About us
Who we are.
Alpha Phi Omega nationally, the Delta Chapter at Auburn, and what it means to be a brother on this campus.
Alpha Phi Omega · National
A century of service.
Alpha Phi Omega was founded on December 16, 1925 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. The fourteen founders — all Scouts — wanted to bring the principles of Scouting onto the college campus: leadership, friendship, and service.
A hundred years later, we’re the largest collegiate fraternity in the country. Over 400,000 members have been initiated. We’re on more than 350 campuses. We’re coeducational, we’re service-first, and we don’t look like the Greek system most people picture.
No house. No theme parties as the point. Just brothers showing up for each other and showing up for their communities.
Delta Chapter · Auburn University
A hundred years on the Plains.
Delta was installed at what was then Alabama Polytechnic Institute on October 31, 1927 — Halloween night. Eleven students, all Eagle Scouts, took the obligation that evening in a classroom on the second floor of Broun Hall. Our official charter, dated November 8, 1927, lists Delta as the fourth chapter of Alpha Phi Omega ever installed.
The story goes that founders Paul Brake, Clayton Welden, and Frank Lull went looking for a way to bring the Scout Oath and Law onto the college campus. Brake visited Colonel Millard Wescott in Montgomery, and that fall Wescott drove dirt roads from Montgomery to Auburn to install the chapter himself. Delta is unofficially the longest continually active chapter of AΦΩ in the country.
What we actually do, week to week, is service. We run a Merit Badge University each spring for hundreds of Boy Scouts. We’re on the field for every Auburn football home game helping the team set up. We staff blood drives, build with Habitat for Humanity, run campus fundraisers, and lend hands wherever the chapter sees a need.
Some projects we’ve done every year since the 1950s. Some we picked up last semester. The roster of what we do shifts; the principles don’t.
What makes AΦΩ different
Not the Greek system you’re thinking of.
Coed
AΦΩ has been coed nationally since 1976. Men and women rush, pledge, and brother together — the founding principle is service, not gender.
No house, no dues drama
We don’t own a house. Dues are a tenth of what social Greek fees run. Money goes back into service projects, not catering.
Service is the product, not the marketing
Most chapters do a service project a semester. We do dozens. Every brother completes a service requirement to stay active.
National-fraternity, lifetime membership
Once you initiate, you’re a brother in 400,000+ chapters worldwide. Move cities and there’s probably an alumni association waiting for you.
Want the rest of the story?
Best way is to show up to a rush event and ask. The events page has everything that’s on the calendar.