![]() ![]() Many in the chapter were outraged and proposals to "go local" or to affiliate with a different national fraternity were debated at the house meeting immediately following the visit, but no consensus was reached at the time with the end of the academic year rapidly approaching. ![]() In different areas you've got to watch out for different things, sometimes it's Italians, sometimes it's Jews, sometimes it's Negroes." Unbeknownst to Abbe, Dick Taft was Jewish. We've got to watch out for all minority groups not just the Negroes. Abbe was reported to have commented to several brothers, including Dick Taft, class of 1956 and then vice-president of the chapter, "Well, it's this way. Atcheson, District Director Bob Abbe, and District Deputy Sam Sargent all attended. Several national organization leaders and their wives visited Dartmouth for a party celebrating the Tau chapter's 50th anniversary in May, 1955. Many Dartmouth Phi Sigma Kappas held out hope that the national organization might eventually reverse the Bedford Resolution, but were dismayed at the racist attitudes of the leadership. The stylized Greek letters ΦΣΚ appear in a wrought iron railing on the southwest corner of the 1928 residence, photographed in 1995. This became a binding policy of the college administration. A campus-wide referendum on the desegregation of fraternities in 1954 resulted in a slim majority of Dartmouth students favoring mandatory desegregation of fraternities by 1960. The Tau Chapter had been quietly opposed to this agreement, and had already admitted several Jewish men into the house. The Bedford Resolution, adopted by a small majority, read: "That the fraternity's tradition be maintained in the sense that there be no pledging or initiating of Negro men until such time as they are acceptable to all chapters." Phi Sigma Kappa chapters at Boston University and Knox College were both expelled from the national organization in 1953 for pledging African-American students. ![]() This agreement was finally written into the national organization's bylaws at the 1952 Phi Sigma Kappa national convention. However, an informal "Gentleman's Agreement" encouraged local chapters not to admit minorities to membership. Until 1952, the Phi Sigma Kappa national organization did not have a formal policy regarding membership of ethnic or religious minorities in its written charter or regulations. The Tau chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa has a history of being progressive about its membership. Various pledge activities, for example, were completely eliminated, as their shock value no longer entertained anyone. When brothers returned to finish their education after the war, attitudes in the house were less innocent, and many changes took place in how the brotherhood treated one another. ![]() Many Phi Sigma Kappas from Dartmouth went off to war, and at least one spent time as a prisoner of war. Navy organized a V-12 Navy College Training Program on the Dartmouth College campus. Many members of the classes of 1942 through 1945 were rushed through their academic studies and went off to war without so much as a graduation ceremony. The brotherhood of the Tau Chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa underwent a great transition in the years of World War II and immediately afterward. Over the years, there were many changes to the building, including two different porches constructed on the south side of the building, the installation of sump pumps and finishing of rooms in the basement, and the relocation of the boiler room, social areas, and even a staircase. This new house was built with three stories above ground with a basement, and included living quarters for eighteen students (the maximum permitted by the College at the time.) Although the new residence included a kitchen, fraternities at Dartmouth were not allowed to serve meals on a regular basis, and the kitchen was used primarily by the residents and during social functions. By the late 1920s, however, the house had begun to show its age, and a building campaign resulted in the demolition of the old building and the construction of a new building during the 1927-1928 academic year. With the help of the national organization, a house for the fraternity was purchased on what was then the northern edge of the college campus. Being a relative late arrival on campus, prime lots on Webster Avenue, where most of the other fraternities were located, were unavailable. Phi Sigma Kappa was the sixteenth fraternity to open a chapter at Dartmouth. Phi Tau Coeducational Fraternity at Dartmouth College was founded as the Tau Chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa in 1905. ![]()
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