Chi Phi
Encyclopedia
The Chi Phi Fraternity is an American College
Social Fraternity
that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The oldest active organization that took part in the union was originally founded in 1824 at Princeton. Today, Chi Phi has over 43,500 living alumni members from over 100 active and inactive Chapters.
) paperwork, who happened to be president of the college at that time. Maclean joined with students Charles Smith DeGraw and Gustavus W. Mayer to form a new Chi Phi Fraternity that was based on some records of the original society but also with many characteristics that differed from the original society. While the Chi Phi Fraternity of today was actually founded in 1854, the members place great emphasis on the 1824 date because of many aspects that were carried over from the original records discovered in 1854. The names of the founders of the original society of 1824 were not even known to the 1854 founders; however, they were later discovered and published in the book "Princeton" by V.L. Collins in 1914. The Chi Phi Fraternity founded by Maclean was also short-lived. The group existed sub rosa only until 1859 when it was abandoned completely. However, before the Princeton chapter died off, it was able to successfully establish a second chapter at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
in 1854. The chapter at Franklin and Marshall in turn planted a chapter at Gettysburg College
in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
.
on August 21, 1858 by five undergraduate students. The Chi Phi Fraternity of the South was also the second exclusively southern Fraternity established prior to the Civil War
and was very successful in planting six chapters prior to the outbreak of hostilities and nine afterwards, but prior to the merger with the Northern Order. All but the UNC chapter suspended operations as a result of the Civil War.
, a group of Southern students led by Peter Mitchell Wilson, A-A '69 and other students from the States of Louisiana and South Carolina, chartered the Theta Chapter of the Southern Order at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. This Chapter is thought to be the first international and only European Chapter of an American College Fraternity.
Although Georgia Tech grads hate to admit they owe anything to Georgia grads (see Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
), Nathaniel E. Harris and Henry W. Grady
, two Chi Phis from the University of Georgia
, are widely credited with developing the public and legislative support that resulted in the formation of the Georgia Institute of Technology
. As a result of his efforts, Nathaniel E. Harris was elected and served as the President of Georgia Tech's Board of Trustees from 1886 until his death in 1929.
Except for a brief period in 1911, three Chi Phis (Joseph Mackey Brown
, John Marshall Slaton and Nathaniel E. Harris) held the office of Governor in the State of Georgia from 1909 to 1917. They didn't always see eye-to-eye, however; Brown was vehemently opposed to Slaton's pardon of Leo Frank
in 1915 and since his death in 1932, Brown has often been implicated as a conspirator in Frank's lynching. During the same period, another Chi Phi, Hiram W. Johnson served as Governor of California and was later elected to five terms as a U.S. Senator.
Chi Phi's conservative expansion philosophy that only the old, well established schools were suitable for a Chapter, which was in effect for some sixty years (1892 to 1954), led to the denial of a petition for a charter by a group of students at the University of Richmond in 1901. This group, led by Chi Phi Brother Carter Ashton Jenkens, Delta '03, went on to found the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. During the subsequent fifty-three year period, Sigma Phi Epsilon chartered over 140 Chapters, while Chi Phi only chartered 14.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
's music video for the song "When the House is a Rockin'" (Don't Bother Knockin') was filmed almost entirely at the Omega chapter house at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
On June 25, 2011, the Chi Phi Educational Trust announced that it is launching the public phase of a $10M Changing Lives Capital Campaign for Chi Phi, to date the Campaign has raised $6.1M refer to www.chiphicampaign.com for more information.
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
Social Fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The oldest active organization that took part in the union was originally founded in 1824 at Princeton. Today, Chi Phi has over 43,500 living alumni members from over 100 active and inactive Chapters.
Chi Phi Society
“On Christmas Eve in 1824, an association was formed to promote the circulation of correct opinions upon Religion, Morals, Education & excluding Sectarian Theology and party Politics. It was the duty of each member to publish at least once a month in any convenient way some article designed to answer the above object. When at length it disbanded, its religious feature was absorbed and perpetuated by what is known now as the “Philadelphian Society” organized in February, 1825, and said to be an offspring of the Nassau Hall Tract Society. The old Chi Phi constitution was discovered in 1854 by some undergraduates who emphasizing the social and disregarding the religious purpose reorganized the society into the modern Greek letter fraternity of the same initials. The majority of the religious societies founded in Princeton were less general in their scope but more efficient in their work than the old Chi Phi.” – from “Princeton” by Varnum Lansing Collins 1914Chi Phi Society Founders
- Rev. Dr. Archibald AlexanderArchibald AlexanderArchibald Alexander was an American Presbyterian theologian and professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary...
- Principal & Professor of Princeton Theological SeminaryPrinceton Theological SeminaryPrinceton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
1812 to 1840 - Rev. Dr. James Waddel AlexanderJames Waddel AlexanderJames Waddel Alexander was an American Presbyterian minister and theologian who followed in the footsteps of his father, Rev. Archibald Alexander.-Early life:...
