The Kappa Sigma Fraternity has a long history, dating back to the year 1400: a professor at the University of Bologna, Manuel Chrysoloras, formed a society with his disciples for protection against the governor of the city, Baldassare Cossa, who practiced extortion and robbery against the students. Chrysoloras developed a set of secret words, signals, and forms that established the basis of the Kappa Sigma ritual today.
On December 10, 1869, the first American chapter of Kappa Sigma was founded at the University of Virginia, and it has since spread to 234 undergraduate campuses with over 11,000 active undergraduate brothers. The Kappa Sigma fraternity is based on Fellowship, Leadership, Scholarship, and Service. These are the four pillars of Kappa Sigma.
The Gamma-Pi Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity is one of 27 Fraternities on MIT's campus. It was founded on the night of September 25th in 1924 and has had a strong presence on campus ever since. Gamma-Pi has had over 1000 initiates in its 83 year history, and currently has 44 active undergraduate brothers. The brothers of Gamma-Pi proudly represent MIT on the Varsity Volleyball, Baseball, Lacrosse, Squash, and Crew teams, as well as Club Rugby team. In addition to athletics, many brothers also actively participate in leadership roles in other student groups on campus, with several brothers highly involved in the Sloan Undergraduate Management Association, South Asian American Association, African American Association, Civil and Environmental Engineering Student Association, Japanese American Association, Ballroom Dance Team, among others - not to mention multiple research positions throughout MIT. This balance of excellence in academics and extracurricular activities makes Gamma-Pi one of the strongest chapters at MIT.