About ATO Duke
Duke University, ATO Xi Chapter - Founded 1872
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. Otis Allan Glazebrook, 1880.
Alpha Tau Omega began as an idea in the mind of a young Civil War veteran who wanted peace and reconciliation. His name was Otis Allan Glazebrook. His people were defeated, many of their cities burned, much of their countryside ravaged. But Glazebrook, who had helped bury the dead of both sides, believed in a better future. He saw the bitterness and hatred that followed the silencing of the guns and knew that a true peace would come not from force of law, but rather from with the hearts of men who were willing to work to rekindle a spirit of brotherly love.
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The origins of why and whose idea it was (Shihadeh?) are lost in the mists of time,
but my recollection is that it was somehow determined that part of the initiation
ceremony for the 1971 plagues ('74 grads), that a Brother would appear in their
birthday suit and pose like one of the gargoyles in the Duke architecture. Initiates
were brought in one by one and required to bow down in submission to the Worthy
Gargoyle, mainly to see if any of the pledges would be too mortified to become
"respected" members of ATO. There were periods of serious, reverent, dead
silence, which later turned into an outbreak of loud guffaws as the ridiculousness
of the situation sank in.
Needless to say, no initiation ceremony since 1971 has included the Rite of the
Worthy Gargoyle, so only the guys from '74 and earlier are in on the reference.