In 1837, the Methodist Church established Indiana Asbury (now DePauw University) in Greencastle, Indiana.      Indiana Asbury officially opened its doors to women in 1867, but not without great uproar from the male students. The first women students at Indiana Asbury were looking for ways to make friends and find support and encouragement for their academic pursuits. They were reviled by their teachers, taunted by their classmates, and ignored by their girlhood friends who did the "right" thing and attended conservatories for girls. It took these brave pioneers three years to found Kappa Alpha Theta, the first Greek-letter Fraternity for women.      To be sure, there were societies for women before 1867, and some of these had secret rituals with badges, passwords, mottoes, and other symbols. But in 1870, Theta became the first women's Greek-letter fraternity because its primary founder, Bettie Locke, wanted full membership in a male fraternity. When the men asked her to wear their fraternity badge as a "mascot," she responded, "If you won't initiate me into your fraternity, I'll start my own." Thus, Kappa Alpha Theta was established on January 27, 1870. Bettie did however accept the gift of a silver cake basket from the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta engraved with their Greek letters. Bettie Locke Hamilton later used this basket to hold the Founders Day messages received from Thetas all over the country every year, and is now a treasured historic memento. Bettie Locke Hamilton Alice Allen Brant Bettie Tipton Lindsey Hannah Fitch Shaw      Today Theta has more than 125 college chapters at colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada, has nearly 200 alumnae chapters, and has more than 210,000 total initiated members. Some notable Thetas include Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug, and First Lady Laura Bush.      The Alpha Lambda Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of Washington was founded in 1908. Since then, Alpha Lambda has taken on a large leadership role in the University of Washington Greek Community. The women of Alpha Lambda pride themselves on high scholarship and positive involvement in both campus and community activities. They are a family of life-long friends and Thetas for a lifetime.