Section III

Responsibility for a Lifetime

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The Beginning – Yale in 1845

Yale in 1845 was far different from today’s college. It was hard going for any student. Discipline was swift and strict, handed out by both student and faculty alike. There was mandatory attendance at chapel every day, and there was little to occupy a student’s attention aside from his academic work.

Yale was unlike most other American colleges in that it had been patterned after Cambridge University in England where class loyalties and traditions were extremely important. There were a number of results from this system. One was a college where hazing and bullying by upperclassmen towards their younger classmates was common. The second result of the class stratification was a fraternity system that was strongly focused around class ties.

Our Fraternity founded a hundred years ago, needs no memorial. It is a living organization. So, its Founders and the many who have followed them, faithfully serving the Brotherhood, live on in the spirit of Alpha Sigma Phi. That spirit is at the same time indefinable, yet the Society’s greatest asset.

- author unknown

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As a man entered Yale as a freshman, he was encouraged to join one of the freshmen societies, Kappa Sigma Epsilon, Delta Kappa, or Sigma Delta. Freshmen would be met at the New Haven train station by sophomores, and invited to join one of the fraternities. Once the new members were secured, initiations would take place. Conducted by the out-going sophomore class, the initiations into these societies were mainly to test the nerves of the freshman, and thus were quite vigorous. Once the night’s festivities concluded, the upper-classmen would hand over the society to the freshman and leave. The new members would then elect their officers and perfect the organization of the society for the upcoming year.

Membership in a secret society in each successive class became more important socially and in campus politics in each successive year. The freshman fraternities were nearly all encompassing. In the sophomore class there were two fraternities at most, and at times only one. The sophomore fraternities admitted between twenty and thriy men from each class, and vied to admit only the most promising men based on their freshman records.

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The junior class fraternities, Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, and Delta Kappa Epsilon, pledged men secretly during the students first two years, and initiated them at the end of their sophomore year. In the 1850s, Psi Upsilon and Delta Kappa Epsilon eclipsed the older fraternity Alpha Delta Phi, and battled unrelentingly for the most promising pledges.

The senior societies were local organizations and were the most prestigious. The senior societies each pledged fifteen members from each class. There were usually three senior societies, with two competing heavily for the leading men of the class, and the third society failing and being replaced at intervals.

None of the freshman fraternities established chapters outside Yale College, and Alpha Sigma Phi is the only surviving sophomore society. Each of the junior fraternities was a chapter of national organizations. The senior societies, Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and Wolf’s Head, continue to exist locally at Yale, their affairs still shrouded in an aura of mystery.

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The Founding of Alpha Sigma Phi

Louis Manigault, Alpha Sigma Phi’s principal Founder, and Stephen Ormsby Rhea, one of the co-founders, first met at St. Paul’s College, a preparatory school for boys in Flushing Meadows, NY. There, they joined the Phi Theta Kappa Society.

Arriving at Yale in 1845, neither of the men chose to join a freshman society. Yet Manigault had visions as a freshman of starting a sophomore fraternity. He did not hide his disdain of Kappa Sigma Theta, the lone society in the sophomore class. He would later write of that society:

Standing alone in the Sophomore Class, guarded by her Patron Saint Minerva, the Kappa Sigma Theta seemed not only to scorn but to behold with contempt all outside members as hardly worthy of being their classmates.

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Manigault and Rhea spent much time walking and riding though the woods around New Haven and it was during these private journeys that Manigault told Rhea his plans for starting a sophomore society. At first, Rhea was hesitant; believing it was too hard a task to undertake. In time, Manigault convinced his friend that hey could accomplish the task. As they perfected their vision, Rhea introduced Manigualt to Horace Spangler Weiser, who was brought into the plan, and thus the triumvirate was completed.

On Saturday evening, December 6, 1845, the three met in Manigault’s room at 59 Chapel Street. Manigault lived in a college boarding house that sat at the intersection of Temple and Chapel Street, overlooking the green and college buildings on the other side. The boarding house had given Manigault the privacy and freedom to concentrate on creating Alpha Sigma Phi. During the meeting Louis outlined to Rhea and Weiser his plans for the society. Though Manigault names Weiser and Rhea as co-founders, it was he who designed the Badge, the Ritual, and insignia after the initial meeting.

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In his writings, Louis Manigault refers to Wednesday, June 24, 1846, as the founding date of Alpha Sigma Phi. It was on this day that the Society announced its first class – 14 men – thus securing its hallowed place among Yale’s Fraternities. Yet, it was on December 6, 1845, that the plans were set in stone, thus it truly is the founding date of the Fraternity.

An Intense Rivalry Begins

The new society was welcomed by the junior class societies because it gave them a greater field of selection for heir membership. The potential members of the sophomore class also cordially received it. But it aroused anxiety and fear among the members of Kappa Sigma Theta.

Manigault had founded Fraternity to rival Kappa Sigma Theta, and it did just that. In 1849, one of our Brother’s wrote: “…while Kappa Sigma Theta slumbered, the flower of the class of ’52 became members of Alpha Sigma Phi.”

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The Yale Tomahawk is Born

The rivalry spilled over into print, as Kappa Sigma Theta attacked the new society in The Yale Banger. The name “banger” came from the device that sophomores used to torment freshmen. When sophomores would go out, usually en mass, these gangers, or clubs, would be dragged along the ground as a warning to any freshman in the neighborhood.

Theoretically, The Yale Banger had been the paper of the sophomore class, but in actuality, it was the voice of Kappa Sigma Theta. In response, Alpha Sigma Phi began publishing The Yale Tomahawk in November 1847.

The paper was twelve by eighteen inches, and cost six cents per copy. In the text, the paper attacks Kappa Sigma Theta and the Banger, calling the latter:

A most shameful outrage upon good breeding, prudence and common sense. Such abominable bawdiness, such groveling sentiment, such mawkish nonsense, we never saw before among the writing of civilized and educated.

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Aside from attacking its rival, The Yale Tomahawk always included editorials, articles about Yale life, fraternity announcements, poems, and others writings of literary value. An Alpha alumnus, writing an article for The Tomahawk about the early editions of the magazine, marveled at the literary quality of the early editions of the paper, noting that “College editors of those days appear to have been more highly gifted in the art of versification (poetry) than their college literary descendants of the present generation.”

