As a college student, your first priority should be your academics. Acacia Fraternity places the utmost importance on academics and believes that it is the responsibility of all college students to be invested in their education. In order to further this cause, the Illinois Wesleyan Chapter created the role of Administrative Dean, who is responsible for ensuring that each member has ample opportunity to excel academically through weekly study tables and a scholarship rewards program. Moreover, the Acacia Fraternity Foundation, Acacia's non-profit educational foundation, assists deserving Acacians with a total of over $200,000 in scholarships and educational grants yearly.

Grade Point Average Requirements :

• To Join (First-Years): 2.500
• To Join (Continuing): 2.500
• Good Standing (Active Members): None

Does your chapter require/offer study hall hours? 4 - 10 hours per week

Please describe any assistance or programming that your chapter provides to support the academic achievement for your members.

Our chapter provides a class list for the new and incoming members. All active members are on the list for reference for the classes that they have taken.

If a member falls below the required GPA, how does your chapter help them?

Social probation, extra study hours, and monetary fine are all consequences of failure to achieve the minimum grade point average.

*Based on 2014-15 fees supplied by the chapter; Dues do not include optional items such as clothing. Payment plans are available.
**Room and Board Fees are the same as living on campus due to facility ownership by IWU

Additional Costs and Fees

In the event that our chapter house occupancy is below 100%, members are charged an under-capacity fee by the University. The under-capacity fee is determined by dividing the charges for unfilled capacity spots ($500/space/semester) among the members who were eligible to have lived in the chapter house, regardless of residency. The 2017-18 under-capacity fee for Acacia is estimated at $296.87 per semester. Please note, this amount is subject to change based on changes in membership as it is billed on a semester basis.

Any unclaimed common area damages in the chapter facility are divided equally among all chapter residents and exterior key holders. The Fall 2017 total common area damages was $80.28.  The total unclaimed common area damages for Fall 2017 was $6.17 per resident.

Residency Type: Singles, Doubles, Triples, Quads

Policies: As part of the IWU residential requirement, our members live in during their sophomore year. To ensure that our chapter facility is filled, we require all members to live in the house with exceptions made on a case by case basis and if we reach our capacity. Most residents will end up living in house for 4 semesters. Room assignments are based on a system of house points that rewards for doing good things.

Meal Plans

Residents are required to board with Sodexo, IWU's Dinning Services. Meal plan options may be found on their website. 

The motto of the Acacia Fraternity is "Human Service," and we take that quite seriously. As a member of Acacia, you will be encouraged to help those around you, both within the IWU campus as well as around the Bloomington-Normal area. Our members currently give back to the community through volunteering at places such as Home Sweet Home Ministries and the BroMenn Hospital.

National Philanthropy: Shriners

National Service Project: None

Local Philanthropy Events and Service Projects: 

Acacia Midwest Basketball Tournament, Bring a Can to Shake Your Can, Wetter for the Better, The Mulberry Gala, Adopt-A-Street, Home Sweet Home, IWU Safe Zone Program.

Required Service Hours and Donations: All members are required to perform 30 hours of service per semester. We do not require our members to make any donations.

Length : 8 weeks

Hours Per Week: 3 hours per week

Recently, the Illinois Wesleyan Chapter adopted the newly developed Cornerstones Membership Development Program, which is designed to help pledges and actives alike become more involved in their campus and community while encouraging academic achievement and chapter knowledge (see www.gatesofsamos.org for more information). Thus, our pledge program focuses on learning your way into the fraternity, not earning it by participating in degrading acts, and also recognizes the fact that learning about the campus, the fraternity, and yourself should not end upon initiation

Hazing that includes but is not limited to; servitude, physical peril, activities degrading emotionally or physically are strictly forbidden by the laws of Acacia.

The organization known today as the Illinois Wesleyan Chapter of Acacia Fraternity evolved from a small local organization started by John Edwards, Robert Andruczk, and Dennis Stark. The three men had rushed in the fall of 1956, but were disappointed with the current situation of fraternity life at Illinois Wesleyan. Thus, they created their own fraternal organization and began to grow in membership and influence on campus. On March 13 of the following year, after receiving bids from five national fraternities, the men voted to become affiliated with the Acacia Fraternity, and the Illinois Wesleyan Chapter was born.

In the following years, the chapter continued to gather respect from the other Greek houses, developing the most reasonable and progressive pledge program of the time, holding numerous campus leadership positions, and at one point having an overall GPA a full two-tenths above the other fraternities. The chapter reached a high of over 50 members during the 1970s, and during this time several brothers served terms as Undergraduate Counselors to the Acacia International Council. This successful growth, however, slowed to a halt in January of 1985 when the university terminated the chapter's charter.

The rebirth of the Illinois Wesleyan chapter began in March of 1988. With the Alumni Association supporting a growing group of interested freshmen, the university cabinet accepted the recolonization of Acacia on April 15, 1988. The "Original Seven" who joined Acacia that spring pledged fourteen more the next fall, and the following year the men received word from the university that they could be housed in Adams Hall. After two more years of hard work, the chapter was finally granted its charter on May 5, 1991.

Since rechartering, the chapter has continued the tradition of excellence that was established when it was originally founded. Keeping up its progressive attitude, the chapter created the positions of Administrative Dean and Risk Manager to assist with chapter operations, with the latter being adopted by the International Fraternity. Several brothers have received the Award of Merit, Acacia's highest honor, for their philanthropic efforts after graduation, and Brother Robert Roberson was recently elected to be Acacia's International President.

The chapter of today continues pushing ever forward, adopting Acacia's recently developed Cornerstones membership development program in hopes of helping its brothers to become more balanced, responsible, and educated men, ready to take on a more active part in the affairs of the communities in which they reside.