Kappa Alpha Society

The Kappa Alpha Society (ΚΑ) is the oldest college fraternity. It was established at Union College in Schenectady, New York on November 26, 1825 by a group of college students. Kappa Alpha was the first to combine aspects of secret Greek-letter societies, literary societies and formalized student social groups and is thus considered the first modern fraternity. Kappa Alpha is also the oldest collegiate secret society still in existence. From 1825 to the present, no more than 8,000 gentlemen and a few women have been honoured with membership to the society.

Emblem of the Kappa Alpha Society

Emblem of the Kappa Alpha Society

This organization is not to be confused with the Kappa Alpha Order, a completely separate (and much larger) fraternity that operates primarily at schools in Southern and border states.

Chapters

• Hobart College (CH)
• University of Toronto (VT)
• Lehigh University (VL)
• McGill University (VM)
• University of Pennsylvania (VP)
• University of Western Ontario (VOO)
• University of Alberta (VA)

Chapters at Union College (CC), Williams College (CG), Princeton University (CNC), the University of Virginia (VV), Cornell University (VC), the University of Calgary (VAC) and Wesleyan University (VW) are dormant.

Plans are underway to recolonize the founding chapter at Union College (CC) as well as the chapter at Cornell University (VC) in the near future.

(Latin abbreviation)

***Notable Member Key: Member Name, Chapter, Date Joined (not year of graduation)***

Notable Members in the Field of Law & Politics

CANADIAN:

Prime Minister

• William Lyon Mackenzie King, University of Toronto, 1893. Prime Minister of Canada, 1921-1926, 1926-1930, and 1939-1945.

Member of Federal Parliament

• Denton Massey, University of Toronto, 1919. MP for Toronto-Greenwood, 1935-1946. Officer, Order of the British Empire, 1946.
• William Pate Mulock, University of Toronto, 1915. MP for York North, 1934-1945. Postmaster General of Canada, 1940-1945.
• David Vaughan Pugh, University of Toronto, 1934. MP for Okanagan Boundary, 1958-1968.
• Michael Holcombe Wilson, University of Toronto, 1955. MP for Etobicoke Centre, 1978-1993. Minister of State for International Trade, 1979-1980; Minister of Finance, 1984-1991; Minister of International Trade, 1991-1993; Minister of Industry, Science & Technology, 1991-1993. He introduced the unpopular Goods and Services Tax in 1990. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003.

Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)

• Ian Thompson Strachan, University of Toronto, 1919. MPP for St.George, 1934-1943. Government Chief Whip, 1937-1943.

AMERICAN:

Congress

• Leander Babcock, Union College, 1828. U.S. Representative from New York, 23rd District, 1851-1853.
• Charles Lewis Beale, Union College, 1842. U.S. Representative from New York, 12th District, 1859-1861.
• Gabriel Bouck, Union College, 1846. Wisconsin State Attorney General, 1858-1860. U.S. Represenative from Wisconsin, 6th District, 1877-1881.
• Edward Stuyvesant Bragg, Hobart College, 1844. Wisconsin State Senator 1868-1869. U.S. Represenative from Wisconsin, 1877-1883 (5th District) and 1885-1887 (2nd District); U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, 1889-1902; U.S. Consul General in Havana, 1902-1903; U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong, 1903-1906 (resigned). See Armed Forces
• John M. Carroll, Union College, 1845. U.S. Representative from New York, 18th District, 1871-1873.
• Charles Tappan Dunwell, Cornell University, 1870. U.S. Representative from New York, 3rd District, 1903-1908 (Died in office).
• Rodney Frelinghuysen, Hobart College, 1969. New Jersey General Assebly, 1983-1994. U.S. Representative from New Jersey, 11th District, 1995-present.
• Lewis Henry, Cornell University, 1905. U.S. Representative from New York, 37th District, 1922-1923.
• Levi Augustus Mackey, Union College, 1835. U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, 20th District, 1875-1879.
• Jesse Olds Norton, Williams College, 1833. U.S. Representative from Illinois, 11th District, 1853-1857, 1863-1865.
• Edward Overton Jr., Princeton, 1854. U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, 15th District, 1877-1881.
• Charles Edward Pearce, Union College, 1861. U.S. Representative from Missouri, 12th District, 1897-1901.
• Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809-1873), Union College, 1826. U.S. Representative from New York, 14th District, 1853-1855; Justice of the New York Supreme Court, 1861-1869; Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, 1870-1873 (died in office).
• John Benedict Steele, Williams College, 1835. U.S. Representative from New York, 1861-65 (11th District 1861-63, 13th District 1863-65).

