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Post Release
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Celebrates 35-year Anniversary of Fraternal History at West Chester University.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is celebrating 35 years of fraternal history at West Chester University. In the Spring term of 2004, its Zeta Psi Alumni Society established the Dr. Philip P. Hoggard Legacy Forum, annual Icebreaker (a relationship seminar for students) and the Jerel “Water” Spruill Memorial Step Show.
Alpha Phi Alpha is among the oldest and most loyal investors in higher education. What began as a study group of Black men who defied racial segregation at Cornell University in 1906, its concepts for community advancement and inclusion in higher education have created 692 chapters throughout the U.S., Africa, West Indies, Europe, Asia and the Virgin Islands. The Fraternity has been interracial since 1945, and over 175,000 Brothers have bonded to advance its aims: manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind.
The Legacy Forum and Step Show pay tribute to Zeta Psi’s late founder and one of its initiates who died tragically in a car accident in Washington, D.C. last fall, respectively. The Legacy Forum features alumni of Alpha chapters near and far. They supply male students with critical insight on how to best position themselves for successful careers in academic, corporate, faith, government and nonprofit institutions. The Icebreaker and Step Show are collaborative ventures. With the Office of Multicultural Affairs’ support, the Alumni Society engaged students in discussions on such issues as traditional and same-sex marriages, office relationships and celibacy. The Black and Latino Greek Council named its annual Step Show after Jerel “Water” Spruill, and raised funds for student scholarship in the April 2004 event.
“Never before in the history of higher education, has alumni been so integral to the learning process of students. Regardless of where we attended, it’s imperative that we go to a college or university campus somewhere to provide the necessary moral and financial support that all students need to reach their highest potential” says Mark Barnes, Zeta Psi Chapter’s Graduate Advisor and a graduate of West Chester University’s Class of 1993.
On Sunday, August, 4th, the Zeta Psi Alumni Society co-sponsored a Back-to-School BBQ with the Black Caucus Chapter of West Chester University’s General Alumni Association at the Alumni House. The BBQ’s purpose was to wish first-year and returning students well on their studies and supply them with an atmosphere where they could establish network relationships with alumni representing a variety of career fields.
The Zeta Psi Alumni Society’s remaining events for the fall term include: a Membership Information Forum on Tuesday, September 7th in Sykes Student Union Room 209 at 7 PM; a Business Meeting during Homecoming Weekend on Saturday, October 9th in Sykes Student Union from 12 – 2 PM; the Dr. Philip P. Hoggard Legacy Forum titled Permanent Foundations in Hip Hop on October 26th from 7 – 9 PM in a place TBD; and a Thanksgiving Day weekend celebration in Philadelphia to recognize the chapter’s upcoming anniversary on December 19th.
The National Fraternity will celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2006. This year, it will kick-off a yearlong period of activities on its founding date of December 4th with a Brotherhood pilgrimage to Alpha Chapter at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Brother Mark Barnes
Graduate Advisor
Rho Chapter
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
P.O. Box 34577
Philadelphia, PA 19101
(215) 745-2196 Home
(215) 760-2411 Cell
Mark.Barnes@thesoulofhighered.net