The Kappa Alpha Society () is a North American social college fraternity. Founded in 1825, it was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It is considered to be the oldest national, secret, Greek-letter social fraternity and was the first of the fraternities which would eventually become known as the Union Triad (along with Sigma Phi and Delta Phi) that pioneered the North American system of social fraternities.
While several fraternities claim to be the oldest, Baird's Manual states that has maintained a continuous existence since its foundation, making it the oldest undergraduate fraternity that exists today. As of 2026, there are five active chapters, three in the United States and two in Canada.
This organization is not to be confused with the Kappa Alpha Order, a completely separate national fraternity founded in 1865.
In 1823, John Hart Hunter, Isaac Wilber Jackson, and Thomas Hun, who were students at Union College in Schenectady, New York, established an informal group called The Philosophers. That group became the Kappa Alpha Society on . Besides those listed above, its founders were Joseph Anthony Constant, John McGeoch, Orlando Meads, and James Proudfit of the class of , and Arthur Burtis and Joseph Law of the class of .
The Kappa Alpha Society represents the middle link between secret societies, literary societies, and Greek-letter organizations like Phi Beta Kappa. In the words of founding member Arthur Burtis:
On June 23, 1827, the society decided to adopted a membership emblem which takes the form of a medal.
Kappa Alpha unsuccessfully attempted to expand to Hamilton College in fall 1830. That same year, they published their first catalog. KA later successfully expanded to Williams College in 1833, led by Azariah S. Clark of the class of 1834. Clark and Alexander Hyde had traveled to Union College to obtain a charter for Phi Beta Kappa, and instead returned with one for Kappa Alpha.
Following is a list of the active and inactive chapters of the Kappa Alpha Society, with active chapters indicated in bold and inactive chapters in italics. Chapters are designated with an abbreviation of the institution's Latin name.
The Kappa Alpha Society has produced a substantial number of notable members in widely varied fields throughout its 200-year history.
A catolog of members was published in 1892 and published under the name Kappa Alpha Record in 1925 and 1941.
The Union and Wesleyan chapters were co-educational, that is, having male and female members in the recent past. There are currently no co-educational chapters.