President's Message

President's Message

Almost two centuries ago, the foundations of our Fraternity were created by the founding fathers. They created an association based upon the ideals of friendship, knowledge, service, morality, and excellence. This year, we celebrate not one but two significant anniversaries – the 175th anniversary of our founding and the 100th anniversary of the chartering of our first international chapter at the University of Toronto.

Our history teaches us how Phi Gamma Delta began with six men and one chapter in 1848. The Delta Association founded by these men has endured and flourished. In 2023, we celebrate 175 years since those humble beginnings; growing into an international fraternity of 140 chartered and provisional chapters with more than 9,500 undergraduate members and more than 207,000 lifetime initiates.

In 1923, the 75th Ekklesia met in Pittsburgh and granted a charter for a chapter at the University of Toronto. With Tau Kappa’s charter, Phi Gamma Delta became an international fraternity with our first chapter at a university outside what was then the contiguous 48 United States.

Our story is truly remarkable. Phi Gamma Delta has endured some of the most extraordinary events of the 19th and 20th centuries. Our roots began before the American Civil War. Phi Gams have survived the Global Flu Pandemic of 1918, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and COVID-19. In 1848, there were only 30 American states, and Canada was but a single province comprised of Canada East and Canada West. The Confederation of Canadian Provinces we know today had not yet formed.

Ours is an enduring story of men like you and me who, despite incredible challenges over the last 175 years, remain firm in our faith in the principles of our Fraternity and persevere in fostering and growing our brotherhood throughout North America. Much has changed in the world since 1848, much must continue to change. Our future requires that Phi Gamma Delta men proactively respond to our greatest challenges. Our highest priority remains the safety and wellbeing of our members and working to eliminate hazing. Our future depends on our ability to take a strong stand against it, making hazing as well as other egregious behaviors anomalies of the past. Eliminating these will not be easy, yet change has begun.

Our response has been to develop a comprehensive New Model that teaches continuous, values-based recruitment and new programming that provides the framework for a fulfilling undergraduate experience. We are well underway in implementation and expect more than 60% of chapters to have eliminated pledging in favor of the New Model by the end of fall 2023, and before the requirement to do so in July 2024.

Few will note nor long remember these simple words written in this magazine. What truly matters is the legacy we leave to those that follow. For 175 years, Phi Gam men have embodied the ideals of our Fraternity in their daily lives, faced the challenges of their day and we have flourished. For 100 of those years, our brothers in Canada have joined us in encouraging other like-minded men to be a part of the extraordinary brotherhood that is Phi Gamma Delta. Our longevity provides testament that our brotherhood so conceived and so dedicated to the principles of friendship, knowledge, service, morality and excellence can long endure. And that, wherever we find men of character, resilience, and perseverance who are willing to embrace the challenges we face and foster the genius of Phi Gamma Delta in their daily lives, our Fraternity will continue to transform the lives of its members, and each of us will aspire to dedicate our lives to the improvement of mankind.

I am, and always will be, very proud to be a Phi Gam!

Bill Hunnicutt (Texas Arlington 1981), Archon President

Perge!