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THE HISTORY OF OUR FRATERNITY

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Building A Tradition, Not Resting Upon One!

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It start in 1963...

On September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University, 12 students founded what is now the nation’s fifth largest, predominately African-American social service fraternity: The Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Incorporated. The founders of Iota Phi Theta were:

  • Albert Hicks,

  • Lonnie Spruill, Jr. 

  • Charles Briscoe

  • Frank Coakley 

  • John Slade 

  • Barron Willis 

  • Webster Lewis

  • Charles Brown 

  • Louis Hudnell 

  • Charles Gregory 

  • Elias  Dorsey, Jr. 

  • Michael Williams

This group of men was unique for several reasons. First of all, many were long-time friends. Spruill, Coakley, Dorsey, and Gregory had known one another since grade school, and Spruill and Coakley’s friendship extended to when the two were pre-schoolers. Even more uniquely, many of these men were what are now referred to as “Non-Traditional Students” and were 3-5 years older than the average college student. Gregory, Willis, and Brown were all service veterans, and Brown, Hicks, and Briscoe were married with small children. Of this group of 12, several were also working full-time jobs and all were full-time students. Based upon their ages, heightened responsibilities, and increased level of maturity, this group had a slightly different perspective than the norm for college students. It was this perspective from which they established the Fraternity’s purpose, “The development and perpetuation of Scholarship, Leadership, Citizenship, Fidelity, and Brotherhood among Men.”

ALPHA XI OMEGA HISTORY AND PURPOSE

The Alpha Xi Omega Central Jersey Alumni Chapter was founded in 2001 by three dedicated brothers who primarily resided in Middlesex and Burlington county New Jersey.  The chapter received its designation at the Chicago Conclave in 2003.

 

Alpha Xi Omega joins three Alumni Chapters in the state of New Jersey: Phi Omega – North/Central,  Jersey, Gamma Zeta Omega-Northern New Jersey,  Zeta Omega – South Jersey and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Region. The chapter was originally organized to provide a more logistically feasible alumni chapter for brothers residing between Middlesex and Burlington county in New Jersey and as far west as Easton, PA.  With the 2020 pandemic the emergence of the use of Zoom Virtual Meetings AXiO now provides membership opportunities for Brothers as far as North Carolina.

 

The chapter is a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Mercer County, New Jersey and functions as the Alumni Chapter that provides mentorship and collaboration with the Alpha Psi Chapter of Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Alpha Delta Chapter of Rutgers University-Camden.

 

AXiO has a broad membership of brothers from chapters such as:

Alpha – Morgan State

Alpha Psi – Rutgers University

Beta Lambda - University of Delaware

Beta Theta – Johnson C. Smith University

Beta Xi-Kean University

Epsilon-New Jersey City University

Epsilon Sigma - Cornell University

Epsilon Tau – NJIT

Sigma – Boston College

Zeta Nu- University of Maryland-Eastern Shore

 

The chapter is proud to have members who crossed from years 1974 through 2019. This diversity provides a rich historical base for the chapter and an injection of new ideas to carry AXiO into the future.

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Scholarship      Leadership      Citizenship      Fidelity      Brotherhood

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