In May 1852, The Yale Tomahawk appeared for the last time until 1909, after it was published against faculty orders. In the end, eight members of the Fraternity were expelled. Two years later the faculty rescinded the decision, and offered to allow the students back to finish their studies.

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Alpha Sigma Phi Expands from Yale

Alpha Sigma Phi was but two years old when an opportunity appeared to present itself to expand to another college. An initiate of Alpha Chapter transferred to Amherst College in Massachusetts and indicated an interest in establishing a chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi there. Alpha Chapter authorized the effort, but the faculty of Amherst College forbade the organization, and the effort failed.

Beta Chapter was chartered at Harvard University on June 15, 1850, yet no records from the early years of the chapter exist. While it has been proven from inter-fraternity and Alpha records that Beta was chartered; it is unknown for how long the chapter existed.

Amherst College was successfully chartered on June 10, 1854, and was designated Gamma. It existed until 1860 or thereabouts, and initiated 200 Brothers.

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In 1856 a petition was received by Alpha Chapter from Kenyon College in Marietta, Ohio, but was refused. The first charter granted outside of New England was Delta Chapter at Marietta College, in Marietta Ohio. It was chartered on June 30, 1860, and existed at Marietta until 1993, when it was closed for disciplinary reasons. It was one of the most important and influential chapters outside of Alpha Chapter.

The last charter to be granted by Alpha Chapter was at Ohio Wesleyan University (then Delaware College) on June 6, 1863, but it only lasted one year. Low membership caused by the Civil War caused the chapter to discuss merging with Sigma Chi. The original plan was for both the Alpha Sigma Phi chapter and the Sigma Chi chapter to surrender their respective charters, and petition Delta Kappa Epsilon as one group. The plan failed when a strong Sigma Chi alumni group intervened and opposed the plan. The Alpha Sigma Phi chapter was much weaker than the Sigma Chi group and was left with no choice but to surrender its charter and join Sigma Chi.

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The Death of Kappa Sigma Theta

At Yale in the 1850s, Alpha Sigma Phi continued its dominance of the sophomore class until 1858, when Kappa Sigma Theta finally succumbed to internal dissension and was dissolved. Wayne Musgrave notes in his history of Alpha Sigma Phi that Kappa Sigma Theta:

…was a vigorous competitor and a worthy foe of Alpha Sigma Phi and there was genuine sympathy among members of [Alpha Sigma Phi] for the illustrious alumni of the former who were thus left without a society…”

The society was founded in 1838, and ruled supreme in the sophomore class until Alpha Sigma Phi was founded.

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From Alpha Sigma Phi to Delta Beta Xi

With Kappa Sigma Theta gone, the balance of power among the junior societies became delicate. During the 1863 – 1864 academic year, the Alpha Sigs were fairly well split among two of the three junior societies. Psi Upsilon had nineteen, Delta Kappa Epsilon had ten and Alpha Delta Phi had two. When elections were announced in the Spring of 1864 , it turned out that Delta Kappa Epsilon had secured thirty-four Alpha Sigs, while Psi Upsilon and Alpha Delta Phi each had two.

Chaos ensued, and Delta Kappa Epsilon seized the records of Alpha Sigma Phi. Sometime before the schism, Alpha Chapter gave Delta Chapter the authority to govern Epsilon Chapter.

Meanwhile at Yale, the commotion, along with the faculties dislike of the conduct of the latter society in general, caused them to disband the society in March of 1864.

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This turn of events left a gap in the fraternity system at Yale, and caused much disconcertion for all groups involved. After a series of discussions by the junior societies, a plan was devised where both Delta Kappa Epsilon and Psi Upsilon would have their own sophomore society upon which to draw their respective memberships.

Thus in 1864, Phi Theta Psi and Delta Beta Xi were established, and each claimed to be the legitimate successor to Alpha Sigma Phi. It was Delta Beta Xi who was the true successor. To non-members, it seemed to be a different society. However, the Ritual was not changed, and every member took an oath to Alpha Sigma Phi. Moreover, Delta Beta Xi named Louis Manigault as its Founder, and communications between the two reinforce this fact.

The two groups existed at Yale until June 2, 1875, when both were suppressed at faculty direction. During that period, Delta Beta Xi had no contact with Delta Chapter, and thus acted strictly as a local group.

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Delta Chapter

The early years of Delta, until the reestablishment of Alpha Chapter, were filled with uncertainty. Yet the Delta Chapter of this era is marked by a Brotherhood that was loyal, and respected the Oath long after they had graduated.

Of the nine men who were Founding Fathers of the Delta Chapter, eight went and fought in the Civil War. Only Lyman Strong remained a civilian. After graduating from Marietta College in 1861, he helped found the Epsilon Chapter at Ohio Wesleyan University, in 1863. A number of years later, in 1882, as a lawyer in Cincinnati, he helped to keep the chapter from accepting offers to join other national fraternities.

All eight other Brothers went and served in the Union Army during the war. Four of them did not survive their service. In total, twenty-one Brothers from Delta Chapter served in the military during the Civil War. Five died and eleven were awarded commissions. Furthermore, two veterans of the war were initiated into Delta Chapter after returning to Marietta.

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One Delta Brother who died during the war deserves special recognition for dedication to Alpha Sigma Phi. Brother William Beale Whittlesey grew up in Marietta and was boyhood friends with George Butler Turner, another Delta Brother who was killed in action. As a Second Lieutenant in the 92nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Whittlesey was commended for bravery during the Battle of Chickamauga, September 17th and 18th, 1863. As an Alpha Sig, he always wore his membership badge on his uniform. After the battle, he was promoted to Captain.

He died just two months later, on November 15, 1863, during the Battle of Missionary Ridge. The bullet that killed him just missed his Alpha Sigma Phi Badge. Brother Turner, his boyhood friend and Brother, was mortally wounded later during the battle, after taking over command. In his last letter home, Turner wrote, “If I never return, think not the sacrifice too great.”

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Upon news of the deaths, the Delta Chapter held a special meeting on November 16, 1863, and chose to wear the badge of mourning for thirty days. The bodies of the two fallen students were brought to Marietta where a public funeral was held on campus. It was the first and last funeral held on the campus of Marietta College.

Before the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Whittlesey made out his will, as he knew that death could be eminent. In his will, he bequeathed both his cavalry sword and $100.00 to the Delta Chapter. In 1865, when the Delta Chapter had acquired a new chapter hall, it was dedicated Whittlesey Hall, in remembrance of the valiant Alpha Sigma Phi Brother.

