NATIONAL HISTORY
Among the students at Washington College in 1865 were James Ward Wood, William Nelson Scott, Stanhope McClelland Scott, and William Archibald Walsh--all attracted by the presence of Robert E. Lee. These four united to found Kappa Alpha Order, which was originally called Phi Kappa Chi. In 1866, Samuel Zenas Ammen joined the chapter and transformed KA into an Order of Knights by rewriting the Constitution and Ritual. To Ammen and other brothers, Lee was the ultimate inspiration, and they wished to perpetuate his values. He personified the heroic knights of the past, representing their noblest ideals and traditions of chivalrous behavior. Indeed, even before his death, Lee was referred to as the "Knight of America "and "The Last Gentle Knight." It is this legacy which was adopted as the moving force of Kappa Alpha Order.
"The Varlet" Copyright 1992 Kappa Alpha Order
CHAPTER HISTORY
"The Zeta Rho Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order seeks to help support and serve the University and local community while giving a lifetime experience to its members and teaching them lessons of duty, honor, academics, and chivalry all in reverence to God and His women."
The mission statement of the Chapter is one that came to us early on and it is one that all brothers stay in agreement with. Not only is the chapter focused on the teachings of the Order, but we also believe in making this experience a life-long experience for all of the brothers. Greek Life was brought to the university in 2007, and our chapter is one of two of the original chapters starting at the school. Because the school is new to Greek Life, one of our goals was not to just help our chapter grow, but to help the entire Greek system grow. That goal is still being attained and surpassed as more students apply and show interest in Greek Life each semester. In the fall 2008 semester a goal was given to all fraternities to have at least 45 male students sign interest forms for IFC recruitment, and with the help of our chapter and the multiple recruitment events that we hosted, the IFC surpassed its goal by obtaining 65 interest forms filed. Other chapter goals include being the most well known fraternity on campus and within the community. One of the ways that the campus recognizes us is demonstrated by our victory in the first annual Greek Week. In the community, our chapter has on more than one occasion been featured in the local Times Record newspaper, Channel 5, a local news broadcast, and our members have been pictured on the magazine “Entertainment Fort Smith.” One of our biggest challenges has been to grow in quantity as the University is still a small school based on mostly non-traditional students. However, we are the second largest chapter in the IFC and take advantage of the size of our chapter because it has helped us grow stronger in brotherhood.