Early Awards and Fellowships

The Fraternity believed it was important to recognize those individuals who were dedicated to our ideals of non-sectarianism, tolerance and equality. The Pi Lambda Phi Foundation was the first fraternal organization to present a gold medal to the individual who "gained worldwide recognition as an exponent of true humanitarianism and brotherhood." The first Pi Lambda Phi Tolerance Award was presented to Mr. James G. McDonald, High Commissioner for Refugees Coming from Germany, in 1934.

Other early recipients of the award included Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Mayor of New York, and Dr. Everett Ross Clinchy, Director of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Rounding out a decade of firsts was the introduction of the Scholarship Key in 1938. This was awarded to the highest scholar of each class and replaced the earlier academic achievement awards.

Pi Lambda Phi announced a series of fellowships for the study of inter-group relations on university campuses in 1938. The Pi Lambda Phi Foundation, Inc. worked with a group of professors at Columbia University to study the relations between different religious, racial and nationality groups on the campuses of American Universities. The announcement of the project was made by Brother Joseph C. Hyman, who stated, "The increasing response which demagogic appeals to chauvinism and race hatred that was found in universities overseas, indicated the advisability of a study to determine whether similar appeals have been made to North American college students, and if so, what has been the student body's reaction thereto. An objective study of the students' attitudes as they manifest themselves in inter-group relationships, will be a valuable contribution and a necessary pre-requisite to any program designed to counteract ill-feeling."