Pi Sigma Chi Fraternity

The History of Pi Sigma Chi rises from the depths of a well-established National fraternity. That fraternity was known as Phi Kappa Theta, which has a deep, rooted History of almost 100 years, and around 65 chapters around the country.

A unique event took place at Pratt Institute in the spring semester of 1991, in room 415, at Leo J. Pantas dormitory: a fraternal Brotherhood was born. After struggling as Phi Kappa Theta, a National Fraternity for three years, what will become known as Pi Sigma Chi's founding Fathers decided to venture on a new journey. Their journey bears the name of Pi Sigma Chi. The events that catapulted the birth of this eternal organization are fascinating. How the organization managed to stay together for three years as a colony is difficult to comprehend.

Our History started when a student and member of Phi Kappa Theta at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo Campus decided to transfer to Pratt Institute, and his name is Steve Grosso. With Steve's transfer came a dream of starting his own chapter of Phi Kappa Theta at Pratt. In the spring of 1989, Steve's dreams became a reality, thus started the Phi Kappa Theta -New York Pi Sigma Chapter at Pratt. Though everything started off great, Steve lacked the leadership and motivational skills to keep things going. So, by the fall of 1989, things began to fall apart. That is when Andre "Guido" Garabedian became the President of the ailing chapter. As a freshman Andre had a lot of energy and kept things going with no help from any of the other Phi Kappa Theta Brothers. Things went along for a while, but the motivation began to slip away once again. Again, Phi Kappa Theta was left in Dire Straits. Only Andre remained to try and build something from the ashes of Phi Kappa Theta.

During the Fall of 1990, Andre managed to find a few good, motivated people. These new men would soon become the key for survival and future for the newest fraternity on Pratt's Campus. These men were Jeff "Roc" Schorr, Angel "Blunty" Flores, and Ryan "Elf" Anderson. These men, along with Andre were the start of something new. They had no formal training nor were they pledged. They did what came naturally to them, and their leadership skills emerged. It was not long before they all began to feel the pressure from the Phi Kappa Theta National Office. The National Office was only interested in the amount of people they had, not the quality of people. They had no concern for quality. It was just business to them. All they were concerned about was numbers of people and the money they brought in. They all felt that this was not the right direction to go. They knew that if they had four strong and motivated people that it was better than having ten weak ones. The pressure from the National Office began to take its toll on everyone.

It is important to note that the Phi Kappa Theta Chapter at Pratt never evolved into a productive organization. It was not until Andre Garabedian, Jeff Schorr, Angel Flores, and Ryan Anderson came along and managed to make some drastic decisions, that anything got done. The four of them together had a fraternity, because the true definition of Fraternity is Brotherhood. They certainly had a Brotherhood. They were all close friends. They wanted to do something but the pressure from the National Office was just too much. On top of all that they did, it did not agree with their methods and ideals.

All those four men had to keep them going was the dream of making a difference and their friendships. It was in April of 1990, when Andre and Jeff discussed the future of Phi Kappa Theta at Pratt. After this private discussion they both agreed to call an emergency meeting to discuss our options for the future.

This meeting took place in Jeff's room in the Pantas dormitory. Every conceivable option was discussed and debated. They all decided that the National Office was not giving the help or advise that they needed. It was in full agreement that they should go our separate ways. So, they decided to break all our ties with Phi Kappa Theta and become a local fraternity. After that decision was made, the next problem was what our name should be. As Phi Kappa Theta they had the local name of "New York Pi Sigma" which was our local affiliation to National. They added the Greek letter "Chi" to the Pi Sigma and a new organization was started.

Right from the start they realized that they must start all over. They recognized the need for detailed constitution that would spell out our beliefs on the way Pi Sigma Chi should be run and what it should stand for. Brother Andre and Brother Jeff set it upon themselves to write the Constitution. Although our constitution has gone through several drafts, it has fundamentally stayed the same. The ideals and beliefs have come to be known as the Five Pillars that make up the Temple of Pi Sigma Chi.

At this moment of our History it is important to know why these four men set out to start something new, something different. They all had discussed what they believe in. One of the most important issues that came up was that a high majority of Fraternities seem to be racially segregated. That is something that the four of them did not want to happen. If you look at most Fraternities today, you can see that they are mostly white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, or of an Italian background. It is also important to mention the existence of the "Big 8" of the Black Fraternities or the existence of the Jewish Fraternities. It is crucial to understand why the Black and Jewish Fraternities exist to understand why Pi Sigma Chi exists. These organizations exist because it was still considered socially unacceptable to have an African-American or a Jew in your Fraternity up until the 1970's. Of course, today such discrimination would be illegal, but they all know that it would be very ignorant to think that it does not exist.

They set out to be a non-biased group of people. The only bias that they had was against those that did not want to see such a group as ours come together. Throughout our History people from other organizations have been afraid of them. They just can't understand that a group different people with different backgrounds, races, and religions can come together and be a success and be better than them. Our fraternity will survive on our diversities.