About Beta Tau
1865
National Founding
1894
Beta Tau Charter
Our Origins
Founded in 1865
Alpha Tau Omega was founded on September 11, 1865, at Virginia Military Institute, in the wreckage of the Civil War. Three men, Otis Allan Glazebrook, Erskine Mayo Ross, and Alfred Marshall, started a fraternity meant to help reconcile a country that had just torn itself apart.
They built it on inclusion, opportunity, nonpartisanship, and above all, love and respect, principles that crossed the lines the war had drawn. It became the first fraternity founded after the Civil War, and the first founded on Christian principles rather than Greek ones. The slogan they gave it, Love & Respect, still leads the fraternity today.
1880
The ATO Creed
“To bind men together in a brotherhood based upon eternal and immutable principles, with a bond as strong as right itself and as lasting as humanity; to know no North, no South, no East, no West, but to know man as man, to teach that true men the world over should stand together and contend for supremacy of good over evil; to teach, not politics, but morals; to foster, not partisanship, but the recognition of true merit wherever found; to have no narrower limits within which to work together for the elevation of man than the outlines of the world: these were the thoughts and hopes uppermost in the minds of the founders of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.”
Otis Allan Glazebrook
Scholarship
Scholarship
At Beta Tau, we believe being a good brother means being a committed student. Academic success is a responsibility we share, and we build that expectation into our chapter culture. Brothers participate in multiple optional study hours throughout the week, creating dedicated time to focus on coursework and hold one another accountable. We also maintain a minimum GPA requirement, encouraging every brother to take his education seriously while providing the support needed to succeed across nearly every major on Union's campus.
Alumni
Alumni
Joining Beta Tau means becoming part of a brotherhood that extends beyond your years at Union. Our alumni carry the values and relationships developed at Beta Tau into careers, families, churches, communities, and organizations across the country. They remain an important part of our chapter by mentoring current brothers, sharing professional experience, attending chapter events, and continuing the friendships they built during their time at Union.