Alpha Sigma Phi

Alpha Sigma Phi (ΑΣΦ) is a fraternity with over 60 active chapters, colonies, and interest groups in the USA.

History

Alpha Sigma Phi was founded at Yale College in 1845 as a secret sophomore society composed of the best authors, poets, athletes, and scholars of the school. Upon rising through the ranks of the school, members shared membership with Alpha Sigma Phi in Skull & Bones, Scroll & Key, and eventually Wolf's Head.

The founders of Alpha Sigma Phi:

• Louis Manuigault was the son of Charles I. Manigault, a wealthy rice planter from South Carolina who traced his ancestry to a Huguenot refugee who fled from Louis XIV's persecution and came to America in 1691.

• Stephen Ormsby Rhea was the son of John Rhea, an important cotton planter of Louisiana who helped open the disputed territory of West Florida and made it a part of the U.S. and state of Louisiana.

• Horace Spangler Weiser, of York, Pennsylvania, was a descendant of Conrad Weiser, also a refugee from Europe who became famous in the French and Indian War, representing several colonies in treaty negotiations with the Indians.

Manigault and Rhea met at St. Paul's Preparatory School near Flushing, New York, where both were members of the same literary society and were preparing themselves for admission to Yale. Weiser attended a private school in New Haven, and he met Rhea early in his freshman year, who introduced him to Manigault.

Once at Yale, Manigault and Rhea became members of Yale's Calliopean Literary Society, and Weiser was a member of the Lininian Literary Society. Manigault was very much interested in the class society system at Yale and noted the class fraternities provided experience for their members and prepared them for competition in literary contests. The sophomore class there had only one society, Kappa Sigma Theta, which displayed an attitude of superiority toward non-fraternity men.

Manigault revealed to his friend Rhea a plan for founding another sophomore society, a competitor for Kappa Sigma Theta. Rhea agreed and, with Manigault's consent, enlisted Weiser, and the three became the founders of Alpha Sigma Phi.

Their first official meeting was held in Manigault's room on Chapel Street on December 6, 1845. Between then and June 28, 1846, when the first pledge class was announced, the constitution and ritual were written and the fraternity pin was designed. The first pledge class—of 14 members—was initiated on June 24, 1846.

After the birth of Alpha Sigma Phi, an intense rivalry began between Alpha Sigma Phi and Kappa Sigma Theta. The rivalry between the two expressed itself in their publications, Kappa Sigma Theta's "The Yale Banger" and Alpha Sigma Phi's "The Yale Tomahawk." The bitter rivalry between papers continued until 1852 when the editors of The Tomahawk were expelled after of a violation of faculty orders to cease publication. However, the rivalry between the organizations continued until 1858 when Kappa Sigma Theta was suppressed by the faculty.

Soon, the first charter was granted to Amherst College (now the University of Massachusetts) as Beta Chapter but only lasted about six months, when the parent chapter requested that the chapter dissolve and return the constitution. However, there are issues surrounding the chapter designation as Beta. A fragmentary document in the Yale library suggests that Beta was chartered in 1850 at Harvard but lived a very short life due to a wave of puritanism. The chapter at Harvard was revived in 1911 as Beta Chapter but only survived about 20 years when the charter was withdrawn due to the anti-fraternity environment at Harvard. When Amherst was restored in 1854 it was designated as Delta Chapter. However, when Marietta chapter was chartered in 1860 it too was given the Delta designation. The parent chapter was well aware of this as well.

When the Civil War swept the United States almost every member of Delta at Marietta enlisted in the Union Army. Three of the brothers gave their lives for the Union cause. Two of them, former chapter presidents William B. Whittlesey and George B. Turner, fell on the battle fields of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain. They willed their personal possessions and their swords to the chapter which treasure those mementoes until the chapter closed in the mid 1990s.

During the Civil War the mother chapter (Alpha) was rent by internal dissension and then actually disappeared. Because less attention was being paid to the sophomore class societies, some Alpha Sigma Phi members pledged to Delta Kappa Epsilon, a junior class society, and attempted to turn the control of Alpha Sigma Phi over to Delta Kappa Epsilon. However, the attempt was thwarted by the members of Alpha Sigma Phi who were pledged to the other two junior class societies. A conflict ensued and to end the disorder Alpha Sigma Phi was suppressed by the faculty. However, the traditions of Alpha Sigma Phi were carried on by two new sophomore class societies, Delta Beta Xi and Phi Theta Psi. Louis Manigault sought to renew his loyalty and friendship with his brothers of Alpha Sigma Phi and considered Delta Beta Xi as the true descendant upon corresponding with Rhea and Weiser. They were not aware at the time, however, that Delta chapter at Marietta still existed as Alpha Sigma Phi.

With the inactivation of Delta Beta Xi at Yale, Alpha Sigma Phi was kept alive only at Marietta by Delta. In the fall of 1906 the Yale Masonic Club was organized. Four friends agreed in a conversation over a card game that an organization was needed at Yale that did not represent a single class, but rather was an all-class society. The four friends were Robert L. Ervin, Benjamin F. Crenshaw, Arthur S. Ely, and Edwin M. Waterbury. Other members soon joined the group in their mission, the first of which were Fredrick H. Waldron and Wayne Montgomery Musgrave. Ervin knew some of the alumni brother of Delta in Marietta and asked them to send the first letter to Delta. On March 27, 1907 Ely, Crenshaw, Musgrave, Waldron, and Waterbury traveled to Marietta and were initiated into Alpha Sigma Phi. Upon returning to New Haven they initiated the other friends they had recruited into the new Alpha chapter at Yale.

