Theta Xi was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy,
New York, on April 29, 1864, by Peter Henry Fox, Ralph Gooding
Packard, Christopher Champlin Waite, George Bradford Brainerd, Samuel Buel
Jr., Henry Harrison Farnum, Thomas Cole
Raymond,
and Nathaniel Henry Starbuck. Minutes of the original meeting, Constitution
and Ritual have been preserved by the
Fraternity
to this day. Our tradition is truly continuous.
Christopher "Kit" Waite, whose father was destined to become Chief Justice
of the United States Supreme Court, was from Toledo, Ohio.
Peter Fox from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Thomas Raymond, a downeastener
from West borough, Massachusetts,
together
with Waite, were the only Founders from out of state. Nathaniel Starbuck
was a local from the campus town of Troy whose
father,
a leading citizen of the town, was often called upon to address public
meetings to arouse popular support for the Lincoln
administration.
The remaining Founders were all New Yorkers: George Brainerd from Brooklyn;
Samuel Buel, Jr. from
Poughkeepsie;
Ralph Packard from Niagara Falls and Henry Farnum from Port Jarvis.
In 1864, Rensselaer was attempting to rebuild. The Civil War had threatened
the future existence of the institution, just as it had
the future existence of our Union. In 1861, the collar factories, for which
Troy was famous, nearly all closed down, and
several
other large manufacturing plants went idle. In 1862, sparks from a passing
locomotive ignited the roof of a covered bridge
spanning
the Hudson at Troy, and before it could be halted, the fire swept across
the 75-acre tract, completely destroying eight
hundred
structures in the heart of Troy's business section, including the downtown
campus and the original building of RPI, the Old
Bank Building.
All of the Founders were members of Sigma Delta, a local fraternity established
in 1859 to rival Theta Delta Chi, the only secret
society
then at Rensselaer. Crude in its beginnings, Sigma Delta gradually increased
and prospered so that, by the fall of 1863, it had
become
a secret center of attraction for all freshmen.
Debates formed a regular part of Sigma Delta meetings (as in other fraternities
at that time), and these were judged by the presiding
officer.
Spirited debates were held on such topics as: "Genius is more necessary
in the pursuits of science than in the pursuit of art,"
"The use
of tobacco is injurious," and "The rum barrel is more potent than the gun
barrel."
Dissension within Sigma Delta became apparent on October 30, 1863, when
George Brainerd tendered his resignation to the society.
The resignation
was unanimously declined, but it contributed to a rift that would not heal.
On that same day, due to a seeming desire
of some
of the members to bust up Sigma Delta and try to become part of another
organization, Samuel Buel suggested that Sigma
Delta
try to obtain a charter from some large and flourishing society such as
Sigma Phi, which had been founded in 1827 at Union
College
and had six chapters at the time. He had previously had an interview with
a minister who belonged to Sigma Phi, who
assured
him that he favored such a move. He promised to do all in his power to
help them obtain a charter. Sigma Phi sent
representative
to Troy who were entertained and had their hotel bills paid.
A petition was prepared and submitted to Sigma Phi, but at its convention
at Union College on March 4, 1864, a motion was adopted
to the
effect that no more charters be granted. Since no action was taken on Sigma
Delta's petition, this was accepted as a refusal.
Dissension in Sigma Delta continued to grow such that two factions sprang
up within the society. The eight members who ultimately
founded
Theta Xi considered such divisiveness incompatible with their ideals of
unity and fellowship. They determined to build a new
with the
intention of forming a society national in scope - a tall order for the
Civil War era!
The ill feeling became more acute after the failure to obtain a charter,
and at a regular meeting held on March 11, 1864, attention was
called
to the sad condition of the society. A suggestion was made that each one
present express his views concerning the
management
of the affairs and offer some plan of removing this feeling which has existed,
and does now exist, among us. This
suggestion
was accepted and each member in turn was called upon for his opinion. One
suggested plan, which met with instant favor
< and was
finally agreed upon, specified that bottles, suitably covered and labeled,
be provided and placed in the adjoining club room.
On March 12, 1864, two large cups of white and black beans were provided
for the purpose of voting. A bottle was placed upon the
table
and each member went into the clubroom to cast his ballot on the member
whose name appeared on the bottle. After everyone
had voted
the bottle was sealed, and the next vote taken. When the process was completed,
the members assembled in the club
room to
count the votes. Before any bottle was opened, each man deposited on the
table the keys and all other property in his
possession
which belonged to the society. The bottles were emptied alphabetically
and, as one received a majority of black beans, he
took up
his hat and left. The first person who received a majority of black beans
remarked, "I guess I am not wanted here." Four of
our eight
founders had opened their bottles before the five who received a majority
of black beans left them in possession of the
room.