Delta Carries The Flame

With the disbanding of Alpha Chapater at Yale, and the end of operations at Epsilon at Ohio Wesleyan, Delta Chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi found itself the lone surviving chapter of the Fraternity.

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At the conclusion of the War, Delta had a roster of 58 members, 53 of whom were living. Initially, the chapter made approaches seeking to combine with the junior class fraternities at Yale which had received most Alpha Chapter members a year following their entry into Alpha Sigma Phi. However, neither Delta Kappa Epsilon nor Psi Upsilon found the war end circumstances and prospects of Delta Chapter warranted granting it a charter. Delta Chapter then settled into a role as the sole surviving chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity.

In fact, for several years Alpha Sigma Phi at Marietta College thrived. During the first twenty years of her existence, a majority of the valedictorians of Marietta’s graduating classes were Alpha Sigs. The Fraternity was able to extend membership to a number of the most distinguished men of the community. While there is no evidence of regular communication between Delta Chapter and Delta Beta Xi at Yale, the organizations were aware of each other and of Delta Beta Xi’s claim to be the successor of Alpha Sigma Phi. Delta Beta Xi also initiated an Alpha Sigma Phi initiate from Marietta who continued his studies at Yale.

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Meetings at Delta Chapter were likely to include recitations, parodies, and other programs as well as the conduct of business of the chapter. Since there were no photocopy machines, the constitution, bylaws, and Rituals were apt to be in hand written single copies, while party programs and documents for widespread distribution were generally printed. As the handwritten documents became worn and pages mislaid, change was inevitable.

For many years at Delta, the Ritual was disorganized. In 1875, Mr. Dennis Patterson Adams, an honorary member of the chapter, helped revise the Rituals for presentation to a distinguished honorary initiate. The occasion allowed the committee an opportunity to modernize the Yale Ritual devised by Manigault. While retaining the core of the older Ritual, the revised Ritual was nearly doubled in length and remained in use with minor changes for 125 years.

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At Marietta in the post-Civil War era, the location of a fraternity’s meeting room and the times and dates of meetings were closely guarded secrets. Alpha Sigma Phi and her rivals were closely guarded secrets. Alpha Sigma Phi and her rivals would seek opportunities to raid rival’s halls and carry off records, rituals, and other trophies.

The American economy in the post –Civil War era was one of general growth punctuated by relatively brief but severe depressions. One such depression was severe enough to cause the failure of colleges, such as the first University of Chicago. While Alpha Sigma Phi at Marietta College twice-acquired building lots for a chapter facility, it could not muster the strength to build a house or the strength to retain the building lot through the depressions.

After 1876, when Delta Beta Xi was suppressed at Yale, Alpha Sigma Phi, with 16 years existence and ties to the old national fraternity, had come to be regarded as a potential valuable acquisition by a number of national fraternities seeking to establish chapters at Marietta College. At first, Delta Chapter quickly and easily rejected the proposals that it affiliate with another national fraternity. Around 1880 however, a number of persuasive offers were received in succession, and the chapter did not quickly dismiss them. The Alpha Sigma Phi alumni became alarmed that the chapter might decide to accept a charter from another fraternity and end the existence of the Fraternity.

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The First Sig Bust

In response to those concerns, a group of alumni from the Marietta, Yale, and Amherst chapters in the Cincinnati area organized a “Sig Bust” for the twenty-one members of the Delta Chapter. At that time, Cincinnati was the largest city in the region served by Marietta College. The alumni were able to obtain from Marietta College President Andrews a week’s leave of absence for the Delta undergraduates to travel by riverboat from Marietta to Cincinnati to attend the event.

At the Sig Bust, the group was met by a Brother clad in armor who escorted them into the room where the Alumni welcomed them with a song. At the Bust, the Delta Chapter presented the Alumni with an official charter for their Alumni Association. The Bust was filled with speeches and singing and the formality of the event left a strong impression on the chapter, and convinced them that they should not accept any petitions from any other organizations.

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The Lost Charter Is Found

For some years the charter granted in 1860 to Delta Chapter by Alpha Chapter at Yale was lost. The subject came up at commencement one year when several alumni were back. “Well, let’s see about this,” said one member back for his tenth reunion. He and a couple of undergraduate members went to the chimney in a campus building, a wooden panel was pulled out, and behind the panel, dry and in excellent shape, was the Delta Chapter charter!

Delta Nearly Fails

As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the vitality and appeal of Alpha Sigma Phi at Marietta waned. Fewer bids were extended, and those that were more often than not were refused. Meetings became irregular and records of the business and programs of the Frternity became sketchy. In the fall of 1899, only three members returned to Marietta, no recruitment was conducted, and no record of any meetings was kept. By the end of spring term 1900, only one Alpha Sigma Phi undergraduate was enrolled at Marietta College. As had happened in 1880, the alumni stepped into the fray. The alumni recruited a pledge class in the fall of 1900, and these men were initiated in 1901. This sparked a new life for Alpha Sigma Phi for several years, but the Fraternity’s vitality was ebbing again in 1907 when word arrived that a group of students at Yale University sought Dleta’s approval to revive the Alpha Chapter.

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The alumni were consulted and a two-pronged plan to evaluate the request was put into operation. First contact was made with an alumnus in Cincinnati with means to investigate the character and reputation of the petitioners in New Haven. Secondly, a shroud of secrecy was placed around Delta Chapter to assure, if possible, that her present frail state of seven undergraduate members not be made known to the students at Yale. Several younger Alumni living in and around Marietta became involved in the operations of the chapter and its preparations to initiate the New Haven group.

The Second Founding

In 1906, the Masonic Club was established at Yale for students who were Masons. It had no ritual, and its meetings were not secret. The club was, for all intents and purposes, purely social in nature. While the club played no part in the reactivation of Alpha Chapter, a group of men who made their acquaintances with each other though the club were instrumental in bringing Alpha Sigma Phi back to Yale.

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One Saturday afternoon in December 1906, four friends who were all members of the club were playing cards in a student rooming house on Whalley Avenue. The room was shared by Robert L. Ervin and Benjamin F. Crenshaw. Visiting them were Arthur E. Ely and Edwin M. Waterbury. During their card playing, conversations turned to the Yale fraternity system. Junior and senior societies were the only ones left in existence. Members did not live in houses, but met in “tombs”, which were large windowless lodges that had an air of mystery and secrecy surrounding them.

