USA > Michigan > The Michigan book > Part 26
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
273
ACADEMIC FRATERNITIES
that never have been represented by branches at Michigan, or that were not so represented when the members in question were graduated.
Certain characteristics are common to all or to nearly all of the fraternities. All are " four-year" organizations, that is, mem- bership in each begins or may begin early in freshman year and continues until the member leaves college. The danger of admit- ting to membership students who have not been in college long enough to enable a correct judgment to be passed upon them is really not great in the case of the older societies, most of whose initiates are the sons, the brothers, or the friends, of older mem- bers. Members are not infrequently drawn by the fraternities from the upper undergraduate classes.
Toward the close of October each of the leading societies ini- tiates its freshman delegation, the members of which may have been pledged for a year or more. In recent years certain fraterni- ties have occasionally introduced into their initiations various ab- surd or dangerous features which were untirely unknown in early Greek-letter days, and which have been borrowed from the Har- vard "Dickey Club" or from the now defunct freshman societies. at Yale. With perhaps one exception the leading societies confine . themselves to dignified forms in which the candidate is subjected neither to risk nor to humiliation. Most of the newspaper tales of what occurs at the annual initiatory exercises are grossly exagger- ated or wholly false. Once admitted the new members are en- titled to all the rights and privileges of their older brothers; but one of their number must go to the postoffice for the chapter mail week-day evenings and Sunday mornings, and if the door-bell of the chapter-house rings it is to be answered by a freshman if one is at hand. Contrary to what is sometimes said in the daily papers a recent initiate is not asked to go upon errands for older mem- bers, and "fagging" is unknown.
No matter what his class every member of a fraternity is required to wear the badge. This index of membership may cost from four to seventy-five dollars according to the extent to which precious stones are used in the ornamentation of it; and it is not good form to wear it upon the necktie or upon the coat lapel, as used to be the fashion among enthusiastic members. Now the badge is pinned in an inconspicuous place upon the waistcoat. Members elect wear "pledge buttons" which display the colors or some of the distinguishing emblems of the society.
1
274
THE MICHIGAN BOOK
Transfers of allegiance are comparatively rare. There have been about seventy in all at Ann Arbor. Occasionally a student becomes thoroughly dissatisfied with his fraternity and leaves it, or his society may become so displeased with his conduct as to dismiss him; in either of these cases the weight of opinion and the estab- lished practice seems to be that he may accept an election to some other coterie. So, too, when a chapter has been dissolved, any of its members may join another fraternity.
The usages of the fraternities at Michigan differ in no important respect from those in vogue at Brown, Dartmouth, Williams, Trinity, Union, Cornell, and other Eastern colleges where the four-year system obtains; and they are more formal and more dignified than those which characterize the Western colleges. At the University of Minnesota the members of a new society are " bounced," that is tossed in the air in a friendly way by the adherents of older organizations. This objectionable custom is not likely to find acceptance here, nor has the vulgar abbreviation "frat " for " fra- ternity " gained more than a limited circulation in this cultured community.
At few colleges was the chapter-house system introduced earlier than at Michigan. Nearly a quarter of a century ago one of the fraternities set up its house- hold gods in a rented house; now the most costly and cer- tainly the most interesting of Ann Arbor residences are the buildings owned by the Greek- letter orders. Ten societies- Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Up- silon, Alpha Delta Phi, Sigma Phi, Zeta Psi, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Kappa Psi, Delta Upsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Chi Psi, -own the houses FIRMA ΕΠΣΙΛΟΝ AADA which they occupy, although, in the case of one of the ARMS OF SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON. newly acquired houses, nothing more than a contract interest is supposed to be held. Delta Kappa Epsilon has a secret lodge or temple as well as a house. The values of the different holdings are perhaps best indicated by the official ratings for taxation, it
275
ACADEMIC FRATERNITIES
being premised that realty in Ann Arbor is assessed at two-thirds of its actual value. The figures are as follow: Delta Kappa Epsi- lon, house $13,500, lodge $2,500, total $16,000; Psi Upsilon, $15,000; Alpha Delta Phi, $15,000; Chi Psi, $9,000; Phi Kappa Psi, $9,000; Sigma Alpha Epsilon, $8,000; Beta Theta Pi, $7,500; Sigma Phi, $5,000; Delta Upsilon, $5,000; Zeta Psi, $4,000. Of these buildings, the chapter houses of Psi Upsilon and Zeta Psi face the campus, and very near them are the residences of Alpha Delta Phi, D. K. E., and Beta Theta Pi. Sigma Phi's place is north of the campus and overlooks the river, while the abode of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is situated perhaps less favorably than any of the others, being on low ground three-fourths of a mile south of the campus. Phi Kappa Psi has a picturesque site in Washtenaw avenue. Chi Psi and Delta Upsilon occupy pleasant and convenient, though not commanding positions. The buildings of Delta Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Delta Phi, and Psi Upsilon were built by the societies them- selves on sites previously bought, and the abode of S. A. E. was erected for the society by the proprietor of the park in which it stands. All the other houses were purchased from earlier owners, and some of them will soon give way to finer edifices. Phi Delta Theta, Theta Delta Chi, Sigma Chi, and Kappa Sigma, occupy rented houses.
