What are your letters? Acacia is the only founding member of the National Interfraternity Council to choose a full Greek word as its name rather than a few letters. Our name, Acacia, comes from the Greek word AKAKIA which has several different meanings. Acacia means "distinctiveness and leadership among men", "brotherhood", and "strength and ruggedness of the spirit".

Acacia Fraternity was founded in 1904 at the University of Michigan. Over the years, Acacia has grown to become an International organization with over 40 chapters across the United States and Canada. Famous Acacia alumni include: William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryan, Cliff Hillegas (founder of Cliff's Notes), Wes Santee (former Gold Medal distance runner), and Harold Edgerton (Nobel Prize in Physics).

The Cornell chapter of Acacia was founded May 4, 1907 by the captain of the football team and a few of his friends. That same year our current house, Northcote, was built. The chapter lived in a few houses before finally moving into Northcote in 1934. Northcote was drafted by the same architect who designed Baker Labs and various other buildings throughout Ithaca.

Over the years, the Cornell chapter has built a strong brotherhood on the foundation of diversity and tradition. The Cornell chapter has initiated over 1000 brothers since we were founded on this campus. Our chapter has developed a strong tradition, but we have avoided fostering a stereotype. We believe that when a brother joins Acacia, he should not have to give up his individuality. Instead, that brother will be able to enhance the brotherhood with his own ideas.

Currently, we have 20 active brothers. Out fraternity is, therefore, able to offer every member the chance to develop their own leadership abilities as officers and as brothers. At Acacia, we have formed strong bonds of friendship which often cannot be found in some of the larger houses on this campus.

Our house philosophy is to balance academics while having fun. Not only have brothers achieved high academic honors, but our house GPA is well above the university average. Perhaps the most appealing factor about a fraternity is its social program. We have a full social calendar of parties, date nights, mixers, and the annual "Black and Gold" Formal in which we take a dinner cruise around Cayuga Lake. We are looking forward to meeting you and we hope that you will stop by and visit us some time.