The post-WWII era was a time of rapid social change, facilitated by the integration of the US Military. Colleges and universities were the next locus of change as returning GIs flocked to the educational opportunities granted under the G.I. Bill, many of whom rejected the former class and race rigidity that was the status quo on their campuses. This was more strongly true in the older East Coast schools, but appeared soon at college locations in the West, Midwest and even the South. Like some of its other chapters, the Tau chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa had a history of being progressive about its membership. Until 1952, the Phi Sigma Kappa national organization did not have a formal policy regarding membership of ethnic or religious minorities in its written charter or regulations, while it did host the occasional foreign student. However, the influx of new collegians of all races led some chapters to push for legislation to encourage all local chapters to avoid admitting minorities to membership. In a contentious debate in 1952, the matter was brought to a head, with opposition to this restriction voiced by Tau chapter members, among others. A policy was adopted, narrowly, called "The Bedford Resolution", which read: "That the fraternity's tradition be maintained in the sense that there be no pledging or initiating of Negro men until such time as they are acceptable to all chapters." "Bedford" was not written into the national organization's bylaws, but its short-term effect was nevertheless destructive: Phi Sigma Kappa chapters at Boston University and Knox College were both expelled from the national organization in 1953 for pledging African-American students. The Tau Chapter had been quietly opposed to this agreement, and had already admitted several Jewish men into the house. A campus-wide referendum on the desegregation of fraternities in 1954 resulted in a slim majority of Dartmouth students favoring mandatory desegregation of fraternities by 1960. This became a binding policy of the college administration.