Welcome to the Beta Theta Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) at Cornell University. Explore our site to learn more about this wonderful group of men!
Pi Kappa Alpha was founded in Room 47 West Range at the University of Virginia in 1868. Since then, it's developed into an international brotherhood and become one of the largest fraternal organizations in the world.
How? It's simple. Pi Kappa Alpha has remained dedicated to developing men of integrity, intellect, success and high moral character, and to fostering a truly lifelong fraternal experience.
Pi Kappa Alpha is composed of more than 275,000 lifetime members, 220 chapters and 150 alumni associations in North America. In the last 10 years, PIKE membership grew by 51% and maintains the largest average chapter size of North American fraternities. Between 2014 and 2015, Pikes raised over $2.125 million and contributed 300,000+ hours in community service.
Our members continue to have a positive impact on their campuses, their communities and throughout their life. We believe the fraternal experience makes better men, better friends, better husbands, better fathers and better citizens.
It all started in Room 47 West Range, when Frederick Southgate Taylor turned to Littleton Waller Tazewell, his cousin and roommate, for help in starting a new fraternity. Also present were James Benjamin Sclater, Jr., a schoolmate of Tazewell, and Sclater's roommate, Robertson Howard. Those four men voted to add a fifth to their group and chose Julian Edward Wood. Soon thereafter, William Alexander, believed to be a friend of Sclater, was proposed for membership and admitted as a Founder. The Founders very quickly prohibited 'horseplay' or hazing of new members—a trait often found in existing fraternities at the time—as they believed such practices ran counter to their mission of promoting “brotherly love and kind feeling.”
The essence of the Founders' vision for Pi Kappa Alpha can be found in its Preamble. A committee was first suggested by Brother William Alexander "to draw up a statement of the origin and the organization of the Fraternity." The committee was composed of brothers Robertson Howard and Littleton Waller Tazewell.
The resulting statement is now referred to as the Preamble:
