History of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity

The Beginning

Charles A. Tonsor

Meyer Boskey

When the fall semester of 1899 began at the College of the City of, 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.

Sigma Chapter, founded in 1915

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 Sailor's Ball

A constitutional convention was held in August of 1905 at Insula's apartment. Charles A. Tonsor, then a 19-year-old junior at NYU, was elected temporary president. Meyer Boskey, a founding father at the Insula Chapter and now 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.

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