Our History

July 23rd, 2019

A Note from House Advisor ​Dimitri Gerakaris ‘69

I’m keeping this short to go easy on you and because the success of several hundred Dartmouth Betas since our 2008 return has been so thunderous it speaks for itself!

Beta national would have allowed no Dartmouth alum input and wanted only money and policies we considered unsafe. So we persuaded the College and student government it would be far better if we came back with strong alum backing as a local: Beta Alpha Omega. Would you know, everybody still calls us “Beta” and we continuously raise the bar.

As cream rises to the top, Beta solidly established itself as the house emphasizing Brotherhood, Respect, student Leadership and Philanthropy. I ask co-eds how the Betas are doing and I constantly hear “Oh, we love those guys! That is one place we feel respected and safe!” The profs also respect the Betas as last term they had 20 perfect 4.0s and came in second academically of all fraternities (we reward each 4.0 with a $250 stipend and they write a synopsis for the others how they study). And yet, these guys still know how to have fun with a wide range of brotherhood events.

The College does a systematic review of EVERY student group, club and team to challenge their right to continue, and Beta received nothing but glowing reports and encouragement to continue all it is doing.

Beta is a hugely diverse house in every way and about 2/3 continue as inter-collegiate athletes, including team captains and numerous “athlete of the year” awards and leaders of other student groups. My mantra to the guys throughout has been “you are either getting better or you are getting worse”.

Recent alums are doing everything from “Teaching for America” to clerking for the US Supreme Court Chief Justice to being President of their class at Harvard Med. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of these exceptional guys! Please swing by and you too will feel your heart swell. In the meantime, I thank you all for your great support.

Yours in -kai-

Dimitri

Dimitri Gerakaris ’69
Beta House Advisor

This page is being updated and an extensive history will appear as soon as a proper update is available.