Zeta Psi Pledge Manual
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zeta Psi (ΖΨ) Founded June 1, 1847 ( 1847-06-01) (162 years ago) Type Scope International Motto ΤΚΦ (Tau Kappa Phi) Colors White Flower Publication The Circle Philanthropy ZeteKidz Chapters 43 Active, 32 Inactive Factoid The first international Greek-letter organization Nickname Zetes (“zetes”) Headquarters 15 South Henry St, Homepage The Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America ( ΖΨ) was founded June 1, 1847 as a social college. The organization now comprises about fifty active chapters and twenty-five inactive chapters, encompassing roughly twenty thousand brothers, and is a founding member of the. It has historically been selective about the campuses at which it establishes chapters, focusing on forging new territory and maintaining a presence at prestigious institutions: it was the first Fraternity on the West Coast at the June 10, 1870, the first Fraternity in at the, March 27, 1879, and the first Fraternity to have chapters simultaneously at all eight schools with the chartering of Eta at in (though this claim lasted only a few years, owing to burgeoning faculty opposition to the chapter). The fraternity became bi-continental on May 3, 2008 with the chartering of Iota Omicron at the. The mission statement of Zeta Psi is: Zeta Psi strives to be a premier international men's fraternal organization dedicated to forging academic excellence and life-long bonds of brotherhood.
Through active chapter participation and continuing alumni involvement, Zeta Psi members are committed to the development of leadership, character and intellect to the service of their brothers, their communities and mankind. Its international headquarters is located in,. Its current president is Dave Busacca, as of 2008 citation needed. Advertisements 1847 to 1860: Foundation and early expansion On the first of June in 1847, three young men gathered in a bungalow with a purpose in mind: the constitution of a new Greek-letter society. Their names were John Bradt Yates Sommers, William Henry Dayton, and John Moon Skillman. Then students at (itself a young campus, only founded in 1831), the three men formed the core of the first chapter, Phi. But William Dayton was stricken with poor health, and departed New York shortly afterwards for more temperate climes.
He retired to the, where the warm weather and liberal policies were expected to improve his humors, intending to begin a chapter there. But the move was inauspicious: Dayton died within the year, and the University of North Carolina was without a chapter of Zeta Psi for over a decade. The Phi chapter at NYU persisted in his absence, and graduated its first member the next year with George S Woodhull (Φ '48). The second chapter was established as Zeta at in. The Delta chapter was founded at later that year, and remains the most longevous continuously active chapter of the fraternity (the Phi chapter was briefly inactive in the 1970s). Three chapters followed in 1850: Omicron (now Omicron Epsilon) at, Sigma at the, and Chi at in. The first two are still active, as was the Chi Chapter until 1988.
But in the early 1980s Colby College prohibited Fraternities on campus, despite the long and storied tradition they had enjoyed there. By 1988, ejected from campus and banned from any formal rush, the chapter quietly expired after over 130 years of existence. Problems beset other early chapters as well. The first Alpha chapter was founded in 1852 at in,.
But immediate resistance from the administration slowly wore upon the brothers there, and that chapter became inactive in 1872, permitting its letter to be used for the later chapter founded at Columbia. But expansion proceeded apace throughout the 1850s at a rate of several chapters per year: Epsilon was chartered at and Rho (later re-chartered as Rho Epsilon) at in 1852; Psi (later re-chartered as Psi Epsilon) at in 1853; Kappa at in 1855; Theta at in 1856; Tau at in 1857; Xi at in 1858. Also in 1858, the Upsilon chapter was finally founded at the University of North Carolina, fulfilling the purpose of Brother Dayton in his last journey south.
And in that year an abortive attempt was made to colonize with the Pi chapter, which was rechartered at in 1865 as the war among the several states loomed large. 1860 to 1864: The Civil War was elected in 1860, and seceded from the Union, followed shortly thereafter by her fellow Southern states.
