Core Values
Developed in 2007 and modeled after the U.S. Army’s values, Lambda Chi Alpha’s Seven Core Values—loyalty, duty, respect, service and stewardship, honor, integrity, and personal courage—provide a moral compass for members of the Fraternity.
Vision
The first, resulting from an agreement in late 1912 between Warren Cole in Boston and Albert Cross in Philadelphia, holds that on November 2, 1909, Warren A. Cole, Percival C. Morse, and Clyde K. Nichols met at 22 Joy St., Boston, and swore allegiance to the new fraternity. The meeting had been called, by whom it is not recorded, for the purpose of considering the reorganization of the Cosmopolitan Law Club, a society of law students of Boston University, of which Cole was a member, into the Greek letter society.
Mission
Inspire and equip men to lead an ethical life of growth, service and leadership. Lambda Chi Alpha envisions a world where the ideal man pursues a life of respect and inclusion for all. A world where we support and encourage one another. And a world where every brother models and embraces our values: loyalty, duty, respect, service and stewardship, honor, integrity and personal courage.
History
Lambda Chi Alpha was founded by Warren A. Cole, while a student at Boston University, on November 9, 1909; with the expressed objective purpose of bringing about the association together of college students of good moral character in the various collegiate institutions within the United States and Canada; to foster a high Christian standard of life and ideals, to promote honorable friendship, to cultivate intellectual excellence, to secure for members the greatest advantages in college life, to establish brotherly love, mutual aid, close personal connection between alumni, undergraduates and college, and to bind them together for mutual pleasure and interest in college as well as after life by testing each with courage, self-control, obedience, democracy and courtesy toward all with whom the may come in contact.
Our Founding
There are two versions of the story about the founding of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, but both involve one man who wanted to create a lifetime of true brotherhood– Warren Albert Cole.
Fraternity Timeline
| 1750 | Flat Hat Club established at the College of William & Mary. (This is thought to have been the first American university fraternity.) |
| 1776 | Phi Beta Kappa founded at William & Mary. (This was the first Greek-letter university fraternity and is, of course, the oldest honorary fraternity.) |
| 1780 | Phi Beta Kappa installed its second chapter at Yale University. |
| 1845 | First fraternity house occupied at the University of Michigan (Delta Kappa Epsilon). |
| 1854 | First house built expressly for fraternity use was erected at Kenyon College. (This also was a log cabin.) |
| 1864 | First modern fraternity house including dormitory living quarters built at Williams College. |
| 1867 | I. C. Sorosis founded at Monmouth College. The society used the subtitle, Pi Beta Phi, in 1883, and in 1888, became known by this name alone. This was the first national sorority. |
| 1870 | Kappa Alpha Theta, first national sorority to be founded with a Greek-letter name, established at DePauw University. |
| 1893 | Interfraternity and Intersorority Congress at World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago. |
| 1909 | First Interfraternity Conference meeting in New York City. |
| 1917 | 200,000 fraternity men served in World War I. 2,000 never returned. |
A Legacy Of Lifelong Leadership
In 1909, Lambda Chi Alpha’s founders dared to create a fraternity that would uphold timeless traditions, bold principles, and authentic ideals in a manner wholly set apart from other fraternities – a brotherhood of men who lift each other up and advocate for causes beyond themselves. More than a century later, the standards they set for themselves and their brothers continue to endure.
College is the start of it all, but the benefits of Lambda Chi Alpha brotherhood reach new heights when a man finds ways to bring his best self to his family, industry and community at every stage of his life. Our brotherhood shows men how to be their best selves by teaching them to cherish membership, leadership, diversity, health and service at every stage of life. Through the years, we have and will remain devoted to fostering timeless leadership on and off college campuses and in everything our brothers do.