On the Wearing of the Badge

By Kent Christopher Owen, Mystagogue

Indiana Beta ‘58

(The following article first appeared in the Spring 2001 issue of The Shield of Phi Kappa Psi.)

Like much else in Phi Kappa Psi, the use of its badge -- the seven-pointed, gold and
black shield -- is more a matter of custom and tradition than of codified practice.

In the beginning when Tom Campbell and his chums fashioned a monogram of phi and
psi, the badge was worn in public only on august occasions. And for good reason. Through the
middle of the 19th Century, faculty members were quick to expel students unruly enough to join
suspect organizations such as fraternities. Hence it behooved young Greeks to show off their
badges at commencement ceremonies–once they had been graduated with their diplomas
securely in hand.

Early photographs of badge-bearing fraternity men display the insignia pinned to

waistcoats, thrust into the knots of stocks and cravats, or attached to coat lapels. The first such
device was the key of Phi Beta Kappa society, used to wind a pocket watch and draped from a
chain across one’s vest.

Subsequently, the Kappa Alpha society adopted the same practice, allowing Sigma Phi
and Delta Phi, also founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York, to invent insignia that
could be pinned to one’s chest. Whether it was a decline in the fashion of carrying watches or a
sudden distaste for watch keys, the emergence of badges in the 1830s soon set the standard.

TILTED OR STRAIGHT?

It’s hard to tell exactly when Phi Psis started to wear their badges aslant from upper left
to lower right (\) in the vicinity of their hearts and related organs. There is no official warrant
for this practice, although many brothers are coached to let the “gravy bowl” spill over in
ceaseless profusion.

More meticulous Phi Psis wear their badges straight up and down on shirt-fronts or vests
or sweaters, preferring to keep them in better balance. After all, a decent sense of equilibrium
should count for something.

FORMAL OCCASIONS

What Phi Psis of taste and decorum don’t do is display their badges on any clothing that
is less than suitable: namely, tee-shirts, sweat-shirts, and the dress-down like. In days gone by,
the Phi Psi badge was worn only when one had on a coat and tie or its moral equivalent.

Curiously, the badge was not supposed to be worn with a black or white dinner jacket or
even a formal dress suit. Occasionally, this point of etiquette (Emily Post’s or Amy Vanderbilt’s
perhaps) was eased to allow the display of the badge on a dinner waistcoat or formal shirt-front–
but never on a cummerbund–at induction ceremonies, banquets, or other official Fraternity
events when black-tie is de rigeur. One may wish to consult Miss Manners for later
developments on this critical question.

The summary view is that a badge is not to be treated as costume jewelry–or trivial
decoration.

BODY PIERCING

So far as anyone can tell, there hasn’t yet been an official pronouncement on the use of
the badge in the current fad of body-piercing. It’s fair to assume that an attempt to wear the
badge as an earring or a nose-plug is not what Brothers Letterman, Moore, and Campbell
intended as in keeping with the dignity of Phi Kappa Psi. But, then again, one never knows:
Tom Campbell was a pretty hip and cool dude in his own way.

Perhaps it should be said the Fraternity also takes a dim view of tattooing various parts of
one’s anatomy with Phi Psi letters and symbols. It may seem neat on the spur of the moment, but
the novelty tends to wear off even if the tattoo doesn’t. Of course, it goes without saying that Phi
Kappa Psi doesn’t go in for the branding of one’s nether parts or upper arms, no matter what the
folkways of more rambunctious men’s organizations may condone.

ARE WE GENTLEMEN?

From time to time, we need to remind ourselves that we are still in principle a private
voluntary society of men who conduct themselves as gentlemen. What that means in actual
practice when it involves the identifying marks of Phi Kappa Psi is that we don’t display them
like so many corporate logos or brand names: Phi Psi doesn’t advertise itself in a common
manner.

If that sounds stuffy or “elitist,” so be it. One of the Fraternity’s distinctive

characteristics is that its members have traditionally been counseled to respect the dignity of its
emblems and to treat them accordingly, particularly the badge. In fact, Phi Pis are under oath not
to give or lend it to anyone who is not a duly initiated member.

SWEETHEART PINS

It used to be customary for fraternity men in general to give their badges to their
girlfriends, supposedly to betoken an intention to become engaged. Among the Greeks’
sentimental traditions, the “pinning” ceremony was perhaps the most charming. When the
mating habits of young adults in America possessed a measure of reticence, it could be
downright romantic to have fraternity brothers serenade one’s sweetheart in the company of her
own friends. Even so, Phi Psi provides a “sweetheart pin,” with only the Greek letters and not
the symbols, for such events, reserving the badge exclusively for brothers.

Not surprisingly, some Phi Psis regarded this as a silly quibble or an infringement of
property rights and chose to ignore it. But nearly 45 years ago a scoffing Indiana Betan ridiculed
the whole thing in chapter meeting -- until the late Robert Oren Bixby growled, “I take it you
don’t regard an oath sworn before God and the assembled brothers to be binding.”
 Brother Bixby’s challenge made its point. If you have given your word, you must keep it.
If you have sworn a solemn oath, you are obliged to uphold it. Otherwise, you are not a man of
honor and a gentleman because you are not trustworthy. It’s not a matter of choosing among
various options, of doing only what is convenient or expedient. If we can trust you to keep
certain secrets and carry out certain duties, we can trust you, come what may, to conduct
yourself as a man, a gentleman, and our brother. It is a valid means of proving oneself loyal and
true.

ETERNAL PRINCIPLES

Looked at in this way, the badge of Phi Kappa Psi has become an outward and visible
sign of the Fraternity’s “eternal principles.” Further, it expresses the fraternal continuity of
generations of honorable men who wore it on their military uniforms during the Civil War --
when its recognition was often a matter of life and death -- to those who wear it today under
ordinary suits because it serves as a constant reminder of moral obligations.

Through the years, some badges have gone astray, occasionally to be discovered in pawn
shops (where Dab Williams and dud Daniel would conscientiously reclaim them). Nowadays
badges are advertised for bid on Internet auctions such as ebay.com–perhaps by heirs or estate
executors who have no sense of what to do with them. Whenever a Phi Psi badge is found it
should be acquired and sent to the Fraternity’s headquarters for deposit in the archives or made
available to an initiated brother.

Perhaps the wearing of the badge has gone the way of other customs of an earlier, less-
commercialized American society. In an era of self-conscious irony–more precisely, sarcastic
disdain for honest sentiment and conviction–the brave tradition of taking serious matters
seriously and of showing respect for their inherent worth may have failed to replenish its vital
sources.

Nonetheless, there will always be some incorrigible idealists in every generation who
understand what the badge means, who affirm its significance, and who are grateful and proud to
wear it properly. And those, of course, are the very men for Phi Kappa Psi.

(end)