Kappa Alpha Society

Infobox Fraternity
letters=ΚA
name=Kappa Alpha Society
colors=Scarlet
flower=Carnation
symbol=Kappa Alpha Key
motto=
crest=
founded=birth date|1825|11|26
birthplace=Union College
type=Literary Society and Social Fraternity
address=PO Box 876
city=Ithaca
state=New York
country=USA
chapters=14 (7 active)
homepage=http://www.ka.org
free_label=
free=

The Kappa Alpha Society (ΚΑ), founded in 1825, is the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. This is most clearly evidenced by its being first in the fraternities that compose the Union Triad. In addition, Baird's Manual (amongst other sources) states that KA, unlike other fraternities with claims to the contrary, has maintained a continuous existence since its foundation, making it the oldest undergraduate fraternity that exists today. As of Spring 2007, there are seven active chapters in the United States and Canada.

History

According to Baird's Manual, nine undergraduates at Union College in Schenectady, New York—John Hart Hunter, John McGeoch, Isaac W. Jackson, Thomas Hun, Orlando Meads, James Proudfit, and Joseph Anthony Constant of the class of 1826, and Arthur Burtis and Joseph Law of the Class of 1827—established the Society on November 26, 1825 from an informal group calling itself The Philosophers, which was established by Hunter, Jackson, and Hun in 1823. The organization represents the middle link between secret societies, literary societies, and Greek-letter organizations like Phi Beta Kappa. In the words of founding member Arthur Burtis:

The first expansion of the Society took place in 1833 at Williams College at the request of fourteen students led by Azariah S. Clark of the class of 1834.

The Kappa Alpha Society, emulated by Sigma Phi (est. 1827) and Delta Phi (est. 1827), constitute the Union Triad, the pioneers of the North American system of social fraternities.This organization is not to be confused with the Kappa Alpha Order, a completely separate national fraternity.

The Kappa Alpha Society was distinguished by a highly selective process of chapter formation, averaging a steady pace of one a decade for the society's first 150 years.Fact|date=April 2007.

Chapters

Chapters are designated with an abbreviation of the institution's Latin name.

Coeducation

The Union and Wesleyan chapters were co-educational (male and female members) in the recent past. The chapter at Wesleyan University, which existed from 1967 to about 1997, was at various times co-educational both as part of The Society and as a local starting in 1974. The Union Chapter was co-ed from 1991 until 2003. Kappa Alpha does not prohibit coeducated chapters, but is extremely unlikely to approve new chapters along those lines because of the near-unanimity required for new charters. Kappa Alpha is unlikely to be able to return successfully to the Wesleyan campus as an all-male organization, not because of school regulations, but because of the dynamics of the student body.

Contributing Members

* John Hart Hunter, Union College, 1824. Founder.
* Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Union College, 1856. Song writer, author and editor.

Notable Members

In 200 years Kappa Alpha has produced some notable members. See the Kappa Alpha Society Alumni page for a list.

References

*Kappa Alpha Society. (1881). "A biographical record of the Kappa Alpha Society in Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.: From its foundation to the present time. 1831-1881". New York, NY: S. W. Green's Son.
*Kappa Alpha Society. (2002). "A directory of Kappa Alpha 2002: 175th anniversary edition". Purchase, NY: Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company.
*Tarleton, Robert S. (1993). "The Spirit of Kappa Alpha: The oldest Greek-letter social fraternity in prose, poetry and picture". New York, NY: John Hart Hunter Press.
*The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1941). "Kappa Alpha Record: 1825-1940". Clinton, MA: The Colonial Press.
*The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1950). "Directory of the Kappa Alpha Society 1950". St. Albans, VT: The North Country Press.
*The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1960). "Kappa Alpha Record 1825-1960". Utica, NY: Thomas J. Griffiths Sons.
*The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1976). "Kappa Alpha Record 1825-1976: Sesquicentennial edition". Ithaca, NY: Art Craft Printers.

External links

* [http://www.ka.org/ The Kappa Alpha Society] , The Official Website of the Kappa Alpha Society
* [http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/ The Political Graveyard] , U.S. Political Biographies

ee also

* [http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/frat_hist.html Sigma Chi/Brief History of Fraternities/Phi Beta Kappa]