Zeta Psi

Zeta Psi is an international collegiate fraternity. It was founded in 1847 at New York University. The fraternity has over 100 chapters, with roughly 50,000 members. Zeta Psi was a founding member of the North American Interfraternity Conference.
As one of the world's oldest collegiate fraternities, Zeta Psi has historically been selective about the campuses at which it establishes chapters.

History

1847 to 1860: formation

On June 1, 1847, three students at New York University established Zeta Psi fraternity in a New York City bungalow. Its founders were John Bradt Yates Sommers, William Henry Dayton and John Moon Skillman. These men formed the core of the first chapter, Phi, but Dayton left New York due to poor health shortly and died within the year.
The fraternity established a second chapter, Zeta, at Williams College. The Delta chapter was founded at Rutgers University later that year. Three chapters followed in 1850: Omicron at Princeton University, Sigma at the University of Pennsylvania, and Chi at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The first Alpha chapter was founded in 1852 at Dickinson College in, but members met resistance from the administration, and the chapter became inactive in 1872.

1860 to 1864: American Civil War

During the Civil War, of Zeta Psi halted as campuses rallied for war and sent companies of soldiers to battle. At the outbreak of war, the Upsilon chapter at the University of North Carolina was the only chapter of in the Southern states. The Grand Chapter of Zeta Psi held a special meeting in early July 1862 where it adopted a resolution of unity: "while we many differ in political sentiment with those of our Brothers who are courageously battling for principles which they deem right, no disaster shall separate them from the union of Tau Kappa Phi."
The brothers of Upsilon replied by letter:
The tale of Brother Henry Schwerin illustrates the embodiment of love even in the most trying of circumstance. Schwerin lay gravely wounded after the bloody Battle of Chattanooga; pinned on the breast of his Union uniform was the badge of Zeta Psi. A passing Confederate soldier, also a Zete, spied the badge and carried the Schwerin to medical care and safety. The badge later passed to his brother, Max Schwerin, who would one day serve as international president. After his death, it was donated to the fraternity's archives and remains among its treasures. Brother John Day Smith witnessed the incident on the Chattanooga field and later related it to Brother Francis Lawton, who wrote the poem "The Badge of Zeta Psi," later set to original music.
Many chapters were inactive after the war, including Eta, Gamma, Psi Epsilon, Upsilon, Epsilon, and Theta. The Theta and Eta chapters ultimately recovered and reactivated.

1864 to 1914: breaking new ground

Zeta Psi was the first fraternity to established a chapter west of the Mississippi River. In 1870, Zeta Psi established the Iota chapter at the University of California, Berkeley. On March 27, 1879, the fraternity became international when it established a chapter at the University of Toronto.
The end of the 19th century, Zeta Psi established fourteen chapters: Omega was founded at University of Chicago in 1864; Pi at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1865; Lambda at Bowdoin College, 1867; Beta at University of Virginia, 1868; Psi at Cornell University, 1868; Iota at UC Berkeley, 1870; Gamma, first at the US Naval Academy in 1874, and then at Syracuse College in 1875 after the government proscribed Fraternities at its military academies; Theta Xi at University of Toronto, 1879; Alpha at Columbia University, 1879; Alpha Psi at McGill University, 1883; Nu at Case Western Reserve, 1884; Eta at Yale University, 1889; Mu at Stanford, 1892; Alpha Beta at University of Minnesota, 1899. The establishment of the Eta at Yale briefly made Zeta Psi the only fraternity to have chapters at all eight Ivy-League schools.
By the turn of the century, the need for some more centralized structure pressed. In 1909, an international publication concerning the affairs of the fraternity and its members was first published by Brother William Comstock and distributed among the several chapters. The Circle of Zeta Psi is still published. Its first issue, Comstock criticized the degree of individualism among the chapters of Zeta Psi, demanding unity among such disparate brothers and a "systemic central organization". The fraternity promptly adopted his suggestions to appoint a general secretary to travel between chapters and established a Zeta Psi Educational Foundation to support the fraternity's financial needs.

