Zeta Beta Tau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ZBT - Zeta Beta Tau
Motto "A Powerhouse of Excellence"
Colors Medium blue and white with gold trim
Flower Gold Carnation (adopted 2004)
Founded December 29, 1898 at City College of New York, New York, NY
Type Social
Scope National
Headquarters 3905 Vincennes Rd. Suite 300
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Chapters 71
Fraternity Song "My Brother, Here's My Hand"
Homepage ZBT Website

Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT, brothers of which are nicknamed Zebes) is a historically Jewish, presently nonsectarian international fraternity. Today the merged Zeta Beta Tau Brotherhood numbers over 130,000 initiated Brothers, and over 80 student chapter locations. The first verse of the fraternity song is "Here's to our fraternity..."

Contents

The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was inspired by Dr. Richard J. H. Gottheil, a professor of languages at Columbia University and a Zionist. On December 29, 1898, he formed a Zionist youth society with a group of Jewish students from several New York City universities. The society was called Z.B.T., the first letters in the Hebrew phrase "Zion Bemishpat Tipadeh", which translated means "Zion shall be redeemed with justice". This is taken from Isaiah 1:27 - "Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness." ZBT has interpreted Isaiah's prophecy to mean in its ritual that "All Men Are Brothers". At the time Jews were not allowed to join other fraternities due to rampant anti-semitism, thus there was a need for an exclusively Jewish Greek letter fraternity. Z.B.T. changed to Zeta Beta Tau in 1903. The original Hebrew meaning of Z.B.T. is not esoteric. It was publicly revealed in the written history of Zeta Beta Tau, Here's to Our Fraternity: One Hundred Years of Zeta Beta Tau, 1898-1998, by Marianne Rachel Sanua.[1]

The Zeta Beta Tau of today is the result of a merger with four other national fraternities, more than any other North-American Interfraternity Conference fraternity. In 1959, Phi Alpha merged into Phi Sigma Delta. In 1961 Kappa Nu merged into Phi Epsilon Pi. In 1969-70, Phi Sigma Delta and Phi Epsilon Pi merged into Zeta Beta Tau.

Zeta Beta Tau was also one of the first National fraternities to abolish the institution of pledging in 1989 as a way to combat and eliminate hazing.[2] This change was not new to the world of fraternities, as in 1971 Lambda Chi Alpha became the first North-American Interfraternity Conference (NAIC) fraternity to eliminate pledging.

In conjunction with the 1989 abolishment of pledging, ZBT National instituted a very liberal concept in fraternities then and now, the S.B.R.V. (Semi-Annual Brotherhood Review Vote). ZBT National mandates that all Chapters, twice a year (once a semester) have a vote to see who, if anyone, should be removed from membership within a Chapter. All brothers participate in, and are subject to, the anonymous vote, which are tallied by the Brotherhood Development Director. [3] If a brother receives a simple majority of votes, he is kicked out of the fraternity. What makes this policy so different from all other NAIC fraternities is that ZBT does not consider you to be a brother for life once initiated, as any brother has the possibility of being voted out during his college career. Also unique to Zeta Beta Tau is the fact that a former ZBT brother who has been voted out by the Semi-Annual Brotherhood Review Vote may request an unconditional release from ZBT National, and if granted, may join another NAIC fraternity.


  1. ^ ZBT Centennial History Book. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  2. ^ ZBT History. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  3. ^ Chapter Officers Responsibilities. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.


North-American Interfraternity Conference
Acacia  • Alpha Chi Rho  • Alpha Delta Gamma  • Alpha Delta Phi  • Alpha Epsilon Pi  • Alpha Gamma Rho  • Alpha Gamma Sigma  • Alpha Kappa Lambda  • Alpha Phi Alpha  • Alpha Phi Delta  • Alpha Sigma Phi  • Alpha Tau Omega  • Beta Chi Theta  • Beta Sigma Psi  • Beta Theta Pi  • Chi Phi  • Chi Psi  • Delta Chi  • Delta Kappa Epsilon  • Delta Phi  • Delta Psi  • Delta Sigma Phi  • Delta Tau Delta  • Delta Upsilon  • FarmHouse  • Iota Phi Theta  • Kappa Alpha Order  • Kappa Alpha Psi  • Kappa Alpha Society  • Kappa Delta Phi  • Kappa Delta Rho  • Lambda Chi Alpha  • Lambda Phi Epsilon  • Lambda Sigma Upsilon  • Lambda Theta Phi  • Phi Gamma Delta  • Phi Iota Alpha  • Phi Kappa Psi  • Phi Kappa Sigma  • Phi Kappa Tau  • Phi Kappa Theta  • Phi Lambda Chi  • Phi Mu Delta  • Phi Sigma Kappa  • Phi Sigma Phi  • Pi Kappa Alpha  • Pi Kappa Phi  • Pi Lambda Phi  • Psi Upsilon  • Sigma Alpha Epsilon  • Sigma Alpha Mu  • Sigma Chi  • Sigma Lambda Beta  • Sigma Nu  • Sigma Phi Delta  • Sigma Phi Epsilon  • Sigma Phi Society  • Sigma Pi  • Sigma Tau Gamma  • Tau Delta Phi  • Tau Epsilon Phi  • Tau Kappa Epsilon  • Theta Chi  • Theta Delta Chi  • Theta Xi  • Triangle  • Zeta Beta Tau  • Zeta Psi
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../z/e/t/Zeta_Beta_Tau_aa9b.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.