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Fraternity History
Pi Kappa Alpha was founded on March 1, 1868 at the University of Virginia inroom 47 West Range. Six extraordinary men were part of the founding of Pi Kappa Alpha,some playing a crucial role during the Civil War and others being educated to the highest degree. These men wereFredrick Southgate Taylor, Littleton Waller Tazewell (Bradford), William Alexander, Robertson Howard, Julian Edward Wood, and James Benjamin Sclater Jr. They would soon lay the foundations for a Fraternity that would grow to “be as strong as an oak tree” that would send young men out into the world ready to fully develop their intellectual and personal potential.
For several years the Fraternity struggled to get its feet grounded, but by adhering to the values on which it was founded, the brotherhood continued to grow. Pi Kappa Alpha caught a breath of fresh air when the second generation of founders, including Robert Adger Smythe, Theron Hall Rice, Howard Bell Arbuckle and John Shaw Foster, reorganized the Fraternity at the Hampden-Sydney Convention of 1889. Since then the Fraternity has never looked back, growing into the established international Fraternity that it is today. The Fraternity has boasted such influential alumni as Jon Stewart (host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show"), Tim McGraw (country singer), Horace Grant ( NBA basketball star) Bobby Bowden (Flordia State head football coach), and many congressional figures such as former senator Strom Thurmond.
The essence of the Founders' vision for Pi Kappa Alpha can be found in its Preamble. A committee was first suggested by Brother William Alexander "to draw up a statement of the origin and the organization of the Fraternity." The committee was composed of brothers Robertson Howard and Littleton Waller Tazewell. The resulting statement is now referred to as the Preamble... |
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"For the establishment of friendship on a firmer and more lasting basis; for the promotion of brotherly love and kind feeling; for the mutual benefit and advancement of the interests of those with whom we sympathize and deem worthy of our regard; We have resolved to form a fraternity, believing that, thus we can most successfully accomplish our object."
Robertson Howard
Julian Edward Wood
James Benjamin Sclater, Jr.
Frederick Southgate Taylor
Littleton Waller Tazewell
William Alexander
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 By 1889, there would be a total of ten charters granted; however, only five remained active. This was the year of a most important convention. The Hampden-Sydney Convention brought the likes of Theron Hall Rice, a transfer to Virginia from Southwestern, who represented Alpha; Howard Bell Arbuckle, a recent graduate and then a teaching fellow at Hampden-Sydney, who represented Iota; and John Shaw Foster, a delegate from Theta Chapter at Southwestern (now Rhodes College). Lambda at the Citadel was to have been represented by Robert Adger Smythe, but a telegram from Charleston explained, "no holiday given us. Impossible to come. Act for us in everything." This convention is of major importance, as it is considered the rebirth of the Fraternity. Together, Theron Rice, Howard Arbuckle, Robert Smythe, and John Foster came to be known as the Junior Founders.
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Chapter History
The Nu Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha was founded at Wofford College on February 23, 1891 byRobert Adger Smythe in the West Bell Tower of the Old Main Building. There were ten men at the founding of the chapter. Nu chapter thrived for fifteen years before all fraternities were banned on Wofford’s campus by the school’s Board of Trustees in 1905. After its refounding in the 1950's, Pi Kappa Alpha solidified its position on the campus with a new fraternity house that is still in usetoday. It has also proved its staying powerby being the 13th oldest chapter to be founded and the 10th oldest operating chapter today. Similarly some of its alumni include former college presidents, Wofford’s former chaplain Rev. Talmage Skinner, former South Carolina governor Ibra C.Blackwood, Federal District Judge Henry Floyd, South Carolina Supreme Court Justices, Pi Kappa Alpha International Chaplain Luke Mabry and former Pi Kappa Alphainternational president D. Mark Anderson.
For more information regarding the history of Pi Kappa Alpha, please visit our national site here.
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