Tomahawk Service and Leadership Society

Tomahawk began as two separate organizations in the 1930's: Tomahawk at the University of Illinois and Sigma Iota at Indiana University. At the convention of the National Independent Associations in 1946, delegates from those two schools discussed the formation of a national organization. The name Tomahawk was chosen to represent the Indian tribes of the Midwest. The first national president, Larry Hennings of IU, designed the crest, the pin and the original constitution.

The Purdue Algonquin Chapter of Tomahawk was chartered on April 23, 1949, and was the first chapter to admit women. Tomahawk has been a proud tradition at Purdue for over fifty years. Although there were six chapters of Tomahawk in the late 1950s, Purdue University has the only remaining active chapter.