Phi Mu Delta () is a small, national fraternity founded on March 1, 1918 at the Universities of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. The fraternity is focused on the ideals of democracy, service, and brotherhood.

History

Phi Mu Delta was originally derived from the National Federation of Commons Clubs (NFCC), which had formed at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

in 1899. Rumblings of interest toward forming a Greek letter organization were the subject of extensive correspondence between chapters in 1917 and 1918. Clarence Dexter Pierce, one of the fraternity's founders, petitioned the NFCC to form a Greek letter fraternity at its 1918 NFCC meeting. His intent was to bring all 19 active Commons Clubs chapters into this new organization which he had named Phi Mu Delta. At a subsequent Commons Club conclave at

Massachusetts Agricultural College The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a Public university, public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricu ...

, now UMass, held on , chapters from four colleges initially agreed to join the organization. These were the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

, the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, m ...

, the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

and

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

. But upon their return, alumni of Union College's Commons Club, upon hearing the news refused to allow their undergraduate chapter to join. Thus today, the Fraternity recognizes three founding chapters: * ''Nu Alpha'' - Connecticut * ''Nu Beta'' - New Hampshire * ''Nu Gamma'' - Vermont These three drew lots to determine which would be named as the ''Alpha chapter''; the Greek letter ''Nu'' was a reference to their New England region. Phi Mu Delta became a junior member of the

North American Interfraternity Conference The North American Interfraternity Conference (or NIC; formerly known as the National Interfraternity Conference) is an association of intercollegiate men's social fraternities that was formally organized in 1910, although it began at a meeting ...

(NIC) in 1923, and then a senior member in 1930. It remains a member of the NIC today. The fraternity expanded slowly during the 1920s, merging or expanding to seven additional chapters by 1930. Expansion of the Fraternity was slowed during the great depression. Phi Mu Delta merged with another fraternity, Delta Alpha Pi in 1934-1935, gaining three chapters, all of which closed shortly afterward. In 1936 one of the founding chapters, the University of Vermont, also closed. By the end of World War II, the Connecticut chapter had also closed. After WWII the fraternity expanded more rapidly, coinciding with a general increase in fraternity enrollment. This trend petered out by the late 1960s, and by the late 1970s the organization was making plans to shut down. A reorganization effort centered on the

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ...

chapter, stabilized the fraternity, and prompted a resurgence in growth. It was at this time that the University of Vermont was recolonized. In the early 1980s, the organization rewrote its constitution. During the 1980s, the fraternity only gained one chapter ( California University of Pennsylvania). The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage
Since then the fraternity has expanded steadily. In 2006, the fraternity established an Executive Director position. In 2015, the National Office was moved to Westmont, New Jersey.

Symbolism and traditions

March 1 is celebrated each year as Founders' Day. The badge of the Fraternity is a black triangle, bordered with pearls, with the letters , , and , rendered in gold, and set about a sapphire center stone. The coat of arms displays a lion bearing a shield, under which runs a ribbon with the Greek letters of the fraternity's name. The new member pin is a simple triangle, with three sections, each bearing one of the three colors of the fraternity along with the scales of justice. The colors of the fraternity are Princeton orange, black and white. The flower of the fraternity is the jonquil. The fraternity's new member manual is titled, ''The Oracle'', and was first published in 1998. Its current edition was published in 2018.

Chapters

* List of Phi Mu Delta chapters

Notable members

Some of the notable members of the fraternity include: *

Roger Blough Roger M. Blough (January 19, 1904 October 8, 1985) was the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the United States Steel Corporation for 13½ years, from May 1955 through January 1969. In this position, he is best known for servi ...

(1904 – 1985) – Chairman of US Steel Corporation * Bill Gardner (b. 1948) – Secretary of State, New Hampshire * Dan Gwadosky (1954 – 2011) – former Secretary of State, Maine; Speaker of the House of Representatives * Tyler Hinman (b. 1984) - six-time winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and software developer * Theodore H. Kattouf (b. 1946) – former US Ambassador to United Arab Emirates and Syria *

Chuck Mather Charles V. Mather (April 17, 1915 – May 20, 2006) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Kansas from 1954 until 1957, compiling a record of 11–26–3. Mather was the high school coach of Do ...

(1915 – 2006) – former football coach for the University of Kansas *

Dick Muri Richard Walter Muri (born November 30, 1953) is an American politician. He is the appointed Mayor of the Town of Steilacoom after longtime Mayor Ron Lucas stepped down for health reasons in March 2021, before passing away just weeks later. He is ...

(b. 1953) – Pierce County, Washington council member; former US Congressional candidate *

John Rigas John James Rigas (November 14, 1924 – September 30, 2021) was an American businessman who was one of the founders of Adelphia Communications Corporation, which at its peak was one of the largest cable TV companies in the United States. He wa ...

(b. 1924) – former CEO of Adelphia Communications Corporation; former majority franchise owner of the Buffalo Sabres (NHL); convicted of fraud *

Robert Rounseville Robert Rounseville (25 March 19146 August 1974) was an American actor and tenor, who appeared in opera, operetta, Broadway musicals, and motion pictures. Career Rounseville was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He made his Broadway debut in a sma ...

(1914 – 1974) – tenor on Broadway and in opera * George Wiley (1931 – 1973) – civil rights leader; chemist * Harrison Richardson (1930 - 2009) - American lawyer and politician from Maine * Jim Hazlett (1926 - 2010) - American sports figure who was head football and baseball head coach for several universities in the northeastern United States * Frank Burrill (1906 - 2001) - Archbishop of Chicago for the Episcopal Church *

Peter George Peterson Peter George Peterson (June 5, 1926 – March 20, 2018) was an American investment banker who served as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973, under the Richard Nixon administration. Before serving as Sec ...

(b.1926) - businessman, investment banker, philanthropist, and author, who served as United States Secretary of Commerce in the Nixon Administration * Leon J. LaPorte (b.1946) - is a retired United States Army General who served as Commander, 1st Cavalry Division from 1995 through 1997 and as Commander, United States Forces Korea until 2006.

References

External links

PhiMuDelta.org
{{North American Interfraternity Conference 1918 establishments in the United States North American Interfraternity Conference Student organizations established in 1918