Secretly, eleven men gathered interests and developed a proposal to be directed to Lake Forest’s president to accept the petition of forming the first Greek organization on campus. “There is nothing in Lake Forest University’s constitution that can prevent the formation of a Greek organization on campus” Dr. Coulter, member of the Faculty said. Not only was he in favor of the establishment of Greek life on campus, but he also actively supported students and encouraged faculty to recognize it.
In 1895, Lake Forest would experiment fundamental changes in its social structure. Eleven men rented a house in Lake Forest town and founded what would be the pioneering organization of more to come. Phi Pi Epsilon was the first Greek organization on campus that was officially established at the College, followed almost immediately by Kappa Sigma the following year.
Lake Forest College’s first fraternity house for Phi Psi Epsilon.
Though there is very little in- formation about Phi Pi Epsilon as a Greek organization, the importance of the gathering of these men is far more relevant than the society they had created. Little importance had PPE in itself, the fraternity’s importance relies on the fact that they had opened the path for more associations, whether Greek or not, on campus.
While there was controversy about the opening of a society that would exclude women and would fractionate status quo among students, PPE achieved recognition and positioned itself to the level of Zeta Epsilon, the College’s Literary Society.
Today, 20% of LFC students are involved in Greek Life.
Today, fraternities and sororities make up 20 percent of the student population. Currently, there are three fraternities on campus: Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Chi, and Lambda Chi Alpha. All of them are governed by the Interfraternity Council. Lake Forest also has five sororities: Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Omega, and Kappa Alpha Theta.
Students can visit the Archives and Special Collections Department at www.lakeforest.edu/library/archives.
