RG 07. Campus and Student Organizations

Abstract For twenty-five years, Phi Delta Literary Society maintained an elite reputation as Berea College’s only literary society. However, when in the fall of 1894 “the society became unwieldy and torn by internal dissension,” twenty young men held separate meetings to form a new society. A committee drew up a constitution “which differed from the constitution of Phi Delta chiefly in that it allowed Academy men to be admitted to the privileges of full membership” and the first official Alpha Zeta...

Abstract The Berea College Chapter of the AAUP formed in 1933.  For much of the next three decades the goals of the organization centered on improved teaching and curriculum, presentation of faculty research, shared governance and contact with the College’s Board of Trustees, badly needed increases in faculty salaries, and clarity in policy related to tenure and academic freedom. By the mid 1970s, faculty interest dwindled and the organization essentially went defunct.  By this time, many of the aims...

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General collection of papers and records of numerous campus and student organizations, organized by organization, at Berea College from 1871 to the present day.

Abstract The Berea College Faculty Club officially organized in October of 1917 after years of informal gatherings by faculty members. The first meeting of the club was held in Ladies Hall; however, at the first meeting, it was decided that the Loom House on Jackson Street would be the most desirable meeting place (with approval of the Prudential Committee). The purpose of the Club was to promote social pleasure and good fellowship among its members. Early records of the club refer to the...

Abstract Phi Delta literary Society was formed “For one purpose of learning truth, and promoting literary culture, discipline of mind and manner, and firm friendship….”  The constitution was adopted on November 27, 1868, and the first recorded regular meeting was December 11, 1868.  Except for a semester during World War I, the society met on a weekly basis until its dissolution in November 1942.  Meetings usually took place in Phi Delta Hall, a room in Lincoln Hall. Phi Delta was a member of the...

Abstract The history of Berea College's Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi begins in the early 1950's but the need for an honor society like Phi Kappa Phi had been recognized at Berea as early as the 1930's and 1940's.  Within those decades Berea established a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; however, because Phi Beta Kappa only recognized outstanding scholarship in disciplines covered by a Bachelor of Arts degree, about one-third of Berea's student body was ineligible for acceptance to an interdisciplinary honor...

Abstract Students for Appalachia (SFA) was established in 1968 by Berea College students to serve the community through programs in arts, crafts, home visitation, recreation, tutoring of school children and serving as referral agents for public service and federal programs. SFA students also teach basic literacy skills for adults and assist those interested in obtaining a high school diploma through a program conducted in homes and community centers.  The student lead program would later become a...

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Records of the Berea College and Berea city associated YMCA and YWCA.