms in buildings on campus. During 1910, meetings were held in the janitors room of the old Durfee Plant. Then during the summer of 1913, a house (which is now IGU) was purchased and on September 11, 1913, the first meeting was held in the new house.
As early as 1912 the members of Beta Kappa Phi were thinking along the lines of nationalization, but it was not until 1916 that a national was decided upon. On January 8, 1916, the brothers of Beta Kappa Phi decided to petition Alpha Gamma Rho and on April 28, 1916 BKO became installed as Mu chapter of Alpha Gamma Rho.
Alpha Gamma Rho, an agricultural fraternity, remained on campus until 1962. At the time the brothers found it necessary to de-affiliate from the national due to the nationals requirement that the membership be completely agricultural. For many years prior to 1962, Mu chapter had not been adhering to this policy and has been taking men with complete disregard for their major course of study. The national finally clamped down and refused to take a pledge class. This made it necessary to terminate relations with the national. A roll call vote of the brothers was unanimous, and on April 17, 1962, the fraternity became the local Beta Kappa Phi for the second time in it’s history.
During the 1960’s the University expanded and in enrollment and in men. With it fraternities grew. In the late 1960’s a proposal was made to unify the Greek houses by locating them in one central area. It was to be called Fraternity-Sorority Park. Land was found and purchased by most houses on East Pleasant Street.
Beta Kappa Phi purchased a lot and in the spring of 1968 the members voted to start construction as soon as possible. The house in which the brothers were living was sold to help finance the loan. It required a temporary move to a house on Fearing Street for fall semester ’69 with the hope that the new house would be finished by the spring semester ’70. Unfortunately during the summer, the bank backed out and we were left without a loan. Because of the poor economy, high interest rates and increasing campus unrest, a loan could not be found until the spring ’71.
Those two years were very difficult for the brothers. The house they had temporarily moved into was, to say the least, a “hole”. Rush was one of the major problems (and there were many) not because of the dedication of the brothers and the strong leadership of the president, Robert Ganley together with the guidance and long hours of work by the alumni officers, Beta Kappa Phi still exists today.
In the spring of ’71, Beta Kappa Phi moved its residence to 401 North Pleasant Street which was a much improved structure over Fearing Street. Due to high taxes and the infeasibility of a 55 man house, the brothers voted not to build the house in Fraternity-Sorority Park and to wait and investigate other structures in the area.
The house in which the brothers were now living was by no means a Palace and as the rent got higher the house got worse and worse. Plans for the new house were on everybody’s mind and soon Rick Deler and Chuck Thomas came up with a design for a new house to be built on Phillips Street behind where IGU now stands. Once again we needed a loan to build. The bank however, had other ideas. For several years the bank had been holding the vacant Pi Phi house and was losing money in the house while trying to find a buyer. They offered the house to BKO at quite a bargain instead of offering the loan and in the spring of ’73 the brothers voted to purchase the house. We moved into the new house in the fall of ’73 and for the first time in many years the brothers finally lived together in a decent structure.
In the mid 70’s and 80’s Beta Kappa Phi continued to be a significant presence at UMASS, during that period the house won numerous Intramural Athletic Championships, sponsored many philanthropic events and achieved great academic success. In the late 80’s membership waned and the house was eventually closed but our philanthropic focus continues today with the AGR-BKP Alumni Association and the AGR-BKP Scholarship Foundation.