The story of Phi Sigma Kappa began at the
Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst (which is now the University
of Massachusetts). Among its other students in the early 1870s, it had
attracted six men of varied backgrounds, ages, abilities and goals in life,
who saw the need for a new and different kind of society on campus that was
receptive to experimentation. These, our Founders, banded together in their
sophomore year (1873) to form a "society to promote morality, learning, and
social culture." |
![](https://www.angelfire.com/oh5/kentphisigs/pictures/background/pskrun.gif)
Founders, Phi Sigma
Kappa |
On March 15, 1873, they met in
secret. Brooks already had prepared a constitution and symbolism, and Hague
had designed a ritual.
The first meeting seemed destined to succeed, for the individuals all had
done their work well. The ritual has been changed only six times since, and
never drastically.
The symbolism and esoteric structure have never been altered. Clay was
elected president of the group -- which for its first five years had no
name. Its cryptic characters could not be pronounced, either, though Brooks
recalled that outsiders referred to them as "T, double T, T upside-down." |
The Grand Chapter was organized in 1878, to
tie alumni and undergraduates in a continuing relationship, and Charles
Sumner Howe, an 1876 initiate, was elected its first Grand President (at the
age of 20). Phi Sigma Kappa was adopted as the group's official name that
same year -- after four years of debate and the work of seven committees.
|
Though the admonition against "bigness for
bigness' sake" was always there, the demand to serve campuses wherever they
might be was equally loud. In 1909, for example (after the Grand Council had
earlier refused to put a chapter on the West Coast because of the distance
involved and because it feared such a chapter would be denied the visits and
services of a nearby headquarters), the Fraternity spanned the continent.
The Ridge Road Club of the University of California became Omega Chapter --
fittingly utilizing the last letter of the Greek alphabet and preparing the
way for the first of the Deuteron or second-series units. This national
aspect did not escape the notice of the mid-continent; within six months,
petitions were received from Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa State. Some who
were there tell us that the induction ceremonies at the early Deuteron units
often included a reminder in the form of Founder Hague's benediction on the
night of March 15, 1873, words that still ring of idealism and true worth:
"Let us . . . keep on growing till our beloved fraternity shall become full
grown . . ., having the strength to help and protect its members, wisdom to
guide them to helpful and good things as to college life, and love so warm
that its members shall feel its kindly glow, that brotherly love may indeed
be a reality and not an idea." |
It is significant that our Fraternity did not
set up a highly developed organizational chart and then induct chapters to
fill the pre-planned niches. Rather, the organization developed as chapter
needs arose. As we began our second fifty years in 1924, the Grand Chapter
moved to meet some of these needs. |
The Fraternity was divided into geographical
regions, each with vice-presidential representation on the Council. Regional
conclaves were planned and provisions made for paying the expenses of
undergraduate delegates to national conventions. Shortly thereafter an
endowment fund came into existence, and the flag was designed and
distributed to all chapters. |
![](https://www.angelfire.com/oh5/kentphisigs/pictures/background/flag.BMP)
Fraternal Flag
|
In 1928, in the first meeting west of Chicago,
the Fraternity met in San Francisco. President Alvin T. (Chappie) Burrows
opened the Convention in a way that reminded the participants that he was
aware of the heritage he now officially personified: |
"The outstanding feature which appeals to
all of us above all others is the sense of nationality of our Fraternity,
which we have hitherto talked about but never realized to the full. The
mystic chains of brotherhood which in years gone by bound us so firmly to
the eastern shoreline of a great nation, have slowly but surely been
extended toward the setting sun."
Phi Sig did not escape the Great
Depression; no fraternal order did. But like many of them, she came out of
it wiser and stronger for the experience, filled with the knowledge that
brotherhood based on a heritage of helpfulness and value cannot be submerged
by a flood of economic hardship. Undergraduate delegates had fathered a plan
at the 1930 Convention that channeled 25 cents each month from each active
member into a fund to assist chapters stricken by the Depression; the
principal of mutual helpfulness could not have been better illustrated. Low
manpower, too, had brought about fraternal belt-tightening and more
significant national services - training in rushing techniques, a pledge
manual, better accounting systems and visits by field representatives.
But perhaps the most significant
development of these years came out of the 1934 Convention in Ann Arbor.
Brother Stewart W. Herman of Gettysburg wrote and presented the Creed, and
Brother Ralph Watts of Massachusetts drafted and presented the Cardinal
Principles. More than half-century later they stand as Phi Sigma Kappa's
heritage personified, as much a part of the Fraternity's individuality as
any of its more ancient rituals and symbolism.
The 198 Convention adopted the six-degree
membership structure to honor the six Founders, especially as a tribute to
Founder Brooks, who had died only a few weeks earlier. The first
professional manager of the Fraternity was hired that same year, marking
still another organizational response to growing need in a critical period.
For the hardships of World War I and the Great Depression were scarcely
overcome when World War II arrived. The extraordinary efforts by which the
Fraternity survived are another and longer story; the important fact is that
Phi Sig did survive. The 1948 Convention in Boston marked the 75th
anniversary of the founding. There were 52 active chapters; the Phi Sigma
Kappa Foundation had been established, primarily to reward good scholarship
among brothers; and the SIGNET was guaranteed to all members for life under
a plan that had few parallels in the Greek world at that time. |
The post World War II era saw the Fraternity
recover from the worst consequences of that crisis, after which Phi Sigma
Kappa and all Greek organizations had to address issues related to
membership restriction, hazing, and the need for responsible programming
which complements the educational mission of our host institutions. We have
responded to these challenges by removing unwarranted restrictions on
qualifications for membership, acting in concert with other NIC fraternities
to eliminate hazing, and revising our membership education program to
reflect its purpose of building a true appreciation of our fraternal
principles. |
![](https://www.angelfire.com/oh5/kentphisigs/pictures/background/triple_ts.bmp) |
Still another challenge to fraternities
occurred with the anti-Greek feeling which spread throughout the country in
the late 1960's and 1970's. Membership in Greek organizations declined
significantly during these years, and a number of chapters were lost. More
recently, a period of expansion has occurred. While we have not lost sight
of the attitude of our Founders that we should not seek bigness for its own
sake, Phi Sigma Kappa affirmed a desire for purposeful expansion in the
1980's and 90's which will enhance our ability to provide the programs and
services expected of a strong international fraternity. |
It was in this context that the merger of Phi
Sigma Kappa with Phi Sigma Epsilon was first discussed in 1984. National
President James Whitfield was approached by Grand President Anthony Fusaro
of Phi Sigma Kappa with a suggestion that the two fraternities consider the
possibility of a merger. The negotiations which followed resulted in the
joining of the two fraternities at the 50th General Convention of Phi Sigma
Kappa in Washington, D.C., on August 14, 1985. The consummation of the
merger on August 14, 1985 is truly one of the most important milestones in
our history. |