About
Alpha Phi Omega, National Service Fraternity
Alpha Phi Omega is the largest fraternity on college campuses in the United States. The fraternity has chapters at over 350 colleges, a current active membership of approximately 17,000 and has over 350,000 alumni. Chapters range in size from a handful of active members to over two hundred active members, independent of each college's size.
It was founded on December 16, 1925 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, by Frank Reed Horton and 13 other students who were former Boy Scouts and scouters as a way to continue participating in the ideals of Scouting at the college level. The six advisors also inducted were four members of the Lafayette College faculty: President John H. MacCracken, Dean Donald B. Prentice, Professors D. Arthur Hatch and Harry T. Spengler; one local Scouting official, Herbert G. Horton, and one national Scouting official, national director of the Boy Scouts of America, Ray O. Wyland. The founders insisted that all those gaining membership must pledge to uphold the fraternity's three cardinal principles of Leadership, Friendship, and Service.
Typical fraternity projects include blood drives, tutoring, charity fundraising events, Scouting events, used book exchange, campus escort initiatives, and housing construction/rehabilitation. Signature projects are the annual National Service Week, in the first full week of November, and the National Spring Youth Service Day in April. Many of the operations of individual chapters are left to their own discretion, though most chapters have membership requirements which require a certain number of hours of service each semester.
The official publication of the fraternity is the Torch & Trefoil. First published as the Lightbearer in February 1927, the name was changed to the Torch and Trefoil by the decision of the Fifth Alpha Phi Omega National Convention in December 1934. The new name was from the Torch as the emblem of Education and the Trefoil as the emblem of Scouting. A version is published quarterly by the national organization of the United States, as well as a separate version by the national organization of the Republic of the Philippines. The Lightbearer is now published as a separate daily publication during Alpha Phi Omega National Conventions, and distributed to convention attendees.
A Quick history of Section 87:
In December 2004, with the extension effort at SUNY Cortland going forward, the section chairs of
Sections 88 and 89 and the Region 2 director sent a letter to all chapters in both sections talking about
a possible section realignment. A couple months later, a student-headed committee was set up looking into
the pros and cons of the split. Five chapters from the 2 sections were directly affected by the proposed
alignment.- SUNY Binghamton from Section 88 and SUNY Cortland, Cornell University, Syracuse University
and SUNY ESF, and SUNY Oswego from Section 89. After more than a year of questions, answers and concerns, a
vote concerning the section realignment was taken at the Spring 2007 Conference at SUNY Buffalo and
passed. The first section chair was elected, to take office on the Section's inception date. Section 87
became official on August 1, 2007.
Section Chairs of Section 87:
Aaron Knight
2010-Present
Peri Nelson
2007-2010
Conferences Held in Section 87:
“Aloha to Service”
Hosted by Theta Kappa Chapter
April 17-18, 2010
“The Oregon Trail to Service”
Hosted by Gamma Chapter, Cornell University
November 7-9, 2008
Awards in Section 87:
Sectional Distinguished Service Key: Peri Nelson (4/17/2010)
Herbert G. Horton Service to Youth Award: Father Jim Lang, advisor, Phi Chapter (1/15/2009)
Nowotny National Service Award: Theta Kappa Chapter (Boston, 2008)
Tenney Excellence in Advising Award: Phi Chapter (Boston, 2008)