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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."


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.

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.

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.

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