Restoring Alpha Delta Phi at Miami University

Statement of Recolonizing Principles

 

Adopted by the Restoration Campaign Steering Committee and Realty Board, September 2004

 

In recolonizing the Miami Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi, we alumni reflect proudly on our longstanding heritage and on the principles upon which Samuel Eells founded the fraternity and our beloved Miami Chapter.  We honor the commitment to those same principles made by The 1833s when that group refounded the Miami Chapter in 1951.

 

The essence of those principles is a dedication to provide an atmosphere and living environment in which the “whole” man may be developed – morally, socially and intellectually. As evidence of such success, and as a physical reminder of the goals of both Alpha Delta Phi and the Miami Chapter, the Brothers in Arms statue will be prominently displayed in the chapter house and serve as the symbolic foundation by which its members will measure themselves in developing the attributes of a principled life: service, leadership, sacrifice and fraternity.

 

To this end, and consistent with the expectations of Miami University, we set forth the following Code of Values and Principles for our Chapter which also reflect the shared values of fraternities and sororities on the Miami campus:

 

§         Over the years, the Miami Chapter’s values have and will continue to embrace and contribute to the academic mission of the University, encourage leadership and character development, promote community service, and help to form lifelong friendships.

 

§         Our Chapter embraces the principles of self-governance which include free discussion of ideas and opinions and recognition of the importance of assuming leadership and/or service responsibilities both within our own organization and throughout the campus.

 

§         Our Chapter will provide the ethical and equitable environment in which thoughtful decision-making and accountability will grow. As a result, each member of the Chapter will refrain from and discourage behavior that threatens the freedom and respect each member deserves.

 

§         Both separately and together with our brother and sister fraternities and sororities on the Miami campus, the Miami Chapter will help to facilitate the development of individual members through participation in appropriate chapter and campus-wide events which support a balance between education, socialization, and leadership.

 

§         Consistent with the University’s goals of enriching campus intellectual and cultural life, the Miami Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi will augment the University’s primary focus on developing educated persons by ingraining into its members a principle-directed set of inclusive values.  Through these values, effective citizens will evolve and contribute to the overall good of the culture and society of the United States of America and the world at large.


Chapter background

 

Alpha Delta Phi was founded at Hamilton College in 1832 by Samuel Eells.

 

In establishing our fraternity, he decided to establish “a society of a higher nature and more comprehensive and better principles; one that should combine all the advantages of a union for intellectual and literary purposes and at the same time maintain the integrity of youthful character and cultivate those finer feelings which the college society extinguished or enfeebled. The new association first must exclude that jealousy and angry competition and secondly must be built on a more comprehensive scale providing for every variety of taste and talent, and thirdly it must be national and universal in 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 his whole being – moral, social, and intellectual.”

 

On October 5, 1920, the Executive Council commissioned Captain Robert Aitken, a well known sculptor, to produce a statue in bronze emblematic of the fraternal and united spirit of all the Chapters of our Fraternity and of our two countries, Canada and the United States. This statue represents an American and a Canadian soldier, both of the rank of Lieutenant in their appropriate uniforms, wounded and helping each other off the field of battle. Under foot is a German helmet signifying that the struggle was crowned with victory. The group symbolizes service, leadership, sacrifice, and fraternity and is intended for all time to keep before our growing membership the great ideals of Alpha Delta Phi. A replica was placed in every chapter house as a constant reminder of the union of our several chapters and of our two Countries.

 

The Miami Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi is one of the oldest, yet one of the newest fraternities at Miami University.  It was not only the first fraternity chapter at Miami; it was the first chapter of any fraternity to be established west of the Allegheny Mountains.  Indeed, it was among the first 10 chapters founded in what would become the American college fraternity movement. It provided the inspiration for the founding of the Miami Triad.

 

The Miami Chapter was founded by Samuel Eells, who introduced the Fraternity concept at Miami when he moved to Cincinnati in 1833 to practice law. The Chapter flourished for 40 years until June, 1873, when Miami University closed in the wake of Reconstruction. Although the Chapter was never large, it was of high quality. Several buildings on the Miami Campus are named after members of the old Miami Chapter – Bishop Hall, Bonham House, Elliott, Stoddard, and Swing Hall.

 

The Chapter did not return when Miami University reopened in 1885. A new page in its history began, however, in 1947 when representatives of the Midwest Association of Alpha Delta Phi organized The 1833s, a local fraternity whose express purpose was to petition Alpha Delta Phi for re-establishment of the Miami Chapter.  The group was initiated into Alpha Delta Phi on May 19, 1951. The Chapter became firmly re-established, with a membership of some 55 brothers active in campus organizations, varsity sports, and ranking high in scholarship among the 24 fraternities then at Miami.

Author’s Comment

 

The Recolonizing Principles document serves the purpose of providing potential contributors a clear focus of what the Miami Chapter is about, how it ties into the University’s goals/principles, and will provide us with a foundation for recruiting not only the first new pledge class, but serve as a benchmark for recruiting and selecting each subsequent pledge class.

 

In creating the Recolonizing Principles document, I drew from:

 

1)      The Catalogue of the  Alpha Delta Phi (1966), Historical Sketch (pages 13-14);

2)      The Catalogue of the Alpha Delta Phi (1966), Miami University, The Miami Chapter (page 163);

3)      Miami University’s web-site: “Dr. Garland on His Vision for Miami”. Web site link: http://www.miami.muohio.edu/president/vision.cfm

4)      Miami University’s web-site: Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership, “Miami Model for Greek Excellence
Relationship Statement, May 1999”. Web site link: http://www.units.muohio.edu/saf/GRA/MMGE/RelationshipStatment.htm

5)      Southwest Missouri State University’s “Countdown to SMSU’s Centennial: A Long-Range Vision and Six-Year Plan (2000-2006), Preface”. Web site link: http://www.smsu.edu/countdown/preface.htm

 

 

Andy Olson ‘72

Campaign Steering Committee member

 

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