November 17, 1911
On Friday, November 17, 1911, three Howard University undergraduate students, Frank Coleman, Oscar James Cooper and Edgar Amos Love, met with Professor Ernest Everett Just in his office in Science Hall (Thirkield Hall) to establish a fraternity. At this meeting, they decided upon the motto “friendship is essential to the soul” as symbolized by the letters OMEGA PSI PHI, which are the initials of the three Greek words that represent the motto.