Fraternities

Fraternities began to appear in the 1830s and were not greeted with enthusiasm by the authorities. Alpha Delta Phi established a chapter in 1836, followed by Delta Phi in 1838 and Psi Upsilon in 1840. In 1844 the Corporation voted, “That this Corporation disapproves of the establishment of Secret Societies by the Undergraduates of this University or of their participation therein and that the Faculty of the University be requested to adopt such measures as they may deem advisable for the suppression of said secret societies.” Suppression of the societies seems not to have taken place, as two years later the Corporation passed rules for the government of the societies, empowering the president to visit their meetings at any time. Beta Theta Pi established a chapter in 1847, Delta Kappa Epsilon in 1850, Zeta Psi in 1852, and Theta Delta Chi in 1853. Librarian Reuben Guild registered his disapproval of fraternities in a letter written in 1852, in which he stated, “Secret Societies ... originate with the Devil, all of them.” Forty years after the establishment of the first fraternity there were seven secret societies with a membership of 102 and two Greek letter “open” societies with 75 members, leaving 78 students unaffiliated with any society. President Robinson objected to the societies because of their expensiveness, clannishness, intrigue and politics, and their tendency to “intensify peculiarities of taste and habit, till these harden into fixed defects of character.” In October 1903 the Cammarian Club called for organized rushing regulations and arranged a meeting of fraternity representatives with the dean. At another meeting in 1908 the Club suggested a delayed rushing season to allow both the freshmen and the fraternities more time to make their choices. An interfraternity council, composed of one representative from each fraternity, was appointed in 1913 to propose new rushing rules. The Interfraternity Governing Board was established by the Cammarian Club in 1915.

By the 1930s almost all of the fraternities had purchased their own houses. During World War II, when the fraternities had almost no student members, a mutually supportive agreement was entered in which the University met its own need for civilian dormitories, while assisting the fraternities by leasing their houses for an amount equivalent to taxes, mortgage interest, insurance, and two percent of their value for repairs. This arrangement brought to attention the neglected state of the houses and also matters of chapter financing and alumni involvement. President Wriston, a firm believer in the fraternity system, initiated late in 1943 a proposal to the fraternities that the sixteen fraternities whose houses were being leased should make a gift, debt-free, of the houses to the University, which would then maintain the buildings, collect the room rent, and run the dining rooms. The proposal was eventually accepted, not without some opposition, by all the fraternities. The fraternities continued to occupy their houses until the early 1950s when they acquired new quarters in the Wriston Quadrangle, which had been built to house the fraternities and the independent dormitories together.

In 1949 fraternities came under fire from Brunonia, which, pointing out that 90% of the elective offices were held by fraternity men, who accounted for only 30% of the students, also commented, “The fraternity man is the campus leader and the campus idiot.” The Brown Daily Herald replied that the electoral success of the fraternity men was not due to fraternity blocs, but rather to the lack of interest among independents. The Observer rebutted the charge by Brunonia, contending that 70% still constitutes the majority and the 30% fraternity vote would be split among the fraternity contenders, and replying to the “idiot” charge by noting that eight of the 21 men recently elected to Phi Beta Kappa were fraternity men. For other reasons the life of fraternities at Brown was endangered in 1949 after several incidents on the evening of March 4, which was pledge night for the fraternities. Members of Beta Theta Pi and Delta Phi got into a fight. Two fraternity men were attacked on a late night downtown visit. In an accident at the Delta Phi house a visiting member of Theta Delta Chi fell down the stairs and died the next day of his injuries. As a result of these events and what the Daily Herald called a “campus-wide beer orgy,” all seventeen fraternities were immediately placed on social probation. In a meeting with fraternity men several days later President Wriston reaffirmed his belief in fraternities in college life, but strongly urged them to shape up in doing away with discriminatory clauses, taking in a majority of the student body as members, and dispensing with their “anti-intellectual qualities.” In December 1961 the Cammarian Club passed a resolution calling on the fraternities to remove all membership restrictions based on race or religion, and gave the seven fraternities with such restrictions two years to comply. The next year the fraternities came under the scrutiny of a committee appointed to make recommendations on housing. The committee’s report recommended that any fraternity which wished to continue to occupy housing and dining facilities would be required to increase its residential membership to about 50 members within four years, and to keep its academic average from falling more than .200 below the All-College upperclass average in any four consecutive semesters. In a new agreement between the University and the fraternities drawn up in 1980, the fraternities relinquished their exclusive use of private dining rooms in the Refectory and residential fraternities were required to maintain a membership of 24 to qualify for a permanent campus house with lounge space.

