History and Tradition

History and Traditions of Kappa Beta

Kappa Beta was founded originally as Kappa Mu Theta on the Albany campus in January 1937. It originally held its meetings at the Jewish Community Center. Percy Forman was the first president. On March 11, 1937 the name of the organization was changed to Kappa Beta Club. The first residence of this group was at 264 Western Ave. and was opened for the summer session of 1937. On September 22, 1937, the meeting time was officially established for Monday evenings. On November 15, 1937, the name was again changed to Kappa Beta Fraternity. The fraternity applied for admission to the Inter-Fraternity Council in the spring of 1938. The fraternity seal was adopted on May 4, 1938 and the fraternity colors of Royal Blue and Gold were selected on March 28, 1938. In the fall of 1938 Kappa Beta moved to 285-287 Quail St. On November 8, 1938 the yellow rose was taken as the official flower of Kappa Beta.

Kappa Beta was disbanded during the WWII years because most of the men left the campus. At the end of the war many former Kappa Beta men returned under the GI Bill. They immediately took steps to reactivate the fraternity and set up another house at 288 Ontario St. Since 1951 Kappa Beta changed residences 4 times. The first move was to the old Sayles Hall Annex at 203 Ontario St, which took place in 1951. In January 1954 the residence was moved to 471 State St. and the next change took place in December 1956 when Kappa Beta moved to 577 Washington Ave. The final move was to the New Campus Tower in 1968 and Kappa Beta finally disbanded around 1974.