Our History
Around the time of WWII when the men of Hope College were sent away to serve our country, there were not enough men to fill the fraternities of Hope College. Due to this, the remaining men from all groups and backgrounds came together to form one fraternity named Tri Alpha.
In 1946, when all the men returned from the war, many desired to return to their respective groups. However, a group of men in Tri Alpha wanted to stay together, so they went to the college petitioning to make Tri Alpha its own fraternity. Tri Alpha was made into Chi Phi Sigma, The Arcadian Fraternity to become the sixth fraternity on Hope’s campus.
Chapter History and Founding
Our Colors, Crest, and Letters
The name Chi Phi Sigma, The Arcadians was chosen by our founders because of our devotion to our pillars of service, love, and wisdom. The Arcadian name comes from the story of Arcadia being a mountainous region near Greece but cut off from the mainland of Greece. It was a pastoral region of a fiercely independent people who fended off many invasions of their land from the Spartans. Our colors are blue and white which represent loyalty and purity.
Our crest on the right tells the story of our fraternity. The skull on the top left signifies the death of our fraternity in 2016, and the phoenix on the right signifies the revival of our group in 2018. The knight represents the active members of our fraternity. The cross represents our group’s Christian ideals. The anchor represents the campus of Hope College. The words on the bottom banner are our letters in Greek: Cresius, meaning service, Filia, meaning love, and Sophia, meaning wisdom.