The expenses incident to membership vary considerably in the different societies. Of course one cannot go into details; and per- haps it is enough to say that in hardly any of the fraternities are the charges such as to exclude persons of moderate means. In one of the largest establishments a reduction in expenses has been ef- fected, and the graduates have taken steps to prevent the dues from being onerous.
Much of the influence wielded by the chief societies at Michi- gan is due to the alumni members. The latter are frequent visitors at Ann Arbor; they recommend their relatives and friends to join the fraternities with which they themselves are connected; and by their contributions costly chapter houses are erected and main. tained. Exactly in proportion to the number and character of its graduates, and to the extent of their interest, does a society flour- ish. It is customary to send to the alumni formal notices of the regular initiation in the autumn and of the annual reunion at Com- mencement, and it is supposed that every society informs its retired members concerning the principal events of the college year.
All of the older societies have alumni associations in Detroit
276
THE MICHIGAN BOOK
and Grand Rapids. In the former city, as early as 1873, Delta Kappa Epsilon began to hold an annual reunion of its alumni. Psi Upsilon began to do the same thing in 1876, and a few years later Alpha Delta Phi followed. Nearly all of the important fra- ternities now hold annual dinners in Detroit, the undergraduate members of the Michigan chapters being invited and expected to attend. From recent publications it appears that D. K. E. and Psi Upsilon have each nearly one hundred alumni resident in the chief city of Michigan, and the membership of Alpha Delta Phi is not less than fifty, while Chi Psi, Sigma Phi, Zeta Psi, Beta Theta Pi, and Delta Tau Delta are represented by from forty to fifty gradu- ates apiece.
An account of the college fraternities at Michigan would be defective did it omit to speak of the influence which the local chap- ters have exerted upon their respective orders. The Alpha Epsilon of Chi Psi was for many years the westermost bulwark of that soci- ety, and to it was due the institution of the flourishing branches at Minnesota and Wisconsin. During half a century, the Peninsular Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi has stood at the head of the western wing of the order, holding a high place in the general councils of the society, and becoming responsible in later years for the new branches at Minnesota and Chicago. Omicron of D. K. E has heen the most successful and in many respects the most influential of the four-year chapters of the fraternity to which it belongs. The Michigan Zeta Psi furnished the founder of the important chapter at Cornell, and a member from Ann Arbor successfully reinstituted the dormant branch at Harvard. Psi Upsilon's Michigan represen- tative has always been recognized throughout the fraternity as one of the leading chapters, and notwithstanding the persistent oppo- sition of the branch at Columbia, it has been able to secure the location of associate chapters in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Doubt- less the abolishment of branches in the Agricultural College and at Hillsdale is attributable to the Ann Arbor exponents of Phi Delta Theta and Delta Tau Delta. Beta Theta Pi is understood to have regained its old superiority in the fraternity at large. The Michi- gan Alpha of Phi Kappa Psi is not merely the most important chapter of that order, but it is largely responsible for the increased prestige of the society throughout the country. With the possible exception of Cornell, Michigan is the most important stronghold of the fraternities.
