Chapter redoubles its efforts

Sigma Pi Phi, established in Philadelphia by four black college graduates looking to form bonds and nurture fellowship.

Unlike most fraternities and sororities, including the nine historically black Greek organizations that emerged in the years that followed, Sigma Pi Phi was formed to provide support for successful black men with degrees who were barred from other such groups.

Sigma Pi Phi provided an opportunity for men of like minds to come together and to socialize.

While the group remains a haven for black academics, businessmen and professionals in a time of lessening but lingering racism, it's also pursuing a broader and more outward-oriented agenda:

To this end, the national group has been urging individual chapters to follow its lead in offering aid and outreach; this spring, Beta Psi presented its first two scholarships to college-bound African-Americans.

Members past and present have included Martin Luther King Jr., NAACP co-founder W. E. B. Du Bois, tennis great Arthur Ashe and baseball legend Hank Aaron.

Nor is every document in Beta Psi's SUNY collection for public consumption: minutes from meetings past are marked "restricted."

"Any time we talk about brotherhood and sisterhood, it's going to help make the world a better place, and we are determined, in our own way, to help address the timeless hunger of the human spirit," said poet and UAlbany Professor Leonard A. Slade Jr., the Beta Psi historian.