The History of Delta Sigma Pi

     It was not a single spectacular event that brought about the creation of Delta Sigma Pi over 80 years ago, but the association of five students at New York University who, coincidentally, used a common path to their homes following classes. These five men were motivated by the same forces that have caused others to organize fraternities, namely, common goals and the desire to pursue these goals together.

     Plans were made by these five men in the Spring and Summer of 1907 to form a social club composed of students in the School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance of New York University, which at that time conducted classes in the evening. Regular sessions of this nucleus were held at one of the ice cream parlors in Central Park, which concession was operated by the father of one of the five men. When Fall came, the time set for the formal launching of this club, one of the five members accepted the pledge of a Greek letter organization at New York University and dropped from the group. This incident changed the thinking of the remaining four and the existing plans for a club were abandoned in favor of a Greek letter fraternity. Thus Delta Sigma Pi was created on November 7, by Alexander Frank Makay, Alfred Moysello, Henry Albert Tienken and Harold Valentine Jacobs.

     It took almost two years of struggling for this new organization to establish itself and to become officially recognized at New York University. For the next five years it thrived as a local fraternity to a point where it was quite ready for national scope when Beta Chapter was installed in the evening devision of Northwestern University in 1914, and Gamma Chapter at Boston University in 1916. Philip J. Warner of Alpha Chapter, later Grand President, was chairman of the committee that led this nationalization move. Further growth was thwarted until 1920, when H.G. Wright entered the national picture as Grand President. During his four years of office, 29 new chapters were installed and the fraternity took on a truly national appearance. The next step was the creation of a Central Office in 1924 with the same H.G. Wright, then serving as Grand Secretary-Treasurer, in charge of it on a part time basis. Publications and forms were standardized, jewelry designed and other services of a national nature performed. The huge success of this program prompted the fraternity to employ H.G. Wright as Grand Secretary-Treasurer on a full time basis and authorized him to lease space in a Chicago office building for the purpose of establishing a permanent Central Office for the fraternity. And so in the Fall of 1926, The Central Office came into being in a suite of rooms in Chicago, Illinois. It remained here for 30 years until The Central Office was moved to a colonial building constructed specifically for Delta Sigma Pi adjacent to the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where it still stands today.

     After many ups and downs of the chapter numbers in its history, the professional fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi has grown to over 243 collegiate chapters and 50 alumni chapters. We boast over 175,000 current members nationally to date and still growing.

     For a more complete history and heritage of Delta Sigma Pi, please visit the official Deltasig website at www.dspnet.org.

Chapter History

     The Delta Upsilon Chapter was founded in 1959 at the M.J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas. Our chapter enjoys participating in many events associated with TCU.

Over the last year we sponsored Pumkins for Pizza, where our membership invites kindergarteners from local schools to come and paint minature pumpkins. We also invite the student body to join in the fun. We provided pizza and candy for the kindergarteners and for the student body. It was a smashing success. We were able to have fun and provide a community service.

We have also sent members to regional conferences where they were able to meet and interact with other members from other chapters all over Texas. The conference held many different workshops over different aspects of business and etiquette. It is a great experience to learn and meet many new people.