Although the legal right of the secret societies to exist here was
277
ACADEMIC FRATERNITIES
established half a century ago, those organizations have not at any time been exempt from severe criticism. The old charges that they tend to idleness and frivolity, that they encourage immorality, that they are hostile to religious influences, that they are expensive, exclusive, and aristocratic, and that they furnish the means for un- fair combinations in college politics, are ever pending. Doubt- less some of these accusations are well grounded, especially if they are confined to certain societies. Taken all in all, however, the workings of the fraternity system cannot fairly be held injurious to their members. This appears from the achievements of the latter in college and in after life. It is impossible to present scholarship records, because such have not been kept here; but it should be noted that the percentage of fraternity men who have received diplomas is somewhat greater than that of the neutrals. In the classes from '67 to '77, of the 134 Commencement appointments made by the faculty, 69 were received by the 295 members of soci- eties and 65 were distributed among the 436 independents. More than half of the holders of the Jones Classical Fellowship have been fraternity men.
It must be conceded that the high character of their alumni bears strongly in favor of the Greek-letter orders. If the latter really are schools of idleness and dissipation, the pupils trained in them seem not to have profited by the instruction received. The 1,400 Greek-letter fraternity men, although hardly more than two- fifths of the 3, 255 male academic graduates, include the four Sen- ators of the United States, eleven of the fif- teen Representatives in Congress, all the Cab- inet Ministers and Assistant Secretaries at Washington, all the Ambassadors, foreign Ministers, and Consuls-General, the two Sol- icitors-General of the United States, nearly all the Governors and Lieutenant-Governors,. almost all the members of State Supreme. Courts, eleven of the seventeen Michigan. Circuit Judges, all of the Presidents of im- portant colleges, and nine of the eleven Re- gents of the University who have been grad- PRESIDENT ANGELL. uated from the literary department. Upon the present faculty of Michigan the Greek-letter alumni are rep- resented by Acting-President Hutchins, and by Professors D'Ooge, Walter, Pattengill, Herdman, Thompson, Knowlton, Mclaughlin,
19
278
THE MICHIGAN BOOK
Reighard, Angell, Worcester, McAlvay, and Drake, while the non-society men include Professors Hudson, Demmon, Spalding, J. B. Davis, Hempl, Lane, Campbell, Novy, Scott, Newcombe, and Levi. In Faculties elsewhere the societies have a far stronger proportional representation than at home.
The chapter houses are assailed by the same class of persons as attacked the fraternities before the latter were equipped with buildings. All of the society houses are not free from objection- able features, nor, for that matter, are all of the town lodging- houses; but that the manners and the morals of the members of college societies have changed for the better since the chapter- house system was introduced cannot be questioned. Personal responsibility for the welfare of fraternity and chapter may be trusted to eliminate injurious incidents of chapter-house life. A society which, because of its evil reputation, fails to secure two or three desirable men, soon sets out to win a good name. It is, however, absurd to expect that the inmates of fraternity houses will rise to higher levels than obtain in their own homes, or in the social circles of the large cities from which they come.
That some of the societies are, after their own fashion, exclu- sive, must be admitted. Just why college boys should be debarred from the privilege-exercised by all other persons-of choosing their intimate associates, never has been explained. However, the stern necessity of living has compelled not a few of the frater- nities to be quite democratic. To be a "society man" at Ann Arbor one need not be rich, or high-born, or handsome, or well- dressed. If two or three of the societies exact some or all of these qualifications, the other orders do not. Nor can it be said that the spirit of exclusiveness is growing. Most of the societies have more members than they had thirty years ago. The fact that the fraternities, although more numerous and influential than ever before, include a smaller proportion of the entire undergraduate attendance is explicable on other grounds. The expenses of society membership are necessarily greater than they used to be, and the increase in the number of available men has not kept pace with the increase in the undergraduate attendance. Then, too, membership in certain societies is so much more desirable than affiliation with others that not a few students remain outside of fraternities altogether simply because they have not opportunities of joining the organizations they prefer. Not many elections are refused on account of objections that would be applicable to all
279
ACADEMIC FRATERNITIES
of the fraternities; but on the other hand the number of students who decline to join particular orders is known to be large. When one considers that in each of the societies a single negative vote means exclusion, and that such a vote may not be based upon the merits or demerits of the candidate but simply upon personal dis- like or jealousy, it is readily understood that failure to receive an invitation from one or all of the few really desirable fraternities does not even suggest ineligibility. In fact the leading societies omit every year men who would be very valuable and useful mem- bers, and whose absence is regretted by the large majority of the fraternity which passes upon them. Hence it follows that some of
the best men in each class are not members of any Greek-letter coterie, and it also follows that at Michigan-whatever may be the case elsewhere-it is not discreditable to be a "neutral". The term "fraternity man" is really misleading, because it implies that a dividing line is drawn between those who wear badges and those who do not. Except occasionally, and then only for poli- tical purposes, such a line is not marked. The members of the leading fraternities form a class by themselves, and in that class the fact that a particular student belongs to one of the other socie- ties is not regarded as giving him a higher social status than he would deserve were he an "independent". It is by no means certain that the disadvantages attendant upon membership in cer- tain fraternities are not greater than the corresponding advantages. At any rate, the term "society man" has not now-a-days great significance, although membership in any one of several fraternities that might be named is a valuable privilege.
