Recent from talks
Phi Sigma Kappa
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (ΦΣΚ), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania; therefore its early development was strongly Eastern in character, eventually operating chapters at six of the eight Ivy League schools as well as more egalitarian state schools. It later expanded to the South and West. The fraternity has initiated more than 180,000 members since 1873.
According to its Constitution, Phi Sigma Kappa is devoted to the promotion of its three Cardinal Principles: the "Promotion of Brotherhood", the "Stimulation of Scholarship", and the "Development of Character".
Phi Sigma Kappa began on March 15, 1873, at Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst) by six sophomores (referred to as The Founders). Phi Sigma Epsilon merged with Phi Sigma Kappa in 1985, which was the largest merger of Greek-letter fraternities.
Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst, now the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was the setting for the founding of Phi Sigma Kappa. 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. Early members recalled that it was Henry Hague who suggested that, since the six were close and were not interested in either of the two local fraternities on campus, they create their own. The six sophomores, meeting in Old North Hall, banded together during the summer of 1873 to form a "society to promote morality, learning and social culture."
The six Founders of Phi Sigma Kappa were:
The six were active college students, members of literary and academic societies and athletic groups, and editors of campus publications. Three were military lieutenants and Brooks was a captain. Hague and Brooks even ran the college store. Academic leaders as well, "it cannot be too strongly stressed that these men were the best students in [the] college." On March 15, 1873, the Founders 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 of Phi Sigma Kappa was organized in 1878, five years after the founding of Alpha chapter, to tie alumni and undergraduates into a continuing relationship. 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. 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. Graduating from Aggie he went on to attend Albany Medical College (which in 1873 had become a unit of Union College) and established a group that became Beta Chapter (1888).
Hub AI
Phi Sigma Kappa AI simulator
(@Phi Sigma Kappa_simulator)
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (ΦΣΚ), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania; therefore its early development was strongly Eastern in character, eventually operating chapters at six of the eight Ivy League schools as well as more egalitarian state schools. It later expanded to the South and West. The fraternity has initiated more than 180,000 members since 1873.
According to its Constitution, Phi Sigma Kappa is devoted to the promotion of its three Cardinal Principles: the "Promotion of Brotherhood", the "Stimulation of Scholarship", and the "Development of Character".
Phi Sigma Kappa began on March 15, 1873, at Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst) by six sophomores (referred to as The Founders). Phi Sigma Epsilon merged with Phi Sigma Kappa in 1985, which was the largest merger of Greek-letter fraternities.
Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst, now the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was the setting for the founding of Phi Sigma Kappa. 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. Early members recalled that it was Henry Hague who suggested that, since the six were close and were not interested in either of the two local fraternities on campus, they create their own. The six sophomores, meeting in Old North Hall, banded together during the summer of 1873 to form a "society to promote morality, learning and social culture."
The six Founders of Phi Sigma Kappa were:
The six were active college students, members of literary and academic societies and athletic groups, and editors of campus publications. Three were military lieutenants and Brooks was a captain. Hague and Brooks even ran the college store. Academic leaders as well, "it cannot be too strongly stressed that these men were the best students in [the] college." On March 15, 1873, the Founders 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 of Phi Sigma Kappa was organized in 1878, five years after the founding of Alpha chapter, to tie alumni and undergraduates into a continuing relationship. 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. 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. Graduating from Aggie he went on to attend Albany Medical College (which in 1873 had become a unit of Union College) and established a group that became Beta Chapter (1888).