Beta Chi Theta

Beta Chi Theta
ΒΧΘ
Founded	June 2, 1999 (1999-06-02) University of California, Los Angeles
Type	Social
Affiliation	NIC NAPA (though 2023)
Status	Active
Emphasis	South Asian
Scope	National
Motto	"Above All Else, Brotherhood"
Pillars	Academic Excellence, Brotherhood, Nationwide Network, Service to Humanity, South Asian Awareness, and Tradition.
Colors	Black   Silver   White
Symbol	Rampant Lion
Philanthropy	Men’s Mental Health
Chapters	20
Colonies	6
Members	2,500 active
Nickname	Beta Chi
Headquarters	5868 E. 71st Street, #E-120 Indianapolis, Indiana 46220 United States
Website	www.betachitheta.com

Beta Chi Theta (ΒΧΘ, also Beta Chi) is a South Asian interest collegiate social fraternity in the United States. It was established at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999. It is the largest South Asian fraternity in the United States.

History

Beta Chi Theta originated with eight students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the spring of 1999. On June 2, 1999, Beta Chi Theta officially received recognition by the university and was granted membership into the UCLA Inter-Fraternity Council. Its eight founders were:

• Abu Mathew Abraham
• Hashu Datwani
• Samir Khandhar
• Ankur Kumar
• Ashish Nagdev
• Ankur Parikh
• Roshan Patel
• Ali Zhumkhawala

The fraternity's founding principles are creating and maintaining a strong, close-knit brotherhood, honoring tradition, pursuing service to humanity, increasing cultural awareness, promoting academic excellence, and building a unified nationwide network.

The Beta chapter was formed at Baylor University in 2001, making Beta Chi Theta a national fraternity. After adding more chapters, the organization held its first national convention in 2003, where the fraternity's constitution and bylaws were adopted and a national board was established. The group was incorporated as Beta Chi Theta National Fraternity, Inc. in 2004.

On April 23, 2006, Beta Chi Theta became the first nationally recognized South Asian-based fraternity to become a member of the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). At the time, it was the youngest fraternity to become a member of the NIC in its 100-year history. Before that, it was a member of the National APIDA Panhellenic Association., through 2023.

Beta Chi Theta now has chapters and colonies located all over the United States. Although its members are primarily from South Asian backgrounds, membership in Beta Chi Theta has become diverse, with brothers from all backgrounds, races, cultures, religions, and sexual orientations.

Symbols

The fraternity's colors are black, silver, and white. Its symbol is the rampant lion. Its motto is "Above all else, Brotherhood". Beta Chi Theta's pillars are Academic Excellence, Brotherhood, Nationwide Network, Service to Humanity, South Asian Awareness, and Tradition.

Philanthropy

The fraternity has two national philanthropy initiatives: Beating Heart Disease and Be the Change.

Beating Heart Disease

In 2009, the fraternity selected cardiac health awareness as its national philanthropy because this is the number one cause of death in the world and it is especially rampant amongst the South Asian population. Since then, it has partnered with the American Heart Association to teach communities how to live a heart-healthy lifestyle and to raise money for cardiac research and education. The Beating Heart Disease program is a series of week-long events held by chapters in the spring of each year to educate students on cardiac health and to raise money for the American Heart Association. An additional aspect of this partnership involves the participation in Heart Walks, which are hosted annually across the nation by the American Heart Association.

Be The Change

Beta Chi Theta partners annually with SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together) to host Be The Change service day on university campuses. Be The Change takes place annually in the fall and pays tribute to the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi once said to "be the change you wish to see in the world."

Men's Mental Health

In 2023, Beta Chi Theta announced a new philanthropic focus on raising awareness and funding resources for men's mental health. While there's been an increased focus on mental health in recent years, men continue to be an underserved demographic.

Chapters

Following is a list of Beta Chi Theta chapters and colonies. Active chapters and colonies are indicated in bold. Inactive chapters are in italics.

Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status	References
Alpha	June 2, 1999	University of California, Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	Active
Beta	2001	Baylor University	Waco, Texas	Active
Gamma	2001	California State Polytechnic University, Pomona	Pomona, California	Active
Delta	2002	University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	Active
Epsilon	2002	University of California, Riverside	Riverside, California	Active
Ζeta	2003	University of California, San Diego	San Diego, California	Active
Eta	2003	University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	Active
Theta	2004	Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	Active
Iota	2004	Purdue University	West Lafayette, Indiana	Active
Kappa	2005–20xx ?; 20xx ?	Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton, Florida	Colony
Lambda	2006	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Active
Mu	2008	University of Florida	Gainesville, Florida	Active
Nu	2009–20xx ?; 20xx ?	University of Wisconsin–Madison	Madison, Wisconsin	Colony
Xi	2009–200x ?; 20xx ?	University of Houston	Houston, Texas	Colony
Omicron	2010–200x ?; 20xx ?	Emory University	Atlanta, Georgia	Colony
Pi	January 31, 2010	Texas A&M University	College Station, Texas	Active
Rho	2010	University of Tennessee	Knoxville, Tennessee	Active
Sigma	September 10, 2010	Rutgers University	New Brunswick, New Jersey	Active
Tau	2010–20xx ?; 20xx ?	University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida	Colony
Upsilon	2010	University of Texas at Dallas	Richardson, Texas	Active
Phi	December 4, 2010	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	Champaign, Illinois	Active
Chi	–	Reserved		Memorial
Psi	2011–20xx ?; 2023 ?	University of Connecticut	Storrs, Connecticut	Colony
Omega	2011	University of Alabama at Birmingham	Birmingham, Alabama	Active
Alpha Alpha	2011	Northeastern University	Boston, Massachusetts	Active
Alpha Beta	2014	Drexel University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Active
Alpha Gamma	2014	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Amherst, Massachusetts	Active
Alpha Delta	2017	Indiana University Bloomington	Bloomington, Indiana	Active
Alpha Epsilon	2017	University of Georgia	Athens, Georgia	Active
Alpha Zeta	2018	Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona	Colony
Alpha Eta	2019	Binghamton University	Binghamton, New York	Colony
Alpha Theta	2024	University of California, Davis	Davis, California	Colony

See also

• List of social fraternities
• List of Asian American fraternities and sororities
• Cultural interest fraternities and sororities

External links

• Beta Chi Theta national site