We, the members of Lambda Phi Epsilon National Fraternity, strive to promote Asian American Awareness in our surrounding communities through the promotion of Asian American interest activities. Such events, include philanthropic causes, educating the community, and preserving Asian American culture.
Since our inception, Lambda Phi Epsilon’s goals have been to exemplify the highest standards of Academic Performance, Social Experience, Service to the Community, and most importantly Brotherhood among its members.
Lambda Phi Epsilon was founded on February 25, 1981, by principal founder Mr. Craig Ishigo and a group of eighteen other dedicated men. Noticing that Asian fraternities and sororities at the UC campuses were recognized as only service organizations due to their memberships focused on Asians and to the exclusion of other ethnic groups, the goal of the founders was to transcend this limitation.
The founders hoped to set new and higher standards of excellence for all Asian-interest organizations to follow, while feeling a need to offer a fraternity that would be recognized by the IFC and the Greek system. While the original charter focused on Asian-Pacifics, people from all ethnic backgrounds were welcome to join and support the brotherhood of Lambda Phi Epsilon.
Their vision was that the members would eventually become the leaders of their respective communities and bridge the gaps that divided the Asian American community through the affiliation with a common organization. Lambda Phi Epsilon is now the Largest and Only Internationally recongized Asian-Interest Fraternity in the World, with 49 chapters.
Lambda Phi Epsilon on the UC Davis campus was founded on September 4, 1985. The force behind this emergence of the UC Davis Chapter was Timothy Kan. He began the fraternity as a social outlet to the Asian students on campus. The rationale was that Lambda Phi Epsilon would provide Asian students the opportunity to participate in the Greek system without feeling like a token of the house and without losing their heritage in order to fit in.
Furthermore, he believed that the fraternity offers the Asian male populance more opportunities to interact with all other social groups on campus that traditional Asian clubs could not. The UC Davis chapter is recognized for its athletic and academic excellence. The UC Davis chapter is the Beta Chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon and was the first Asian-Interest Fraternity to start a second chapter.
