Fraternitas Liviensis
Established 28.01.1918
Device – Brotherhood, Honesty, Diligence
Fraternitas
Liviensis Fraternity is an organization of male students of Estonian
origin uniting students and alumni of all ages. The students in
Fraternitas Liviensis are concentrated in active fraternities in Tartu
and Tallinn. After graduation, the members stay connected through the
alumni association. Fraternitas Liviensis Fraternity is an organization
based on lifelong membership.
Today, the members of
Fraternitas Liviensis Fraternity are approximately 200 Estonian men
around the world. An essential part of its activities is carried out in
Estonia, but alumni association chapters operate in USA and Canada as
well. The members of Fraternitas Liviensis have fraternity houses in
Tartu on Jakobi hill and in Tallinn in Kadriorg. The fraternity works
actively towards the development of young students by organizing both
academic and social events. Cooperation with other student
organizations in Estonia and in adjacent countries is close: in 1935, a
treaty of friendship was concluded with a student organization Keskisuomalainen Osakunta in Helsinki and a cartel agreement was concluded with Fraternitas Livonica Fraternity in Riga in 1993 and with Ventonia Fraternity in Jelgava (Latvia) in 1996.
Fraternitas Liviensis
was founded in 1918 by seven pharmacy students, and in twenty years it
grew to an organization of approximately 300 members – a considerable
and distinctive one beside the other fraternities of the time. In the
beginning, the purpose was to bring together students in the same
specialty area (pharmaceutical science) and to develop relations with
future colleagues in a corporate form. Soon enough, it became clear
that a specialty-centered organization cannot grow enough, membership
applicants were from other departments as well. As a result, in 1925,
male students of all specialties were allowed to become members of Fraternitas Liviensis. This was followed by the affiliation with the Union of Estonian Student Fraternities in 1930.
After
the Tallinn University of Technology was opened in Tallinn and the
students of the Department of Engineering who studied in Tartu went to
study there, the department of Fraternitas Liviensis was established in
Tallinn in 1936. Unfortunately, in 1940, fraternities were banned in
Estonia. The assets were hidden in the homes of alumni or given to
museums for safekeeping. The members of Fraternitas Liviensis (as well
as the members of other Estonian student organizations) had to continue
their activities in exile or secretly in Estonia. For 50 years, the
former students in Estonia and abroad kept the traditions of
Fraternitas Liviensis so that in 1988, they could be passed on to the
young students in Tartu who wanted to restore the activities of the
fraternity. On 29 December 1988, an establishment meeting was held in
Tartu and half a year later (6 May 1989), the fraternity was restored
also in Tallinn.