Alpha Delta Phi

When Samuel Eells arrived on campus at Hamilton College, he found two existing literary societies, the Phoenix and the Philopeuthian, the latter of which he reluctantly joined. Eells quickly became disenchanted with both societies' unscrupulous recruiting tactics and dispassionately small sizes and considered creating his own society which would disavow what he described as jealous and angry competition between the two. Eells proposed to select members from both the Phoenix and the Philopeuthian and found a new society of limited membership based on "the loftiest of intellectual and moral ideals."[1]

Portrait of Samuel Eells

On October 29, 1832, Eells gathered four other members, two from the Phoenix and two from the Philopeuthian, to a meeting in his room. The other men were Lorenzo Latham, John Curtiss Underwood, Oliver Andrew Morse and Henry Lemuel Storrs. At that meeting Eells wrote the constitution and he and Latham designed the fraternity's emblem and symbols. Later in the year, other members were added and the first chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi was in full operation by the beginning of 1833.[1]

Alpha Delta Phi was the first fraternity to establish a chapter west of the Appalachian Mountains when it formed a chapter at Miami University in 1832 in low back middle kirkland hall at Union college in New York. This chapter preceded the formation of three national fraternities at Miami University known as the Miami Triad in the years that followed.

The Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity is a charter member of the North American Interfraternity Conference (formerly known as the National Interfraternity Conference; NIC). A Brother of Alpha Delta Phi, Hamilton W. Mabie (Williams College, class of 1867), was the first President of the NIC. The Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity is today still a member of the NIC; as a result of its decision to admit non-male-identifying members, the Alpha Delta Phi Society was not able to maintain membership in the NIC.

Alpha Delta Phi is both a social fraternity and a literary society. As part of this focus, the Samuel Eells Literary and Educational Foundation makes educational grants and sponsors annual literary competitions, which award cash prizes.[2]

University of Illinois chapter house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places

In August 2015, the fraternity had 31 chapters and 3 affiliates, the oldest of which is at Hamilton College. Its regional alumni organization, the Midwest Association of Alpha Delta Phi, is more than 125 years old. Alpha Delta Phi also has the third oldest continuously-operating chapter in the North American Fraternity System, which is also the second oldest Alpha chapter, placed at Hamilton College.

At Yale University, it was mostly brothers of Alpha Delta Phi who were invited to join the university's top-ranked senior society Skull and Bones. Students at Harvard formed a chapter of Alpha Delta Phi but disaffiliated to form the independent final club, the A.D.

Cornell chapter

Alpha Delta Phi Chapter House, Cornell University (2002 Photo)

In 1877, the Cornell University chapter's alumni group built its first house for the undergraduates, which has been described as the "first house in America built solely for fraternity use."[3] The chapter has since moved to a different location on campus - into a house designed by John Russell Pope - but the original chapter house, designed and built by William Henry Miller, still stands.[4]

The mission of the 1832 Foundation is to solicit financial resources, provide faithful stewardship and engage in high quality ethical practices in support of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and leadership development. The foundation aims to leave a legacy which builds leaders of good character and well balanced men.

The Foundation is a self-governing, tax exempt corporation founded August 1961, under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It accepts deductible donations from Alpha Delts and others and makes grants and loans to chapters, individuals, and institutions of higher learning. The grants are intended to promote intellectual interest or achievement with qualified educational and literary programs. The Foundation has its own Board of Directors and functions independent of but in communication with the Fraternity.

The Convention is composed of one delegate elected from each undergraduate chapter and alumni organization, each delegate being entitled to one vote. Each August, the Convention is hosted at a different location and presided over by an Honorary Chairman, both of which are chosen by the Board of Governors.

The convention hears annual reports from the Governors, approves the International's budget, decides constitutional questions and has appellate jurisdiction over decisions of the Board of Governors and the Chapters.

Between the business and leadership training sessions, Conventions are characterized by considerable socializing. Brothers from all over the continent get acquainted, swap stories and songs, and raise a glass in the spirit of brotherhood. Whether as a voting delegate or as an observer, all brothers are encouraged to attend a Convention at some time.

In 1922, William Duncan Saunders died of a skull fracture and ruptured aorta when he was roughly flung from a bed during an incident variously described as horseplay. The Hamilton chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi was not implicated in his demise.[7]

On October 9, 1996, 18-year old William Price, a pledge at the University of Washington was paralyzed after falling from a third floor window of the Alpha Delta Phi house. Price remained hospitalized for five months. Despite the fact that Price claimed that he was not intoxicated, he admitted that him and other fraternity members consumed alcohol that evening, and that he could not remember how he fell. The fraternity was fined $1,100 for underage drinking.[8][9]

In the fall of 2001, the Phi Kappa chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi in Connecticut was put under probation after a serious hazing incident where a pledge had to be treated for burns on his legs. In March 2002, the chapter was shut down after they violated conditions of their probation which included not throwing parties and providing alcohol to other students. Sharon D. Herzberger, Vice President for Student Services, stated that the chapter had "an ample history of violations." [10]

In 2010, a pledge from the Cornell chapter revealed that they were forced to chug a slurry of dog food, tabasco sauce, and sour cream, and run relay races around the chapter house while intoxicated and being hit with dodgeballs by the active chapter. The pledges were also forced to run laps outside, nude in below-freezing weather.[11]

In November 2013, the Alpha Delta Phi house at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was found to have over 50 safety violations after an initial inspection. Among many of the dangerous violations, investigators found broken windows, tripping hazards and expired fire extinguishers. Beer cans were found in the fraternity’s crawlspace, which is not meant to be used as a habitable space.[12]

In 2015, a female student of Duke University claimed that she was assaulted at an Alpha Delta Phi party after consuming a mixed drink which she claimed caused memory damage. The fraternity was placed under interim suspension.[13]

On April 14, 2015, Dartmouth announced that, Alpha Delta, previously a chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi, and inspiration of the 1978 movie Animal House was shut down indefinitely after it was discovered that they had branded the flesh of 11 new members. The fraternity was already under suspension for holding unregistered parties.[13]

In March 2018, the Johns Hopkins chapter of the fraternity was ordered to cease and desist social activities due to sexual assault allegations. The order was violated when members of the fraternity were found engaging in hazing practices and the chapter was then placed on interim suspension.[14]

In November 2018, members of the Alpha Delta Phi chapter at Duke University were accused of being unreasonably loud and messy along Chapel Hill Road in Durham, North Carolina. One homeowner filed a complaint to the local mayor, saying that the issues have been going on for many years and that attempts to resolve the matter have been unsuccessful. City leaders are currently investigating the case.[15]

The Fraternity is a retronym used now to distinguish the all-male Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity from the gender-inclusive Alpha Delta Phi Society (discussed below). In general parlance, the Fraternity refers to itself simply as the "Alpha Delta Phi"; the Society uses either the "Alpha Delta Phi Society" or "The Society".

• Alpha Delta, former chapter at Dartmouth College
• List of social fraternities and sororities

• Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity
• Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity at Curlie
• Alpha Delta Phi Society
• Alpha Delta Phi Society at Curlie