Senate

• James Dixon, Williams College, 1833. U.S. Representative from Connecticut, 1st District, 1845-1849; Connecticut State Senate, 1st District, 1849; U.S. Senator from Connecticut, 1857-1869.
• Preston King, Union College, 1826. U.S. Representative from New York, 18th District, 1843-1847, 1849-1853; U.S. Senator from New York, 1857-1863.

Governor

• Herbert James Hagerman, Cornell University, 1890. Second secretary, U.S. Embassy to Russia, 1898-1901; presented the Order of St. Anne (Russia) by the Czar, 1901; Governor of New Mexico Territory, 1906-07.
• Henry M. Hoyt, Williams College, 1849. Governor of Pennsylvania, 1879-83.
• Horace White, Cornell University, 1883. Member of the New York State Senate, 1896-1908; Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1909-1910; Governor of New York, 1910-1911.

Supreme Court

• Ward Hunt, Union College, 1828. Founder of the New York Republican Party, 1856. Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1872-1882.

Notable Members in Other Fields

Armed Forces

• Edward Stuyvesant Bragg, Brigadier General (U.S.); Hobart College, 1844. See American Politics and Law: Congress
• James McCredie Irish, Rear Admiral (U.S.); Hobart College, 1903.
• Andrew George Latta McNaughton, Lieutenant General (CAN), Recipient of PC , CH , CB , CMG , DSO , CD; McGill University, 1905. Chief of the General Staff, 1929-1935; Minister of National Defence 1944-1945 (resigned); First Canadian Ambassador to the UN, 1950. Inventor of the "box barrage" artillery firing system, 1918 & the Cathode-ray direction finder (the forerunner to radar), 1926.
• Albert James Myer, Brigadier General (U.S.); Hobart College, 1845. "Father of Army Signal Corps" and founder of the U.S. Weather Bureau
• James Rufus Tryon, Rear Admiral (U.S.); Union College, 1855. See Medicine
• Harry Richards Van Liew, Brigadier General (U.S. Marines); Hobart College, 1926.

Medicine

• James Collip, University of Western Ontario, 1948. Discoverer of cortisone and co-discoverer of insulin. Shared John James Richard Macleod portion of the 1923 Nobel Prize for medicine.
• William Lawerence Estes Jr., Lehigh University, 1901. President of the American College of Surgeons, 1957-1958.
• James Rufus Tryon, Union College, 1855. Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy 1893-1899 (retired). See Armed Forces

Arts and Humanities

• D. Shayne Aldrich, Union College, 1997. Artist & Celestial Intelligencer.
• James Phinney Baxter III. Winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History.
• Hume Cronyn, McGill University, 1930. Actor.
• Oliver Bronson Capen, Hobart College, 1898. Publisher and author.
• Fitzhugh Ludlow, Union College, 1856. Author and explorer.
• Raymond Hart Massey, University of Toronto, 1914. Actor. Was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1940.
• Christopher McDonald, Hobart College, 1977. Has acted in over 85 films along with numerous television and theater productions, commonly known for his character "Shooter McGavin" in Happy Gilmore (1996).
• Lewis H. Morgan, Union College, 1840. "Father of American Anthropology"
• John Kirk Train Varnedoe, Williams College, 1964. Former Chief Curator of painting and sculpture, Museum of Modern Art (New York City). Was dubbed to be “the most powerful man in the modern art world,” by Newsweek before his death in 2003.
• Ronald D. Moore, Cornell University, 1984. Writer and Producer of TV and film. Notably Star Trek and the remake of Battlestar Galactica. Two-time winner of Hugo Award for Excellence in Science Fiction.

Business

• Verschoyle Philip Cronyn, University of Western Ontario, 1948. Former Director of John Labatt Ltd. Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario, 1961-1967. Brother of Hume Cronyn and cousin of Arthur Labatt.
• Arthur Labatt, McGill University, 1953. Founder of Trimark Investment Management, currently the Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario and Officer of the Order of Canada in 1996.
• William "Bill" Scandling, Hobart College, 1946. Founder of college meal plan, one time king of the food service industry, and founder of Saga Corporation (sold to Marriott Corp., 1986).
• Augustus Schell, Union College, 1830. Railroad magnate and the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, 1872-1876.

Sports

• Richard William Duncan Pound, McGill University, 1957. Former Olympic athlete (1960); Gold, Silver and Bronze medalist at the 1962 Commonwealth Games; Canadian champion (1958, 1960, 1961 and 1962); Secretary General of the Canadian Olympic Committee, 1968-1976; President of the Canadian Olympic Committee, 1977-1982; International Olympic Committee member (IOC), 1978-present; Vice-President of the IOC, 1987-1991 and 1996-2000; Chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), 1999-present; Chancellor of McGill University, 1999-present; Officer of the Order of Canada, 1992 and Officer of the National Order of Quebec, 1993.

External link

• Kappa Alpha, a history