Rho Iota Kappa
100 Year History
In 1908, 20 years after the establishment of the agricultural school which was the forerunner of the University of Rhode Island, Alpha Chapter of Rho Iota Kappa was born. Rho Iota kappa did quite well as the first fraternity on campus, changing its location once or twice until the long-standing house was built in 1928 just inside the college gates.
Priding themselves on being the first fraternity on campus, the members of Rho Iota Kappa were reluctant to go national although other national chapters were rapidly being founded. However, in 1956 the fraternity's membership, for some reason became low and a national pharmaceutical fraternity, Kappa Sigma Kappa, was allowed to move in for the upkeep of the house. An unusual situation thus occurred -- two fraternities living in the same house. The arrangement was temporary although it did serve to point up the need for strong national affiliation. In 1959 the chapter severed its brief association with Kappa Sigma Kappa.
Although the local fraternity became well established once again, most of the members -- seeking security, backing and a broad, modern outlook on fraternity life -- desired to become part of a sound, well-established national fraternity. With the consent of their Alumni and a majority vote of the active members, Rho Iota Kappa chose to affiliate with the Chi Phi Fraternity in 1961, after investigating a dozen other nationals. Perhaps the main reason for affiliating with Chi Phi was the apparent unity and closeness (spiritually) of its chapters and the great amount of interest which the national had in its members and which it exhibited towards Rho Iota Kappa.
PIK chapter was installed on February 3, 1962. The twenty-six charter members were initiated at Kingston, Rhode Island by an initiation team of brothers from Phi Zeta Delta, Beta, Theta, and Chi chapters. The first Alpha was Richard Bender '62, and the first alumnus to be initiated was James Shaw '23.
Rho Iota Kappa Chapter went through another lean period in the mid-80s and the active roster dwindled to only 14 brothers in the fall of 1985. But true to PIK's historic roots, a core group of brothers would step in to save the day. Through the diligent efforts of Chapter leadership and the brothers of the late 1980s and 90s, the house once again achieved prominence listing over 100 active brothers, and rebounded to win Fraternity of the Year honors in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001.
But the house became strained by its success, and unchecked growth led to problems for the leadership. The University shut down Chi Phi in 2005, primarily for violations of the University’s substance-free housing agreement. A group of distinguished Alumni, determined to bring Chi Phi and Rho Iota Kappa back to campus, went ahead with plans to build a new Chapter House following an agreement to sell the existing house on Upper College Road to the University. The state-of-the-art facility was completed in the Fall of 2007.
“The University appreciates the work of the Chi Phi alumni for their extraordinary efforts in building this new chapter house on our campus,” says Thomas Dougan, vice president for student affairs. “It is a beautiful facility that is a true signal of the resurgence of fraternity life at URI. We look forward to teaming with alumni and the national fraternity to form an outstanding undergraduate chapter of Chi Phi Fraternity at the University.”
Doug Bennet '77, president of the Rho Iota Kappa Alumni Association of Chi Phi and treasurer of its holding company, was the driving force behind the new building. His words sum up the feelings of all the alumni members of PIK and the motivation behind the re-colonization of the PIK Chapter.
“We tried to build something that our students, parents, alumni, other fraternities and sororities, and school officials could all be proud of. I think we succeeded. When we return in 2008, we will celebrate our 100th anniversary. For the next 100 years, it is my hope that Chi Phi brothers and alumni will come to know this house as their home. We're building a nice house, but more importantly we are building on our legacy.”
No "active" Brothers of PIK exist. Any Brother who was active when the charter was suspended in 2005 and is still an undergraduate student at URI, has already been transferred to "alumni" status and is ineligible to take part in the current active fraternity programs.
