Editing Alpha Theta (section)

==History==
=== Early years===
Seven students at Dartmouth College formed  a local fraternity named Iota Sigma Upsilon on March 3, 1920.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Bronner |first=Geoffrey |last2=Robinson |first2=Chris |title=House History |url=https://atheta.host.dartmouth.edu/history.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Alpha Theta}}</ref> Its founders were:<ref name=":0" />
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|  
* Robert L. Farwell
* James W. Frost
* Howard A. Hitchcock
* Robert L. Loeb 
* Robert J. Minor
* Burdette E. Weymouth
* Ralph K. Whitney
}}

Loeb was its first president.<ref name=":0" /> In 1921, the fraternity received a charter as the ''Alpha Theta chapter'' of [[Theta Chi]].<ref name=":0" /> [[John Sloan Dickey]], later president of the college, joined the fraternity in 1928 and was elected house president only two weeks later, while still a pledge.

===Breaking from Theta Chi===
[[Image:AO old house.PNG|right|thumb|Alpha Theta's original building]]
Alpha Theta was one of the first collegiate fraternities in the United States to break from its national organization over [[Civil rights movement|civil rights]] issues, and the first at the Greek-dominated Dartmouth College. In 1951, while Dickey served as president of the college, the student body passed a resolution calling on all fraternities to eliminate racial discrimination from their constitutions. The Theta Chi national organization's constitution contained a clause limiting membership in fraternity to "[[Caucasian race|Caucasian]]s" only. 

On April 24, 1952, the members of the Dartmouth chapter voted unanimously to stop recognizing the racial clause in Theta Chi's constitution.<ref name="NYTimes-19520426">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/26/archives/dartmouth-society-drops-bias-clause.html | journal=The New York Times | title=Dartmouth Society Drops Bias Clause | date=April 26, 1952}}</ref> Upon learning that the Dartmouth delegation to Theta Chi's national convention later that year planned to raise questions about the clause, the Alpha Theta chapter was derecognized by the national organization on July 25, 1952.<ref name="NYTimes-19580728">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/07/28/archives/charter-is-revoked-dartmouth-theta-chi-chapter-rejected-racial.html  | journal=The New York Times | title=Charter is Revoked: Dartmouth Theta Chi Chapter Rejected Racial Clause | date=July 28, 1952}}</ref> The house reincorporated as a local fraternity and adopted the name Alpha Theta.

===Coeducation===

Alpha Theta was one of the first all-male fraternities to admit female members. In 1972, Dartmouth admitted the first class of female students and officially became a coeducational institution.<ref name=":0" /> Alpha Theta also voted to become coeducational. After a few years, most of the women in the fraternity had become inactive and the house voted to become male-only again on November 10, 1976.<ref name=":0" /> The house returned to a coeducational membership policy in 1980.<ref name="bronner">Bronner, Geoffrey & Robinson, Chris (1999). [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~atheta/history.html "Alpha Theta History"]. Retrieved March 14, 2007.</ref>