Over the years there has been a tendency for the non-fraternity students to form an organization for independents. The society called “Oudens” of the Class of 1864 is believed to have been such an organization. In 1908 Bear Facts, noted, “The Kasa is the non-secret fraternal organization; admission is by invitation or application.” The Hill Club for non-fraternity men was organized in December 1914, and was represented by two members on the Interfraternity Council. It went out of existence during the first World War. In February 1923 with the blessing of the Cammarian Club a group of non-fraternity men formed a new club, which began as the Bruno Club, changed its name to the Bear Cubs, and finally to the Bear Club in the first month of its existence. In 1927-28 the Bear Club asked permission to become a local fraternity under the name of Tau Delta Epsilon, and the next year affiliated with the national fraternity Sigma Phi Sigma.

In 1928 President Faunce reported “urgent demands during the year for permission to organize a Jewish fraternity, also an Italian fraternity,” and stated, “we do not want at Brown any fraternity organized on the basis of race or religion.” The Jewish students who wanted to form a fraternity went ahead and secretly joined Pi Lambda Phi during the Christmas vacation of 1928-29. When it became known in April 1929 that they had formed a local chapter of Pi Lambda Phi, they were obliged to resign as a Brown chapter, but continued to keep their membership in the national fraternity. The students who sought permission to form an Italian fraternity, formed the Alpha Beta Eta Club. A photograph of the members and the list of members, all but one of whom had Italian surnames, appeared in the 1929 Liber Brunensis. New resolutions of the Brown Corporation in May 1929 allowed Pi Lambda Phi to form a Brown chapter.

Even before the question of a Jewish or Italian fraternity arose, some black students had joined off-campus black fraternities. The first of these was Alpha Gamma chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, which was established in 1921 and became inactive before the second World War. Brown students were involved in forming a chapter of another black fraternity in 1947, when Paris Sterrett, who was executive director of a settlement house in Providence (now the John Hope Center) and a member of Omega Psi Phi sought George Lima ’48 and Charles Bentley ’44 as pledges with the intention of establishing a chapter at Brown. Lima and Bentley traveled to Boston during their pledge period and were initiated by the Gamma chapter. On June 27, 1947 Theta Epsilon chapter of Omega Psi Phi with two pledges from Providence College had the required membership of five persons for an undergraduate chapter. By the mid-1950s Theta Epsilon had become a graduate chapter, and Archie Williams ’56 found himself the only undergraduate member, while black students at Brown were pledging to black fraternities centered in Boston. A chance to rejuvenate the Brown chapter came with the initiation in 1957 of Wallace Terry ’59, Arthur Lamb ’59, Wortham Baskerville ’58, and Joel Stokes ’58. In 1959 seven new members were added, among them Richard Nurse ’61. After 1962 Omega Psi Phi was dormant until 1970, when a new group of pledges seemed to assure the continuance of an undergraduate chapter, and a separate graduate chapter, Sigma Nu, was formed. After another period of inactivity, Omega Psi Phi was back again in the late 1970s, and Alpha Phi Alpha was reactivated. The Pan-Hellenic Council is an umbrella organization for these two fraternities and two more recently established, Kappa Alpha Psi and Phi Beta Sigma. The African American fraternities, which are committed to community service, are also known for their pledging process which involves uniform costume and marching and chanting on public streets. In November 1989 La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity established Zeta chapter at Brown, “in the Latin tradition, and spirit of pride, dignity and quality.”

Alpha Delta Phi (Brunonian chapter) was established in 1836, the first fraternity at Brown and the only one until the appearance of Delta Phi two years later. Alpha Delta Phi had chosen its men from the three upper classes. When Delta Phi began to pledge freshmen, Alpha Delta Phi, rather than seek their members from among the freshmen or from upper classes already picked over by Delta Phi, chose to cease the initiation of new members after January 1839, and went out of existence at Commencement in 1841, when all its members had graduated. The fraternity was dormant until April 1851 when it acquired the membership of Beta Theta Pi. Meetings were held in the “Arnold Block” until 1904, when the chapter purchased a house at 54 College Street. After the chapter moved to the Wriston Quadrangle, the house was occupied by the music department, and was later renovated through the generosity of Emanuel Gerard ’54, and renamed the Samuel N. Gerard House in honor of his father. It is now occupied by the Department of Philosophy. The decision in 1973 to admit women to the Brown chapter of Alpha Delta Phi did not have the blessing of the national organization. An agreement was reached that women members admitted at Brown would not be members of the national fraternity and could not vote for or be national officers. Two years later the national fraternity refused to recognize Michelle Perron ’76 when the Brown chapter elected her as president.

