The History of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity
FOUNDING CHAPTERS IN NEW YORK CITY
When the fall semester of 1899 began at the College of the City of New York, several students who had graduated
together from the city high school system found themselves renewing their friendships as college freshmen. They
gathered daily between classes in a building at CCNY. They wanted a means to continue their special ties of
camaraderie during college and throughout life, and they soon settled on fraternity as the solution. They realized,
however, that none of the several fraternities on campus would accept them as members because the group
included both Jewish and Christian students during a time in which groups of mixed religions were not socially
acceptable either to the all-Jewish or the all-Christian fraternities, or for that matter, to other segments of a stratified
society. Yet these young men had already demonstrated to their complete satisfaction that there was no reason for
religious prejudice or other discrimination among men of quality.
To preserve their friendship and to establish that fundamental truth of life, these enlightened young men organized
their own fraternity by December 10, 1899. Thus, a new fraternity named Delta Sigma Phi was founded in the new
hope of the dawning of the twentieth century, based upon the highest ideals of mankind. The Fraternity has since
grown in importance and reputation beyond even the most soaring imaginations of the founders. In 1901, a
second chapter was established at Columbia University, only a short distance uptown. To distinguish between the
two chapters and to proclaim the uniqueness of the organization, the Mother Chapter was called Insula, signifying
its location on Manhattan Island. The second chapter was called Morningside for its location in Morningside
Heights. Later these chapters were renamed as Alpha and Beta.
The Fraternity incorporated in New York State on December 15, 1902. At that time Delta Sigma Phi wrote into its
laws the requirement of open membership to all college men of quality regardless of religion, race, or creed. The
purpose of the Fraternity which was articulated in the 1902 Articles of Incorporation was ". . . to fulfill the desire of
serious young college men for a fellowship and brotherhood, as near a practical working ideal as possible not
fettered with too many traditional prejudices and artificial standards of membership, and accompanied by a clean,
pure, and honorable chapter home life.
A third chapter further uptown was organized at New York University in 1903. It was called University Chapter, and
was later renamed Gamma. It is from these three founding chapters in New York City, working together, that Delta
Sigma Phi has grown in size and strength to become one of the most important of collegiate fraternities.
EARLY YEARS OF STRUGGLE
The early years were times of extreme difficulty for the three fledgling chapters and their members. Most students
shunned them because of their union of religions. The founding chapters found it difficult to recruit enough
members for strong chapters and to establish lasting chapters outside of new York City, which despite its
prejudices, was the most tolerant city in the United States at the time.
Among the organizers, two students proved over time to be the founders who kept alight
the Delta Sigma Phi flame of idealism despite the heavy winds which buffeted the first
chapters. One of them, Meyer Boskey, who was Jewish, was one of the original CCNY
group from 1899. He became the stabilizing influence at Insula, and through it, a leading
force in the New York City chapters. Boskey's steadiness and good sense was matched
by the charisma and brilliance of Charles A. Tonsor, Jr., a Christian, of University
Chapter. They first met when Boskey initiated the original University members. Tonsor
was the president of the colony. The colony's initiation took place in December of 1903,
and a charter was granted a few days later in 1904. Thereafter, for many years these two
formed the major leadership of the new national fraternity. A constitutional convention
was held in August of 1905 at Insula's apartment. Charles Tonsor, then a 19-year-old
junior at NYU, was elected temporary president. Meyer Boskey, then a first year student at
Brooklyn Law School, was elected temporary secretary. The Convention adopted a
constitution which created national offices and a council to govern between Conventions.
New chapters which had been organized at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
1904, called Technology (later Delta), and the Keystone Chapter (later Epsilon) at
Pennsylvania State College,organized in 1905, were formally received into the Fraternity
during the Convention.
In the fall of 1905, Tonsor and Boskey worked out the theme of the initiation ritual.
They incorporated the sphinx as a major symbol of the Fraternity because it had been
previously adopted as such by the members. On December 28, 1905, the first of a long
series of annual holiday Conventions was held in New York City. Tonsor was re-elected
president and Boskey was re-elected secretary. This first regular Convention at a luxurious hotel resulted in a
staggering financial loss, compelling Tonsor and other members of University to engage in months of fund-raising
projects to pay the debt. The resulting ill will against those who neither paid nor worked caused many members to
resign, but by 1906, Tonsor, Boskey and others had healed the wounds and reunited the chapters.
In 1906 Tonsor and Boskey chartered the Washington & Lee Chapter as Stonewall, later named Zeta. That same
year, the first alumni group was chartered as the New York Alumni Chapter. The 1906 Convention changed the
manner of naming chapters to the present Greek alphabet designations. Eta Chapter was installed in 1907 at the
University of Texas, as was Theta at Cornell.
