Alpha Beta Chi

Alpha Beta Chi is a fraternity founded in Puerto Rico in 1941. It has established at least seven student chapters since its establishment at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. It also has alumni chapters across Puerto Rico and in Florida.

History

Alpha Beta Chi was established as ABC at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus in 1941 by Ricardo Alegria who had been a member of Nu Sigma Beta. Its founding members were:
ABC was established to "defend authentic culture, education, and help the people of Puerto Rico". Later, it changed to the Greek letter name Alpha Beta Chi.
The fraternity established Beta chapter at the College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in 1942. It was the first collegiate in Puerto Rico to attempt to establich a high school chapter at Central High School. Other chapters followed at various colleges in Puerto Rico. By July 1964, it had joined the Concilio Interfraternitario de Puerto Rico.
In 2014, the fraternity created the Ricardo Alegría Gallardo Award, presented to a high school graduate who is studying the fine arts. Later, it established the Carmen Ana Pons Castañer Award, named after Alegría's widow, for award for graduates of middle school with fine arts programs.
The fraternity's headquarters are located at 97 Calle Agua Azul - Urb. Costa Norte in Hatillo, Puerto Rico. The fraternity also has a clubhouse in Guaynabo.

Symbols

The fraternity's principles or pillars are Love, Honor, and Loyalty. Instead of using a crest or coat of arms, it adopted a Taino emblem. The emblem was based on a drawing found in a cave in Lares.

Chapters

Chapter	Charter date	Institution	Location	Status
Alpha	1941	University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Moved
Alpha		Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Active
Alpha		Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, San Juan campus	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Active
Beta	1942	University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez	Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	Active
Gamma		Central High School	Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico	Inactive, Reassigned
Delta	1943–19xx ?	Polytechnic Institute of Puerto Rico	San Germán, Puerto Rico	Reestablished, Reassigned
Gamma	1958	Interamerican University of Puerto Rico	San Germán, Puerto Rico	Active
Delta	1958	Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico	Ponce, Puerto Rico	Active
Epsilon	19xx ?	Alumni chapter	Puerto Rico	Moved
Kappa	19xx ?	Alumni chapter	New York City, New York	Inactive
Eternal				Memorial

Alumni chapters

Originally, Alpha Beta Chi established Epsilon chapter for alumni. In 1961, the Epsilon chapter authorized the creation of local alumni chapters. The first local alumni chapter was created in Mayaguez in 1961. Eventually, alumni chapters were established in various locations throughout Puerto Rico. However, this system was replaced with the current Alumni Zonas or areas. In the following list, active chapters are indicateds in bold and inactive chapters are in italics.

Zona	Charter date	Location	Status
Coayuco	1951	Yauco, Puerto Rico	Active
Yahueca	1961	Mayaguez, Puerto Rico	Active
Guainí	1961	Ponce, Puerto, Rico	Active
Guaynabo	1960s	Guaynabo, Puerto Rico	Inactive
Borinquen	mid 1960s–19xx?; 1970s	Guaynabo, Puerto Rico	Active
Majagua	1965–19xx ?; 2009	Bayamón, Puerto Rico	Active
Porta Coeli	1974	San German, Puerto Rico	Active
Jumacao	19xx ?	Humacao, Puerto Rico	Inactive
Taina	1986	Miami, Florida	Active
Yaholo	1991	Orlando, Florida	Active
Agueybana	2008	Tampa, Florida	Active

Notable members

Ricardo Alegria, scholar, cultural anthropologist, and archaeologist known as the "father of modern Puerto Rican archaeology"