UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- As the members of Penn State’s chapter of Phi Sigma Delta celebrate the group’s 90th anniversary this fall, they’ll also be celebrating a shared achievement that’s having a lasting impact on students who never set foot inside the fraternity. Although the “Phi Sig” house closed in 2001, the fraternity’s alumni have remained connected to each other and to Penn State, and they will announce at their reunion in October that Phi Sigma Delta has donated more than $1 million in scholarship support.
“For many of us, our four years at Penn State and at Phi Sig shaped the rest of our lives,” said Jim Meister, the organization’s scholarship chair and a 1959 Penn State graduate. “Now that we’re in a position to give back, we want to help the next generation experience everything Penn State has to offer.”
As Meister recalls, Phi Sig provided members with a home, leadership opportunities on campus, and a tight-knit social network that allowed schools like Penn State to feel small. From family-style dinners in the fraternity house to mixers with sororities, members were never without a social outlet.
And the connections they made lasted well beyond graduation. It was through a mixer that Meister met his wife of 55 years, Janet, and he explained that such life-long pairings were not uncommon.
The friendships members formed with one another were no less significant. “When you live in a house with 30 to 50 other guys, sharing each other’s joys and sorrows at a formative time in your lives, you create a bond that is not easily broken,” explained Jonathan Bernstein, a 1995 Smeal College of Business graduate and the current president of the fraternity’s educational foundation.
Life in Phi Sigma Delta held steady through 1969, after which organizational changes at the national level caused the fraternity to close intermittently before shutting its doors for good in 2001. But the graduates of Phi Sigma Delta continued their involvement with one another and with Penn State as members of the fraternity’s educational foundation.
At a reunion held every fall, foundation members convened at University Park to cheer on the Nittany Lions, catch up with old friends, and make new memories at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. It didn’t take long for fundraising to become an integral part of this tradition.
“It’s when guys come back for these reunions, that’s when people really get emotional about Penn State,” said Meister. “You can feel the love for Penn State pouring out of those guys. I never raised money easier in my life.”
Phi Sig member Harold “Hal” Hein, class of 1945, was the driving force in raising funds for scholarships in memory of loved ones. Whatever members donated, the foundation would match, drawing on income from membership dues and the fraternity house, which they rented for many years before selling outright.
Since 1976, Phi Sigma Delta has established a total of 28 scholarships: 16 through their foundation, four at the University level, and eight in various colleges across the University. The scholarships have benefited students with strong academic records and considerable financial need. The group has also given $25,000 to the Nittany Lion Club to support Penn State student-athletes.
Beyond the philanthropy generated through the foundation, the fraternity’s 646 Penn State alumni — living and deceased — have collectively given close to $40 million to the University.
Through the years, the brothers have received encouragement from the scholarship recipients themselves, who have expressed time and again how Phi Sig’s philanthropy has given them hope despite dire financial circumstances.
“It feels really good to help kids who couldn’t otherwise come to Penn State,” Meister said. “I hope we’ll push the total even higher in the future.”
The future of the organization now rests largely in the hands of the fraternity’s younger alumni, like Bernstein, who occupy the foundation’s key leadership positions.
“Seeing what these men have built and grown over the years is truly inspiring,” said Bernstein. “They are a proud group, and for good reason. It’s an honor to carry this tradition forward.”