Alpha Tau Omega was established in September 1894. In 1920 the chapter acquired a house at 43-45 George Street. In January 1938 the chapter voted to discontinue itself after a series of misfortunes which included foreclosure of its mortgage, the pledging of few freshmen, and damage to the heating system in an attempted theft of the house’s oil burner during Christmas vacation. The fraternity moved to 58 College Street, and the University purchased the house, which was used by the English Department, and the chapter became inactive in 1940.

Beta Theta Pi (Kappa chapter) was established in 1849. In 1851 the Brown chapter and the Williams chapter, the only eastern chapters of Beta Theta Pi, withdrew from the national fraternity and became chapters of Alpha Delta Phi. In March 1880 Kappa chapter was reestablished at Brown by initiating forty members of the local Phi Kappa Alpha society. The chapter had off-campus rooms in the Daniels Building, where a fire destroyed all its property except for the charter and records. In 1907 Beta Theta Pi acquired a house at 41 George Street, which had been the home and school of Mrs. Mary Balch. In its place the fraternity built a new house, which, after the chapter moved to Wriston Quadrangle, was replaced by a parking lot. The Brown chapter disappeared in 1971.

Chi Psi (Lambda chapter) existed at Brown from 1860 to 1871, at which time it had only two members. It may have been superseded by Chi Phi.

Delta Kappa Epsilon (Upsilon chapter) was established in 1850. The first meetings were held at the home of one of the members on Dorrance Street. Later rooms were acquired at 21 South Main Street. After these room were destroyed by fire in 1889, the chapter moved to a school house on Benefit Street, then to Caswell Hall in 1903, to temporary quarters on North Main Street, and in 1907 into the house at 65 College Street, which the chapter had acquired in 1905. In 1928 William T. Aldrich designed a three-story brick chapter house, which was not built. The College Street house, which was renamed Howell House and used by the Mathematics Department, was razed for the building of the Rockefeller Library. In December of 1964 the Brown chapter was dissolved as a result of a hazing incident in which a pledge collapsed. The chapter initiated one honorary member, General Ambrose E. Burnside.

Delta Phi (Beta chapter) was established in 1838, when an application of Jonas D. Sleeper 1840 and Edwin C. Larned 1840 for a chapter at Brown was granted by the first chapter at Union College, which had not approved any other extension of the fraternity since its founding in 1827. The Brown chapter flourished until 1854, when it ended abruptly, after a number of its members left college as a result of their involvement in the dissemination of a mock program at the junior exhibition. The chapter remained inactive until 1868, when fourteen members were initiated. In 1876 Delta Phi decided not to initiate any more members for a few years and was once more inactive until it was revived in 1881 through the efforts of Franklin E. Brooks 1883. A fiftieth anniversary symposium was held at the Narragansett Hotel in 1888. In 1920 Delta Phi, which had been living in North Slater Hall, purchased the Dorrance mansion on 2 Prospect Street. The building was later remodeled for the use of the Department of Egyptology and named Wilbour Hall. Delta Phi left the national fraternity in 1966, partly because of a disagreement over lifetime national dues, and continued as Delta Phi Omega until its reaffiliation with Delta Phi in 1983.

Delta Psi had ten student members at Brown in 1852. Shortly thereafter two of these were dismissed from college. In April 1853 the national fraternity revoked the charter of the Brown chapter and dismissed the remaining eight members (the two who had left college remained on the rolls of the fraternity). The displaced members joined Theta Delta Chi. One hundred fifty years later, in 1983, Delta Psi was reestablished at Brown as a coed literary fraternity, and was housed in King House, known to the fraternity as St. Anthony Hall, the name traditionally given to the chapter houses of Delta Psi on other campuses. Delta Psi sponsors biweekly literary readings for the public. The women members are “sisters,” in contrast to the practice of other fraternities, who use the term “brothers.”

