The Beginning at Bucknell
During this same period forces were at work on the Bucknell campus which would eventually bring representatives from the two colleges together. About a week before Christmas vacation in 1923, a group of non-fraternity Bucknell men held a "smoker" in Tustin Gymnasium to discuss a closer bond of friendship and brotherhood. Many professors spoke about the advantages of such an organization; one of them was F. E. Burpee, a professor of mechanical engineering and former instructor of mathematics and Greek who later became one of the charter members of Phi Lambda Theta fraternity.
From this nucleus a group of non-fraternity men met in February 1924 to set up a plan of organization. Numbering some thirty odd men, they met in one of the classrooms of Main College. Temporary President Wendall Woodside appointed a committee to draw up a constitution and by laws. Harold Schaeffer was elected the first President, George Faint, Vice President, and Donald Eschbach, Secretary and Treasurer.
The new group sent President Schaeffer to the American Association of Common Clubs convention in April 1924, to determine whether or not it should become affiliated with the Common Club Association. No immediate action was taken, but the group continued to hold regular meetings.
New officers were elected shortly before the summer recess. The new president was Kermit L. Noll and honorary members included Emory W. Hunt, then President of Bucknell University, and William Thomas Johnson, instructor of history, later to become a Professor.