History of Phi Delta Theta
Pennsylvania Omicron Chapter

A Brief History of Phi Delta Theta
Over 150 years ago, six men assembled at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio to discuss the organization of a new Greek-letter society. On December 26, 1848, these six men, referred to venerably as "The Immortal Six" resolved to create Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Since those first historic meetings, Phi Delta Theta has become one of the largest and most successful Greek-organizations, with over 170 chapters in the United States and Canada and over 200,000 initiated members world-wide.

The Pennsylvania Omicron Chapter at Shippenburg University
In early 1996, eight men met in the recreation room of Naugle Hall, a campus dormitory at Shippensburg University. It was there that Justin Kaufman described his visit to the Phi Delta Theta chapter at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Kaufman’s older brother Clinton is a Phi from RIT, and while visiting him Kaufman had seen a successful Phi Delta Theta chapter in action. Convinced that the ideals and beliefs of his brother’s fraternity were exactly what was missing at Shippensburg, Kaufman set out to form a chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Shippensburg University.

On April 4, 1998, the Pennsylvania Omicron Interest Group was officially colonized. The colony by now had twenty-nine members, each distinctly individual, but also bound by a bond of brotherhood as strong as any other. These twenty-nine men will forever be remembered as the Founding Fathers of Pennsylvania Omicron.

Less than a year later, on March 26, 1999 the Founding Fathers and four members of the first pledge class known as the Alpha Class were initiated into Phi Delta Theta. The following day, the fraternity was officially installed as a chapter and granted a charter from Phi Delta Theta headquarters.

May our future hold as much success as our past.

History written by Brother Richard Dietz
completed by Brother Justin Kaufman

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