HISTORY
In 1918, at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy,
a bulletin announced that students of various denominations or backgrounds
need not apply for membership into existing fraternities. This prompted
thirteen men and three women to form a society, later renamed The
Pi Phi Fraternity, that was dedicated to nonsectarian beliefs and leadership
in the profession of pharmacy. The group grew to other campuses and
within just a few years, Rho Pi Phi gained international status with the
addition of chapters in Canada and Puerto Rico.
History of Delta Kappa Sigma Chapter
Delta Kappa Sigma Fraternity was conceived in the
hearts and minds of a small group of pharmacy students at the University
of Illinois back in 1921, who at that time, found dissatisfaction with
the standards and criteria for admission enunciated by the only other pharmaceutical
group on the College Campus. The Fraternity was chartered by the State
of Illinois with the consent of the University authorities, as a democratic
organization, which was declared to be non-sectarian. The portals of Delta
Kappa Sigma were thrown open to any young men in attendance at the University
of Illinois College of Pharmacy who qualified on the basis of scholarship,
character and personality without regard to race, creed or color.
On November 24, 1959, the Delta Kappa Sigma Fraternity
and the Alumni Association merged with the International Rho Pi Phi Fraternity.
The student chapter is now known as the Delta Kappa Sigma student Chapter
of the International Rho Pi Phi Pharmacy Fraternity.
Rho Pi Phi recognizes the progress that has been
made by the women in the profession of Pharmacy. We have therefore amended
our constitution as of September 1971, to permit the female pharmacy student
to enter our fraternity on the same basis and with the same qualifications
as the male student.