Expansion of the Fraternity halted as campuses rallied for war and sent companies of their collegemen to battle. At the outbreak of war, the Upsilon chapter at UNC— only chartered three years before—found itself the only chapter of Zeta Psi among all the Southern states, sundered from the North by the sudden lines of enmity. But even as they mustered for war and marched south, the Grand Chapter of Zeta Psi, specially assembled in early July 1862, adopted the resolution of Brother William Cooke (Φ '58) prescribing unity: RESOLVED, That while we may differ in political sentiment with those of our Brothers who are courageously battling for principles which they deem right, no disaster shall separate them from the union of Tau Kappa Phi. And the brothers of Upsilon replied by letter in like fashion: WHEREAS, The present distracted state of our country renders it inexpedient to hold our convention in this State during this year; RESOLVED, That the Sigma Alpha be instructed to write to all Chapters, assuring them that though our Federal Union has been dissolved, still the Circle of Zeta Psi Fraternity shall never be broken; RESOLVED, That the bonds of Tau Kappa Phi which bind us to our Brothers in the North are as strong as they ever were.
Nor was the brotherhood among Zetes limited to mere words; the moving tale of Brother Henry Schwerin (Θ '63) illustrates the embodiment of love even in the most trying of circumstance. Schwerin lay gravely wounded after the bloody; pinned on the breast of his Union uniform was the badge of Zeta Psi. A passing soldier, also a Zete, spied the badge and carried the invalid to medical care and safety, ignoring even the imperatives of war for the sake of his brother. The worthy badge later passed into the hands of his brother, Max Schwerin (Θ '70), who would one day serve as international president.
After his death, it was donated by his sister to the Fraternity's archives and remains among its treasures. Brother John Day Smith (Ε '72) witnessed the incident on the Chattanooga field, and later related it to Brother Francis Lawton (Ε '69), who would author the poem “The Badge of Zeta Psi,” later set to original music and preserved to this day.
The reference to “Chattanooga's bloody field” is not idle hyperbole, but the recollection of a rare triumph among such sorrows. And amid these sorrows and heroisms, when so many brothers of Zeta Psi perished, so too were even whole chapters swallowed by the War. The Eta (, chartered 1861), Psi Epsilon (Dartmouth), Upsilon (UNC), Epsilon (Brown), and Theta (Union) chapters had vanished by the end of battle, decimated by fallen brothers or disheartened campuses returning from the shadow of death. The Theta and Eta chapters would never survive the staggering losses they suffered, though the others ultimately recovered and reactivated. And the Gamma chapter—chartered 1861 at the, the only new chapter during the War—was annihilated utterly by 's march, and existed thus only for those few years of tumult.
But out of the shadow of war came regrowth and a time for Zeta Psi to expand once more. 1864 to 1914: Breaking new ground The nation was still young indeed even after the end of the Civil War: had only recently become a State, committing to the side of the victorious Union and contributing its men though the conflict took place mainly across the continent, thousands of miles away. It was then only fitting that to California the Fraternities should next have moved. And as in many initiatives, Zeta Psi was first: in 1870 it established the Iota chapter at the and became the first Fraternity on the West Coast. (Though the Iota chapter would not be joined until 1892 by the next addition, the Mu chapter at.) Nor was Zeta Psi content even to remain a national Fraternity, but also pressed northward into Canada. The brothers of the Xi chapter at the in 1879 constituted the Theta Xi chapter at the University of Toronto, making Zeta Psi the first international Fraternity as well.
Since then, Zeta Psi has actively bolstered its Canadian presence, commissioning a director solely for Canadian chapter development and amassing a long list of successful chapters there. The end of the nineteenth century was fecund ground for Zeta Psi. It took root at no fewer than fourteen colleges in those latter days: Omega was founded at in 1864; Pi at in 1865; Lambda, 1867; Beta, 1868; Psi, 1868; Iota, UC Berkeley, 1870; Gamma, first at the in 1874, and then at Syracuse College in 1875 after the government proscribed Fraternities at its military academies; Theta Xi, 1879; Alpha, 1879; Alpha Psi, 1883; Nu, 1884; Eta, Yale, 1889; Mu, Stanford, 1892; Alpha Beta, 1899.
