Pi Lambda Phi
Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity Inc. (ΠΛΦ or Pilam) is a social fraternity with 32 active chapters and 9 colonies throughout the United States and Canada. The fraternity was founded in 1895 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
History
Founding
Very little is known about the early foundings of the fraternity. After groups of men were denied admission to Yale University because of their religious and racial backgrounds in 1895, Frederick Manfred Werner, Louis Samter Levy, and Henry Mark Fisher were determined to start something new. They decided to start the first fraternity that was "a fraternity in which all men were brothers, no matter what their religion; a fraternity in which ability, open-mindedness, farsightedness, and a progressive, forward-looking attitude would be recognized as the basic attributes." Chapters at other universities started soon after. While non-sectarian, it was predominantly Jewish until the end of World War II.
During its history, three national fraternities merged with Pi Lambda Phi: Phi Beta Delta, Beta Sigma Tau and Beta Sigma Rho.