1914 to 1920: World War I

Though already inured to the horrors and trial that War would wreak upon her from the bloody American Civil War, war in Europe came suddenly in the 1910s and caught a nation and fraternity unawares. For some time, the United States did not commit troops to the battle, maintaining an isolationist stance protected. But Canada was a Dominion within Britain's Commonwealth, and when Great Britain entered the war, Canada willingly answered the call.
With the first Canadian chapter only founded at Toronto in 1879, her sister chapters were still young when war came to them. Particularly stricken were the Alpha Psi and Theta Xi chapters at McGill and U Toronto. Even in 1914, they were already sending letters indicating their brothers were heading east across the sea to the war. In 1915, more than half the workers at the McGill Base Hospital were Zetes from Alpha Psi. By war's end, the two beleaguered chapters had sent two hundred of the brothers in defense of King and Country; 31 were never to return and many others came home wounded in body and spirit.
Perhaps most noted among the rolls of the brave Canadian brethren who went overseas is Lt. Col. Brother Dr. John McCrae, a serviceman in the Canadian army, who, like so many other men, did not return at the close of the conflict. But Brother McCrae bequeathed to his fraternity more than even his worthy life, but also a poem which has been preserved in great honor as both a historical and literary work: "In Flanders Fields." The words are a testament to the heroic spirit in man and are treasured still by the brethren of Zeta Psi as the hallowed words of a brother whose time long ago passed. The 19-year-old engineering student from McGill, brother Frederick Fisher was the first Canadian to win the Victoria Cross in the war, the highest British award for valour, for his determined stand at the Second Battle of Ypres. Like so many who win this medal, the award was posthumous.
Finally in 1917, the United States entered World War I, and so did the many Zetes. At the annual convention of Zeta Psi, the brothers adopted a resolution in support of U.S. engagement in World War I, which the U.S. Congress had only declared a few weeks previously:
Nor was the pledge mere idle words nor fatuous boasting. Over one-quarter of all Zeta Psi members served during World War I in foreign lands, and many did not return. Zeta Psi also provided the nation its first Assistant Secretary of War, Brother Benedict Crowell, noted for his bold reorganization of civilian military control during World War I. Even after the war, Crowell remained politically powerful and was later instrumental in engineering the repeal of National Prohibition.

1920–1945: interwar years and World War II

In the 1920s, Zeta Psi celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1922 with festivities in New York City. Notably, both the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans had elected Zeta Psi brothers as their commanders-in-chief that year.
The onset of World War II had a profound impact on the fraternity. Many chapters, including the Psi chapter at Cornell University, saw significant declines in active membership due to the draft. The Psi chapter's original house was lost in a fire in the late 1940s and was never rebuilt. Despite these challenges, the fraternity's resilience was evident as chapters like the one at Nebraska Wesleyan University, which had closed in 1943 due to the war, were reactivated in 1945.

1945–2000: postwar expansion and challenges

The postwar period marked a phase of growth and modernization for Zeta Psi. The fraternity expanded its presence, establishing new chapters and reactivating dormant ones. During the latter half of the 20th century, Zeta Psi faced challenges common to many fraternities, including shifts in campus culture and attitudes toward Greek life.

21st century: global expansion

The 21st century ushered in a period of international growth for Zeta Psi. In 2008, the fraternity established the Iota Omicron chapter at the University of Oxford, marking its first chapter outside North America. This expansion was soon followed by new chapters at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, the University of St Andrews in Scotland, the University of Paris in France, and the American University of Greece in Athens. Plans are also underway to establish chapters in Spain and in the Middle East.
Zeta Psi's headquarters is located in Pearl River, New York.

Symbols

The Zeta Psi badge consists of the Greek letters ΖΨ in gold with the letters O and A engraved on the Ζ. and the arms of the Ψ engraved, with a Roman fasces upon the right and a star upon the left. The badge is set with 21 stones of pearl or jet, placed on the bars of the Ζ. Its pledge pin is a white circle with a narrow gold outline.
Zeta Psi's motto is ΤΚΦ. The fraternity's color is white. Its flower is the white carnation. The flag of the Zeta Psi is a white field with the Greek letters ΖΨ or the words Zeta Psi written in the center in gold, piped in black. Its publication is The Circle. Its members are called Zetes.