(The establishment of the Eta chapter at Yale made Zeta Psi the only fraternity to establish chapters at all eight Ivy-League schools.) Even as the physical reach of Zeta Psi made great bounds, so too did the principles underlying its brotherhood. By the turn of the century, the need for some more centralized structure pressed as chapter after chapter was added to the Circle and their correspondence became too much to handle so chaotically. In 1909, an international publication concerning the affairs of Zetes was first published by Brother (Ξ '99) and distributed among the several chapters: The Circle of Zeta Psi. The periodical, which is still published to this day, contained in that first issue the exhortation which has come to be known as ”The Vision of Bill Comstock” for its prescience and wisdom: We feel that the Fraternity, now that its individual chapters and memberships have grown so strong, is wasting its greatest possibility of strength and growth through the lack of a systematic central organization. In short, Brother Comstock criticized the degree of individualism among the chapters of Zeta Psi, demanding unity among such disparate brothers. He prescribed that every member should receive the fledgling Circle of Zeta Psi, and thus be apprised of the far-flung doings of the fraternity; that a general secretary be commissioned to travel among the chapters and treat with them; and that a foundation be established for the pecuniary support of the general Fraternity.
Zeta Psi Pledge Manual
And all three of his mandates have been amply fulfilled: The Circle is still published and distributed to the brothers of Zeta Psi (and can be read online here); now the General Secretary is assisted in his rounds by chapter consultants, whose function remains the same; and the Zeta Psi Educational Foundation was to be instituted within Brother Comstock's lifetime, though still in the future. Before Zeta Psi could turn to such collegiate concerns, war again threatened, this time abroad. 1914 to 1920: The First World War Though already inured to the horrors and trial that War would wreak upon her from the bloody Civil War, war in Europe came suddenly in the 1910s and caught a nation and Fraternity unawares. For some time, the United States did not commit troops to the battle, maintaining an isolationist stance protected. But Canada was a member in good standing of Britain's Commonwealth, and as war threatened, the men of Canada were called upon to support their ally abroad. With the first Canadian chapter only founded at Toronto in 1879, her sister chapters were still young when war came to them. Particularly stricken were the Alpha Psi and Theta Xi chapters at McGill and U Toronto.
Even in 1914, they were already sending letters indicating their brothers heading east across the sea to the war. In 1915, more than half the workers at the McGill Base Hospital were Zetes from Alpha Psi. By war's end, the two beleaguered chapters had given over two hundred souls in defense of King and Country.
Perhaps most noted among the rolls of the brave Canadian brethren who went overseas is Lt. (Θ Ξ '94), a serviceman in the Canadian army, who like so many other men did not return at the close of conflict. But Brother McCrae bequeathed to his fraternity more than even his worthy life, but also a poem which has been preserved in great honor as both a historical and literary work: “.” The words are a testament to the heroic spirit in man and are treasured still by the brethren of Zeta Psi as the hallowed words of a brother whose time long ago passed. Finally in 1917, America entered the war, and with their country, so too did the many Zetes who called that land their home. Escutcheon The of Zeta Psi is composed of a shield divided quarterly—the chief dexter tierced pallwise with proper skull, book, parchment and crossed swords on a Gules field, surmounting a Sable field, dexter and an argent star on azure sinister. The chief sinister quarterly divided per satire. A proper crossed Roman fasces joined with an argent star with a Greek letter phi on a vert field.
A pair of sable lips on argent, sinister. A sable annulus linked with an or alpha on azure. A sable eye and ear on or dexter. The inferior dexter simple quarterly. An or lamp, chief dexter. A proper book on azure field, sinister.
