The Gamma Chi Chapter

Kappa Alpha Psi, a college Fraternity, now comprised of functioning Undergraduate and Alumni Chapters on major campuses and in cities throughout the country, is the crystallization of a dream.  it is the beautiful realization of a vision shared commonly by the late Revered Founders Elder Watson Diggs; John Milton less; Byron K. Armstrong; Guy Levis Grant; Ezra D. Alexander; Henry T. Asher; Marcus P. Blakemore; Paul W. Caine; Edward G. Irvin and Georgre W. Edmonds.

 

It was the vision of these astute men that enabled them in the school year 1910-11, more specifically the night of January 5 1911, on the campus of Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, to sow the seed of a fraternal tree whose fruit is available to, and now enjoyed by, college men everywhere, regardless of their color, religion or national origin.  The Constitution of KAPPA ALPHA PSI is predicated upon, and dedicated to, the principles of achievement through a truly democratic Fraternity.

 

Chartered and incorporated originally under the laws of the State of Indiana as Kappa Alpha Nu on May 5, 1911, the name was changed to KAPPA ALPHA PSI on a resolution offered and adopted at the Grand Chapter in December 1914.  This change become effective April 15, 1915, on a proclamation by the then Grand Polemarch, Elder Watson Diggs.  Thus, the name acquired a distinctive Greek letter symbol and KAPPA ALPHA PSI thereby became a Greek letter Fraternity in every sense of the designation.

 

From its inception, and for the next six years, Brother Diggs served as the Grand Polemarch of KAPPA ALPHA PSI Fraternity.  Through his leadership and indefatigable application, augmented by the efforts of B.K. Armstrong, and John M. Lee, who comprised the remainder of the original Grand Board of Directors, the infant Fraternity was guided through the most perilous years of its life.  Accordingly, much of the credit for the organization's survival through this period is shared by these three men.

 

For years, in order to safeguard the ritualistic secrets of the Fraternity, Diggs laboriously typed and bound the rituals.  It was not until he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he met an old German printer in whom he had confidence, that he entrusted the esoteric materials of the Fraternity to a commercial printer.

 

In the spring of 1912 Diggs wrote in a little blue examination book the first Constitution, which was adopeted in 1920 with but a few revisions.  This edition remained in use until 1926 when it was supplanted by the codified edition jointly written by Diggs, J. Emest Wilkins, and W. Ellis Stewart.  In 1957 the Constitution again underwent major revision.

 

Now substantially established and provided with a Constitution, Ritual, coat of arms, motto, and guiding hand in a dynamic Grand Chapter, the Fraternity was ready for expansion.  In the summer of 1912, Diggs visited the University of illinois at Urbana, Illinois, where he met Earl B. Dickerson, President of the Old "Illini Club."  This club constituted the nucleus of the University of Illinois Chapter, the Beta, which was chartered on February 8, 1913.

 

KAPPA ALPHA PSI Fraternity, relatively early, envisioned the modified attitudes of college administrators and administrations regarding certain frivolous activites previously identified with Greek letter organizations; and it initiated appropriate changes.  Among the early changes brought about was the banning of padding and other forms of physical abuse, and the introduction of constructive endeavors during pledgeship and probation.  To date, KAPPA ALPHA PSI Fraternity is organizationally and administratively mature.  It moves steadily toward a tomorrow of promise, productivity and influence.