A new lock was immediately put on the door.
At a meeting held on April 1, 1864, a committee consisting of Waite, Buel,
Brainerd, and Packard was appointed to prepare a
constitution.
At this meeting the secretary was instructed to recall their petition to
Sigma Phi and inform them of their intention to
form a
new society. On April 6, Buel presented two monograms, Theta Xi and Theta
Psi, as possible names for the new society.
Theta
Xi was chosen because of the reported existence of a local society called
Theta Psi at Yale at that time. On April 29, 1864 -
that most
sacred night in the history of our brotherhood - eight former members of
Sigma Delta met in their secret rooms for the
purpose
of founding Theta Xi. Ralph G. Packard was chosen chairman because he had
been president of Sigma Delta at the time of
its dissolution.
Brother Farnum was requested to act a secretary. A committee made up of
Brothers Buel and Brainerd was
designated
to develop an initiation service, while another committee comprised of
Brothers Raymond, Starbuck, and Brainerd was
made responsible
for developing a grip, various symbols, and names of the officers, as well
as for completing all vacancies in the
constitution.
The Constitution, By-Laws, and Rules of Order which had been drawn up by
the committee were read and adopted
without
a dissenting vote. The oath of initiation was taken by all the Founders
as a group, then they signed the Constitution
alphabetically
and by classes. The new society decided that the chapter be called the
Alpha Chapter of Theta Xi, and that each
succeeding
chapter should be named by the following letter of the Greek alphabet.
On the same night Edward H. Morrison was
unanimously
selected as the first new member of the Fraternity, and was initiated eight
days later on May 7, 1864.
In the first forty years of its existence, the Fraternity had founded six
new chapters (Yale University, Stevens Institute of Technology,
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Cornell University, and Lehigh
University) located within
approximately
two hundred miles of RPI. It was not until 1905 that Theta Xi began its
westward expansion with the chartering of
Theta
Chapter at Purdue in February of that year and Iota at Washington University
in St. Louis a month later. The Fraternity
established
its first West Coast chapter in 1910 with Nu Chapter on the Berkely campus
of the University of California; moved into
the Southwest
three years later by locating Rho Chapter at the University of Texas and
entered the Pacific Northwest in 1915 by
establishing
Upsilon Chapter at the University of Washington. Theta Xi's introduction
to the South occurred in April, 1921 when
Alpha
Alpha Chapter was chartered at Louisiana State University. In less than
sixty years the dreams of our Founders had become
a reality.
Theta Xi had become a national organization.
Upon completion of informal talks held between representatives of Kappa
Sigma Kappa and Theta Xi in 1962, it was concluded that
a merger
would prove beneficial to both organizations. Kappa Sigma Kappa had three
main reasons for favoring a merger. First, and
most important,
it had been unable to obtain National Interfraternity Conference (NIC)
membership because several of its chapters
were on
unaccredited campuses. Some of its chapters had disaffiliated or lost host
institution recognition as a result of the fraternity's
failure
to obtain NIC membership. (Theta Xi had been a member since 1911.) Second,
its membership expressed a need for stronger
organizational
structure with a sound financial footing, more uniform chapter operations,
and a larger base of alumni volunteers. Last,
the fraternity
saw a need for a central office with paid personnel, including full-time
executive secretaries and traveling staff. Theta
Xi could
provide all of these needs. The two fraternities also seemed to complement
each other, since there was no duplication of
chapters.
Following a series of meetings the terms of the proposed merger were agreed
upon and subsequently ratified by the governing bodies
of the
two fraternities. As part of the merger agreement the Theta Xi Fraternity
flower was changed from the white carnation to the
blue iris,
the fleurs-de-lis on the coat of arms was replaced with upright crescents
and the title of the membership manual was
changed
from the Theta Xi Pledge Manual to the Quest for Theta Xi.
On August 20, 1962, twenty-one chapters of Kappa Sigma Kappa located at
accredited schools were received into the Bonds of Theta Xi. Each of these
chapters received a Greek-letter designation prefaced
by Kappa. Seven chapters, which were ineligible to
come into
Theta Xi because they were located on unaccredited campuses, reorganized
their national structure and continued under
the name
Kappa Sigma Kappa.