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Chi Phi
ΧΦ
The Crest of the Chi Phi Fratenity
FoundedError: Invalid birth date for calculating age
Princeton University
TypeSocial
ScopeNational
MottoTruth, Honesty and Personal Integrity
ColorsScarlet and Blue
SymbolChakett
FlowerNone
Chapters57 across nation, 5 colonies
Headquarters850 Indian Trail Road NW
Lilburn, Georgia (U.S. state)
USA
Websitehttp://chiphi.org

The Chi Phi (ΧΦ) fraternity is an American college social fraternity founded in 1824 at Princeton University, in 1858 at the University of North Carolina, and in 1860 at Hobart College, making it the oldest social collegiate fraternity in history. Today, Chi Phi has over 40,000 living alumni members from over 90 active and inactive Chapters.

History

The Chi Phi Fraternity, as it exists today, is the outgrowth of three older organizations, each of which bore the name of Chi Phi. These organizations were the Chi Phi Society (Princeton Order), founded at the College of New Jersey; the Chi Phi Fraternity (Southern Order), established at the University of North Carolina; and the Secret Order of Chi Phi (Hobart Order), founded at Hobart College. The Princeton and Hobart Orders united in 1867 to form what is now known as the Northern Order and this in turn united with the Southern Order at 10:00 a.m. on March 27, 1874 at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. to form the Chi Phi Fraternity.


The Princeton Order - 1824

The first of these older organizations, the Chi Phi Society, was established at the College of New Jersey, later Princeton University, on December 24, 1824, by Robert Baird, then a tutor in the college and later a prominent Presbyterian clergyman and Edward Norris Kirk, a student at the Theological Seminary. They associated with themselves, in the formation of this secret Chi Phi Society, a number of the members of the faculties of both college and seminary as well as undergraduates of both institutions. This society was a semi-religious, semi-literary organization and ceased to be active in 1825 when it was merged with the Philadelphian Society.

Thirty years later, in the winter of the 1853-54 academic year, John Maclean, Jr., found among the papers of his uncle, John "Old John" Maclean, Jr. President of Princeton University, the old constitution, minute book, and ritual of the Chi Phi Society of 1824 and, with these as his guide, he united with Charles Smith Degraw and Gustavus W. Mayer in reorganizing the old society at Princeton along "modern lines". The old motto and a great part of the ritual were retained. In the fall of 1854, Mayer organized a second chapter of the Chi Phi Society at Franklin and Marshall College. Joseph Henry Dubbs, later a distinguished professor of history at his Alma Mater, being the first initiate. The opposition of the Princeton faculty and the prohibitory pledge caused the death of the reorganized Princeton Chapter in 1859 when its records were destroyed by the last active members, leaving the Lancaster Chapter alone to represent the society. This Chapter has had a continuous existence under the name Zeta which it assumed on the Union of the Northern and Southern Orders. This makes the Zeta Chapter the oldest chapter with continuous existence of the oldest fraternity in the country. In 1867, members of the Zeta Chapter organized the third and last Chapter of the Princeton Order at Pennsylvania College, now Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa.


The Southern Order - 1858

The second of these older organizations, called the Chi Phi Fraternity and now known in the fraternity history as the Southern Order of Chi Phi, was founded at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on August 21, 1858, by Thomas Capehart, Augustus Flythe, John C. Tucker, William H. Green, Fletcher T. Seymour, and James J. Cherry. All of whom were students at the University and organized this club in opposition to the North Carolina Chapter of the Zeta Psi Fraternity established a few months earlier in 1858. The idea of expansion was early manifested and chapters were rapidly organized at Centenary College of Louisiana, Davidson College, University of Virginia, Western Military Institute (Nashville Military College), and Cumberland University. However, the American Civil War meant the end of all but the parent chapter. With the cessation of hostilities, new chapters sprang up at Hampden-Sydney, University of Georgia, University of Edinburgh, Mercer, Emory, Oglethorpe, Trinity College (now Duke University), Kentucky Military Institute, and St. John's College, U.S.. The extinct chapters at Virginia and Davidson were reorganized, however; Centenary, WMI and Cumberland were never reestablished. Following the War, the University of North Carolina itself was closed, necessitating the transfer of the "Alpha" Chapter title to the Virginia Chapter. While this organization had a constitution and held conventions, the primary authority rested with the "Alpha" Chapter.

