On March 3rd 1950 Kappa Chapter of Kappa Delta Phi Fraternity was founded at Southern Connecticut State University.
Kappa Chapter of Kappa Delta Phi
From the 60th anniversary year book.
On March 3, 1950, the Executive Committee of the National Fraternity, Kappa Delta Phi, and members from Alpha Chapter at Bridgewater State Teachers College installed the charter member of Kappa Chapter at the State Teachers College in New Haven, Connecticut. These members were junior and senior men who signified their desire to join at a meeting on February 6, 1950.
The New Haven State Teachers College Chapter of Kappa Delta Phi is the first one in Connecticut and the first educational fraternity at the college. It came at a time when the New Haven State Teachers College was contemplating construction at a new location.
Connecticut was one of the first states to recognize the value of special preparation for elementary teachers, and in 1893, an act of the legislature established a State Normal School at New Haven. Under the terms of the act, the New Haven City School District was required to furnish suitable buildings as practice schools in connection with the teachers-training department of the Normal School.
Until 1930, a two-year curriculum leading to a diploma and temporary teaching certificate was offered, but in that year, a three-year elementary curriculum was inaugurated. In 1937, the state legislature established the New Haven State Teachers College as a four-year college, granting the degree of Bachelor of Science.
In 1946, four new programs, leading to a Bachelor of Science Degree, were added to the curricula of the New Haven State Teachers College. These include the following: the preparation of teachers in the elementary and secondary schools in art and physical education; the training for school and public librarians; and a special curriculum for nurses.
A program of graduate study leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Education was initiated in 1947, under the cooperative administration of the Department of Education, Yale University, and the New Haven State Teachers College.
In 1947, the State Legislature passed a bill for the purchase of thirty-seven acres of land as a new campus for New Haven State Teachers College. The new campus will ultimately accommodate 1,850 students. Actual construction began in the Spring of 1950.
Kappa Chapter of Kappa Delta Phi was the outgrowth of several years of effort on behalf of the men in the class of 1950. In 1949 this group formed a men’s club but expressed their desire to join a fraternity which had a1ready been established in the field of education. The selection of Kappa Delta Phi came after many months of correspondence to various fraternities in the field by Richard G. Rausch and Donald Rogers.
In October of 1949, the Student Council at New Haven State Teachers College unanimously passed a resolution introduced by Richard Rausch, President of the Student Council, to establish a chapter of Kappa Delta Phi on the campus. A planning committee drew up a constitution which was strengthened by the guidance of Mr. L. Franklin Moore, professor of social science at the college, and Mr. Leonard Joll, professor of Education and a life member of Kappa Delta Phi, Delta Chapter. The Faculty-’Student Affairs Committee took the matter of establishing the fraternity under study and in January 1950 this committee approved the new organization.
On February 5, 1950, Richard Rausch, Donald Rogers, and Eugene Sivek traveled to Boston to meet with the Executive Committee of Kappa Delta Phi. The committee welcomed the admission of New Haven State Teachers College and was especially impressed with the local constitution which is a guarantee against all discrimination. All junior and senior men with a “C” average are given a bid for membership.
Kappa Chapter was given the “go ahead” signal on February 6, 1950, when Dr. Samuel M. Brownell, President of the College, approved the creation of the fraternity. The next day Donald Rogers was elected president of the chapter; Michael Nicefaro, vice-president; Mark Carlucci, corresponding secretary; Ernest Marzullo, recording secretary; Eugene Sivek, treasurer; Frank Gentile, marshal; and Richard Rausch, Chapter representative. Mr. Leonard Joll was elected faculty advisor of Kappa Chapter and Mr L. Franklin Moore, Mr. Joseph B. Hoyt, Mr. Marcellus N. Brown and Mr. Warren G. Hill were elected honorary members of the Chapter.
Our new chapter has many plans for activities which it will sponsor: included are plans for a scholarship to be issued to a needy and deserving student. The Charter members of the Kappa Chapter are:
- Ward Bing,
- Marcellus Brown,
- Mark Carlucci,
- Dominic Colandrea,
- Richard Dargan,
- Pasco R. D’ Aunno,
- Ralph Domino,
- Mario A. Fappiano,
- Ralph DeLucia,
- Frank A. Gentile,
- Norman Henchel,
- Warren Hill,
- John Hughes,
- Leonard W. Joll,
- T. Mitchell Kyte,
- Alfred LaMarche,
- John McDonnell,
- Ernest Marzullo,
- John Molloy,
- Franklin Moore,
- Michael A. Nicefaro,
- Carl Paight,
- Ralph Perschino,
- Andrew Porto,
- Salvatore Polio,
- Richard G. Rausch,
- Donald W. Rogers,
- John Ryan,
- Harold J. Saleh,
- John Shmidt,
- Joseph W. Schmidt,
- Eugene A. Sivek,
- Henry Tiedemann,
- Irving Toles,
- Charles Twyman,
- Richard T. Wood,
- G. Wesley Washington,
- Joseph B. Hoyt,
- William Muir,
- Carl H. Larson,
- Ralph Luciano,
- Anthony J. DeFrancesco,
- Charles Mortara,
- Norman Karkut,
- and Russell Barril.