As they discussed the system, they came to the conclusion that the system put too much emphasis on class and college (department) loyalty at the expense of the development of a strong university spirit.

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Edwin Waterbury was the first to suggest that maybe the group should form a new fraternity at Yale, or start a chapter of an existing national fraternity. This one would be different in that it would draw from all classes. He explained that he had chanced upon records of a society that used to exist at Yale. Alpha Sigma Phi, he told the men, had been one of the most interesting and successful societies, and still had a chapter at Marietta College. He posed the idea of having the group contact Delta Chapter about restarting the Alpha Chapter.

Committing to the idea, the group went about securing more men before writing the letter. Two more men from the Masonic Club joined the movement: Frederick H. Waldron, Jr., and Wayne Montgomery Musgrave. Musgrave would later serve as President of the Masonic Club.

Ervin, who knew some of the Alumni members of the chapter, wrote the first letter to Delta. As they awaited a reply, they sought to bolster their membership, recruiting men who were not members of the Masonic Club, and sent a list of the men onto Delta.

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While this was occurring, the Reverend Mr. Spencer E. Evans, an alumnus member of Delta who was then filling a pastorate in Connecticut, came to Yale and made inquiries about the group. He subsequently would give his recommendation to Delta that the group be initiated into the Mystic Circle.

Upon receiving the news that their petition had been accepted, the Yale men made arrangements to send a delegation to Marietta to be initiated and receive their Charter. The men sent were Ely, Crenshaw, Musgrave, Waldron, and Waterbury. Ervin had planned to go, but a last minute situation prevented him from accompanying the others. On March 27, 1907, the group boarded a train to Marietta.

The Delegation arrived midday on March 28th in Marietta, where members of the Delta Chapter met them. The Delta Brothers showed them around the city, and then gave them instructions regarding their impending initiation.

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As the last rays of that day’s sun shone on Marietta, the Yale men began their journey into the Mystical Circle. As the final rites were performed within the chapter hall on Font Street, the Alpha Chapter was formally resurrected, with its re-chartering date officially being March 28, 1907.

The next two days were spent learning the Ritual and other information needed to have an organized chapter. Returning to New Haven, the group’s first order of business was to initiate Ervin. Though they were lacking much of the proper equipment, the Ritual took place on April 9, in Musgrave’s room at 152 Temple Street, where elections followed. Ervin was elected H.S.P., Musgrave J.J.P., Crenshaw H.S., Waldron H.E., Ely H.C.S., and Waterbury H.M.

The first chapter hall was located at 6 York Square, and was known as Little York Hall. The men acquired all the necessary Ritual equipment and commenced with a series of initiations, beginning April 11, and lasting until June 3. As the academic year came to a close, the Alpha Chapter numbered twenty-two, the same number it had at the end of its first year of existence.

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On March 27, 1908, the Alpha Chapter revived the Black Lantern Processional. Each Brother was fully gowned and cowled, and carried a small colonial lantern as they processed around the Yale campus in silence. It was Waterbury who is credited with resurrecting this old Alpha Sigma Phi tradition.

Alpha Acquires the Tomb

As news of the reactivation of Alpha Reached alumni, many wrote to congratulate their new Brothers. Scores of Alumni came back to visit the chapter and participate in chapter events. In 1910, Alpha bought its first chapter hall, the former Berzelius Tomb.

The Tomb was a windowless, two-story building that was used for chapter meetings and functions. No non-member was allowed to enter, and no member could speak of the interior to others. Brothers were even expected to maintain silence when passing by the building. Members, wearing dark suits, would line up in a column of twos elsewhere on campus. In silence the group would march to the Tomb. The leaders would unlock a small aperture in the bronze ornaments on the right side of the great door through which a lath was released, opening the main door just enough to admit the members who filed in silently and in darkness.

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The Second Founders

Edwin M. Waterbury

Edwin Morey Waterbury did much more than rediscover and help to rekindle the spark of Alpha Sigma Phi. He played a major role in creating the fraternity organization that was to become a major force in the American Greek-system.

In 1907, the first Convention was held at Marietta. Waterbury became Grand Secretary and the Grand Corresponding Secretary from 1907 to 1913. In the spring of 1909, he revived The Tomahawk, which he continued to edit until 1913. his newspaper firm printed and produced each issue of the magazine for the next 30 years.

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Waterbury was secretary-treasurer of The Palladium Times, Oswego, NY. He served as president of the New York State Associated Dailies and also of the New York State Publishers Association. He was active in the civic life of his city in addition to his continued work with the Fraternity. He died in December of 1952, soon after writing:

I am afraid that I will have to be disappointed once more in my cherished desire to attend at least one more National Convention before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

Wayne Montgomery Musgrave

As an honors graduate of New York University, Yale, and Harvard, Musgrave provided the organizational spark that fanned Alpha Sigma Phi into national prominence. He was twice HSP of Alpha and went on to re-establish Beta at Harvard.

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When Waterbury revived The Tomahawk, it was Musgrave who served until 1919 as business manager, finding the funds to publish the magazine. He served as Grand Junior President of the Fraternity from 1907 until 19023. in those years the GJP was the real operating head of the Fraternity. Musgrave felt that the Grand Senior President should be a man of national prominence-to bolster the image of the growing Fraternity-so he declined the office.

Known as “Muzzy” and also as “The Czar of Chamber Street” where his New York City law offices were located, Musgrave borrowed the money to pay for the Fraternity’s first stationery. He paid postage and other bills out of his own pocket. From 1907 until 1909 the “National Headquarters” of the Fraternity were his room at the New Haven YMCA. It would later move to this offices in New York City. He also authored the Fraternity’s principles of conduct.

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Becoming GJP put him in charge of Delta with 16 members, and Alpha with 22. the need was great for new chapter to be established. So Musgrave put together the Fraternity’s expansion policy, which said in part that the petitioners should have scholarship above the average at their institutions. He put together forms for petitions and headed the efforts to expand the Fraternity. Twenty chapters were added to the Fraternity while he was Grand Junior President. He guided the Fraternity during World War I, and under his leadership, the Fraternity employed its first full-time Executive Secretary, Charles Hall, of the Columbia University chapter. Musgrave served the National Interfraternity Conference as treasurer from 1918 to 1922.