Zeta Psi Pledge
A proper hand on argent field, or lyre on azure, and proper quill on argent. The inferior sinister unpartitioned with a proper caduceus surrounded by a wreath of argent flowers on an or field. An inescutcheon is located at the fess point with a perfect circle or on an argent field. The shield is shown above a proper wreath of oak leaves and acorns with a proper badge of zeta psi at their center. It is surmounted by a proper star, below which appear the motto in Greek letters tau, kappa, phi in sable. Active chapters The active chapter is the core of the Zeta Psi experience.
Chapter governance Zeta Psi is modeled after most modern democracies in that they have, and branches of governance. Greek-letter officers There are seven Greek-letter officers that act as the chapter's executive. Phi - Φ - and executive head. Alpha Phi - ΑΦ - and officer. Sigma - Σ -. Alpha Sigma - ΑΣ - Corresponding secretary. Gamma - Γ - and fiscal officer.
Delta - Δ - Chapter. Sigma Rho - ΣΡ - Chapter meeting Each chapter meeting with due quorum has the authority to act as the legislative organ of the chapter. Most chapters run their meetings with parliamentary.
Supreme Council The Supreme Council is the chapter's only judicial body. It has authority to rule on almost any matter and its proceedings are held. It is composed of the Phi and Alpha Phi and at least three elected members-at-large. Naming Each chapter in Zeta Psi has a unique name composed of one or two Greek letters.
A petitioning colony that receives a charter chooses a name for their chapter. From this point on, the name is fixed. Even if the chapter goes inactive—in that it has no undergraduate members—the name will be taken up by any group that re-establishes a chapter at the university campus. The name can be based on many different factors. For instance, it is common for new chapters to take on an element from an existent chapter that has helped them form. Theta Xi in adopted the Xi from their neighbor chapter in, and in turn every chapter in has a 'Theta' as part of their name from their relationship to the Toronto chapter.
Other times, a name is related to other factors like the Roman Catholic chapter being named Alpha Omega due to the. A one or two letter name can only be re-used if the chapter possessing the name is pronounced 'deceased.' This has not happened since 1892.
Elder chapters For each undergraduate chapter at a campus, there is a corresponding elder chapter composed of alumni members. Chapter governance An elder chapter has a similar organizational structure to the active chapter, with Greek-letter officers and a supreme council. Greek-letter officers There are only six Greek-letter officers in the elder chapter that act as its executive. Phi - Φ - Elder. Alpha Phi - ΑΦ - Elder.
Sigma - Σ - Elder. Gamma - Γ - Elder. Delta - Δ - Elder.
Beta Pi - ΒΠ - Elder advisor to the active chapter Chapter meeting Elder chapters are also required to hold annual chapter meetings to serve as a legislative body. Supreme Council The Supreme Council is the chapter's only judicial body. It has authority to rule on almost any matter and its proceedings. It may hear appeals and rule on matter from the active supreme council. It is composed of all the elder officers and at least three elected members-at-large. Naming The elder chapter has the same name as the active chapter but has different organization, powers, and is legally a separate entity. Geographical associations Geographical associations are similar to elder chapters, in that they are composed of alumni and have a vote at Grand Chapter.
However, they are larger scope and have no active affiliation. Geographical associations mostly base their membership on alumni living in a metropolitan area. Active geographical associations (as of 2006). Zeta Psi Washington, D.C. Elders Association.
Zeta Psi New York City Elders Association. Zeta Psi Chicago Alumni Club. Zeta Psi Boston Alumni Club.
Zeta Psi Arizona Alumni Club. Zeta Psi Dallas Alumni Club.
Houston Association of Zeta Psi. Southern California Association of Zeta Psi Alumni. Zeta Psi Alumni Association of Greater Pittsburgh. Zeta Psi Elders Association of Toronto. Grand Chapter The Grand Chapter is composed of the seven grand officers and one voting delegate from each active and elder chapter and geographical association.
