Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated® (Fraternity) was founded January 5, 1911, at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and its opposition to hazing or unlawful or anti-social conduct of any kind has been continuous since its founding, implicit in its founding precepts and explicit in its declaration first published in the year 1949 stating that hazing in any form is illegal.
The Fraternity has outlawed pledging and dispensed with the customary practice of having pledges or a protracted probationary period prior to one’s initiation into full membership into the fraternity.
The Fraternity has developed an admissions process known as Membership Training Academy which establishes an orderly and rational process of applicant solicitation, screening, and initiation; and the membership intake process is calculated to attract and retain members of high academic, moral, social, civic, ethical and religious standards; and
The Fraternity seeks to remove any and all opportunities for pledging, hazing, antisocial and unlawful activity and seeks to promote in every phase of fraternity life only safe and wholesome activities which are consistent with the Code of Conduct of the colleges, universities and jurisdictions where our chapters are chartered. The effective enforcement of membership intake policies and the anti-hazing edict requires that the college, university, and community officials join the Fraternity in informing all members of the community that hazing, horseplay, physical stunts, antisocial, or unlawful activity of any kind are not and cannot be a precondition of membership in the Fraternity.
It is the goal of the Fraternity to see that all individuals committing acts of hazing and other unlawful and Prohibited Acts are punished consistent with due process and the concept of proportionality to the full extent of the rules of the fraternity, college and the criminal law. The Fraternity does not countenance either acts of physical aggression by members or the willing submission to the same by prospective members or Candidates for membership. Prospective members, Candidates and other members of the public are themselves uniquely situated to reject, report and decline to participate in any pledging or hazing activity.
The Fraternity has not only outlawed pledging, but bans from its membership those who submit to such a vile process and the Fraternity’s membership intake process is the sole method for obtaining membership in the organization and said process is designed specifically to attract and retain members of high academic, moral, social, civic, ethical and religious standards. Some wayward members of the Fraternity, who do not subscribe to our motto of achievement, have elected, in open defiance of the rules and regulation of the Fraternity, to conduct underground pledging and engage in acts of hazing and other Prohibited Acts in clear violation of Fraternity rules and criminal statutes of the various states. Such members’ criminal behavior is repugnant to all for which the Fraternity stands and such members are renegades, not wanted, and clearly deserve, because of their behavior, to forfeit their membership in Kappa Alpha Psi.
It is the specific intent of this Organization to serve notice to parents, students, colleges, universities, law enforcement officials and the world that Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., forbids pledging, hazing or any other unlawful acts and urges the public to report any such suspected activity to the Fraternity, the student affairs division of the college or university and especially to law enforcement officials.