Talk:Phi Sigma Kappa/Archive 1

Neutrality
The whole article seems to have been written from the point of view of the fratenity, see: "We have responded to these challenges by removing unwarranted restrictions on qualifications for membership..." That's fine for the organisation's own website but not good enough for an enyclopedia. --84.188.247.247 14:30, 23 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I just checked and could not find that sentence you cited. I am removing the POV notice from the page. --mcsteven 1:45, 10 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Check Turbulent times and you will see it there. Second or third sentence.


 * That chunk of text comes from Hills and a Star, Phi Sigma Kappa's membership manual. I'd guess that similarly-worded paragraphs are also likely to have come from that source.


 * Agreed. I removed this line: These, the Founders, were very intelligent and creative. Clearly a POV bias. —Preceding unsigned comment added by TheFireTones (talk • contribs) 20:29, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

For several years, under the radar of PSK staff and supporters, the tone of this article had shown a shift from the early 2006 Positive Bias to what I believe has been a Negative Bias, by virtue of the fact that general content and history have been minimal (no list of Founding Fathers' for example), but much space had been given to negative issues. Specifically, one section had been added about the 1956 secession of Dartmouth's Tau chapter, citing endemic racist policies. This was probably added by a Phi Tau co-educational fraternity member burnishing their image, as the facts show PSK's record on race relations is very favorable. Then, both the PSK article and PSE fraternity article (an entity owned by PSK) also had numerous sentences regarding Phi Sigma Phi, the offshoot group that formed under their Bro. Rockwell to fight the merger. Frankly, it gave far too much information on PSP relative to the PSK information in the article. In both cases, I revised factual errors and inserted a more balanced weighting of the text, and still plan to reduce the overall ink used to describe the Dartmouth situation, so it is not over-weighted. This will come after I (or we) write the history sections that are missing. --Jax MN (talk) 18:20, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

NIC Membership
Aren't we no longer a member of the NIC? --mcsteven 4:25, 15 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, we re-joined this year. That part is correct. --68.40.205.133 1:40, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Burl Ives
What source indicates that Ives was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa? Ives dropped out of school before 1931 and never graduated from Eastern Illinois. An article in the Eastern Illinois campus newspaper, the Daily Eastern News (April 27, 1995), states that Ives was a member of the Delta Lambda Sigma fraternity while at Eastern. See http://eiuhalloffame.com/burlives/ivesart3.html. Chironomia 09:46, 25 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Delta Lambda Sigma was a local fraternity that eventually became a chapter of PSK (http://www.phisigwiki.org/Delta_Lambda_Sigma) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mule1350 (talk • contribs) 20:12, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

History Format
I don't think the history section is sorted all that well. It's partially chronological but then also semi-sorted into areas. The best example is the Grand Chapter section which discusses the creation of the Grand Chapter in line with the history and then goes on to describe the Grand Chapter's specific structure and modern-day bylaws. I would suggest a layout of "Fraternity History" and then elements of the fraternity (creed, principles, flag...) and then the modern-day structure. I am perfectly willing to do this and probably will unless someone disagrees with the logic or it goes against the WikiProject style. --Corsulian 20:12, 10 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Corsulian, I agree with you. Subject to collaboration with y'all and with our esteemed Grand Historian, Al Shonk Jr., I am working on the following new sections for this Wiki page, under the following suggested titles:


 * The Cutter years, 18xx-19xx
 * The Signet, Phi Sigma Kappa's Groundbreaking Publication
 * 1900: Expansion into the West, and Places In Between
 * Effects of the Great Depression
 * Post-War Era Success
 * This section will include subheaders that shrink the Civil Rights section to an appropriate level of wording, nesting it and a new secton on co-educational pressure (?) within a 20-year period discussion rather than as an overblown separate heading.
 * The 1990s and Beyond: Change is the only Constant
 * Future Focus


 * In the Structures section, I plan to add this just above the section on the Foundation, as it appears to be missing:
 * Functions of Phi Sigma Kappa National Headquarters
 * --Jax MN (talk) 16:23, 20 September 2013 (UTC)


 * These edits are now accomplished, though the titles worked out differently than I'd projected back in September of 2013. Jax MN (talk) 18:01, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

Kenny Rogers
I've reached out to Kenny Rogers from Nationals about fair imaging some pictures. We'll see how that goes. Corsulian (talk) 15:52, 1 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Me too, wrote to Kenny just now. I'd like to participate in the addition of graphics. Have we any interest in adding chapterhouse photos? Jax_MN (talk) 20:18, 13 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I've recently received permission to post several images of jewelry, the Kinney Crest, and iconic images of chapter houses. Jax MN (talk) 15:44, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Medallion of Merit
We'll need to develop this, as a section or separate page. Suggestions? Jax MN (talk) 16:34, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

October 2013
An edit to the Phi Sigma Kappa entry changed "social and academic fraternity" to "social fraternity". While this may be correct as a colloquialism, it is not technically accurate: Collegiate fraternities of the NIC and NPHC refer to themselves as being both social and academic in nature. NIC fraternities often define an undergraduate focus, while the NPHC fraternities are more explicit in promoting alumni and non-collegian participation. These fraternities clearly understand they are of a different nature than Professional Fraternities or Honor Societies. of which user 199.2.205.143 cited two: Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Lambda Delta.

These distinctions have become a matter of settled history, as they have been used by the iconic fraternity reference manual, Baird's, for well over a century. Jax MN (talk) 16:32, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

What's up with...
...the three things that look like runes in the circle of their emblem? A2Kafir (and...?) 03:14, 26 April 2013 (UTC)


 * These symbols are the original emblem of our Fraternity from its earliest days, which for the first five years outsiders referred to us as "T, double T, T upside-down", according to Founder Brooks, quoted in Hills and a Star. Jax MN (talk) 15:15, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Chapter building photos
I've added several public domain chapter photos and other graphics for visual interest, both to the main PSK page and to the list of chapters. To date, these have been black and white. I've avoided color graphics at least at the upper portion of the page, with the view that these images should represent the era about which the text refers. Also, from a practical matter, finding non-copyright quality recent color photos of these buildings is a chore. I have a few: the gorgeous Gamma building, RPI's new 'church', Omega Deuteron, and certainly Delta's lovely structure. I planned to insert these in the gallery at the top of the List of Chapters page.

Also, recently, User ktr101 inserted a photo of Alpha chapter, at UMass, his own work, and one that is quite recent. This good faith addition was placed at the top of the article, well prior to the section that coincides with when that structure was actually built, which occurred almost 50 years after the birth of the fraternity itself. In our correspondence, he noted he had recently compiled a collection of photos of all UMass buildings, for another article or set of articles. I'm considering moving his photo down the page or removing it, to maintain the black & white theme of the chapterhouse graphics. The black and white image of this building, lower on the page, is set at an angle and is stylistically more timeless. Also, Phi Sigma Kappa's Alpha chapter building is still being remodeled, so for a legacy photo I'd prefer any new shot that gets wide dispersal to be cleaned up a bit, and cropped. I would assume that some landscaping is still pending and that several of the front windows are still to be painted. Your thoughts? Jax MN (talk) 16:35, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
 * I am down for whatever you guys decide to do, and I'll be more than happy to get a better shot of the UMass house in the coming weeks. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 03:57, 19 February 2014 (UTC)