History of Phi Sigma Kappa

 

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.

Originally, only one chapter was contemplated by the founders. And although the germ of expansion arrived early, its period of gestation consumed 13 years. As early as 1875 an inquiry had been received from a group at Maine Agricultural College, and a few years later there was an unexpected letter from the University of New Mexico-but nothing came of either "feeler." In 1878, John A. Cutter was inducted into the group, a man destined to have much to do with the preservation of the order's early records and with its expansion beyond the confines of the Massachusetts campus. He later attended Albany Medical College (in 1873 merged with Union College) and established a group, which became Beta Chapter. Cutter was also instrumental in the establishment of Gamma at Cornell. The transition to a national order was accomplished. These same early years saw the pin (or badge) adopted essentially as we know it today (1888); an induction ritual, which embodied the concept of universal brotherhood and expanded the order's horizons beyond Massachusetts, was written in 1890; and the first chapter out of the Northeast came into being at West Virginia University (1891).

"Bigness was never one of our ideas," Big Chief Barrett said in later years, admonishing a Convention that was getting starry-eyed over dozens of new expansion possibilities. And the principle has held; though Phi Sigma Kappa stands high among national orders, size alone has never been a major consideration or goal.

Phi Sig's value to other campuses was as an organization offering something special and valuable to persons of varying backgrounds. It never was simply another fraternity to be invited. Founder Brooks, four years before his death in 1938, put it this way:

"We believe that our fraternity exerts a powerful influence for good in national college life. The thought which lay in the minds of the founders was good. May our brothers never forget that the foundation for a useful and satisfying life must be thought - thought resulting in the visualization of a high ideal; and the determination to use all of one's strength of body, mind and soul for its realization."

Even Canadian campuses were not excluded in the thinking of those who carried new chapters in all directions shortly after the turn of the century. Rho Chapter was organized at Queen's College at Kingston, Ontario in 1903, and 17 other units were added during the decade. Under Cutter and Barrett's leadership, the national organization was strengthened, and work was begun among the alumni to support their continued interest in the Fraternity after graduation. The Greek system's uniqueness among the American organizations is based partly on this principle-the idea of continued involvement for members after undergraduate days.

Phi Sigma Kappa was one of the early leaders in such efforts and remains one of the strongest alumni-oriented groups. If Founder Brooks' assessment of our purpose is true, then there is no end to the Fraternity's influence on its members, and its role in their lives-another vital part of our heritage.