- Appointed Tutor, Princeton Theological SeminaryPrinceton Theological SeminaryPrinceton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
in 1824 - Rev. Dr. Robert Baird (clergyman)Robert Baird (clergyman)Robert Baird was an American clergyman and author. He was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and graduated at Jefferson College in 1818 and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1822. He taught at an academy at Princeton, New Jersey for five years while tutoring at the College...
- Tutor, College of New Jersey (Princeton University)Princeton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
1822 to 1827 - Rev. Dr. James CarnahanJames CarnahanJames Carnahan was an American clergyman and educator who served as the ninth President of Princeton University....
- President, College of New Jersey (Princeton University)Princeton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
1822 to 1854 - Rev. Dr. Luther Halsey - Professor 1824 to 1829
- Rev. Dr. Charles HodgeCharles HodgeCharles Hodge was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. A Presbyterian theologian, he was a leading exponent of historical Calvinism in America during the 19th century. He was deeply rooted in the Scottish philosophy of Common Sense Realism...
- Professor 1823 to 1826 - Rev. Dr. John Maclean, Jr.John Maclean, Jr.John Maclean, Jr., D.D. was an American Presbyterian clergyman and educator who served as the tenth President of Princeton University, then known as the College of New Jersey. Maclean, the son of the first professor of chemistry at the College of New Jersey, grew up in Princeton, New Jersey...
- Professor, College of New Jersey (Princeton University)Princeton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
1823 to 1829, later Vice President and President - Rev. Dr. Charles Hall - Student 1824 to 1827
- Rev. Dr. Edward Norris KirkEdward Norris KirkDr. Edward Norris Kirk - was a Christian missionary, pastor, teacher, evangelist and writer in the Presbyterian, Congregational and revivalist traditions in the USA...
- Student - Rev. Dr. William Swan Plumer - Student 1825 to 1826
The Princeton Order
Records of the original Chi Phi Society were discovered in 1854 by John Maclean, Jr. of the class of 1858. Maclean found the records in his uncle's (also named John Maclean, Jr.John Maclean, Jr.
John Maclean, Jr., D.D. was an American Presbyterian clergyman and educator who served as the tenth President of Princeton University, then known as the College of New Jersey. Maclean, the son of the first professor of chemistry at the College of New Jersey, grew up in Princeton, New Jersey...
) paperwork, who happened to be president of the college at that time. Maclean joined with students Charles Smith DeGraw and Gustavus W. Mayer to form a new Chi Phi Fraternity that was based on some records of the original society but also with many characteristics that differed from the original society. While the Chi Phi Fraternity of today was actually founded in 1854, the members place great emphasis on the 1824 date because of many aspects that were carried over from the original records discovered in 1854. The names of the founders of the original society of 1824 were not even known to the 1854 founders; however, they were later discovered and published in the book "Princeton" by V.L. Collins in 1914. The Chi Phi Fraternity founded by Maclean was also short-lived. The group existed sub rosa only until 1859 when it was abandoned completely. However, before the Princeton chapter died off, it was able to successfully establish a second chapter at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
in 1854. The chapter at Franklin and Marshall in turn planted a chapter at Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College is a private four-year liberal arts college founded in 1832, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States, adjacent to the famous battlefield. Its athletic teams are nicknamed the Bullets. Gettysburg College has about 2,700 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women...
in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg is a borough that is the county seat, part of the Gettysburg Battlefield, and the eponym for the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The town hosts visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park and has 3 institutions of higher learning: Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg College, and...
.
The Southern Order
The second Chi Phi Fraternity was founded at the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
on August 21, 1858 by five undergraduate students. The Chi Phi Fraternity of the South was also the second exclusively southern Fraternity established prior to the Civil War
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
and was very successful in planting six chapters prior to the outbreak of hostilities and nine afterwards, but prior to the merger with the Northern Order. All but the UNC chapter suspended operations as a result of the Civil War.
Southern Order Founders
- Rev. Augustus Moore Flythe - Class of 1859 - Episcopal Deacon and Missionary, New Bern, North Carolina
- Capt. Thomas Capehart, CSA - Class of 1861 - Beginning in April 1861, served as a Lieutenant in the Bethel Regiment, 1st North Carolina Volunteers (Infantry), commanded by Col. D.H. Hill, afterwards a General in the CSA. In early 1862, he then became the Captain of Co. C, 3rd Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery. After the Seven Days fight, this organization disbanded on account of scarcity of horses and equipment and he was commissioned as a Captain in Wynn's Cavalry (15th) Battalion, organized for State defense remaining as such until the surrender. He lived the remainder of his life as a wealthy planter in Kittrell, N.C., where the home he built in 1867 still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- John Calhoun Tucker - Class of 1861 - Served as Private in Co. I (Burt Avengers raised in Hinds Co.), 39th Mississippi Infantry and died in service on December 28, 1862 near Port Hudson, Louisiana at the age of 23. At the surrender, only seven of his company were reported in service.
- William Harrison Greene - Class of 1862 - Served as a Lieutenant in Co. G, 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment assigned to the Rodes Brigade and the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the War. He was wounded in the leg at Sharpsburg, Antietam, Maryland in September 1862. He later became a gentleman farmer at Wayside, Mississippi.