In April 1907, Boskey, having conceived the idea of a national magazine to bind the chapters together, published
the first issue of the Carnation with his own funds. Thereafter, he produced the magazine at irregular intervals as a
small pamphlet of only a few pages until the Convention of 1915 authorized its regular publication as the official
magazine of the Fraternity. Upon the opening of his law firm in Manhattan in 1907, and until 1913, Boskey used his
office, without compensation, as the communication center of the national organization, and he was annually
re-elected secretary of the Fraternity.
PHILOSOPHICAL DIFFERENCES
Starting in 1906, disagreements arose between members and between chapters over the mixing of religions
within the close bonds of fraternity. As a result of these differences, the entire Epsilon chapter withdrew in 1907, as
did Delta in 1908 and Theta in 1909. Many of the members of Beta resigned in 1909, and it became dormant a few
years later.
Tonsor and Boskey, determined to keep the idealism of the Fraternity alive despite the desertion and defections,
installed iota at the University of Pennsylvania in 1908. At the 1908 convention, they and others sought to bridge the
gap between the two disputing sides by a preamble to the constitution that expressed the philosophy of tolerance
to opposing viewpoints. In 1909 Tonsor and Boskey attended the meeting of fraternities at the University Club in
New York City at which the National Interfraternity Conference was formed. Delta Sigma Phi is a founding member
of the NIC.
Despite the critical loss of important chapters in the early years, several new ones almost simultaneously sprang
up in the South and in the Midwest, ultimately assuring the continuity of the Fraternity. Kappa Chapters was
installed at Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn, in 1908. It was followed by the installation of Lambda chapter
at Trinity University in Texas in 1909 (transferred to Southern Methodist University in 1915); Mu, at the University of
Chicago, in 1910; Nu, at Waynesburg College, in 1910; and Omicron at Cumberland University, in 1912 (becoming
dormant in 1918, this chapter was transferred to the University of Tennessee in 1931). The first alumni chapter
outside of the East was founded in Chicago in 1912. Zeta Chapter became dormant in 1909 as a result of a
typhoid fever epidemic.
It became apparent that the 1907 compromise had not resolved the problem when Kappa Chapter withdrew in
1910. The addition of new chapters came to a halt while a lasting solution was sought, once again under the
leadership of Tonsor with the assistance of Boskey. Finally at the 1914 Convention in Philadelphia, the constitution
was amended to restrict membership to members of the Christian fail. For an interim, therefore, Delta Sigma Phi,
like other fraternities of the time, restricted its membership. This unfortunate decision was overturned in later
years, and for many years Delta Sigma Phi has sought members from all religions, races, and creeds in full honor
of the pioneering philosophy upon which it was created.
YEARS OF ESTABLISHMENT
The 1914 Convention took other steps to assure the growth of the Fraternity, including significant financial
contributions by the national leaders. The Convention created the position of general secretary and appointed A. W.
(Dutch) Defenderfer, Omicron, to this part-time professional staff position. Brother Defenderfer managed Fraternity
business out of his insurance office in Washington, D.C., until his retirement in 1939. Following the 1914
Convention, there was a period of continuous expansion. Thereafter, the Carnation was published on a regular
basis, and in 1915, six new chapters were installed in 1915, four more chapters were installed, and a district
deputy system was instituted to provide additional assistance to the chapters.
WORLD WAR I
The years 1917 and 1918 were times of trial and worries for both chapter and national organization in all
fraternities as World War I embroiled the United States in its fiery morass. As members were drawn into military
service, several chapters had to suspend operations entirely for lack of members, and the remaining chapters
were greatly weakened. Many of our Brothers passed into the Bond Eternal as a result of the Great War.
After World War I, the returning veterans and alumni joined to rebuild the chapters. The time of Convention
meetings was changed to every second year. The 1919 convention centered on plans for internal chapter
development and cooperative work between districts. Three geographical provinces were established. Only one
new chapter was installed in 1919, but nine new chapters were added and Epsilon was revived in 1920.
THE TWENTIES: YEARS OF EXPANSION
During the twenties growth was rapid, so much so that the Administrative Council denied petitions from several
locals to form chapters. The Fraternity's government was improved by a
new Constitution, adopted at the 1921 Convention. The present coat-of-arms
also was endorsed.
At the 1923 Convention in Dallas, the Fraternity was recovering strongly from
the ravages of World War I. The Convention adopted a ceremony for the
dedication of new chapter houses and instituted the Pilgrim Degree, a
special ritual for those making the pilgrimage to a National Convention.
The convention also authorized the publication of The Sphinx, which has
been issued since 1924 to convey confidential information to members.
| Myer Boskey |
| Coat of Arms |
| Charles Tonser |
