Talk:List of Phi Sigma Kappa chapters/Archive 1

Archive 1

Creation

I created this page in accordance with Wikipedia policy of not having an entire chapter listing on a fraternity's article page. Jmlk17 05:56, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Notes Section

Take a look at item N in the Notes section. Something looks wrong with this: "n. ^ The Epsilon Kappa chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa separated from the national organization in 1998 and became Phi Sigma Chi fraternity." Did Stevens Point leave as Phi Sigma Chi? Or as Phi Sigma Phi? They currently are listed as the Kappa Colony of that organization. Jax MN (talk) 19:51, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

Without clear information from the PSP website or volunteers, this looks like it could be a situation where the name was chosen as a short-term fix, prior to shifting allegiance to PSP... However, my recollection from visiting there is that this had long been a struggling group, with less than a dozen members. PSE's 'bar' for acceptable operations was low: what existed may not have been recognizable by PSK as a functioning chapter. Chronically requiring re-start efforts, it is more likely that Epsilon Kappa may simply have died, then been restarted in a Quixotic effort with a handful of new members.Jax MN (talk) 13:19, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

This is not to denigrate the work of the struggling colony; not just now, but over the years. To my experience, PSE was setting itself and some of its smaller groups up for failure by awarding them chapter status without their achieving critical mass so that they could sustain themselves. Starting a chapter is easy, if you have a plan. But sustaining one is harder, and almost always requires solid housing, alumni coaching, and a culture of stretching toward goals. Stevens Point isn't a strong Greek school, but it has a handful of fraternities and sororities, and with the right coaching Epsilon Kappa could have been given 'stretch goals' to reach, which would have ensured stability, before allowing the false assurance to colonizing members that they may coast along because they had 'arrived'... Such premature chartering has killed many a chapter. Jax MN (talk) 13:19, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Regarding item O in the Notes section, on Epsilon Lambda. Was ΦΣΦ's Lambda chapter formed from a schism out of our merged Epsilon Lambda chapter? Both are active on campus as of 2013, The original ΦΣΚ chapter, Chi Pentaton is inactive, and with a younger date of founding it is reasonable that our chapter took on the Epsilon Lambda name. But where did ΦΣΦ's Lambda chapter come from? Jax MN (talk) 06:36, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

Found out... I learned that ΦΣΕ's Lambda chapter - clarify that: the actives - accepted the merger, but that some of their alumni at that time did not. These alumni chose to start a new chapter for the new entity, ΦΣΦ. At the same time, only a minimal amount of interest has been seen from alumni of the dormant ΦΣΚ group, Chi Pentaton. Still, now, with almost 30 years of alumni creation post-merger, Lambda Epsilon and their alumni gained since 1985 are doing well. Jax MN (talk) 20:23, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

By the way, this campus, at Eastern Michigan, is the only campus to host currently active chapters of both Phi Sigma Kappa and Phi Sigma Phi. Jax MN (talk) 13:19, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Bad Links

I've used National HQ's link list as well as my own web searches to update and add all the chapter website links I could find. The Rutgers site had a virus exploit as of 9-12-13, so I left that one off. Otherwise they're as current as I could find. These are notorious for changes though, so keep a watch on them. Jax MN (talk) 19:57, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

I've repaired as many of the reference links as possible, after finding some of them dead. Some referred to a PSK headquarters blog from prior to 2010, and were lost when the website structure was revised. These, I've removed. If those old blog postings are restored or otherwise become available, please add them. Also, I've found that it works better to use the <ref name="xxxx"> pair, instead of using the unnamed <ref> style of link. Jax MN (talk) 13:05, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

New Section, for Colonies

I added a new dialog under the main list for our colonies, and a colony list proper. This new section will help those seeking information on starting their own PSK group. As these come on board as fully initiated chapters my plan is to bump them to the main list. Again, a moving target. Please add links and new groups as they are announced. Jax MN (talk) 19:57, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

Blacklisted Links Found on List of Phi Sigma Kappa chapters

Cyberbot II has detected links on List of Phi Sigma Kappa chapters which have been added to the blacklist, either globally or locally. Links tend to be blacklisted because they have a history of being spammed or are highly inappropriate for Wikipedia. The addition will be logged at one of these locations: local or global If you believe the specific link should be exempt from the blacklist, you may request that it is white-listed. Alternatively, you may request that the link is removed from or altered on the blacklist locally or globally. When requesting whitelisting, be sure to supply the link to be whitelisted and wrap the link in nowiki tags. Please do not remove the tag until the issue is resolved. You may set the invisible parameter to "true" whilst requests to white-list are being processed. Should you require any help with this process, please ask at the help desk.

Below is a list of links that were found on the main page:

• https://phisigmakappabetaepsilon.shutterfly.com/

  Triggered by \bshutterfly\.com\b on the global blacklist

If you would like me to provide more information on the talk page, contact User:Cyberpower678 and ask him to program me with more info.