Many of the old Alpha members returned to New Haven upon hearing the news of the new Alpha chapter and helped acquire the first piece of fraternity real estate, the "Tomb", a windowless two story building. No non-member was allowed entrance and no member could speak of the interior of the building. They were even expected to remain silent while passing by the exterior of the building.

A new national organization was formed at an Alpha Sigma Phi conference in Marietta in 1907, and by the end of 1908 there were three new chapters: Zeta at Ohio State, Eta at the University of Illinois, and Theta at the University of Michigan. In 1910 another convention was held with the members of the former chapters at Yale, Amherst, and Ohio Wesleyan University and a delegation from the Yale Delta Beta Xi fraternity. All of these pledged to anew their loyalty to a restored Alpha Sigma Phi.

Alpha Sigma Phi survived World War I fairly easily and even took on many new members during those years. In the post-war era Alpha Sigma Phi expanded at the rate of one chapter per year. In 1939, Phi Pi Phi merged with Alpha Sigma Phi due to the ravages of the Great Depression leaving that fraternity with only five of its original twenty-one chapters. World War II hit Alpha Sigma Phi hard and many chapters were forced to close. Many brothers also lost their lives at the bombing of Pearl Harbor, in the Pacific, in Europe, and northern Africa.

On September 6, 1946, Alpha Kappa Pi merged with Alpha Sigma Phi. Alpha Kappa Pi had never had a national office but was still a strong fraternity. During the war they had lost many chapters and they realized the need for a more stable national organization but didn't feel they could provide it for themselves. Alpha Sigma Phi expanded again in 1965, by five more chapters when they and Alpha Gamma Upsilon fraternity merged.

The 1980s found a younger generation of leaders taking the reins of the fraternity. And, in keeping with one of its oldest traditions—that of being a fraternity run by undergraduates—the leadership and the undergraduates began chartering new directions.

Active Chapters, Colonies, and Interest Groups

Chapter	Institution	Chartered	Status
Ε	Ohio Wesleyan University	1863	Active
Ζ	Ohio State University	1908	Active
Η	University of Illinois	1909	Active
Θ	University of Michigan	1908	Active
Ι	Cornell University	1909	Active
Μ	University of Washington	1912	Active
Ν	University of California, Berkeley	1913	Active
Υ	Pennsylvania State University	1918	Colony
Φ	Iowa State University	1920	Active
ΑΝ	Westminster College	1939	Active
ΑΞ	Illinois Institute of Technology	1939	Active
ΑΟ	Missouri Valley College	1945	Active
ΑΠ	Purdue University	1939	Active
ΑΡ	New Jersey Institute of Technology	1921	Active
ΑΤ	Stevens Institute of Technology	1926	Active
ΑΨ	Presbyterian College	1928	Active
ΒΓ	Bethany College	1929	Active
ΒΔ	Marshall University	1929	Active
ΒΕ	Lehigh University	1929	Active
ΒΖ	North Carolina State University	1930	Colony
ΒΘ	Rutgers University	1931	Colony
ΒΜ	Wake Forest University	1932	Active
ΒΝ	West Virginia Wesleyan College	1933	Active
ΒΞ	Hartwick College	1935	Active
ΒΟ	Tri-State University	1935	Active
ΒΧ	American University	1940	Active
ΒΨ	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	1940	Active
ΓΕ	State University of New York at Buffalo	1950	Active
ΓΖ	Bowling Green State University	1950	Active
ΓΘ	University of Miami	1952	Active
ΓΚ	Michigan State University	1956	Active
ΓΛ	Barton College	1958	Active
ΓΠ	University of Findlay	1964	Active
ΓΧ	Indiana University	1968	Active
ΔΒ	Northern Michigan University	1969	Colony
ΔΔ	Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania	1970	Active
ΔΕ	University of Rio Grande	1972	Active
ΔΖ	University of North Carolina, Charlotte	1979	Active
ΔΘ	Radford University	1980	Active
ΔΙ	Longwood University	1980	Active
ΔΝ	Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania	1987	Active
ΔΡ	Central Michigan University	1993	Active
ΔΤ	Murray State University	1994	Active
ΔΥ	Virginia Polytechnic Institute	1995	Active
ΔΦ	Grand Valley State University	1996	Active
ΔΧ	Elmhurst College	1996	Active
ΕΑ	Michigan State University		Active
ΕΒ	Lindenwood University		Active
ΕΓ	University of Southern Indiana		Active
ΕΔ	University of Maryland, College Park		Active
ΕΖ	Penn State Altoona		Active
ΕΗ	Salisbury University		Active
ΕΘ	Otterbien College		Active
ΕΙ	Western Michigan University		Active
ΕΚ	Albright College		Colony
ΕΛ	University of Hartford		Active
ΕΜ	Bentley College		Active
ΕΞ	McDaniel College		Active
ΕΟ	Missouri Western State College		Active
	Appalachian State University		Colony
	College of Charleston		Colony
	Miami University		Colony
	Millersville University of Pennsylvania		Colony
	Western Michigan University		Colony
	York College		Colony
	Clemson University		Interest Group
	University of Akron		Interest Group
	University of Virginia at Wise		Interest Group

External links

• Alpha Sigma Phi National Website (http://www.alphasigmaphi.org)