Who is credited with naming the society because he proposed a motion that was accepted?

• A. George Biddle Kelley
• B. Henry Arthur Callis
• C. Edward Ulysses Anderson Brooks
• D. George Fletcher

Answer: (A)

Naming the group came down to a single decisive moment in the founding meeting. The motion to name the new organization Alpha Phi Alpha was proposed by George Biddle Kelley, and the founders accepted it, so the name became official. This happened during the early organizing sessions at Cornell in 1906, as they were setting up the fraternity’s identity, and Kelley’s proposal gave the organization its enduring name. The other founders contributed in many important ways, but the act of naming—the motion that was adopted—belongs to him.