When the North Carolina Chapter was re-established, it took on the hyphenated name "Alpha-Alpha". Those chapters of Chi Phi with hyphenated names indicate that upon the reorganization of that chapter, its prior chapter name was already taken by an existing chapter. The hyphenated Alpha was added to the front of the old chapter name.


The Hobart Order - 1860

The third of these older organizations, called the Secret Order of Chi Phi, which is now known in the history of the Fraternity as the Hobart Order of Chi Phi, was formed at Hobart College on November 14, 1860 by Amos Brunson and Alex J. Beach, who were students at the college and, being dissatisfied with the fraternities existing at Hobart, associated themselves with John W. Jones, George G. Hopkins, Edward S. Lawson, Samuel W. Tuttle, David S. Hall, David P. Jackson, William H. Shepard, Harvey N. Loomis, William Sutphen and Frank B. Wilson. These men known as the "Twelve Apostles" of Chi Phi founded the Secret Order of Chi Phi which is now known as the Upsilon Chapter. From Hobart, charters were soon issued at new chapters at Kenyon College, Princeton University and Rutgers University.


The Northern Order - 1867

In 1865, the Secret Order of Chi Phi at Hobart learned of the existence of the Chi Phi Society in Pennsylvania and on May 29, 1867, the two societies formally united. The Northern Order of the Chi Phi Fraternity was thus formed, and later placed chapters at Muhlenberg, Cornell, Dickinson, Wofford College, Washington and Lee, Lehigh, Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Amherst, Ohio Wesleyan, and Lafayette.

Notable Historical Facts (Appel et al. 1993)

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.

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.

In 1867, as a result of the Civil War, the Southern Order of Chi Phi granted a charter to a group of southern students at Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland. After the reopening of southern colleges and the graduation of its members, the Edinburgh charter was withdrawn in 1870.

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.

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.

Active, Inactive and Dormant Chapters

Further information: List of Chi Phi Chapters

Distinguished Alumni of Chi Phi (Appel et al. 1993)

Business

Iron & Steel

Railroads

Other Businesses

Chancellors & Presidents of Institutions of Higher Education

Engineering, Space and Technology

Entertainment, Broadcast, and Written Media

Government

State Governors & Lt. Governors

U.S. Senators

U.S. Congressmen

Federal Political Appointees

American Bar Association

State Attorney Generals

State Supreme Court Justices

  • Henry T. Lewis - Assoc. Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia 1897 to 1902 - Emory University
  • Hugh L. Nichols - see State Governors & Lt. Governors
  • James K. Hines - Assoc. Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia 1922 to 1932 - Emory University
  • Jesse G. Bowles - Assoc. Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia 1977 to 1981 - University of Georgia
  • Pascal C.J. DeAngelis - Assoc. Justice, Supreme Court of New York 1907 to 1916 - Hobart College
  • Samuel B. Adams - Assoc. Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia 1902 - University of Georgia
  • Thomas O. Marshall - Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia 1986 to 1989 - Emory University
  • William A. Vincent - Chief Justice, Supreme Courts of New Mexico & Montana - Ohio Wesleyan University
  • William Hayes Pope - Chief Justice, Supreme Court of New Mexico - University of Georgia 1889

Medical

Military

Sports

Football

College Football Hall of Fame
Other College Players
NFL Management, Owners & Players

Other Sports

References

  • Appel, Dr. Theodore B. et al. 1993 The Chronicles of Chi Phi Chi Phi Educational Trust
  • Baird, William, ed 1915 Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities
  • Council of the Chi Phi Fraternity 1927 Biennial Catalogue of The Chi Phi Fraternity 1927 Lancaster Press, Inc.

See also

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