The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was led until his death by Richard J. H. Gottheil, a professor of languages at Columbia University and a Zionist.

In 1913, it established its first Canadian chapter at McGill University in Montreal and, in the same year, Zeta Beta Tau was first represented at the National Inter-fraternity Conference.

At the 1954 National Convention, the delegates amended Zeta Beta Tau's constitution, ritual and internal procedures both in theory and in practice to eliminate sectarianism as a qualification for membership.

This decision was made in response to the Age of Liability, in which extensive research on hazing shed light on how the culture of subservient pledging led to several deaths nationwide.

The foundation assists the fraternity by funding scholarships and academic and leadership programs to maximize their personal development and prepare them to be leaders of society.

The scholarships and academic and leadership programs funded by the Foundation enhance the overall value of membership in Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity by complementing the collegiate educational experience.

JWI is the leading Jewish organization[citation needed] working to empower women and girls by ensuring and protecting their physical safety and economic security, promoting and celebrating inter-generational leadership, and inspiring civic participation and community engagement.

Gift of Life achieves this goal with the help of ZBT chapters from college campuses across the US that run registration drives and help find life-saving matches.

Since the partnership began, ZBT brothers have added nearly 6,000 names to the donor registry, with nearly 70 matches and 11 life-saving transplants thus far.[when?]

In conjunction with the 1989 abolition of pledging, ΖΒΤ National instituted the Semi-Annual Brotherhood Review Vote (SBRV).

[13] In 1988, the ZBT chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison held a mock slave auction featuring blackface and racial slurs.

[17] In February 2018, the Cornell University chapter of Zeta Beta Tau was placed on probation for two years following an investigation into multiple reports of "pig roasts" in which men competed to try to sleep with and humiliate women they considered to be overweight.

[18] In September 2018, Syracuse University's student newspaper published a video showing Zeta Beta Tau members forcibly spitting into pledges' mouths and covering their faces with a wet mop.

[20] The University of Florida placed the ZBT chapter on interim suspension and charged the organization with a series of offenses as part of its formal investigation into the allegations of the event in Panama City Beach.

[21] Laurence Bolotin, the executive director of Zeta Beta Tau International, issued a statement on the organization's web site that noted, in part, "While the details of their actions are still under investigation, there is no doubt that some of our members engaged in ugly and unacceptable behavior.

On behalf of our entire organization, I want to apologize to veterans, both those who were in Panama City Beach and those who have felt the pain from afar, as well as to their families..."[22] The president of the University of Florida, W. Kent Fuchs, called the actions of the fraternity members unacceptable and committed to a full investigation.

In August 2018, the ZBT National Fraternity and the chapter at the University of California, Los Angeles, were sued for negligence, assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The lawsuit stemmed from the continuous denial and "sweeping under the rug" of complaints regarding rape and sexual assault and failure to adhere to their policies regarding alcohol consumption and abuse.