Lambda Phi Epsilon

Lambda Phi Epsilon
ΛΦΕ
Founded	February 25, 1981 (1981-02-25) UCLA
Type	Social
Scope	International
Motto	Leaders Among Men ΗΓΕΜΟΝΕΣ ΕΝ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΙΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ
Colors	Royal Blue and      White
Mascot	Dragon
Philanthropy	National Marrow Donor Program
Chapters	59
Members	10,000 lifetime
Nicknames	Lambdas, LPhiE, LFE, 人中王
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, USA
Homepage	lambdaphiepsilon.com

Lambda Phi Epsilon (ΛΦΕ, also known as LPhiE, LFE, or 人中王) is the first and only internationally recognized Asian American interest fraternity. Lambda Phi Epsilon is affiliated with both the North-American Interfraternity Conference and the National APIA Panhellenic Association.

Organizational goals

Lambda Phi Epsilon’s vision is to be the preeminent international Asian interest fraternal organization, and to provide leadership, philanthropy, and advocacy in the community.

The mission of the organization is to promote Lambda Phi Epsilon and its members by:

• Providing active members with leadership training and hands-on experience, for both personal growth and academic achievement.
• Promoting leadership of alumni in the community, creating opportunities, and encouraging the spirit of fellowship.
• Promoting positive Asian American awareness and providing philanthropy to the community.

History

Lambda Phi Epsilon was formed on February 25, 1981 at the University of California, Los Angeles. Noting that Asian fraternities and sororities at the University of California campuses were recognized only as service organizations due to their membership's focus on specific Asian groups and exclusion of other ethnic groups, the founders aimed to create a fraternity that transcends the traditional boundaries of national origins, bridges the gaps between those communities, and is recognized by the Greek community at large. While the original charter focused on Asian Pacific Americans, people from all ethnic backgrounds were welcome to join. Craig Ishigo and Darryl Mu signed the charter as president and vice president.

Within a few years, the fraternity had chartered to the University of Texas, Austin (Zeta Chapter), the State University of New York, Buffalo (Nu Chapter), and the University of Michigan (Xi Chapter). In 1990, the organization was recognized by the North-American Interfraternity Conference, being the first Asian Interest fraternity to do so. State University of New York, Buffalo (Nu Chapter) was Lambda Phi Epsilon's first chapter to be chartered on the American East Coast. Starting as Delta Gamma Tau, on September 15, 1992, this fraternity merged with Lambda Phi Epsilon (effectively taking on Lambda Phi Epsilon's letters) to unify organizations with identical purposes and to strengthen the Asian American voice in the campus community. On December 5, 2004, Lambda Phi Epsilon established a colony at the University of Toronto (Alpha Xi Chapter), which was the first chapter of the fraternity established outside the United States. Today, Lambda Phi Epsilon has initiated over 10,000 members—the largest number of any Asian American interest fraternity in existence.

Philanthropy

The fraternity's national philanthropy works to raise awareness for bone marrow drives. For patients with leukemia or any other blood disorder, the best chance of finding a matching donor lies within their own ethnic community. Asian donors comprise a small fraction (7% as of January 2013) of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Because of this, every chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon hosts several bone marrow drives in conjunction with organizations like the Asian American Donor Program, Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, and the former Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation to inform, educate, and recruit potential marrow donors for the NMDP. Lambda Phi Epsilon recognized bone marrow drives as the national philanthropy when Evan Chen, a member from Stanford University, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995. The fraternity organized a campus-wide movement to find a bone marrow match for Chen. What resulted was the largest bone marrow typing drive in the history of the NMDP and AADP. In a matter of days, over 2000 people were typed. A match was eventually found for Chen, but by that time, the cancer had taken its toll and he died 1996. Since then, the fraternity organizes annual bone marrow drives to help others find matching donors. Collectively, chapters of Lambda Phi Epsilon amass hundreds of new registrants every year in national campaigns like Save Janet Liang and Save Nina Louie.

Scholarship

Lambda Phi Epsilon currently awards three merit-based scholarships to active brothers in good standing whom have been chosen from a pool of applicants. The Rising Leaders Among Men Scholarship recognizes first-year members, The Academic Excellence Scholarship recognizes academic achievement, and The Lambda of the Year Scholarship recognizes students who epitimize the organization's mission statement.

Convention

Lambda Phi Epsilon holds an annual convention during Memorial Day weekend at various locations across North America, co-hosted with the sisters of alpha Kappa Delta Phi. Throughout the weekend, members have the opportunity to learn about the state of the fraternity as addressed by the National Board, network with alumni in career-oriented workshops, and socialize with fellow actives from around the world. Convention ends with an annual banquet that recognizes incoming and outgoing fraternal leadership, announces chapter promotions and awards, and showcases brotherhood step performances and other perpetuating traditions of the fraternity.

Hazing incidents

Main article: Hazing in Greek letter organizations

Lambda Phi Epsilon has experienced the most hazing incidents among Asian-American fraternities, including three deaths.

Two pledges at separate universities died in hazing incidents in 2005. In August of that year, Cal Poly Pomona student Kenny Luong died after being tackled in a football game that pitted a 10-member pledge group against approximately 40 active members and alumni. The game lasted for more than 3 hours and was played without the use of pads. Prior to the football game, the pledges were forced to complete vigorous calisthenics such as close-fisted pushups on gravel; jumping in the air while standing, landing on their chests without using their hands to break their fall; and drinking two gallons of water in one sitting.

In December 2005, Jack Phoummarath, an 18-year-old at the University of Texas, died from alcohol poisoning in what was described by his family as a hazing incident. Three former leaders of the chapter pled no contest. A settlement was reached with the fraternity for $4.2 million. The fraternity organization did not have insurance, and was unable to pay the entire settlement. The fraternity later established the Jack Phoummarath Memorial Scholarship in his honor.

In 2008 The Daily Northwestern, the newspaper of Northwestern University, published an article revealing hazing violations as part of the chapter's pledging process. Pledges were forced to drink jugs of liquid believed to be a mixture of ketchup and Tabasco sauce and perform calisthenics all-night. After an official university hearing, Lambda Phi Epsilon received a four-year suspension from Northwestern.

In 2013, another fraternity member died at San Francisco State University. 18-year-old Peter Tran died due to alcohol poisoning during a "crossing" event at the house. The university later expelled Lambda Phi Epsilon from the campus following a full review.

Notable alumni

• Yul Kwon - Winner of Survivor: Cook Islands and named one of People magazine's Sexiest Men for 2006. Served as deputy chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Host of PBS show called, "America Revealed."
• Paul Qui - Winner of Top Chef: Texas in 2012. Represented the United States of America at the 13th annual S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup where he became the recipient of the 2013 Young Chef of the Year award.

Chapters

Main article: List of Lambda Phi Epsilon chapters

Lambda Phi Epsilon has a total of 58 chapters in 6 geographic regions.

West Coast California (13) Washington (2)

Southwest Texas (5) Oklahoma (1) Arizona (1)

Midwest Illinois (4) Indiana (1) Kansas (1) Michigan (2)

North East Massachusetts (3) New York (3) Ontario, Canada (2)

Mid-Atlantic Maryland (2) New Jersey (1) New York (5) Pennsylvania (3)

South East Florida (1) Georgia (1) North Carolina (2) Virginia (4)

See also

• List of social fraternities and sororities

External links

• Lambda Phi Epsilon Fraternity, Inc
• Asian American Donor Program
• Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches
• Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation