History
Alpha Gamma Upsilon
Alpha Gamma Upsilon was founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the now defunct Anthony Wayne Institute on October 10, 1922. Herbert R. Carter, Indiana; Homer H. Iden, New Mexico; Alfred C. Koeneke, North Dakota; and Dale R. Odneal, Missouri, founded it.
The aims and purposes of AGU were "to promote friendship, to encourage excellence in scholarship, to develop good character, to uphold the ideals of the colleges where its chapters are located, and to foster the ideals of Christian conduct and good citizenship."
AGU had a supreme council, which met yearly as the representative form of government of the chapters. When this body was not in session the National Board of Directors and an appointed Executive Secretary governed the fraternity. Each chapter had a graduate advisor that acted in an advisory capacity.
The Badge of the order was a black diamond-shaped shield, which bore the Greek Letters, a chain of two links, and a miniature dagger. The colors of the fraternity were black and gold.
In the early to late 1950's, many chapters of AGU were beginning to close. In 1958, because of a GMI induced crackdown on alcohol use among its students and an old policy of inspecting the private property of the campus social organizations, GMI petitioned the national fraternity, then located in Royal, Oak, Michigan to rescind or revoke the charter of the Delta Chapter of Alpha Gamma Upsilon.
GMI
GMI originated in 1919 as an evening school by an association of General Motors™ Flint factory employees under the direction of the late Albert Sobey, for whom the present day Sobey Scholar Award is named. Five years later, in 1924, the famed cooperative program was started. Its primary interest was Industrial Engineering. In 1926, General Motors Corporation adopted GMI. In 1982, General Motors sold GMI and it became a private institute. On January 1, 1998, GMI EMI became Kettering University.
Delta Chapter of AGU
It was during a 1931 spring track meet that the spark of fraternalism hit 11 future engineers, the soon to be Delta Chapter of AGU. Edward John and ten others were competing against a rival college, Detroit Institute of Technology, when they met and became impressed by the men of the two-year old Gamma Chapter. By January 4, 1932, meetings were being held in John's room at 211 Cartier Street with the National Board of Directors lead by National President, Clayton M. Force. Twelve days later, on January 16, 1932, the Delta Chapter of AGU was installed at General Motors Institute by a special meeting of the Supreme Council.
The Chapter Houses
The first house occupied by the fraternity was located at 1321 Glenwood in May of 1932. In November o 1932 the second house, located at 1902 Cartier Street was leased. The next move was to 1526 West Court in 1937. Eventually, enough capital was amassed to purchase a residence with the help of D. Richard Veasy (GMI then AGU Chapter Graduate Advisor, at 104 Welch Boulevard. The final and present house is at 1702 Flushing Road. The house was built in two sections: the living quarters in 1957, and then, in 1963 the living room and basement. This house was paid for in new debidenture bonds and savings of the house corporation (AGU Inc.).
Phi Gamma Delta
In 1961 the Delta Chapter hosted the national convention of AGU in Flint. At that time, the Delta Chapter paid more national dues than all of the other chapters combined, so they decided to break away. In May of 1963 the school put the house on social probation and during that semester the house jokingly called itself the 1702 Men's Club. By the time we got off probation the national had released us and we needed a new name. It seemed like it would be easy to just drop the Upsilon, so we became the Alpha Gamma Fraternity. That lasted about a year before we became FIJI in 1964.
A local fraternity has many problems with no supportive national organization; just one of which is chapter continuity. With eyes to the future, the chapter began an extensive 10-month search for a national fraternity that would be responsive to a growing chapter and a newly accredited college. By February of 1964, the A and B section chapters had settled on two nationals, Sigma Phi Epsilon, a rapidly fraternity founded in Richmond, Virginia, and of course, Phi Gamma Delta, headquartered at the time in Washington D.C. It is interesting to note that in 1900 on the University of Richmond Campus, the Rho Chi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta would rarely take ministry students into the brotherhood; hence, Sigma Phi Epsilon was formed of students who could find no other fraternal organization.
We do not know what transpired that influenced the Alpha Gams to go FIJI, but we do know that the executive secretary, Bill Zerman, was impressed enough with the Alpha Gams that for the first time in Phi Gamma Delta history they seriously went into competition for the right to charter a new chapter. We are also the only chapter of Phi Gamma Delta that was installed without regular colonization. On September 1, 1964, the Alpha Gamma Fraternity petitioned the archonate, and undergraduate membership of the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. Sometime during the 116th Ekklesia (September 2-5, 1964) in French Lick, Indiana, the membership of the fraternity granted our charter as the Alpha Gamma Chapter.
On Saturday, November 7, 1964, we became the 89th chapter of Phi Gamma Delta, 74 undergraduates, Dick Veasy, the alumni advisor to AGU, and also our first Purple Legionnaire, and our first four faculty advisors, Oliver A. King, Charles R. Knutsen, Lawrence Swanson, and Lee Roy Middleton, were initiated on that day. Archon President, Hugh J. Baker and Archon Secretary, Fred L. Dixon signed our charter.
The Pains & Closures:
In 1933 Anthony Wayne Institute closed in the fall of 1933 due to the depression. In May 22 of 1965 the Lycoming chapter became the Gamma Rho Chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi. At this point Detroit Tech, Indiana Tech and Eastern State received colony status from Alpha Sigma Phi. Then in December of 1965 a merger agreement was signed with Alpha Sigma Phi. The chapter at Lawrence Tech did not participant in the merger and the chapter at Tri-State joined Sigma Phi Epsilon in 1968.
Sparky:
(Written by Richard H. Borchert (AGU GMI ''51) & edited by Keith Councell (FIJI Kettering ''03)
Clayton M. Force was a strange character. He was always happy, except when AGU converted to one of the big, more nationally recognized fraternities. That broke his heart to some extent. Our chapter of AGU was the premier chapter and he took great pride in having us as part of his brood.
He had polio at sometime in his life, as he always used two canes to walk and was very unsteady on his feet. He was always dignified and dressed very well and conservatively. From what graduate brothers say he knew every member and alumni by name. When he arrived for a visit, the house always rushed to the door to greet him and he loved that attention. He was sort of a spiritual leader and head of the clan. Even battle hardened veterans from WWII felt his energy and devotion to AGU. He was always welcome at his frequent visits and would listen enraptured at anything and everything reported on individual and chapter accomplishments. And he would give us a verbal report on whatever was going on at the other AGU chapters. He worked tirelessly to try and get more recognition for AGU nationally and to try and get more chapters at other schools.
Sparky had his problems. He hated to delegate anything as National president. An example of this can be found when after graduation, he asked me to become national treasurer. There was never an election to that position he simply appointed himself. As President and Secretary, another guy as Vice President and the Treasurer I was treasurer for a year and never saw the books. I quit after one year as there was nothing to do but attend meetings where decisions were always made by decree by Sparky. Don''t get me wrong on the latter, he always had AGUs best interests at heart.
All the members that knew him counted themselves lucky to have him always cheering us on and supporting us in everything we did that was positive with every ounce of hise energy.
Last Updated Sunday, December 23 2007 @ 03:57 PM EST; 2,368 Hits 