Chi Psi

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Chi Psi is a fraternity consisting of more than 30 chapters (known as "alphas") at American colleges and universities. It was founded on May 20, 1841, by 10 students at Union College with the idea of emphasizing the fraternal and social principles of a brotherhood, rather than the literary characteristics of the seven existing societies (the earliest of which was Phi Beta Kappa at William & Mary). In addition, Chi Psi was the first fraternity to establish a house, at the University of Michigan in 1845.

One of the founding brothers at Union was Philip Spencer, who was later hanged aboard the ship USS Somers for an alleged mutiny plot. Several years later, the Spencer incident became the basis for a Herman Melville novella, "Billy Budd."

Chi Psi's official colors are royal purple and gold. All chapters refer to their houses as "Lodges" because the first house in Ann Arbor, Michigan resembled a hunting lodge. Chi Psi's central office is in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Active chapters

As of 2006, Chi Psi consists of 31 alphas:

Alpha Pi (Union College)
Alpha Phi (Hamilton College)
Alpha Epsilon (University of Michigan)
Alpha Sigma (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Alpha Beta (University of South Carolina)
Alpha Gamma (University of Mississippi)
Alpha Omicron (University of Virginia)
Alpha Chi (Amherst College)
Alpha Psi (Cornell University)
Alpha Nu (University of Minnesota)
Alpha Iota (University of Wisconsin)
Alpha Rho (Rutgers University)
Alpha Xi (Stevens Institute of Technology)
Alpha Alpha Delta (University of Georgia)
Alpha Beta Delta (Lehigh University)
Alpha Delta Delta (University of California, Berkeley)
Alpha Epsilon Delta (Northwestern University)
Alpha Zeta Delta (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Alpha Eta Delta (University of Oregon)
Alpha Theta Delta (University of Washington)
Alpha Iota Delta (Georgia Tech)
Alpha Tau Delta (University of the South)
Alpha Chi Delta (Clemson University)
Alpha Omicron Delta (Washington & Lee University)
Alpha Mu Delta (Rollins College)
Alpha Xi Delta (Texas Tech)
Alpha Upsilon Delta (Wake Forest University)
Alpha Sigma Delta (Duke University)
Alpha Pi Delta (North Carolina State University)
Alpha Omega Delta (George Mason University)
Alpha Rho Delta (Miami University)

Notable alumni

Links and references

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