ZetaSkulls.com

About

PHI KAPPA SIGMA

Phi Kappa Sigma (ΦΚΣ) is an international all-male college leadership and social fraternity. Its members are known as “Phi Kaps”, “Skulls” and sometimes “Skullhouse”, the latter two because of the skull and crossbones on the Fraternity’s badge and coat of arms. Phi Kappa Sigma was founded by Dr. Samuel Brown Wylie Mitchell at the University of Pennsylvania. Mitchell recorded the initial ideas and concepts of Phi Kappa Sigma on August 16, 1850. He then began to discuss the idea with other students, first Charles Hare Hutchinson, and then Alfred Victor du Pont, John Thorne Stone, Andrew Adams Ripka, James Bayard Hodge, and Duane Williams. The seven men formally founded the Fraternity on October 19, 1850 becoming the founding fathers of Phi Kappa Sigma.  The International Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity website can be found at www.pks.org

ZETA CHAPTER

Zeta Chapter, the sixth chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma to be founded, was organized by William Lewis Neff, of Gamma Chapter (Lafayette College), while he was a student of law in the office of Colonel Reah Frazer.  Through a previous arrangement, Neff entered Franklin & Marshall College and petitioned Alpha Chapter for a charter to launch Zeta Chapter.  With the cooperation and participation of the founding Brothers of Zeta, Mark Kerne, William Richstein, Uriah Sandt, John Merrill Ruby, George W. Silvis, and William A. Duncan, the charter was officially issued on October 13, 1854.  At the time, Phi Kappa Sigma was the first and only Fraternity at Franklin & Marshall College.

In its history, Phi Kappa Sigma has operated in several residences, with the two most notable being 644-646 Race Avenue, better known today as the Business Office of F&M.  After being forced to sell the property due to financial troubles following the Great Depression, the Fraternity temporarily resided in 540 West James Street, before finally settling in its current home, 415 West James Street.

Contact the Alumni Association:

If you have any questions or comments please use our contact form below and we will respond to you as soon as we can.