As the door closed on the final moments
of the nineteenth century, a handful of undergraduate men began meeting between
classes at City College of New York. Some had known one another before they graduated
from the New York public school system, and they had wanted to continue their friendships
at City College. The obvious solution was to join a fraternity, but there was just
one problem:
This was no ordinary group of undergraduates. They were an affiliation
of Jews and Christians; and, at the time, entry to all-Jewish and all-Christian
fraternities was barred to individuals and groups that mixed religions.
Given that their close association
challenged the conventional behavior of the day, perhaps it was only natural that
the undergraduates took an even bolder step by founding their own Fraternity on
December 10, 1899. Symbolized by the Greek letters Delta, Sigma, and Phi, the Fraternity
was based on the principle of the universal brotherhood of man.
Uptown from City College at Columbia
University, the second chapter was organized in 1901 but did not become a chapter
until 1902. To differentiate the chapters, the first was called Insula, from the
Latin word insularis, since it was on the island of Manhattan. Because of its location
in Morningside Heights, the new chapter was called Morningside.
Delta Sigma Phi was incorporated in New York City on December 2, 1902. Five members of Insula signed the incorporation papers, with the stated objectives of disseminating "the principles of friendship and brotherhood among college men, without respect to race or creed." The early organizers, including Meyer Boskey (Insula), also drafted Delta Sigma Phi's laws, requiring open membership to all college men of quality. The purpose of the Fraternity, written the same year, 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, by a clean, pure, and honorable chapter home life."
Although such principles would later invite problems, the basic concept of the Fraternity - embracing brotherhood and congeniality without regard to religion or race - not only attracted other idealists at City College of New York, it set the stage for expansion onto other campuses.