LOOK BACK KAPPA HISTORY
Significant Decisions Made at Grand Chapter Meetings In addition to fellowship, the primary purpose of the GCM is for Grand Chapter delegates to conduct the business of Kappa Alpha Psi, such as electing Grand Chapter Officers, ratifying changes to our Constitution and Statutes, endorsing numerous resolutions, and bestowing Grand Chapter Awards. The History of Grand Chapter Meeting article series did not focus on key decisions made by the Grand Chapter at previous Conclaves. However, below is a sampling of a few significant Grand Chapter actions.
Cleveland Ferguson, III (Tallahassee (FL) Alumni 1996) and Deputy Editor Aliatu “Ali” Burke (Cincinnati (OH) Alumni 2020). Ferguson and Burke’s support of the proposed article was critical, as Grand Historian Scott and Williams requested space in consecutive Journal issues leading up to this Spring 2025 issue. To accommo- date the article, the Journal leadership had to designate which Journal issue each of the five-part series would appear with the final article published in the pre-Conclave issue. Once the schedule of article issues was set, Grand Historian Scott and Williams collab- oratively worked on developing the topics and scope of each article in the series and ensuring each article met the Journal’s article submission.
Year
Grand Chapter Meeting
Decision Made
Authorized the establishment of the Kappa Alpha Nu Journal .
1913
3rd, Indianapolis, IN
1922
12th, Chicago, IL
Overwhelmingly adopted the Guide Right program as the Fraternity’s first national service Voted to bestow its newly created Laurel Wreath Award to Elder W. Diggs and Robert S. Abbott Passed a resolution granting Grand Polemarch Earl B. Dickerson the authority “to divide the KA Ψ Fraternity into provinces in the year 1926” Voted and approved the Scroller Club as the official pledge program of the Fraternity
1923
13th, Louisville, KY
1925
15th, New York, NY
1938
28th, Detroit, MI
1949
39th, Nashville, TN
Ratified a resolution to abolish all forms of hazing in Kappa Alpha Psi
1951
41st, Indianapolis, IN
Authorized the establishment of the newly created “Gulf Province" (now called the Southern Province) Approved a committee recommendation to employ an executive secretary (now called executive director) on a full-time basis
1952
42th, Cleveland, OH
1953
43rd, Chicago, IL
Approved the creation of the Elder Watson Diggs Award
1957
47th, Los Angeles, CA
Voted to discontinue further affiliation with the American Council on Human Rights (ACHR)
1959
49th, Philadelphia, PA
Retired the Northwestern Province
1980
63rd, Atlanta, GA
Officially recognized the Silhouettes as an auxiliary to the Fraternity Ratified a motion to move GCM meeting intervals from 18-months to 24-months
1985
66th, Washington, DC
2019
85th, Philadelphia, PA
Reestablished the office of the Grand Keeper of Records
REFLECTIONS OF EARLY CONCLAVES
past Grand Polemarch, past Grand Officers, and Grand Chapter awardees about their respective impressions of the early Grand Chapter Meetings. Williams concluded these first-person recollections were excellent resources for today's and tomorrow’s readers,
providing a glimpse into Conclaves of the 1910s through the 1940s. Additionally, the authors current senior Kappas to contribute to the series and share their impressions of the first Conclaves, which took place from the 1960s to the 1980s. ♦
When researching previous Journal issues and other archival fraternity materials for this article series, Williams noticed various quotations from now-deceased members from
62 THE JOURNAL ♦ SPRING 2025
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