In 1923, Musgrave was elected Grand Junior President, Emeritus. He continued his interest in Alpha Sigma Phi, even writing a major history of the Fraternity. This lawyer whose great passion was Alpha Sigma Phi died on July 22, 1941. among the floral tributes was a shield of red roses with the Coat of Arms of the Fraternity traced in white. His headstone is marked with letters ASP.

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Renaissance of the Old Gal

The reactivation of Alpha began the growth of the Old Gal into a true national fraternity. The first National Convention took place at Marietta in 1907. at the Convention, attended by Alpha and Delta, a confederation was established, whereby each chapter gave up complete autonomy. Under the new system a national organization was created wherein each chapter had an equal voice.

The Grand Prudential Committee (GPC) was established to deal with the national administrative affairs of the Fraternity. It was composed of one representative from each chapter. Along with the GPC were the national officers. The Grand Junior President and Grand Secretary were the two officers responsible for overseeing the administrative affairs of the Fraternity, while the offices of Grand Senior President, Grand Corresponding Secretary, Grand Treasurer, and Grand Marshal were primarily of an honorary nature.

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By structuring the organization of the National Fraternity in a way that left the actual power of government in the hands of the Grand Prudential Committee and Grand Junior President, Musgrave was able to obtain the services of prominent alumni to serve as Grand Senior President. The first Grand Senior President was U.S. Congressman, Alfred D. Follett, Marietta 1872. Follett left an immortal legacy in his speech setting forth his vision for Alpha Sigma Phi. Another Delta alumnus, Albert B. White, Marietta 1874, Governor of West Virginia, succeeded him. The news of Alpha Sigma Phi’s resurrection drew the interest and support of members of the old Alpha Chapter. The next four Grand Senior Presidents of Alpha Sigma Phi were alumni of Alpha Chapter. These were: Homer B. Sprauge, 1849, President of Mills College of California, and later, President of the University of North Dakota; Cyrus W. Northup, 1854, President of the University of Minnesota; and, Simeon E. Baldwin, 1858, Dean of the Yale University Law School, Governor of Connecticut, and Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.

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The Old Gal Grows

Wayne Musgrave recognized that the lasting character of the Fraternity would depend upon its growth. Initially, groups of recent formation but with great promise were chartered in major mid-western universities. Zeta at Ohio State, Eta at University of Illinois, and Theta at University of Michigan were chartered in 1908. from this foundation, extension branched eastward to Iota at Cornell University in 1909, and to both Kappa at University of Wisconsin and Lambda at Columbia University, the fourth Ivy League chapter, in 1910. in 1911, Alpha Sigma Phi revived its Beta Chapter at Harvard University.

The Old Gal reached Coast to Coast in 1912 when it granted a charter to Mu Chapter at the University of Washington. With this exceptional track record, Alpha Sigma Phi drew the interest of several well-established local fraternities. Nu Chapter at University of California at Berkly was chartered from a local fraternity organized in 1904, and in the same month, Gamma at the University of Massachusetts was chartered from a local fraternity founded in 1979. Musgrave notes in his history of Alpha Sigma Phi that this chapter designation was an error. The original Gamma Chapter was at Amherst College. The chapter at University of Massachusetts should have been designated Xi, or at least Gamma Deuteron, to recognize the discrepancy.

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In 1913, Xi Chapter at the University of Nebraska was established, and Epsilon Chapter at Ohio Wesleyan was revived. At the 1915 Convention in San Francisco, the Grand Prudential Committee structure was changed. Instead of having a representative of each chapter, it was reduced to three members, elected at-large.

Chapters at Universities of Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Minnesota, and Stanford University were added in the next four years from local fraternities of relatively brief longevity. The lattermost, Tau Chapter at Stanford, was chartered during the height of World War I. Upsilon at Penn State was chartered near the end of the war. A local fraternity from the University of Chicago, which had been seeking affiliation with Alpha Sigma Phi for eight years, became Chi Chapter in 1920.

Phi and Psi Chapters were chartered at Iowa State and Oregon State Universities in 1920. And, in 1920, all members of Delta Beta Xi Fraternity that had existed at Yale from 1864 to 1876 were officially recognized as members of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity.

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Early Problems

The early 1920s were marked by a lull in new chapter charters, but a number of chapters built improved chapter houses as their permanent homes. This period was also marked by struggles between Wayne Musgrave and Executive Secretary Charles Hall, and by another conflict between the chapters, alumni and fraternity officers in the Northeast and the chapters and alumni of the mid-West and West. The former dispute hampered the smooth administration of the Fraternity, while the latter threatened for a time to tear the organization apart. Finally, both problems were resolved by admitting Westerners into the governance of the Fraternity. Charles Mitchell of Xi Chapter at Nebraska became the second Executive Secretary in 1923, and Benjamin Clarke, of Theta Chapter, succeeded Musgrave as Grand Junior President. The 1919 Convention had made the Chairman of the Grand Prudential Committee the Executive President of Alpha Sigma Phi.

The Grand Senior Presidents of the Fraternity continued to be leaders of prominence. Examples of this included John Snodgrass, Marietta 1886, Minster to Germany and Russia; Charles B. Elliot, Marietta 1904, Secretary of Commerce of the Philippines and Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court; and John J. Roemer, Marietta 1883, President of the West Virginia State Normal School.

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Having settled its internal dissentions, Alpha Sigma Phi resumed expansion in 1923. seven chapters were added over the next four years at Oklahoma University, University of Iowa, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, Syracuse University, Dartmouth College and the University of California at Los Angeles. In the mid-1920s Alpha Sigma Phi had active chapters at a majority of the Ivy League schools, and was the only fraternity with active chapters at both Yale and Harvard. It had active chapters at seven Big Ten schools.

During this period most of the Fraternity’s alumni were under forty years old, and the leaders were busy balancing family life and career advancement with Fraternity involvement. Alpha Sigma Phi also claimed a number of leading football stars of the era, as well as at least three Olympic medalists. Alpha Sigma Phi also claimed many of the leading scholars of the day, with Epsilon boasting at least one member in each Phi Beta Kappa class for over a dozen years.