Delta Tau Delta (Beta chapter) was established in 1896. In 1907 Delta Tau Delta purchased a house at 94 Angell Street. Later the members lived in South Caswell Hall and at 101 Prospect Street before acquiring the house at 65 Prospect Street. That house was razed and replaced by Howard P. Lovecraft’s house, which was moved to the lot from its former location on College Street in 1969. The chapter left the national fraternity in 1969 and continued as Delta Tau. In 1981, the local fraternity Delta Tau was evicted from South Wayland Hall on charges of vandalism. In 1985 the fraternity, reaffiliated with Delta Tau Delta, had built up its membership and regained housing in the Wriston Quadrangle.

Delta Upsilon (Brown chapter) began as Gamma Nu in 1860, when several members of the classes of 1863 and 1864, observing the decline of the literary societies at Brown, sought permission to form a new society to provide opportunities for extemporaneous speaking and debate. With the approval of President Sears, twelve members adopted the name and charter of the Gamma Nu society of Yale University. The founding members intended the society to consist of freshmen and sophomores only, but in 1863 membership was extended to all classes. In 1866 it reverted to a freshman-sophomore society. On May 22, 1868, the Gamma Nu society joined Delta Upsilon fraternity, which was also a non-secret society. In 1865 Gamma Nu published the first issue of the Caduceus as an alternative to the Brown Paper, which was the organ of the secret societies. In 1919 the chapter bought a house at 80 Waterman Street, which is now Walter Hall. Prior to that time the fraternity had occupied 100 Waterman Street. The chapter left the national fraternity in 1967 and continued as Kappa Delta Upsilon, then reaffiliated with Delta Upsilon in 1986, and in 1991 became for the second time Kappa Delta Upsilon. A group of alumni of the chapter formed the November Club, which for some years held a meeting in May.

Kappa Sigma (Beta Alpha chapter) was installed on February 22, 1898, at the Narragansett Hotel, and rooms for the society were secured in the Banigan Building. The chapter later lived at 127 Angell Street and in Hope College, and in 1927 acquired a house at 49 Angell Street, which was later razed for the construction of Rhode Island School of Design dormitories. The chapter left the national fraternity and took the name of Toad Hall in 1969, reaffiliated with Kappa Sigma in 1983, and again became a local fraternity, Chi Kappa Sigma, in 1990.

Lambda Chi Alpha (Iota Zeta chapter) was established in 1912, drawing its membership from a local fraternity which had been formed in 1908. Lambda Chi Alpha lived in Hope College, at 411 Brook Street, and at 57 Waterman Street before 1936 when the house became University property. In 1938 the fraternity had a house at 32 George Street. The house was razed for the construction of the Rockefeller Library. The chapter became inactive in 1970.

Phi Delta Theta (Rhode Island Alpha chapter) owed its beginning in February 1889 to some members of the senior class who got together to thwart the plans of several fraternities who expected to gain all the offices of the senior class for themselves. These men, after being successful in winning some of the offices, wanted to continue their association and formed Sigma Rho Society, which affiliated with Phi Delta Theta. The chapter lived in Brunonia Hall and moved to 62 College Street in 1920. In about 1964 Phi Delta Theta became a local fraternity, Phi Delta Beta, after being instructed by the University to drop its national ties because of a discriminatory clause in the national constitution. After being reaffiliated in 1983 with Phi Delta Theta, the chapter lost its housing in the Wriston Quadrangle in 1985 because of vandalism, and the University ceased to recognize its charter.

Phi Gamma Delta (Pi Rho chapter) was established in 1902. In the spring of 1901, Amos L. Taylor ’01 and Berton L. Maxfield ’01, who had both been invited to join fraternities but had found the expense too great, approached President Faunce for permission to form a local fraternity which they hope to affiliated with Phi Gamma Delta. Pi Phi was organized in April 1901, and announced to the College on Class Day. After acceptance by Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Rho chapter was installed on May 16, 1902. By 1909 the chapter had acquired the use of all the rooms in South Hope College. The members began negotiations to purchase the house at 56 Waterman Street in 1916, and were finally able to occupy it after the end of the World War. The house was razed for the construction of the Rhode Island School of Design dormitories. The chapter became inactive in 1968.

