THE SIGMA CHAPTER CENTENNIAL
charter line. Members of the March 1922 charter line for the Sigma Chapter included St. Louis, MO, natives William Parker, Leander Parker, John William Corneal, and Richard A. Jackson. Char- ter line members Garrett A.H. Price and Merle L. Ross were students at Michi- gan State Normal. In 1925, African American and white students organized the "Negro-Cauca- sian Club" to challenge the University's policies regarding segregated dances and the swimming pool in the Michi- gan Union. The club was one of the first interracial college organizations in the country. The spirit of activism in the chapter started early as Sigma Chapter initiate John William Corneal, and Clarence W. Norris (Sigma 1924) were among the twenty-six students that signed the "Petition of Recogni- tion." The petition's aim was "to work for a better understanding between the races and the abolition of discrimina- tion against Negroes." One Black U-M student wrote, "(the club) helped relieve the Negro student's sense of isolation." Province History Sigma Chapter is the first single letter undergraduate chapter in the Northern Province and the second chapter established in the province after the Detroit (MI) Alumni Chapter. In 1923, the Fraternity assigned Sigma
Chapter to Region 6 with Detroit (MI) Alumni and Cleveland (OH) Alumni chapters. In 1924, Sigma, Detroit (MI) Alumni, Cleveland (OH) Alumni, and Phi chapters were members of Region 2. In 1926, these chapters were mem- bers of the newly created Great Lakes Central Province, later named the Great Lakes Province. In 1935, the Fraternity renamed the Great Lakes Province as the Northern Province. Big Ten Conference and Single Letter Chapters When Sigma Chapter was chartered, the chapter joined fellow Kappa Alpha Psi single-letter chapters Alpha (Univer- sity of Indiana-Bloomington), Beta (Uni- versity of Illinois-Champaign), Gamma (University of Iowa), Zeta (the Ohio State University), Theta (Northwestern University), Iota (University of Chicago) and followed in 1924 by Psi Chapter (University of Minnesota) whose host schools were members of the Big Ten Conference. The University of Chicago withdrew from the Big Ten in 1946. Nu Chapter joined this affiliation when the chapter moved from Indiana Central College to Purdue University in the late 1960s, fol- lowed by Eta Chapter when the Univer- sity of Nebraska moved to the Big Ten in 2011.
Captain J. Hurlong Scott. Kappa Alpha Psi Journal: May 1920.
First Quarter Century After its chartering, Sigma Chapter experienced peaks and valleys with its membership, including years of inac- tivity. The highlights for the chapter during its first 25 years was serving as the undergraduate host chapter with the primary host chapter, the Detroit (MI) Alumni Chapter, for the 17 th Grand Chapter Meeting in December 1927 and the 28 th Grand Chapter Meeting in December 1938. Also, during this time, future frater- nity dignitaries become members of the chapter: • The 20 th Grand Polemarch Dr. William Thomas Carter (Epsilon 1929), the 26 th Laurel Wreath Laureate, transferred from Lincoln (PA) University to the University of Michigan, where he earned a B.A. degree in 1933, earned an M.A. degree in 1934, and Ph.D. in 1941. While at Michigan, he led Sigma Chapter as its Polemarch and served as Grand Strategus [1933] under the eighth Grand Polemarch Dr. Jesse Jerome Peters. • The 38 th Laurel Wreath Laure- ate, the late Honorable George
W. Crockett, Jr. (Pi 1928), former judge and U.S. Con- gressman (D-MI), also served
Kappa Alpha Psi Journal: May 1938
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