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The Great Depression

Alumni rode the crest of unprecedented growth and prosperity in the 1920s. Most of the chapters built or had built permanent chapter houses, and undergraduate membership was strong. For the Fraternity, as for society at large, the tide turned in October 1929. the stock market crash of 1929 was followed by a severe and prolonged economic depression. Jobs and capital disappeared, banks failed, farm produce and manufactured products went unsold for lack of buyers. The misery of the Great Depression was compounded in the southern plains states by a drought that, combined with poor soil conservation practices, produced widespread dust storms.

During the depression, many formerly affluent parents no longer ha the means to support their children during college, but the college student could also not have continued on to graduate school, but who qualified for stipends, stayed in school. In the midst of the widespread hardship, some colleges received bequests or used endowment funds to build residential facilities for undergraduates. Harvard, Yale, and the University of Chicago adopted college plans patterned after English universities, and required lower division students to reside and take meals in college residence facilities. Fraternity fees and dues fell beyond the reach of many students during the depression and the house rent to cover the debt on the construction of the 1920s placed the cost of living in a chapter house well beyond the means of students who could more easily work for bed and board in a local home.

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In 1932, Alpha Sigma Phi suffered her first chapter loss in over half a century when Beta Chapter at Harvard University surrendered her charter. Local clubs had long overshadowed national college fraternities at Harvard. In 1924, an effort had been mounted by part of the Beta Chapter membership to convert the Alpha Sigma Phi chapter to such a club. Through the efforts of the chapter HSP that movement was defeated. In 1932, financial losses limited rush prospects, and the appearance of improving campus image by becoming local caused the undergraduate members of Beta to cease operations, return their charter and ritual equipment and reorganize as a local club. The same year, Alpha Sigma Phi took its first steps to limit the then growing practice of hazing. The practice of paddling pledges was outlawed by the Convention.

In 1935, the chapters at Minnesota, Chicago, and West Virginia ceased operations. At Minnesota this was attributed to limited means of incoming student sand the completion of new campus buildings at a great distance from the older campus and fraternity house. At Chicago, the growth of the graduate school and diminishing number of undergraduates rushing were noted. The West Virginia chapter, which had been chartered in 1931, never attained a sound footing and the university had completed new dormitory facilities. It was also noted that, at West Virginia, college enrollment had fallen and over half the fraternities had suspended operations.

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Alpha Gamma Chapter at Carnegie Tech ceased operations due to low membership in 1936. the Alpha Eta Chapter at Dartmouth College suffered a serious blow the same year when the chapter house burned down. While plans were being made to secure another house, the Interfraternity Committee on Social Life at Dartmouth recommended that fraternities drop their national affiliations. Alpha Eta’s undergraduates agreed, and in fall rush, with neither a house nor a national organization, they drew no pledges and ceased to operate.

Due to limited income the Fraternity suspended the Convention that was to have taken place in the mid-1930s. Undergraduate dues in Alpha Sigma Phi were reduced by over two-thirds, from $7.00 per year to $2.00 per year. The Fraternity was able, however, to curtail expenses and remain on sound financial ground. Eta Chapter at the University of Illinois pledged and initiated members of a fraternity that had become defunct. Since their prior organization had ceased to operate, but had not released them from membership in the National Interfraternity Conference.

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Alpha Sigma Phi Begins Another Rebirth

Into this bleak picture of failed and failing chapters, suspended convention, and suspension from membership in the NIC stepped a man who would shape Alpha Sigma Phi’s destiny and lead her for the next forty years. Ralph F. Burns joined Epsilon Chapter in 1932, he had served as HSP of his chapter, and applied for the position of Executive Secretary which had been vacant for about a year.

The Fraternity called a National Conference in New York City December 29-31, 1936. no expenses were reimbursed, but 22 of 27 active chapters, and seven alumni councils were represented. The Conference recommended a complete overhaul of the Constitution and Bylaws. It called for annual visitation of each chapter by the Executive Secretary, the preparation of a recruitment manual and a of a pledge manual, and recommended a more liberal plan for expansion. The Constitution drafted following the National Conference abolished the Grand Prudential Committee and transferred inter-convention executive power to the Grand Council.

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The Fraternity recognized that continued involvement and support of alumni was essential to its strength and continuity. Alumni councils had been afforded a vote in conventions in 1932. in 1938, Grand Secretary Frank F. Hargear proposed and the Fraternity adopted the Delta Beta Xi Award as an honor for alumni who had provided extraordinary service to the Fraternity. Hargear was one of a number of alumni for whom Alpha Sigma Phi was a lifelong avocation.

Frank Hargear served on the Grand Council from 1937 to 1940, and from 1950 through 1958. during his time on Grand Council, he served as Grand Marshal four times. In the 1920s and up until 1936 Brother Hargear was responsible for collecting reports from the West coast chapters. During this period he created an award that was given to chapters that met pledging and initiation goals.

His dedication and love for the Fraternity was such that an award was named in his honor. The Frank F. Hargear award was made an official award during the 1977 convention. It was given to the undergraduate Brother who had made the most contribution to the Fraternity during his college years. Grand Historian Robert W. Kutz, California, ’67, was instrumental in the creation of this award.

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Ralph Burns set about expansion in a unique fashion, bringing the Old Gal two mergers that would change the character of the Fraternity markedly from the vision of Wayne Musgrave.

Merger with Phi Pi Phi

Phi Pi Phi was founded in 1915 at Northwestern as a graduate fraternity. In 1923 it became an undergraduate organization and grew to 21 chapter by 1930. the market crash of October 1929 and the Great Depression hit the fraternity hard. By 1930, there were only about seven active chapters and no proper national staff to maintain the fraternity.

As problems for the fraternity increased, other national fraternities proposed mergers. In 1937, one national fraternity published an article in its national magazine claiming it was merging with Phi Pi Phi; a statement that was denied by Phi Pi Phi and ended any discussions the two fraternities might have had on the idea.

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Discussions took place between Phi Pi Phi and Alpha Sigma Phi during 1937 and into 1938. one area that impressed Phi Pi Phi was the fact that Alpha Sigma Phi was willing to take in all initiates, not just the undergraduate members of active chapters.

The announcement of the merger was made in 1938, and special initiations took place up until 1944 for Phi Pi Phi alumni. Even after 1944, alumni from the merging fraternity would come forward and ask to be initiated, even though they were already recognized alumni of the Old Gal.