Superficial observers of the society system regret that three- fourths of the students lack fraternity privileges, and fear that the zeal and activity of the non-society alumni will not meet the needs of the University. Accordingly they have suggested the formation of more fraternities; an expedient more plausible than practicable. For nearly all of the fraternities of the first class are now repre- sented at Ann Arbor, and the three not now here are too shrewd to plant young chapters in the face of long-established rivals. Nor is it to be supposed that any of the Southern fraternities not already on the ground could ever command the attention of Mich- igan students. Whatever rank they hold elsewhere they have neither prestige nor influence in this region. Separated from sister branches and without the support of alumni a chapter of any fra- ternity not now here would soon die. A purely local organization
280
THE MICHIGAN BOOK
could not live long enough to secure the strength necessary for one autumnal campaign. Exaggerated as are the advantages of inter- collegiate affiliations, they are indispensable to-day unless for a local fraternity that has existed thirty or forty years. Then, too, a new society, whether intercollegiate or local, requires money for a chapter house and for many other purposes. Not having alumni the requisite funds must be contributed by undergraduates who as a rule are poor. So it is clear that it is easier to suggest than to found and maintain new societies at Michigan. In fact certain chapters now here are far from flourishing, and would be with- drawn were it not for the conviction entertained by their "grand lodges " that representation at Michigan is necessary to the good- standing of every fraternity.
That every undergraduate should belong to a Greek-letter order does not follow any more than that every citizen of Detroit or Chicago should belong to a club. Many a student is person- 0 ally disqualified for the intimate association that the modern chap- ter house implies. Besides very many of the undergraduates are so poor as to be unable to meet the financial demands of fraternity membership. No matter how carefully a society is managed it cannot properly be conducted without money. It is idle to say that one's expenses when a member of a fraternity will be no higher than before. Nothing valuable in this world is to be had without paying for it, and membership in a society of the first class (none but second-rate men care to belong to any other) involves an ex- pense that is not beyond the reach of students of moderate means, but that excludes-unless special provision is made for them- persons who are in straightened circumstances. Poverty has its disadvantages in college as well as in the world outside.
Although many of the students for one reason or another, are not members of fraternities, membership would not be regarded as an invidious distinction, nor would non-membership work dis- content or lessen enthusiasm for the University, if the initiates of the societies would refrain from political and social combinations, and would not advertise the possession by themselves of certain supposed privileges which their fellow-students do not enjoy. One regrets that the Yale rule of absolute secrecy does not prevail here. The societies are in evidence altogether too much. They were not intended to be political machines, and it is not well for the Uni- versity that they should intervene directly or indirectly in the social functions of the students. That their relative numerical
281
ACADEMIC FRATERNITIES
strength is declining is really a good thing for the stronger frater- nities, because political combinations are more difficult, and thus brilliant men in the societies are not as likely as they were of yore to be excluded from class offices and from the editorships of college periodicals. It is to be hoped that the time is near at hand when the influence of societies as such will not be felt in outside matters, and when all students, whether members of fraternities or not, will stand on the same footing in matters of general interest. For example, offices should not be bestowed or withheld by reason of fraternity affiliations or the lack of them; nor should commit- teeships be parcelled out among the fraternities, nor should the so- cieties as such contribute to the funds raised for athletic or college purposes. · The fraternities should conduct themselves and should be treated as strictly private clubs, concerning which it is not good form to speak in the presence of persons not members.
THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC.