From your friendly hard working bot.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 17:03, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Fixed. I removed the shutterfly link, replacing it with the Tripod site. Jax MN (talk) 17:19, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Epsilon Tetarton, and other chapters that have left PSK

An anonymous editor adjusted the closure dates for Epsilon Tetarton, a chapter PSK had from 1952 to 1972 at Washington College in Maryland. The editor changed the closure dates, and changed the status to "underground." I reverted these, as the closure dates listed on this page have to do with PSK HQ's severing of a relationship with the group, and not with any lingering status as a local or underground fraternity. Further, PSK-owned groups are either Active, Inactive, or Colonies... There is no "underground" status. This group, if it does still exist, is not connected with Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity, Inc., whose headquarters is in Indianapolis, Indiana.

That said, the fact is that occasionally chapters have left the National, but still carry on in some fashion. Four formerly-active Phi Sigma Epsilon chapters withdrew, and formed Phi Sigma Phi in 1988. Two relatively young chapters in MD and NY exited, unhappy with the fact of paying for insurance, and named themselves chapters of Delta Beta Chi, which had been the local name of the original group, but these two clubs died soon after they left PSK. Phi Sig's Nu Deuteron chapter at Stanford exited to become a co-ed living house, ironically only a year before sororities were permitted back on campus. Their building is still called "Phi Sig" but has no connection with the national fraternity. And finally, Phi Sig's Dartmouth chapter, Tau, decided to go local after they had successfully argued for the change in policy that allowed PSK to welcome black students. To its credit, Phi Sig became one of the first, if not the very first, of the national fraternities to settle this divisive matter just two months after Tau left. Tau, in becoming Phi Tau, a local, used the occasion to avoid paying back a building loan.

Some of these chapters were liability risks, and were let go with mutual agreement. Some were heartfelt losses. But in all cases, PSK headquarters staff would welcome contact from an existing local that seeks re-connection with the national fraternity, either for historical purposes or to consider steps toward restoration. A larger national fraternity provides services that local alumni groups cannot, and in these hyper-litigious days, the protection of liability insurance for officers and members of 'national' fraternity chapters can save families from ruin. Jax MN (talk) 16:16, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

An interesting article with commentary from Stanford grads from the 1950s and 1960s. Phi Sig came out pretty well in the balance. These race, religion and co-ed issues that roiled campuses and the Greek system in those days were a significant problem for years, and I remain proud that PSK resolved the matter for their part so darn early. I wish we had Stanford and Dartmouth back. Jax MN (talk) 16:52, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

Adding photos to the gallery?

Wikipedia editors take copyright very seriously. Annoyingly so, for some of us non-lawyers in cases where we know darn well the original photographer wouldn't mind. However, those are the rules, and we need to follow them. I've recently expanded the photo gallery. Historical photos from prior to 1923 are fair game because they are now in the Public Domain, as long as they are properly sourced and dated. Photos taken after that require a release. I've gotten releases for several of the color shots and am working on more, and will post in groups when available. I think the contrast between the historical and modern photos makes the article more interesting. Down the road, perhaps we could attempt a collection - here or on the PSK National website - of as many quality chapterhouse photos as we can find. (By quality I mean, taken in good lighting, nice framing, on a day when the building is tidied up, etc.. Not snapshots of the aftermath of a party.)

I've adopted the screen-width gallery template for now. Syntax is <File:xxx.jpg|add your subtitle here> for each new photo. Send me a message on my Talk page if you need help uploading or citing a release for your photo. Jax MN (talk) 15:04, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

Where I've been able to scan them, I've added photos of PSK chapters to Wikipedia, and have linked to them within the reference column of the List of Phi Sigma Kappa Chapters page. Future editors may release low-res photos of other chapters and link them here too, using the GNU general release. --I uploaded photos that were approximately 140-200k in size, having compressed them and have retained higher-resolution versions that were not released.

To add photos to the reference column, use this format:

<sup>[[:File:Photo_1_Name.jpg|[pic1]]] [[:File:Photo_2_Name.jpg|[pic2]]]</sup>

(If you are looking at how I constructed that line, note its final use should be without the <pre> tags.) This will display the picture links in progressive "[pic1], [pic2]..." format, in superscript, so they retain the look of the other reference links. The "pic1" title is simply a short visible link name. Much more detail on each shot is then available when one clicks on the link and reads the description of each photo.Jax MN (talk) 13:43, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

@Jax MN, What about splitting off the photos as a new article on chapter houses. It chould be List of Pho Sigma Kappa chapter houses, with a table that has the photo in one cell and visible text in another (chapter, location, date). That would be consistent with the way NHR properties in a given locationa are listed. Rublamb (talk) 00:22, 16 August 2023 (UTC)