The Grand Chapter has complete and total authority over Zeta Psi. Chapter governance An elder chapter has a similar organizational structure to the active chapter, with Greek-letter officers but with an executive committee in place of a supreme council. Greek-letter officers Grand Chapter has the same number and function of Greek-letter officers however, the name has an additional 'alpha' to denote it as different.
At one point in time, there were several appointed officers each designated Chi Phi Alpha (ΧΦΑ) of a particular area (e.g. Canada, or the Northwest United States) which served as geographical representatives to the Grand Chapter. Phi Alpha - ΦΑ - and executive head. Alpha Phi Alpha - ΑΦΑ -. Sigma Alpha - ΣΑ -. Alpha Sigma Alpha - ΑΣΑ - Assistant secretary (appointed).
Gamma Alpha - ΓΑ - and fiscal officer. Delta Alpha - ΔΑ - Fraternity. Sigma Rho Alpha - ΣΡΑ - and keeper of the door (appointed) Annual meeting of the Board of Delegates The Board of Delegates elects the Grand Chapter officers and may amend the by-laws and act as the legislative body of the Grand Chapter. Executive Committee The executive committee is constituted as follows: 'Phi Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, Sigma Alpha, Gamma Alpha, Delta Alpha, and six representatives duly elected at large from the Fraternity for one year terms.' In addition one member, but no more than two, must be members of an active chapter.
Controversy In November 2002, the Zeta Psi and Kappa Alpha Order chapters at the University of Virginia were suspended and subsequently cleared after the fraternities held a Halloween party where guests were photographed wearing and dressed up as Uncle Sam and Venus and Serena Williams. Benedict Crowell graduated from Yale (Eta) in 1891 not Case Western Reserve (Nu) in 1892 according to the Arlington National Cemetery website. ^ Semicentennial Biographical Catalogue of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. New York, NY, USA: Zeta Psi.
December 1899. Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America: Double Diamond Jubilee. Paducah, KY, USA:. The Jubilee of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. New York, NY, USA: Zeta Psi. Argetsinger, Amy (December 3, 2002,). Washington Post.
External links.
Each chapter in Zeta Psi has a unique name composed of one or two. A colony petitioning to become a chapter chooses a name for their chapter upon receiving their charter.
From this point on, the name is fixed. Even if the chapter goes inactive—in that it has no undergraduate members—the name will be taken up by any group that re-establishes a chapter at the university campus. The name can be based on many different factors. For instance, it is common for new chapters to take on an element from an existent chapter that has helped them form. Theta Xi in adopted the Xi from their neighbor chapter in, and in turn every chapter in has a 'Theta' as part of their name from their relationship to the Toronto chapter. Other times, a name is related to other factors like the Roman Catholic chapter being named Alpha Omega due to the.
A one or two letter name can only be re-used if the chapter possessing the name is pronounced 'deceased.' This has not happened since 1892. Pledge Manual of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. Pearl River, NY, USA:. Retrieved 3 April 2017. Zeta Psi Chapters.
Pearl River, NY, USA:. Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America Pledge Manual. Pearl River, NY, USA:. This chapter had been noted as the first fraternity chapter to form West of the Mississippi. Cited in the historical study 'The Lost Boys of Zeta Psi' by Laurie Wilkie. Wilkie, Laurie (April 2010).
The Lost Boys of Zeta Psi. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.
Pledge Manual of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. Pearl River, NY, USA:. Biographical Catalogue of the Xi Chapter of the Zeta Psi Fraternity. New York, NY, USA:. ^ Pledge Manual of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. Pearl River, NY, USA:. Pledge Manual of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America.
Pearl River, NY, USA:. Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America: Double Diamond Jubilee. Paducah, KY, USA:. ^ Semicentennial Biographical Catalogue of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America. New York, NY, USA:. December 1899.
References. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
