Alpha Chi Alpha

Alpha Chi Alpha
ΑΧΑ
Dartmouth ΑΧΑ house
Founded	May 21, 1963; 61 years ago (May 21, 1963) Dartmouth College
Type	Social
Affiliation	Independent
Status	Active
Scope	Local
Motto	"Fidelis et Suavis"
Colors	Red and   Black
Symbol	White Horse
Chapters	1
Headquarters	13 Webster Avenue Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 United States
Website	www.alphachialpha.org

Alpha Chi Alpha (ΑΧΑ) is a fraternity at the American Ivy League university of Dartmouth College. Alpha Chi Alpha is a member of Dartmouth's Greek system, which currently has fourteen fraternities, nine sororities, and three co-ed undergraduate houses that fall under the umbrella of the Greek system.

Alpha Chi Alpha is referred to among Dartmouth students as simply Alpha Chi.

The house, which is located at 13 Webster Avenue on the Dartmouth College campus, is a college-owned fraternity, meaning that the brothers do not own the land or house. This also means that Dartmouth College paid for $1.3 million in renovations (done during the summer of 2004), which included the razing of the "Barn" structure that was used as social space by the brothers of Alpha Chi to make way for a newly expanded basement and main floor area which were to act as a new social space for the fraternity.

The house is nicknamed the "Magic Green Cottage" and the "Cheese Lodge" by its members and has the unique location on fraternity row directly across from the President's house. The green-shingled structure includes a sand volleyball court adjacent to the house. Its perennial pledges are easily recognized by their "sirens" (red, baseball cap-like headwear), which they wear for the duration of their pledge term.

The house was begun in March 1917, when twelve Dartmouth men founded the Epsilon Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1919, this lodge became the Phi Nu chapter of the national fraternity, Alpha Chi Rho. The house was located in the back of the present White Church.

Alpha Chi Rho flourished at Dartmouth for about ten years. In the early 1930s, however, the number of brothers declined drastically due to several new fraternities on campus and general financial difficulties caused by the Depression. It was at that time when Alpha Chi Rho, along with Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Alpha Sigma Phi, who were each having difficulties of their own, joined to create a new fraternity, Gamma Delta Chi. This house is still active today.^[1]