CHAPTER XII PROFESSIONAL-SCHOOL FRATERNITIES
For years the professional departments remained without fra- ternities of their own. Occasionally the academic societies drew upon the law-school, and less often students of medicine were ini- tiated; but nearly all students outside of the pale of the literary department,-except those who had in other colleges become mem- bers of fraternities-remained ignorant of society life. A fore- runner of the Greek-letter organizations which now throng our pro- fessional schools was the Alpha Phi, a local society in the law- school from 1864 to 1866. Excepting one other, that society was the earliest of its kind in the country. In 1869 the now influential and prosperous Phi Delta Phi, oldest of existing professional school fraternities, was founded in our law department. Nu Sigma Nu, the first fraternity to confine its attention to schools of medicine, was instituted here in March, 1882, and in the same month and year Michigan students organized Delta Sigma Delta, the original dental-school society. Phi Chi was founded in our school of pharmacy in 1883, and in 1889 the homeopathic Mu Sigma Alpha, also a Michigan product, appeared. Phi Delta Phi had a short-lived rival in Phi Chi, a medico-legal society, 1872-75, and from 1877 until 1894 a chapter of Sigma Chi exercised con- siderable influence in the law school. At present Delta Chi and Kappa Sigma (the latter of which now has members in all the departments), both organized in 1892, are opponents of Phi Delta Phi, while a newly-started branch of Phi Rho Sigma is beginning to do battle with Nu Sigma Nu. Delta Sigma Delta has a rival in Xi Psi Phi, which dates from 1889. Neither Phi Chi nor Mu Sigma Alpha has as yet met with organized opposition. There is in the professional departments one society of women, the Alpha Epsilon Iota, which was founded in 1889 by members of the regular school of medicine.
It is somewhat remarkable that while none of the fraternities or sisterhoods in the literary department is indigenous with us, nearly all of the societies of the professional schools have been founded here. These same fraternities are also the oldest and largest of their kind.
283
PROFESSIONAL-SCHOOL FRATERNITIES
Alpha Phi .- This society, which was founded in the law school in 1864, was the first society of its kind in our University. It lived two years, called itself the Alpha Chapter, had a badge formed of the two letters of its name, and made but one appear- ance in The Palladium. Among its members were Probate Judge Allan M. Stearns, '65; William R. Bates, '66, United States Marshal for Eastern Michigan; James L. High, '66, well-known as a law writer; and Circuit-Judge W. I. Wallace, '66, of Missouri. Following is its roll:
'65 / George W. Ready, LL. B., " ¿ James L. High, LL. B.,
" ¿ George W. Seevers, LL. B., " ¿ Lucius Hubbard, LL. B.,
" ¿ Allan M. Stearns, LL. B., " ¿ Loftus N. Keating, LL. B.,
" I George M. Walker, LL. B., " ¿ Robert B. Murray,
'66 / William R. Bates, " / *William A. Palmer, LL. B.,
" ¿ Charles C. Dawson, LL. B.,
Augustus H. Salisbury,
2
Henry S. Dow,
" ¿ Milo P. Smith, LL. B.,
" ¿ Parke D. Fay, LL. B.,
James C. Taylor,
~ Lloyd F. Hamilton, W. Irving Wallace.
Phi Delta Phi was founded in the Law School of our Uni- versity December 13, 1869. Most of the members ascribe the origin of the fraternity to John M. Howard of the law class of '71, who had come to Ann Arbor commissioned to organ- ize a chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta, an order whereof he had been a member at Monmouth College. Not finding suitable material he abandoned the idea of starting a rival to the powerful societies of the colle- giate department, and from time to time during the fall of 1869 he discussed with a few friends the advis- ability of instituting a fraternity which should be com- FORMER BADGE OF PHI DELTA PHI. posed exclusively of law-students and lawyers. Hav- ing learned that such a fraternity was not in exist- ence in the older law schools of the Eastern States, Howard and six associates-Winfield S. Beebe, '70, Alfred E. Hawes, '70, James E. Howell, '70, Arthur M. Monteith, '70, John B. Cleland, '71, and Joseph D. Ronan, '71-set about establishing one for themselves. It was determined that the chapters of the new soci- ety should be named after distinguished jurists, statesmen, and lawyers, and that membership should be of two classes, regular, composed of undergraduates, and honorary, drawn from lawyers or from the faculty. Judge Thomas M. Cooley was the first hon- orary member. The parent chapter was called Kent. We are told in the printed history of the society that no attempt at exten- sion was made until 1875, when the Sharswood Club, a local
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.