Alpha Delta Phi

Alpha Delta Phi (ΑΔΦ) 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.

Related Topics:
Fraternity - Samuel Eells - Hamilton College - Clinton - New York

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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.

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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.

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