Delta Sigma Pi

Welcome to the Kappa Lambda Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi Welcome to the official website of the Kappa Lambda Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi. Please feel free to browse the website and learn about our prestigious organization here at Binghamton University. Delta Sigma Pi is a Co-ed professional business fraternity that brings students of similar interests to one place. In our fraternity, students foster a life long brotherhood and help each other in achieving the foremost level of commercial standards. We are Binghamton’s oldest and largest Professional Fraternity, with the greatest number of alumni. With over 770 alumni now in the workforce… we’ve got connections!

The Purpose of Delta Sigma Pi

Delta Sigma Pi is a professional fraternity organized to foster the study of business in universities; to encourage scholarship, social activity and the association of students for their mutual advancement by research and practice; to promote closer affiliation between the commercial world and students of commerce, and to further a higher standard of commercial ethics and culture and the civic and commercial welfare of the community.

History of the Kappa Lambda Chapter

On March 25, 1980, a group of business students led by graduate business students Joseph Krupka and Leon S. Niles held their first meeting to form a local co-ed fraternity. In the weeks that followed, a chapter was written up, funds were raised and officers were elected. The two founders Joe Krupka and Leon S. Niles, were both alumni Delta Sigma Pi Brothers from the Epsilon Lambda Chapter at the Rochester Institute of Technology. On May 2, 1980, the first members of Sigma Mu Beta were initiated as Brothers. There were 20 charters of Sigma Mu Beta.

The major objective of Sigma Mu Beta at that time was to become a chapter of the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi. Many requirements had to be met, including Financial, Membership, Community Service, and Professional requirements. Sigma Mu Beta completed all of its requirements, including initiating 43 new brothers. The final requirement was to submit a petition for charter to Delta Sigma Pi. The petition was accepted by Delta Sigma Pi on December 23, 1980.

Much planning and time went into the installation and the banquet following it. On February 28, 1981, Sigma Mu Beta became the Kappa Lambda Chapter. We were the 196th chapter of Delta Sigma Pi, and the first new chapter in the Eastern Region in 10 years. The Kappa Lambda Chapter had 52 initiates, including 48 undergraduate Brothers and 4 faculty Brothers.

History of Delta Sigma Pi

It was in the autumn of 1906 that the history of Delta Sigma Pi began. Life was much different then as there were only 46 states and the major method of transportation was by train. The airplane was flown for the first time only a few years earlier. The automobile was still a “toy” for the well-to-do; there were no talking movies; radio was very new and most homes were without a telephone. It was a time after what is termed the Industrial Revolution and before the times of world wars, the Great Depression and the Age of Consumerism.

In the academic world at that time, the formation of schools of business was relatively new. There were only a handful of such schools in the United States in 1906 and one such school, known as the School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance existed at New York University. There were approximately 300 students in attendance at this school at that time, including 70 freshmen representing the Class of 1909. Four members of that Class of 1909, previously unknown to each other, soon were to start an association that would become what is known today as the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi.

Alexander F. Makay	Harold V. Jacobs	Henry A. Tienken	Alfred Moysello

These four young men met in their classes and were drawn closer together as they shared the same subway route on their way home every evening. Occasionally, other classmates came along, but the four were regularly together and it was this time together that gave them the opportunity to get to know one another, to become friends, and to discuss topics of mutual interest.

One such topic was school affairs, and the domination of one organization on campus. In the opinion of these four men, the overwhelming majority of students at New York University were ignored by this organization and, as a result, restricted from membership. Alexander F. Makay, Alfred Moysello, H. Albert Tienken, and Harold V. Jacobs decided they should do something for the benefit of the student body at large. They decided to form a fraternity that would be open to all business students, regardless of any religious affiliations.

The response to their idea of a new type of business fraternity was very positive and, somewhat to their dismay, they found students who wanted to be initiated immediately into the proposed fraternity which was not yet organized.

Makay and Jacobs had been members of high school fraternities so they were assigned the duty of drafting a Constitution, Bylaws, and a Ritual. The Constitution was finally drafted and adopted in the fall of 1907, yet the selection of a name for the Fraternity was not completed. Nevertheless, these four men proceeded with the next major order of business which was the election of officers. Makay was elected the first president.

The year of 1908 was notable for the establishment of many aspects of the Fraternity which are still in existence today. While the Constitution and Ritual had already been approved, there was still no badge or “pin” as it was called at that time. In addition, the Fraternity still lacked a name. The name of the organization had a high priority and the four founders agreed upon the three words that best expressed the meaning of their Fraternity and had a friend of Moysello translate them into Greek with the resulting designation: Delta Sigma Pi.

The Preamble, adopted in 1915, read as follows:

A fraternity organized to foster the study of business in universities; to encourage scholarship and the association of students for their mutual advancement by research and practice; to promote closer affiliation between the commercial world and students of commerce, and to further a higher standard of commercial ethics and culture and the civic and commercial welfare of the community.

It was not until the 1947 Grand Chapter Congress in Minneapolis that the Preamble was changed to include the words “social activity.”

The year 1921 was indeed an outstanding one for the Fraternity. Although a Congress of Chapters was not held during this year, a special meeting of the Board of Directors was held in New York on May 14. It was at this meeting that the Red Rose was adopted as the official flower of the Fraternity and the official pledge button, later called the pledge pin was finally designed and approved. In addition, there was some question concerning the date of the actual founding of the Fraternity, and Founder Alexander Makay, who was present at this meeting, informed the group that “Bert Tienken, Al Moysello, Harold Jacobs and I founded the Fraternity at New York University in 1907, the exact date being November 7 of that year.”

It was also during the early years of the 1920s that the Fraternity began an unprecedented level of expansion. Seven chapters were installed during 1921 and eight in 1922. By the mid 1920s, over 3,000 students of business had been initiated by Delta Sigma Pi and the roll of chapters was approaching 40.

With a greatly expanded chapter roll, the Eighth Congress of Chapters in 1926 again set a record of having the largest attendance of any congress held up to that time. The official registration totaled 167.

In 1928, the Professional Inter fraternity Conference was organized with Delta Sigma Pi as one of the charter members. The organization flourishes today as the Professional Fraternity Association, of which Delta Sigma Pi is a charter member. By 1964, Delta Sigma Pi had grown to a Fraternity with more than 130 chapters and the membership had grown beyond the 50,000 member level.

With social change came the implementation of Title IX of the Higher Education Act and with it a ruling that college professional fraternities, sororities, and organizations were discriminating by having single-sex membership requirements. Also facing the Fraternity as challenges during the 1970s were rampant inflation and the faltering economy.

Perhaps the most significant issue within Delta Sigma Pi during the early 1970s however, was the question of coeducational membership. At the 29th Grand Chapter Congress in 1973, a constitutional amendment to open the membership of the Fraternity to women was defeated. At the next Grand Chapter Congress in 1975, the Grand Chapter directed the Board of Directors to evoke emergency powers as provided in the Constitution and Bylaws to act on the coeducational question as required. The Board of Directors authorized the chapters to immediately initiate qualified female business students on November 7, 1975. It was not until 1977 in Toronto that the ratification of coeducational membership in the Fraternity was passed by the Grand Chapter Congress.

Today, Delta Sigma Pi has over 250 chapters and over 260,000 members and has truly become a leader in the development of professional young men and women.