Their association, according to the creed, was based on love for the traditions of Dartmouth, faithful friendship, and honorable dealings - a democratic note in times when fraternities tended to be aristocratic. To solidify this idea, the Pukwana founders returned to the earliest traditions of Dartmouth for their initiation. The ceremony took the form of an India Tribal council, complete with peace pipe. This regard for the past of the college, together with the uncommon friendship of such well-respected men, soon earned the Club a position on campus far beyond its original desires. In the year 1907 the Pukwana Club embarked on a new phase of its history beginning with the application for membership in the Sigma Nu National Fraternity.
Motivation here is unclear.
It seems a very short time between the founders defiance of the national fraternity system and the new men s desire to join that system. Eric P. Kelley '06, an instructor in English and a Sigma Nu initiate, wrote that the smugness of the fraternities and the reforming zeal of the first Pukwana members had both become passe in those four years. The trend on campus was for social broadening and brotherhood without the old stuffy exclusiveness. Also, Pukwana had attracted a new breed of man who saw possibilities of improving the fraternity system from within. The founders had graduated with the Class of '06.