The Kappa Alpha Order became the sixth fraternity on the University of North Florida's campus Jan. 18 in a ceremony that honored the existing 33 members as founding fathers of UNF's charter order.

More than 275 people attended the ceremony, with every level of the national order in attendance, as well as alumni of the organization, some traveling from South Carolina, Virginia and Texas.

"We submitted our formal application to be accepted," said John Bass, president of the order at UNF. "It was accepted and we were presented with the charter. We've had numerous support from administrators at UNF and also the Greek community at UNF."

The fraternity received its provisional charter status Oct. 15, 2000, but before it could gain permanent status, it had to reach a number of milestones. For instance, the fraternity had to have a certain number of members and raise more than $2,000 for its philanthropy, Muscular Dystrophy. Members were required to maintain certain grade-point averages, perform community service and be active participants in the UNF Greek community.

The group participated in Homecoming last year with the Dance Attack group and in Zeta Tau Alpha's fraternity round-up since it received its provisional charter. The chapter participated in Delta Gamma's Anchor Splash and in Greek Week in spring 2001.

Kappa Alpha was founded in 1865 in Lexington, Va., and was deemed the "Gentlemen's Fraternity." The fraternity has 133 chapters nationwide and more than 125,000 initiated members.