Alpha Delta Phi

The Badge is an oblong slab with rounded corners, displaying on a shield of black enamel a white Crescent bearing the letters Alpha Delta Phi. Above the Crescent is a green Star with a gold center, and below is the date 1832 in gold. On the back is engraved a Monument with crossed Sword and Spear. In addition, the members initials and surname, chapter, and year of graduation appear on the back of the badge. The Badge is only to be worn with suit and tie attire. The Badge is properly worn over the heart with the horns of the Crescent pointing over the right shoulder.

The Crest, which is the coat of arms, consists of the shield or escutcheon divided vertically in equal parts of green and white. It is bordered in black and studded with pearls. There is a small gold line between the center part of the shield and the border which has no particular significance except as a line of partition. On the shield in honor point are three Greek letters, horizontally aligned, alpha, delta, phi in gold. Above the shield is an esquires helmet in profile facing left with visor closed. Behind the shield is a Sword and Spear, both pointing upwards and both crossed saltirewise. Flanking the shield and issuing from the scroll on either side are two gold sprays of laurel leaved in gold. Beneath the escutcheon is a motto ribbon bearing the Latin phrase "Manus Multae Cor Unum", meaning "many hands, one heart". The whole escutcheon is radiant, meaning rays emanate from the top between the Spearpoint and Sword and base. There is a nimbus of very fine stars around the outer perimeter of the lower nimbus. Beneath the scroll is the date 1832.

The Brothers-in-Arms statue is a unique memorial to the 2,300 men of the fraternity, of Canada and the United States, who served in World War I, and especially for the 93 Brothers who made the supreme sacrifice.

The pledge pin is a shield divided vertically with the left half colored green and the right half colored white. Rules regarding the wearing of the pledge pin are established by each chapter.

In 1877, the Cornell University chapter's alumni group built its first house for the undergraduates, which has been described as the "first house in America built solely for fraternity use."[8] The chapter has since moved to a different location on campus - into a house designed by John Russell Pope - but the original chapter house, designed and built by William Henry Miller, still stands.[9]

University of Illinois chapter house, now demolished

The original chapter house of the Illinois chapter was built in 1924 and 1925 for the fraternity.[10] This three-story Tudor Revival style chapter house was designed by architect Ralph W. Varney, a Alpha Delta Phi brother.[10] The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 21, 1990.[10] The house was demolished in 2018.[11]

The University of Michigan chapter house, Stone House was the first fraternity house built on the campus. It was erected in 1883 and continued to house the brothers of the Alpha Delta Phi until the current house was constructed on the same site in 1910.[12]

The convention also elects the Board of Governors. There are eleven Alumni Governors, elected for three year terms, and a Student Governor elected annually. The terms of the Alumni Governors are staggered to provide continuity. There are other restrictions on who may be elected to assure that no region or chapter may dominate the Board.

The Board of Governors generally holds four regular meetings each year. One of these is at the convention; others are held at various chapter houses in the fall, winter, and spring.

The governors elect the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. The president, with board approval, may appoint an assistant treasurer and committee chairmen, who may or may not be governors. An undergraduate Assistant Secretary is elected by the undergraduate delegates of the convention. The Board of Governors appoints Regional Directors to coordinate activities of interest to nearby chapters and alumni organizations.

The Brunonian (Brown University) chapter first initiated women into its local membership in November 1973, and this was followed by a proposal at the 1974 national convention to either allow individual chapters to admit women or to do so fraternity-wide. This debate was often contentious, with most chapters opposed, and some members lobbying for full admission of women, but a larger number wanting to ban women altogether or grant them some form of associate membership. In 1992, at the Fraternity's 160th Annual Convention held in Brainerd, Minnesota, an agreement allowed five chapters to withdraw from the fraternity (the Brunonian, Columbia, Middletown (Wesleyan University),[13] Stanford and Bowdoin Chapters) and to allow those chapters wishing to be gender-inclusive to create their own organization, which resulted in the legal formation of two separate organizations, the all-male Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and the Alpha Delta Phi Society, the latter of which granted each of its chapters "home rule" permission to determine its gender make-up.

Under the terms of this agreement, the Fraternity and the Society would be completely separate and independent legal entities, with separate governing bodies. The two organizations were not part of the same entity and did not share membership, except for male members of the Society who joined before 1992. Both groups would be licensees who share the Greek letters and intellectual property such as history and songs. The agreement put limitations on both organizations as to where they could have chapters, and there were limitations on the Society's use of the name "Alpha Delta Phi".

On August 12, 2017, at the Fraternity's 185th Annual Convention held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Fraternity and the Society entered into a new agreement that replaced the Fraternity-Society Agreement of 1992. The new agreement maintained the original rights of the two independent and legally separate organizations to license and share the Greek letters alpha, delta, and phi, and other intellectual property. The new agreement removed all restrictions on the Society's license to use the name "Alpha Delta Phi Society." It also removed most of the limitations on where either organization could have chapters.

The Society as a national organization is gender-inclusive, and the Society continues to espouse "home rule" for its chapters, allowing them to determine their own membership rules. As of today, every Society chapter has been a gender-inclusive organization since at least the date of the Society's founding (for chapters that predate the foundation) or since the creation of the chapter (for newer chapters).