- Dr. Fletcher Terry Seymour, M.D. - Class of 1862 - Served as a Private in the 6th Tennessee Infantry in 1862. He was honorably discharged on account of ill health and became a merchant and planter at Eurekaton, Tenn.
Secret Order of Chi Phi
On November 14, 1860, the third independent fraternity to be named Chi Phi was founded at Hobart College, Geneva by twelve founders whom took the initiatory oath and received a badge. The twelve men later became known throughout Chi Phi as the "Twelve Apostles". The fraternity was officially known as the "Secret Order of Chi Phi" and the first chapter would be called the Upsilon chapter. The Secret Order of Chi Phi at Hobart planted four additional chapters, and then in 1865, negotiations began regarding a merger with the Princeton Order. Negotiations were completed on May 29, 1867, and chapters from both groups united as the Northern Order.Secret Order Founders
- John William Jones - Class of 1861
- Alexander Johnson Beach, Esq. - Class of 1862 - Served as Captain, Co. E, 13th New York Artillery
- Amos Brunson - Class of 1862 - Served as a Second Lieutenant, Co. B, 85th New York Volunteer Infantry (Plymouth Pilgrims)http://skaneateles.org/cw_misc/brunson.html
- Dr. George Gallagher Hopkins, M.D. - Class of 1862 - Served as Major, 5th Rhode Island Infantry
- Edward Storey Lawson, Esq. - Class of 1862
- Samuel Watkins Tuttle, Esq. - Class of 1862
- David Saxton Hall, Jr. - Class of 1863
- Dr. David Post Jackson, M.D. - Class of 1863
- Harvey Nixon Loomis - Class of 1863 - Later elected as the first Grand Alpha of the Fraternity.
- William Henry Shepard, Esq. - Class of 1863
- William Sutphen, Esq. - Class of 1863 - Chairman of the Committee of Union and the first Grand Gamma
- Frank Bradshaw Wilson - Class of 1864
Merger of the North and South
Following the end of the Civil War, the Northern and Southern orders discovered each other through John Shepard of the North Carolina chapter of the Southern Order. The orders from the North and South began a negotiation that concluded with a meeting at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC on March 27, 1874 that resulted in a united organization officially known as the Chi Phi Fraternity. At the March meeting, three members from the Northern Order and three members from the Southern Order adopted a constitution and by-laws and established a date for the first convention, which was held in Washington, DC on July 23, 1874.Growth and Development
In June 1867, due to the disruption of the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, a group of Southern students led by Peter Mitchell Wilson, A-A '69 and other students from the States of Louisiana and South Carolina, chartered the Theta Chapter of the Southern Order at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. This Chapter is thought to be the first international and only European Chapter of an American College Fraternity.
Although Georgia Tech grads hate to admit they owe anything to Georgia grads (see Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is the nickname given to an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Bulldogs football team of the University of Georgia. The two Georgia universities are...
), Nathaniel E. Harris and Henry W. Grady
Henry W. Grady
Henry Woodfin Grady was a journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the former Confederacy into the Union after the American Civil War....
, two Chi Phis from the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
, are widely credited with developing the public and legislative support that resulted in the formation of the Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
. As a result of his efforts, Nathaniel E. Harris was elected and served as the President of Georgia Tech's Board of Trustees from 1886 until his death in 1929.
Except for a brief period in 1911, three Chi Phis (Joseph Mackey Brown
Joseph Mackey Brown
Joseph Mackey Brown was an American politician and alleged to be one of the ringleaders in the lynching of Leo Frank...
, John Marshall Slaton and Nathaniel E. Harris) held the office of Governor in the State of Georgia from 1909 to 1917. They didn't always see eye-to-eye, however; Brown was vehemently opposed to Slaton's pardon of Leo Frank
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank was a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia drew attention to antisemitism in the United States....
in 1915 and since his death in 1932, Brown has often been implicated as a conspirator in Frank's lynching. During the same period, another Chi Phi, Hiram W. Johnson served as Governor of California and was later elected to five terms as a U.S. Senator.
Chi Phi's conservative expansion philosophy that only the old, well established schools were suitable for a Chapter, which was in effect for some sixty years (1892 to 1954), led to the denial of a petition for a charter by a group of students at the University of Richmond in 1901. This group, led by Chi Phi Brother Carter Ashton Jenkens, Delta '03, went on to found the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. During the subsequent fifty-three year period, Sigma Phi Epsilon chartered over 140 Chapters, while Chi Phi only chartered 14.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...
's music video for the song "When the House is a Rockin'" (Don't Bother Knockin') was filmed almost entirely at the Omega chapter house at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
On June 25, 2011, the Chi Phi Educational Trust announced that it is launching the public phase of a $10M Changing Lives Capital Campaign for Chi Phi, to date the Campaign has raised $6.1M refer to www.chiphicampaign.com for more information.
See also
- Chi Heorot, former Chi chapter at Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. - Chi Phi Chronicles