Founders Day Message

Every Founders Day, we repeat that Dr. Winthrop S. Sterling and Elizabeth Mathias Fuqua founded Mu Phi Epsilon on 13 November 1903 at the Metropolitan College of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio—but what do we mean by that?  What does it really mean to be a “founder”?  My mother was an English teacher, and when in doubt, I still do what she always taught us: I consult the dictionary.  Defining one’s terms is almost always a good first step in seeking clarity.  Here’s what my trusty Webster’s New Collegiate says about the verb “to found”:

1. To take the first steps in building
2. To set or ground on something solid: BASE
3. To establish (as an institution) often with provision for future maintenance.

What leaps out at me from these definitions is the unfinished nature of the business of founding.  To found something is to take (only) the first steps in building whatever that something is eventually to become.  It is to create a solid base for whatever will be erected on that base.  It is to establish something, trusting that it will be maintained in the future.

Dr. Winthrop S. Sterling and Elizabeth Mathias Fuqua did their job in founding Mu Phi Epsilon 122 years ago, but that job was to take the first steps to establish Mu Phi Epsilon on a solid base—a base which it is now our job to maintain and to continue to build up and augment into the future.  We today must be the founders who take steps to create something secure for future generations to build upon.  We must, like our fraternity’s original founders, imagine new ideas and ways of acting, innovate to establish them, and, in so doing, inspire those who come after us in the future to continue building a world full of music, friendship, and harmony through Mu Phi Epsilon.  I hope many of you will join the discussion in your chapters, with other chapters, with your board, and especially at Convention 2026 this summer in Fort Wayne to do just that.

Winthrop and Elizabeth took those first steps—now it’s your turn to build the next story!  How will we keep it solid into the future?

Kurt-Alexander Zeller
International President