Founding Date

Nov 7th, 1964

The Alpha Gamma chapter (Section B) at General Motors Institute (renames GMI, then renamed Kettering) was chartered on November 7, 1964. The chapter is located in Flint, Michigan.

A-section / B-section- What does that mean?

Kettering University works on a two-section system, A-Section, and B-Section. A-section goes to school from January to March and July to September, then each student is at a Co-op employer when not at school. Three months in school, three months at co-op, and so on. B-section does the same format but will be at the Co-op employer when A-section is at school. This arrangement allows Co-op employers to be staffed year around with Co-ops/interns. What this means from a fraternity point-of-view is that A-section has a full cabinet and B-section has a full cabinet. But the Alpha Gamma Chapter is one chapter in the eyes of the fraternity with two Presidents, two Treasurers, and so on. In the past, Kettering/GMI always had sections but before 1963 the school ran on a four-section system: A & C were four weeks long for in-state students and B & D was eight weeks long for out-of-state students. (AB, CB, AD, and then CD)

History of the Alpha Gamma Chapter

It was during a 1931 spring track meet that the spark of fraternalism hit eleven future engineers, the soon-to-be Delta Chapter of Alpha Gamma Upsilon (AGU.) Edward John and ten others were competing against a rival college, Detroit Institute of Technology, when they met and became impressed by the men of the two-year-old Gamma Chapter from Detroit Tech. By January 4, 1932, meetings were held in John's room at 211 Cartier Street with the National Board of Directors, led by National President, Clayton M. Force ("Sparky"). Twelve days later, on January 16, 1932, the Delta Chapter of AGU was installed at General Motors Institute by a special meeting of the Supreme Council.

In 1961 the Delta Chapter hosted the national convention of AGU in Flint. At that time, the Delta Chapter paid significantly more national dues than all other chapters combined and the house was not see much value in services from the national fraternity. During this time all the fraternities at GMI were local fraternities with no nationals. On April 15, 1963, the house began a discussion on disaffiliation with AGU, during a chapter meeting a census was taken on the matter and B-section decided to form a committee to draw up a presentation to be presented to both sections on the pros and cons of disaffiliating and joining a larger national. One item that did not improve the situation was that on May 4th it was reported that the national convention for AGU was not a success and National was not in sound financial shape.

On June 15, 1963, the brotherhood voted on and passed at a general membership meeting to disaffiliate with Alpha Gamma Upsilon. The next vote after the decision to disaffiliate, the brothers voted to pay all dues for members up until December 31, 1963. On November 7, 1963, James A. Brown, the National President of AGU, released us in good standing from all oaths, obligations, and ties of any kind with Alpha Gamma Upsilon. Since we were in need of a new name, it only seemed easy to just drop the Upsilon, so we became the Alpha Gamma Fraternity. In 1942 The Alpha Gamma Fraternity was registered with the NIC.

Based on the research and investigation to this point, the chapter formed four-man committees to look at each of the national fraternities selected based on the criteria. Each committee examined publications, structure, staff, reputation, expansion rate, chapter mortality rate, professed goals, alumni organization, financial policies, and unique characteristics of each group. The seven reports were presented to the membership on Feb 15, 1964, and a final decision was made on March 28, 1964.

On September 1, 1964, the Alpha Gamma Fraternity petitioned the Archonate, and undergraduate membership of the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. During the morning session, on Friday, September 4th of the 116th Ekklesia (September 2-5, 1964) in French Lick, Indiana, the membership of the fraternity unanimously voted to grant a charter as the Alpha Gamma Chapter.

On Saturday, November 7, 1964, Alpha Gamma became the 89th chapter of Phi Gamma Delta.