THE SIGMA CHAPTER CENTENNIAL
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Acknowledges the Centennial of the University of Michigan Chapter, the Sigma of Kappa Alpha Psi
By Aaron Williams and Alan S. White
Arbor. The new chapter, the University of Michigan Chapter, the Sigma of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., was the Fraternity's 28 th chapter and its 18 th undergraduate chapter. The charter members of the Sigma Chapter were Joseph Hurlong Scott, Rudolph Thaddeus Ash, and George Ray Dorsey. The three men arrived on the U-M campus between 1920 and 1921. A World War I veteran, Scott was initiated into the Fraternity via the Epsilon Chapter. He served as the chapter's inaugural Polemarch and earned an M.D. degree from U-M in 1923. Ash, an Alpha Chapter initiate, transferred from Indiana University- Bloomington to Michigan, played varsity baseball, and was the first Vice Polemarch. Dorsey, an initiate from the Zeta Chapter, transferred from Ohio State University to Michigan. Wade Langford, a 1917 Alpha initiate, was the chapter's inaugural Keeper of Exchequer. Charter Line At the time, most African American U-M students lived in the Old Fourth ward due to segregation, as did Scott and Ash. Dorsey lived some distance away in the
F or the past few years, the the chapter's chartering on the Univer- sity of Michigan campus. As with other centennial and anniversary celebrations within Kappa Alpha Psi since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, plans were modified to ensure the health and safety of attendees. The centennial celebration has multiple events occurring through- out 2022, both in Ann Arbor, MI, and Detroit, MI. members of the Sigma Chapter and its alumni have planned the centennial anniversary of University of Michigan Established in 1817, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, is one of the country's most prestigious and re- nowned public research universities and is the oldest university in Michigan. Its student enrollment in the Fall of 2021 topped a record 50,000 students and its endowment is valued at over $17 billion. The University of Michigan (U-M) is also a member of the Big Ten, a Divi- sion 1 athletic conference comprised of major research universities with large financial endowments and strong aca- demic reputations. In 1853, Michigan admitted its first
Negro student, Samuel Codes Watson, as a medical student, but it was not until the 1870s that more minority students entered U-M. In the succeeding de- cades, Negro student enrollment slightly increased. As with other northern pre- dominantly white colleges and universi- ties of that period that accepted Negro students, U-M provided no on-campus housing for Negro students, and campus facilities such as the student union and school swimming pool were off-limits to Negro students. During the early 1900s, U-M had "house clubs" that provided students housing, similar to fraternities. One of the first house clubs for African American students was the Monon Club
located at 144 Hill St. The U-M early NPHC Greek- letter fraternities had Monon Club members, including Sigma Chapter charter initiate Leander C. Parker.
Old West Side neighborhood of Ann Arbor. They all lived at separate ad- dresses. More importantly, to the chap- ter's history, three charter initiates of the Sigma Chap- ter lived in the
February 22, 1922 On February 22, 1922,
the Grand Board of Direc- tors, led by the Third Grand Polemarch George F. David II, approved a petition to establish an undergraduate
Members of Sigma Chapter
chapter of the Fraternity on the cam- pus of the University of Michigan-Ann
same house as Ash. Immediately after chapter charter- ing, Sigma Chapter had its inaugural
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