Alpha Chi Alpha
Encyclopedia
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
at the American
United States
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Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
of Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. Alpha Chi Alpha is a member of Dartmouth's Greek system
Dartmouth College Greek organizations
Dartmouth College is host to many Greek organizations and a significant percentage of the undergraduate student body is active in Greek life. In 2005, the school stated that 1,785 students were members of a fraternity, sorority, or coeducational Greek house, comprising about 43 percent of all...
, which currently has fourteen fraternities, nine sororities and three co-ed undergraduate houses that fall under the umbrella of the Greek system.
Alpha Chi Alpha is referred to among Dartmouth students as simply Alpha Chi. The house which is located at 13 Webster Avenue on the Dartmouth College campus is a college-owned fraternity, meaning that the brothers do not own the land or house. This also means that Dartmouth College paid for $1.3 million in renovations (done during the summer of 2004), which included the razing of the "Barn" structure that was used as social space by the brothers of Alpha Chi to make way for a new expanded basement and main floor area which will act as new social space for the fraternity.
The house is nicknamed the "Magic Green Cottage" and the "Cheese Lodge" by its members and has the unique location on fraternity row directly across from the President's House. The green-shingled structure includes a sand volleyball court adjacent to the house. Its perennial pledges are easily recognized by the red hat (nicknamed a "siren"), which they wear for the duration of their pledge term.
House history
| Timeline of Events in AXA's History | |
|---|---|
| Important dates in the history of Alpha Chi Alpha | |
| >1919 | Alpha Chi Rho Alpha Chi Rho Alpha Chi Rho is a men's collegiate fraternity founded on June 4, 1895 at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut by the Reverend Paul Ziegler, his son Carl Ziegler, and Carl's friends William Rouse, Herbert T. Sherriff and William A.D. Eardeley. It is a charter member of the North-American... (Phi Nu Chapter). National. |
| >1935 | Merged with ΑΣΦ Alpha Sigma Phi Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity is a social fraternity with 71 active chapters and 9 colonies. Founded at Yale in 1845, it is the 10th oldest fraternity in the United States.... , ΦΚΣ Phi Kappa Sigma Phi Kappa Sigma is an international all-male college social fraternity. Its members are known as "Phi Kaps", "Skulls" and sometimes "Skullhouse", the latter two because of the skull and crossbones on the Fraternity's badge and coat of arms. Phi Kappa Sigma was founded by Dr. Samuel Brown Wylie... , & ΛΧΑ Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha is one of the largest men's secret general fraternities in North America, having initiated more than 280,000 members and held chapters at more than 300 universities. It is a member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference and was founded by Warren A. Cole, while he was a... to become Gamma Delta Chi. |
| >1957 | Phi Nu Chapter of AXP reformed by split from GDX. |
| >1963 | Became Alpha Chi Alpha (AXA). |
| >1975 | First Ever 'Beach Party'. |
| >1979 | Bob Ceplikas '78 builds third floor of house. |
| >1997 | The mysterious Great Fire of '97 strikes. |
| >2004 | House undergoes college-sponsored, multimillion dollar renovation. |
The house was begun in March 1917, when twelve Dartmouth men founded the Epsilon Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1919, this lodge became the Phi Nu chapter of the national fraternity, Alpha Chi Rho
Alpha Chi Rho
Alpha Chi Rho is a men's collegiate fraternity founded on June 4, 1895 at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut by the Reverend Paul Ziegler, his son Carl Ziegler, and Carl's friends William Rouse, Herbert T. Sherriff and William A.D. Eardeley. It is a charter member of the North-American...
. The house was located in the back of the present White Church.
Alpha Chi Rho flourished at Dartmouth for about ten years. In the early 1930s, however, the number of brothers declined drastically due to a number of new fraternities on campus and general financial difficulties caused by the Depression. It was at that time when Alpha Chi Rho, along with Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha is one of the largest men's secret general fraternities in North America, having initiated more than 280,000 members and held chapters at more than 300 universities. It is a member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference and was founded by Warren A. Cole, while he was a...
, Phi Kappa Sigma
Phi Kappa Sigma
Phi Kappa Sigma is an international all-male college social fraternity. Its members are known as "Phi Kaps", "Skulls" and sometimes "Skullhouse", the latter two because of the skull and crossbones on the Fraternity's badge and coat of arms. Phi Kappa Sigma was founded by Dr. Samuel Brown Wylie...
, and Alpha Sigma Phi
Alpha Sigma Phi
Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity is a social fraternity with 71 active chapters and 9 colonies. Founded at Yale in 1845, it is the 10th oldest fraternity in the United States....
, who were each having difficulties of their own, joined together to create a new fraternity, Gamma Delta Chi. This house is still active today.
On March 9, 1957, twenty-four undergraduates bonded together and broke away from Gamma Delta Chi, which they thought was inadequate and misdirected. They reactivated the Phi Nu chapter of Alpha Chi Rho. The brotherhood moved to the present house on Webster Avenue, bought and repaired by the College. In this way, the fraternity was established. Tim Ryerson '59 was the first President of the reactivated chapter.
Early in the spring of 1963, a committee met and recommended a break from the national. On May 21, 1963, the chapter voted to discontinue their ties with the national affiliation. It was determined that the brotherhood had no meaningful ties with the national. The national chapter required brothers to "accept Jesus as their lord and savior," a tenet that brothers at the Dartmouth chapter strongly disagreed with. The ritual was meaningless to the brothers because of their general dislike for the national, and because they found such a requirement to be ridiculous.
There is dispute as to whether an overburdening financial obligation to the national was the reason for the decision. The brotherhood claimed that money spent in maintaining meaningless ties with the national was money unwisely spent. However, when payments to the national were discontinued, a large sum of money was made available for the financing of the house’s new addition. The brotherhood voted to name the disaffiliated fraternity Alpha Chi Alpha and it has been in continual operation ever since.
13 Webster Avenue
Improvements have been made on the building from term to term, including a series of major renovations. The living room and the second floor above it were added in May 1963. The entire third floor is the result of the efforts of Bob Ceplikas '78. During the summer of 1985, the College spent over $180,000 on major renovations.
The most recent renovations occurred in the summer and fall terms of 2004. Costing $1.3 million, the renovations involved the razing of a structure that was once known as the 'Emory Barn,' but soon referred to as simply 'the Barn'. A concrete hallway, called 'the Slide,' was constructed at some point, adjoining the fraternity's physical plant and the Barn. The Barn was one of the most distinctive social atmospheres on Dartmouth's campus and cherished by the brotherhood. The second floor of the Barn, known as the Upstairs Barn, housed three brothers each term, and it became well known among the brotherhood as a unique melting-pot bonding experience. The basement, along with the new main floor area and recently refurbished tube room, have replaced the Barn and the old front room as the primary social spaces for the fraternity. Presently, since construction was completed in fall 2004, the newest reincarnation of Alpha Chi Alpha is able to house 21 brothers and host over 600 guests for the 'Beach Party' that the brothers put on each winter during Winter Carnival, and also for a 'Pigstick BBQ' each spring on the first Saturday in May.
Famous alumni
- John HoevenJohn HoevenJohn Henry Hoeven III is the junior United States Senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the North Dakota Republican Party. He is expected to become the state's senior senator when Kent Conrad retires from the Senate in January 2013.Hoeven served as the 31st Governor of North Dakota,...
, Junior United States Senator from North Dakota, former Governor of North Dakota