History Statement, 1871-2009
The Delphic Society was founded in 1871 at the Geneseo Normal School in upstate New York. With affiliations at other schools, the literary society became known as The Delphic Fraternity. Delphic eventually became a statewide fraternity with chapters at Oneonta, Jamaica, Cortland, New Paltz, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, NY and Mansfield, Pennsylvania. By the late 1930s, only the Zeta chapter at New Paltz remained officially active. In the fall of 1962, the organization became a legal not-for-profit membership entity by incorporating as The Delphic Fraternity of New Paltz, Inc. In 2003, the Theta chapter at Binghamton was founded, becoming the first Delphic chapter established in the 21st century. In the spring of 2009 the Kappa chapter was formed at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. making it the first chapter to be chartered outside the Northeast Region. Today the organization is incorporated as The Delphic Fraternity, Inc., and does business as Delphic of Gamma Sigma Tau Fraternity. In the fall of 2009 the organization became 138 years old.
The historic Zeta chapter of Delphic was founded at the New Paltz Normal School in 1899. In the 1950s, the chapter had a brief affiliation with a national organization. In the 1960s Delphic at New Paltz was the largest and most respected fraternity on campus. However in the early 1970s, because of turbulent times and the decline of student interest in Greek life, the chapter became inactive.
In the fall of 1986, twelve young men became interested in re-establishing the Delphic Fraternity. They were also interested in creating the first multicultural Greek letter organization at SUNY New Paltz. At the time, only predominantly white and predominantly black organizations existed on campus. Of the twelve men interested in re-establishing Delphic, five were white, five where Latino, one was African-American and one was Asian-American. With hard work and determination, the group reactivated a historic organization and created the most culturally diverse fraternity at New Paltz. In March of 1987, the College at New Paltz fully recognized Delphic of Gamma Sigma Tau Fraternity.
Since 1987 the fraternity has promoted multiculturalism via community events, workshops and forums, and relationships with culturally diverse student and Greek letter organizations. We have also incorporated multicultural themes into our membership process and actively recruit members of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Our membership is also religiously diverse with brothers of Christian and Jewish faith. Since the 1960s Delphic brothers have culturally been of African, Arabic, Asian, Caribbean, German, Greek, Irish, Israeli, Italian, Latino, and Russian descent.
Delphic of Gamma Sigma Tau Fraternity is one of the oldest independent fraternities in the country and the first official multicultural fraternity formed on the East Coast. We are pioneers in the concept of multicultural Greek life and will continue to promote our Delphic history and the idea of multiculturalism well into the 21st century.
