Tau Phi Sigma

  Navy Blue   SilverSymbolGryphonFlowerDon Juan RosePublicationGryphon GazettePhilanthropyFight 4 Life InitiativeChapters6Headquarters, Illinois
United States

Tau Phi Sigma, (ΤΦΣ), was a multicultural service-oriented college fraternity, founded in 1992 at the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It expanded to six chapters in Indiana and Illinois, all of which are now inactive.

History

Tau Phi Sigma is a multicultural college fraternity, founded on November 11, 1992, at the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The organization's primary purpose is to ensure its members reach higher states of education and progress the cultural awareness of humanity in all parts of the globe while maintaining the values of brotherhood, equality, loyalty, respect, and pride. Since then the fraternity has expanded to eight collegiate chapters and two alumni chapters in the Midwest.^[1]

Founding

On the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, a group of thirteen students attending the university were unable to find a fraternity that satisfied their ideals of brotherhood. They intended to create a brotherhood that would encompass all ethnicities and backgrounds and make men of good character which would manifest itself in attaining a higher education, providing service to the community, and promoting social and cultural awareness.

The founding fathers of the organization devised a pledging process that would ensure fraternal bonds would develop and a true brotherhood would form. After twelve rigorous weeks of hard work, dedication, education, and discipline, ending on May 1, 1993, the first seventeen members of a fraternity they named Sigma Tau Phi emerged.

Another national fraternity had used the same name as early as 1918. As that group had merged into another NIC fraternity and was still known by them as a predecessor group, the new multicultural group at Illinois opted early to change its name from Sigma Tau Phi to Tau Phi Sigma to avoid any confusion.^[2]

The objectives of Tau Phi Sigma were:

• To stimulate the ambition of its members
• To prepare them for the greatest usefulness in the causes of humanity, freedom, and dignity of the individual;
• To encourage the highest and noblest form of manhood;
• To aid humanity in its efforts to achieve higher social, economic, and intellectual statues

Founding fathers

Tau Phi Sigma was founded by seventeen young men:

Symbols

The fraternity's public or open motto was Como Humanos Siempre Unidos, Como Hermanos Jamas Vencidos (As Humans Always United, As Brothers Never Defeated). Its colors were navy blue and silver. Its symbol was the griffin. Its flower was the Don Juan rose. Its principles or pillars were Equality, Respect, Unity, Loyalty, and Pride.

Philanthropy

Tau Phi Sigma was a service-oriented fraternity. To further research and development of major diseases such as cancer, diabetes, epilepsy and cardiologic conditions Tau Phi Sigma established the "Fight 4 Life Initiative" as its national philanthropy to support the following organizations:

• American Cancer Society
• American Diabetes Association
• American Epilepsy Society
• American Heart Association

Chapters

Name	Chartered	Institution	Location	Status	Notes	Reference
Alpha	November 11, 1992	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Champaign and Urbana, IL	Inactive		[3]
Beta	February 17, 1996	University of Illinois at Chicago, Dominican University, others	Chicago, IL	Inactive		[4]
Gamma	July 26, 1997	Purdue University	West Lafayette, IN	Inactive		[5]
Delta	September 12, 1997	DePaul University	Chicago, IL	Inactive		?
Epsilon	February 14, 1998	Northern Illinois University	Dekalb, IL	Inactive		[6]
Eta	June 13, 2009	Purdue University Northwest	Hammond, IN	Inactive		[7]
Zeta colony		Indianapolis Citywide	Indianapolis, IN	Inactive		?
Theta colony		Chicago State University	Chicago, IL	Inactive		?
Omega				Reserved		[8]

See also

• Service fraternities and sororities
• Cultural interest fraternities and sororities

References

External links

• Tau Phi Sigma National Website