Members of the Phi Sigma Tau local fraternity at the University of Toronto, 1922-23
O Canada!
Celebrating 100 Years in the True North "Fraternity Becomes International" So declared the headline of the article in the February 1924 issue of The Phi Gamma Delta that chronicled the chartering of the Tau Kappa Chapter at the University of Toronto on December 8, 1923. By the time of the installation of Tau Kappa, the idea of expanding to Canada had been discussed in Phi Gamma Delta for at least 25 years. At the Fraternity’s 1898 Convention, T. Alfred Vernon (Yale 1875), who chaired the Committee on Expansion, proposed expanding to McGill University and the University of Toronto. The idea was pushed for the next 15 years, but those supporting the move could not gain the approval of enough nearby chapters. In 1914 Canada, with the rest of the British Empire, entered World War I, and the issue was not pursued again until after the war. Around 1920, official inquiries for the University of Toronto resumed, and this time the effort was successful. On September 6, 1923, the Diamond Jubilee Ekklesia, meeting in
Pittsburgh, unanimously passed a motion that a charter be granted to Phi Sigma Tau, a local fraternity at the University of Toronto. Phi Gamma Delta was by no means a pioneer among social fraternities in moving into Canada. Zeta Psi, in 1879, was the first fraternity at the University of Toronto, and at the time of Phi Gamma Delta’s entry there in 1923, 10 other international fraternities were already established.
Phi Sigma Tau to Tau Kappa In 1907 four friends at the University of Toronto agreed to establish a new college fraternity. They grew their number to 13, who constituted the first chapter of Phi Sigma Tau Fraternity. From the outset, it was the intent of the founders to eventually petition some national fraternity for a charter, but the group decided to concentrate its efforts for several years in perfecting its organization and laying a sound foundation. THE PHI GAMMA DELTA
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