World War II & Consolidation with Alpha Kappa Pi

After the Spring of 1942, college student populations were depleted by the draft. Many chapter had to close for lack or members. Even Alpha Chapter, which had sparked the rebirth of Alpha Sigma Phi only thirty-six years prior, closed in 1943. older alumni became guardians of chapter archives and assets, while houses were rented to universities as dorms, or used as civilian and military housing. Executive Secretary Ralph Burns even had to take a day-job and run the Fraternity on nights and weekends.

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By the end of the war there were only 17 chapters had the ability to resume standard operations. The Fraternity was faced with the problem of rebuilding, a task that would require extra staff members and alumni support. Costs had risen since the war had begun, and there was little income into the national organization. There was definitely not enough income to support an office in New York City.

Alpha Kappa Pi was facing an even worse predicament. It was founded when two local fraternities joined to become a national fraternity. Phi Delta Zeta, the local at Newark College of Engineering (now NJIT) was founded on January 1, 1921. by the mid-1920s it began looking for national affiliation. With the help of Rev. Albert H. Wilson, a former Sigma Nu Regent, it joined with Alpha Kappa Pi (local) at Wagner College on May 22, 1926, to form Alpha Kappa Pi national fraternity. The Newark chapter became the Alpha Chapter of the new national fraternity.

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Between 1926 and 1941, Rev. Wilson served as the administrative officer of the fraternity, operating out of his church offices. At the end of the war, Rev. Wilson retired from the ministry, and advised the fraternity that a proper national staff and headquarters would be needed for the organization to continue.

The merger was announced at the Alpha Sigma Phi Centennial Convention in Marietta, Ohio and the Silver Anniversary Convention of Alpha Kappa Pi in Ocean City, New Jersey on September 6, 1946. At this time Alpha Kappa Pi only had 17 chapters that could resume operations. The terms of the merger were unprecedented. All Alpha Kappa Pi chapters would be added to the roll of Alpha Sigma Phi, except where there were duplications. The only two schools with duplication were the University of Illinois and Penn State University. After the merger at Penn State, there existed two Alpha Sigma Phi chapters for the 1946-47 academic year, each with its own house and set of officers. The following year the Alpha Sigs moved into the Alpha Kappa Pi house, where the chapter still resides.

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The merger brought changes to the Ritual and insignia of Alpha Sigma Phi. Aspects of the Alpha Kappa Pi initiation ceremony were incorporated into the Alpha Sigma Phi Pledge ceremony, and the active badge of Alpha Kappa Pi became the Pledge Pin of Alpha Sigma Phi.

The other major change to the Ritual was the insertion of formal racial and religious restriction for eligibility of membership. This was during the Jim Crow Laws in the South, and was done to accommodate Alpha Kappa Pi chapters in the South. The restrictions, bad as they were, only lasted for six years, and were removed at the convention in 1952.

The merger gave the Old Gal 34 active chapters in the fall of 1946. with those numbers Alpha Sigma Phi had the ability to maintain a national headquarters and staff. In that year the headquarters moved to Delaware, Ohio, and rented an office until the Grand Council purchased a one-story building on West Williams Street.

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Merger with Alpha Gamma Upsilon

Four students founded Alpha Gamma Upsilon at Anthony Wayne Institute, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Spring of 1922. At the time of the merger with Alpha Sigma Phi in 1965, it was a junior member of the Fraternity Executives Association.

The merger was a quiet affair. Dr Otto Sonder, an alumnus of the Beta Chi Chapter at American University, was the faculty advisor for the Alpha Gamma Upsilon chapter at Lycoming College, and was involved in the discussion of the merger. In 1965, the chapter was installed as Gamma Rho Chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi.

Other Alpha Gamma Upsilon chapters followed suit, but the merger was not completed until Lawrence Institute of Technology was reaccredited and its Alpha Gamma Upsilon chartered in 1968. The Old Gal gained five chapters from the merger. Unlike the merger with Phi Pi Phi, or the consolidation with Alpha Kappa Pi, there was no blanket invitation to Alpha Gamma Upsilon alumni to initiate, though some of the more prominent leaders of the fraternity did so.

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The Second Century

The post World War II era was one of increased undergraduate enrollment in American colleges and universities, and conditions were usually favorable for establishing and improving fraternity chapters. Alpha Sigma Phi had granted a charter to a long established local fraternity at Missouri Valley College in 1945, and added an average of one new chapter per year from 1949 through 1956. in addition, revival of chapters that had become inactive during the depression and world war continued at a rate of at least one chapter per year through 1955. between 1956 and 1966, seven new chapters were chartered, while Korean War mobilization and changing conditions resulted in a few chapter losses.

During the 1960s, a number o fchapters from Beta Epsilon at Lehigh to Psi at Oregon State built and occupied new chapter houses. The first National Educational Conference was held in 1963, and became a biennial event in non-convention years, growing eventually into the National Leadership Conference. During this time period, the Fraternity pledged over 1,000 men a year, and in two years, 1966 and 1967, had initiated over 1,000 men per year. In 1968, Alpha Sigma Phi had 68 active chapters and colonies. Aside from the former chapters of Alpha Gamma Upsilon, Alpha Sigma Phi made eight charter grants between 1967 and 1972. But the late 1960s brought unique challenges to college fraternities.

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A New Challenge

The military draft, which had all but disappeared in the early 1960s, grew to consume non-college men, and those who allowed their “2-s” status to lapse. The combination of enlistments and the draft required men to staff the armed forces for the Vietnam War. As the fighting consumed more men and resources, well-orchestrated opposition grew at home, particularly around college campuses. In addition, drug use including marijuana, LSD, opiates and cocaine spread through campus communities in unprecedented volume. All “establishment” institutions including fraternities were vilified by the “tune in, turn on, drop out” generation. Fraternities no longer seemed relevant or capable of responding to contemporary issues.

The individual and collective responsibility of fraternity membership was incompatible with drug use, draft avoidance, and other popular movements of the time. By 1970, recruitment on college campuses dropped to less than 25% of 1965 levels. Fraternity membership took a 40% nosedive, and Alpha Sigma Phi suffered a net loss of twelve chapters from 1968 to 1975.

