The History of the Eta
Source: The Diamond of Psi Upsilon (Summer, 1984 Issue),
Author Unknown
The Lehigh Valley is comprised of three cities: Bethlehem, Allentown, and Easton. All are old industrial cities, still the anchor of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region but adapting to the future by becoming the new home of many electronics corporations. Perched high above the valley, some might even say perched precariously, is beautiful Lehigh University, an institution with an international reputation.
Our proud Eta Chapter, though, had rather inauspicious beginnings. Up until the 1880's Psi Upsilon had established its Chapters, for the most part, in small, liberal arts colleges in New England. But Lehigh University? In Pennsylvania?? At an engineering school??? According to Professor Henry C. Johnson, Chi 1873, who had come to Bethlehem to teach at Lehigh, "there was about as much chance of being struck by lightning" as there was of establishing a Chapter of Psi Upsilon at Lehigh! For the record, Professor Johnson was not struck by lightning.
The ANNALS OF PSI UPSILON state that George Leighton, Eta 1883, whose brother attended Yale and was a member of the Beta Chapter, and Professor Johnson decided to pursue the formation of a Psi Upsilon Chapter, even if it took the anticipated twenty years! Leighton's ties to the Beta Chapter paid off. A local society was organized at Lehigh called the Eta Chapter of the Phi Theta Psi Fraternity, reviving the extinct society founded by Yale sophomores pledged to Psi Upsilon
At the Convention of 1881 held with the Omega, the Beta Chapter presented the Eta's petition to the other Chapters. A committee was formed to explore the issue. By 1884, after considerable persuasion, the Pi and Upsilon Chapters dropped their objections, and the thirty-six charter members of the Eta were initiated into Psi Upsilon.
The closing speech at the Eta installation reception by Albert P. Jacobs, Phi 1873, included words that the Eta, as well as most of our other Chapters, abide by today:
"The first half century [of Psi Upsilon] was fruitful in events which we could well rejoice: the second opens most auspiciously. A few hours ago the six-thousandth member was admitted, and the nineteenth Chapter, the eighth in forty years, was added to the roll. From you brothers of the Eta our Society expects much. See to it now in the dawn of your history that we be not disappointed."
True to those words, the Eta has assisted Lehigh far beyond realistic expectations. From the Brown and White, Lehigh's campus newspaper founded by William C. Anderson, Eta 1894, to Brodhead House (not to mention Brodhead Avenue where the Eta Chapter house is located), named for the family of an Eta charter member, Psi U's have led the way.
Lehigh University may be the only institution of higher learning where each fraternity can boast of being located on its own cliff. The Eta is no exception. Although the Chapter house was the first one to be built on campus and with that honor came fairly level ground (by Lehigh standards), the Eta still boasts a spectacular view of South Mountain, the Lehigh River, Bethlehem, and much of the Valley. The view from the porch is not to be missed.
Professor Edward H. Williams, Jr., Beta 1872, composed this poem at the installation of the Eta.
"Brothers, when our brief life is done,
May we have planted not in vain,
The seeds whose fruit shall e'er remain
To bless our loved Psi Upsilon."
Brother Williams' wish for the Eta has more than come true.