Alpha Delta Phi

'''Alpha Delta Phi''' is a Greek-letter fraternity in the United States and Canada. Nowadays the name refers to both an all-male fraternity that was founded in 1832 by Samuel Eells at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York and a "society" that broke off from the fraternity in 1992 which permits co-educated chapters. The Fraternity and the Society both come out of Eells's vision for a "literary society," although Alpha Delta Phi's original academic focus is preserved to varying degrees by individual chapters. From its early days, Alpha Delta Phi sought students of a decided literary orientation. In the founder's own words, the literary pursuit of the fraternity must "be built on a more comprehensive scale providing for every taste and talent and embracing every department of literature and science. It must be national and universal in all its adaptations, so as not merely to cultivate a taste for literature or furnish the mind with knowledge but with a true philosophical spirit looking to the entire man, so as to develop the whole being -- moral, social and intellectual." Today, the literary tradition is carried on the international level in the form of annual literary competitions sponsored by the Alpha Delta Phi Foundation, which awards cash prizes in each of five categories. Alpha Delta Phi was a charter member of the National Interfraternity Council (NIC), and a member of Alpha Delta Phi, Hamilton W. Mabie (Williams College, class of 1867), was the first President of the NIC.

The Fraternity

The Fraternity is a retronym used nowadays to distinguish the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity (aka the Alpha Delta Phi International) from the Alpha Delta Phi Society. In general parlance, the Fraternity refers to itself simply as "Alpha Delta Phi", since the Society adds "Society" to the end to distinguish itself.

Chapters

As of 2004 the Fraternity had 23 chapters, the oldest at Hamilton College and the most recent at Chapman University.

The Society

Several Alpha Delta Phi chapters began co-educating starting in the 1970's. Not all chapters approved of this change, and several decades of disputes followed, with some members lobbying for full admission of women, and others wanting to ban women altogether or grant them some form of associate membership. By 1992, with no compromise in sight, the chapters agreed to bifurcate Alpha Delta Phi, creating the Alpha Delta Phi Society alongside the existing Fraternity. The Society espouses "home rule", letting each chapter decide whether or not to co-educate. To date, all of its chapters are co-educated.

Chapters

As of 2004 the Society had five undergraduate chapters and one alumni chapter. The Society was founded in 1992 by four chapters: Brunonian (at Brown University), Columbia (at Columbia University, Middletown (at Wesleyan University), and Stanford (at Stanford University). The Bowdoin chapter, which had been required to withdraw from the Fraternity by the administration of Bowdoin College, joined the Society a year later. In 1994, the Society's first new chapter was formed at Middlebury College, becoming Alpha Delta Phi's first chapter to be co-educated from the beginning. Bowdoin College later abolished its fraternity system, and the Bowdoin chapter became alumni-only.

Notable Alumni

• Salmon P. Chase -- Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. -- Harvard University, 1861, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
• Theodore Roosevelt -- Harvard University, 1880, President of the United States
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- Harvard University, 190?, President of the United States
• Teller of Penn and Teller -- actor and magician
• Ben Stein -- actor and author
• Francis Bellamy -- University of Rochester, 1876, author of the Pledge of Allegiance
• William Luther -- University of Minnesota, 1967, U.S. Congressman
• Roger Faxon -- Johns Hopkins, 1970, C.O.O. of Columbia Pictures
• Joshua L. Chamberlain -- Bowdoin College, 1852. Received Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Congressional Medal of Honor, Governor of Maine, President of Bowdoin College
• Charles H. Percy -- University of Chicago, 191, U.S. Senator, Chairman, Bell & Howell Corporation
• Dwight F. Davis -- Harvard University, 1900, Secretary of War, Donor of the Davis Cup
• G. Keith Funston -- Trinity College, 1932, President of New York Stock Exchange
• Thorton Wilder -- Yale University, 1920, author and playwright
• Henry R. Luce -- Yale University, 1920, founder of Time
• Frederick March -- University of Wisconsin, 1920, actor
• William H. Masters -- Hamilton College, 1938, researcher in Human Sexuality
• Col. Robert R. McCormick -- Yale University,1903, Editor and Publisher of The Chicago Tribune,
• Chris Miller -- Dartmouth College, 1963, author of the movie Animal House
• Lt. Colonel Steven R. Nagel -- University of Illinois, 1969, Astronaut, Space Shuttle Discovery
• Hon. John Black Aird -- University of Toronto, 195, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Canadian Senator
• Grant Tinker -- Dartmouth College, President, National Broadcasting Company
• Phillip W Pillsbury -- Yale University, 192?, President, The Pillsbury Corporation
• David Packard -- Stanford University, 193?, Founder, Hewlett-Packard Computer Corporation
• John D. Rockefeller, Jr. -- Brown University, 1897, financier & philanthropist
• Elwyn L. Smith -- Cornell University, 1917, Founder and President, Smith-Corona Typewriter Company
• Alastair W. Gillespie -- McGill University 198, Member of Parliament (Canada), Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce,
• Gerald B. Zornow -- University of Rochester, 1937, Chairman, Eastman Kodak
• Francis T. (Fay) Vincent -- Williams College, 1960, former Commissioner, Major League Baseball
• Walter A. Haas, Jr. -- University of California, 1937, owner of Oakland Athletics, Honorary Chairman of Levi Strauss and Company

External Links

Fraternity

• Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity
• Memorial - McGill Chapter
• Lambda Phi - MIT Chapter
• Dmoz directory -Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity

Society

• Alpha Delta Phi Society
• Dmoz directory - Alpha Delta Phi Society

Category: Student Fraternities

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