ABOUT

Chapter Founding

In the fall of 1983, a small group of Chico State men formed a unique relationship with Alpha Chi, a local sorority. The sorority sisters and the group of men together gave way to the creation of a unique idea, the Alpha Chi little brother program. The newly founded relationship served many purposes: allowing the men to be affiliated with the Greek community, and enabling the development of lasting friendships with the women of Alpha Chi.

In the beginning of the Fall 1984 semester, the group had their first Little Brother Rush and subsequent pledge class, known to the campus as the AX Men. The program differed greatly from its counterpart fraternity little sisters. In the Fall of 1987, the AX Men decided not to allow their members to be affiliated with any fraternity and asked for at least a two year commitment from all of the men whom they accepted in to their program. Between 1987 and 1989, the sorority and the little brothers found increasing areas of conflict. Many sorority sisters believed that the AX Men program was becoming too strong and many AX Men felt restricted by the sorority's policies.

Consequently, in the Spring of 1989, the Alpha Chi Alumni Board required the active chapter of the sorority to end all affiliation with the AX Men. The enthusiastic group of young men knew that the bonds they had among themselves were too valuable to sever, and in an effort to maintain the strong brotherhood they founded the local fraternity, Alpha Chi Epsilon. The original AXE house was located at 1341 W. Fourth Street.

The fraternity's quest for excellence continued as the active membership began in the Fall of 1989 to pursue affiliation with the Sigma Chi International Fraternity. After completing the requirements of the petitioning process, the Kappa Theta Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity was installed at Chico State on November 8, 1992.