Phi Kappa was founded in September 1889 as a fraternity for Catholic students by thirteen men (all but two of the Catholic students at Brown), who would not have been welcome in the established fraternities. The fraternity was named Phi Kappa Sigma, the initials for Greek words for Fraternity of Catholic Students. At first it met in Room 3, Hope College, the room of three of the members, moving in the spring of 1890 to a room in the Wayland Building on North Main Street. In 1892 M. Joseph Harson ’84, a Providence merchant, invited the members to meet at his home, where a plan to extend membership to alumni was devised. Upon discovering that a national fraternity named Phi Kappa Sigma already existed, the local fraternity changed its name in 1900 to Phi Kappa and in 1902 received a charter from the state of Rhode Island which enabled it to establish chapters at other colleges. The earliest members had intended to form a society, rather than a full-fledged fraternity, and until 1900, when it was instituted as Phi Kappa, the organization was not recognized by inclusion in the Liber Brunensis with the other fraternities. This first chapter called itself the Charles Carroll chapter. Phi Kappa had its location in Caswell Hall, at 109 George Street, and at 279 Benefit Street, before settling at 426 Brook Street from 1922 until the chapter became inactive in 1929. The national Phi Kappa, which had grown to more than thirty chapters, merged with the national Theta Kappa Phi in 1959 to form Phi Kappa Theta.

Phi Kappa Psi (Rhode Island Alpha chapter) was established in 1902. In 1923 Phi Kappa Psi acquired a house at 108 Waterman Street. The chapter later moved to 43 Waterman Street. That house was later razed for a Rhode Island School of Design parking lot. The chapter was suspended in 1978, was later revitalized as Phi Psi, and reaffiliated with Phi Kappa Psi in 1984.

Phi Sigma Kappa (Upsilon chapter) was established in 1906. It occupied rooms in Brunonia Hall and Slater Hall, and later on Thayer Street and Brook Street. The chapter became inactive in 1939.

Pi Lambda Phi (Phi chapter) was established on September 28, 1929. During the winter vacation of the previous year Jewish students, who had been denied permission to start a fraternity, secretly joined Pi Lambda Phi, a non-sectarian fraternity with a predominantly Jewish membership, at it New York University chapter house. When the University administration refused to allow their chapter on campus, they dissolved the chapter, but kept their individual membership in the national fraternity. The reversal of the University’s decision in May 1929 allowed the establishment of a Brown chapter. The chapter occupied houses at 152 Angell Street, 70 Waterman Street, and 45 George Street, which was later razed for parking lot. In 1963 Phi chapter, which a year earlier had narrowly defeated a motion to become a local fraternity, unanimously voted to secede from the national fraternity and to continue its existence as Alpha Pi Lambda until about 1970.

Psi Upsilon (Sigma chapter) was established in 1840, the third fraternity at Brown, The early members met of President Wayland’s objection to the secrecy of the organization by electing him to honorary membership. Many of the members of Psi Upsilon were Rhode Island residents, and, according to an article in the Brunonian in 1892, “For more than half a century the Sigma has annually recruited from the best families in Rhode Island.” In 1893 Psi Upsilon became the first fraternity to have its own house. The house, a modified Colonial design, was built by the fraternity at 4 Manning Street. After the fraternities moved into the Wriston Quadrangle, it was renamed Angell Hall and used by the Biology Department. It was finally razed in 1972 from the lot in front of the Sciences Library. The chapter disbanded in 1964. It had been unable to meet the requirements of academic average and membership set forth in the Housing Report of 1962, had been fined by the Interfraternity Council for rushing practices, and had lost ten members who were suspended for a disorder at the house in the spring of 1963. The chapter was revived in 1985 with both men and women members.

Sigma Chi (Beta Nu chapter) began as Kappa chapter of Chi Phi with six charter members in 1872, and became Beta Nu chapter of Sigma Chi in 1914. Its members lived in Middle Hope College, and in 1919 Sigma Chi purchased a house at 96 Waterman Street. Used for a time by the American Association of University Women, it now houses Brown Student Agencies. Sigma Chi changed its name to Swyndlestock in 1966 after severing ties with the national fraternity when the University interpreted a membership clause in the national constitution as discriminatory. The new name was inspired by the name of a tavern in the town of Oxford in England, in which a riot with town and gown implications in 1335 brought the University under the royal protection of King Edward III. The chapter reaffiliated with Sigma Chi in 1973.

Sigma Nu (Delta Lambda chapter) was established in 1912 by members of the local society of Sigma Delta Kappa. After living at 110 and 104 Waterman Street, in 1923 Sigma Nu purchased a house at 23 Charles Field Street. The house was razed for the Keeney Quadrangle. Sigma Nu, after trying for several years to persuade the national fraternity to drop discriminatory membership clauses from its constitution, became an independent local fraternity named Lambda Sigma Nu in 1964, and changed its name to Casements in 1970. The chapter is no longer active.

Sigma Phi began at Brown as a non-secret society, founded by the members of the classes of 1873 and 1874 in 1870 and established as a chapter in 1872. The society published the Photeinian, a literary annual which appeared only twice, in 1873 and 1874. The first issue announced, “The Fraternity originated with the Brown Chapter. It was founded by gentlemen from the present Senior and Junior classes, independent of the influence of any other organization.... Although the appearance of our magazine can not be called customary, since this is the first number, yet it is the customary appearance of a representation of our Society, which has hitherto been presented through the columns of the Caduceus.” The 1874 issue of the Photeinian described the society further, “Sigma Phi is preeminently a working society. Its special aim is the literary, its subordinate, the social culture of its members. Our meetings are held weekly at our hall in the Atlantic Building. The exercises at these consist mainly in essays, orations, and debates ... Between ourselves and the different societies, secret as well as open, the most cordial relations continue to exist, and we earnestly desire that no untoward circumstance may in the future, occur to mar this spirit of harmony.” Sigma Phi then was, in spite of its Greek name, more literary society than fraternity. In later years, some of the alumni whose names appear in the Photeinian as members of the society have listed their fraternity membership as Beta Theta Pi. Some have claimed membership in Sigma Phi, and some have claimed no fraternity affiliation.

Sigma Phi Epsilon (Rhode Island Alpha chapter) existed at Brown from 1912 to 1919, living in South Caswell Hall and North Hope College.

Sigma Phi Sigma (Sigma chapter) was established in 1929, when the local fraternity, Tau Delta Epsilon, formed by members of Bear Club a year earlier, affiliated with the national fraternity. In 1935 the affiliation was dropped and the fraternity once more became the local Tau Delta Epsilon.

Theta Delta Chi (Zeta chapter) was established in November 1853. Its first members were a group of Brown students who had previously applied to the Union College chapter of Sigma Phi for a chapter. The fraternity at Union, wanting to know more about the Brown men, sought help from John Turner, a Union College student from Providence. Turner, a Theta Delta Chi, decided to keep them for himself, gave the Sigma Phis at Union bad references so that the Brown group would be rejected, and subsequently saw them initiated into Theta Delta Chi. Five of the nine active and eight graduate members who fought in the Civil War were killed, but John Hay 1858, secretary to Abraham Lincoln was able to save the life of his Confederate fraternity brother Clarence Bate ’58. After the war, according to an article by Lucien E. Taylor 1895 in the Brunonian, “the Charge survived, under discouraging circumstances till 1879, when preferring non-existence to a lower standard, it surrendered its charter.” The fraternity was reinstated at Brown in 1887. In 1909 Theta Delta Chi moved into a house which had been purchased by the University and leased to the fraternity. They moved from 81 Waterman Street to 36 Prospect Street, before purchasing the house at 50 Waterman Street from George S. Baker in 1925. After Theta Delta Chi’s charter was revoked by the University in 1985, the members continued to meet off-campus and initiate new brothers.

Theta Nu Epsilon is described in Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities as “primarily ... a social fraternity for sophomores, accepting into membership members of other fraternities.” It was founded at Wesleyan University in 1870, and Beta Upsilon chapter was established at Brown in 1900. Baird’s Manual continues, “This society was so loosely governed nationally, however, and the behavior of its membership in many institutions so unrestrained the fraternity fell into disrepute, and most fraternities prohibited their members from joining it.” Whatever the reason, the only members of Theta Nu Epsilon who were listed in the Liber Brunensis belonged to the classes of 1903 and 1904. While the names of active members appeared in scrambled letters and symbols, as if to preserve their anonymity, the real names of the Class of 1903 members were revealed after their sophomore year.

Zeta Psi (Epsilon chapter) was established on April 21, 1852. After occupying rooms in Slater Hall, in 1917 Zeta Psi purchased a house at 48 College Street. After the fraternity moved to the Wriston Quadrangle, the University agreed to lease the house to a person who wished to convert it into apartments, with two conditions – that Brown could reclaim the house when needed and that the apartments be available to Brown personnel. In 1960 the building was needed for rehearsal rooms and studios for the Department of Music. When the Music Department found new quarters on Young Orchard Avenue in 1979, the Classics Department moved into 48 College Street, which was renamed Macfarlane House in honor of Kilgore Macfarlane, Jr. ’23. Zeta Psi began to initiate women members in 1983, and in 1986 withdrew from the national fraternity to become Zeta Delta Xi.