[4][2] Samuel Eells and four others founded the literary society Alpha Delta Phi at Hamilton College in 1832.

[6] At the Alpha Delta Phi national convention in 1972, the California chapter proposed an amendment to the constitution, eliminating the all-male restriction and allowing women to become full members.

[7][8] That same year, Price came up with the Brown Compromise that allowed women to join as "local" members but not as national fraternity initiates.

Alpha Delta Phi sent a letter stating its plans to suspend the Brunonian chapter at the next national meeting.

[6] However, the proposed home rule policy was defeated; it would have given each chapter the right to decide whether or not to initiate women fully.

Some chapters submitted female entries to the fraternity's literary contest under male members' names.

[6] Not only were the women not allowed to stay for the business meeting but there was also pushing and shoving when they tried to participate in ceremonies at the annual banquet.

In 1989, the Brunonian chapter passed a resolution to cut ties with the national fraternity if it did not stop its discrimination of women by the fall of 1990.

[10] At the 1990 national convention, the adoption of the Berkeley-Washington resolution was delayed in favor of a new proposal to create two separate, but connected, organizations.

[6] In 1991, the Bowdoin chapter offered its local female members full fraternity status to comply with the college's new equality guidelines.

The groups would share the license for the Greek letters ΑΔΦ and intellectual property, including history and songs.

[3] The new agreement brought greater parity and removed geographic restrictions on the use of the name Alpha Delta Phi Society.

[3] In August 2023 the Lambda Phi chapter at Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that they would go co-ed and begin recruiting and initiating new members of all genders, effective immediately.

[34][35] The chapters also hold social events, including open mic nights and band concerts.

This issue was deliberated as part of the separation agreement between the organizations, allowing both to claim the alumni from the earlier era.