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In 1970, in an attempt to appease undergraduate members, undergraduate representatives were appointed to serve on the Grand Council. The convention also marked the 125th anniversary of Alpha Sigma Phi. In attendance at the convention was the Rev. Emmet Gribben, Jr., the great grandson of Louis Manigault. He presented the Fraternity with Manigault’s Badge, travel diary, a collection of letters to Ormsby Rhea, and a painting of the Fraternity’s principal founder, done by a Chinese artist.

With the loss of chapters, hard economic times engulfed the Fraternity once again. The initial reaction of the Fraternity was to limit expenses to available income. The Tomahawk cut issues; chapter consultant positions were cut, and from 1972 to 1976 no new chapters were chartered. In 1976 the Grand Council and Convention determined to end the downward spiral of membership recruitment, active chapter role, and chapter services. The acute pressures of the military draft had ended and use of illicit drugs had plateaued, through at a level far higher than any prior to 1965. there were regions of the country with potential for growth of fraternity systems. Alpha Sigma Phi launched an expansion effort in the Mid-Atlantic States, adding two new chapters and a revival in North Carolina, and two new chapters in Virginia by 1982. (Other chapters were added or re-chartered during this time. University of Missouri, Tulane University, University of Miami, and Marshall University, among others.

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The Fraternity Celebrates 150 years

In 1995 Alpha Sigma Phi celebrated its 150th anniversary in Charleston, South Carolina, the hometown of Louis Manigault. In August, generations of Alpha Sigma Phi Brothers and guests came together in Charleston to share Ritual, renew old friendships, and to create the collective memories upon which the future of our Brotherhood would be built.

Brothers Leonard Hultquist, Alabama ’60 and Ed Lenane, SUNY-Plattsburg ’88, played invaluable roles as co-chairmen at the Sesquicentennial celebration. Brother Hultquist, had served as the Keynote Speaker at the 1992 National Leadership Conference. He added to the historic significance of the Sesquicentennial Celebration by single-handedly researching, funding, and publishing a book on the life and times of Alpha Sigma Phi Founder, Louis Manigault, A Gentleman From South Carolina.

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Brother Lenane served as Senior Chapter Leadership Consultant until 1994 when he returned to graduate school at the University of South Carolina. Juggling other commitments such as a full time job as a Resident Director at the College of Charleston and being a full time graduate student, Brother Lenane invested countless hours of time finalizing the Sesquicentennial Celebration.

Alpha Sigma Phi Enters Its Third Century

In 1997 the Ralph F. Burns New Member program was started. Named in honor of Ralph Burns, who had passed on to the Omega Chapter in 1993, the program was created to give every undergraduate an opportunity to have a national experience, and gain the most from their membership in Alpha Sigma Phi. Once fully implemented, every new Brother in Alpha Sigma Phi will participate in the program at some level.

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In 1998, at the Convention in Norfolk, VA, undergraduate delegates realized the importance of revitalizing the expansion policy of the Fraternity. By the end of 1999, the Fraternity was at the largest it had been in twenty years, with 56 active chapters and six colonies, with many more groups waiting in the wings.

It also saw the return of Alpha Sigma Phi to Yale. An expansion effort took place in the Fall of 1999, and on December 6, a colonization ceremony took place in which twenty-six young men pledged themselves to the “Old Gal.”

The Triumph of Brotherhood

Louis Manigault once wrote the following about our great Society:

To think that all our college labor in the arduous task of founding a Society has not proved vain but on the contrary, that Alpha Sigma Phi still stands with her glorious and mystical insignia untarnished. I pray that she may yet survive to transmit to future generations her renown.

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It was a simple dream that Louis Manigault had in 1845 when he posed the idea of founding a fraternity. It was a joyful surprise to him when he learned in 1866 that the society was still in existence under the guise of Delta Beta Xi. Delta Chapter kept that dream alive through the late 1800s, refusing to give up even when it looked as if the chapter could no longer survive alone. Countless Brothers through the years have seen the inherent potential of the Society and dedicated their lives to serving Alpha Sigma Phi. Neither wars nor changes in our national fabric have stopped the Fraternity from succeeding. The new century brings with it many challenges for the Fraternity, yet our history teaches us that they, too, can be overcome. The flames surrounding the funeral pyre have settled, and the Phoenix is spreading its wings, preparing to once again take flight. The spirit of Alpha Sigma Phi still reigns, the dream is alive, and the history of our storied Society continues.Alpha Sigma Phi Philippines

Alpha Sigma Phi Philippines was first started at Graneta University Foundation at Calooncan City (Manila) by a group of students who called themselves, Agricultural Students of the Philippines and used the Greek letters ASP to designate their organization. In 1959, a group that had no connection with the original group at Graneta formed another organization at Central Mindanao University and they also called themselves Agricultural Students of the Philippines and also used the Greek letters ASP.

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In 1965, at Silliman University at Dumaguete City, a technical school, a group of engineering students organized and founded a fraternity. They picked the name Alpha Sigma Phi out of an encyclopedia of fraternities in the United States that happened to be in their school library. They did not know of the existence of the group at Central Mindanao University.

During a school break, students form the two schools ran into each other at home, found out that they belonged to groups with the same name, and decided to form a national fraternity in the Philippines. In the seven-year period from 1965-72, they founded an additional 68 chapters, which brought the total number of chapters in the ASP Philippines to 70.

In September 1972, marshal law was declared in the Philippines and the government banned all student organizations. Many of the newly founded chapters disappeared, but most chapters did keep in touch with each other as underground organizations.

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By 1977, the government had relaxed its rules on student organizations. ASP Philippines held its second national convention in that year while some of its members started corresponding with the Headquarters of Alpha Sigma Phi in the United States.

ASP Philippines is a co-ed organization with most chapters being approximately 50 percent men and 50 percent women. It also has non-discriminatory rules towards religion. ASP Philippines was founded on beliefs very similar to our Fraternity with brotherhood, scholarship and loyalty to school and country being particularly important. They now use a ritual very similar to ours. Brother Rob Sheehan developed the ritual for them while he was Executive Director of our Fraternity.

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In April 1982, as part of a vacation trip, our Grand Senior President, Richard Gibbs, Oklahoma ’51, attended the fourth national convention of ASP Philippines at which the members voted to do away with all forms of hazing. Subsequent to Brother Gibbs’ trip, the Grand Council and ASP Philippines signed an agreement pledging to share information and resources with each other and to recognize the members of each fraternity should they be visiting in each other’s country.

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