On May 13, 1994, a group of students on the campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo formed the core group which would become Lambda Phi Epsilon interest group Alpha Pi Lambda. This group of ambitious young students seeked to provide an outlet for Asian American men to come together and find a place in an area which was predominately Caucasian. The principle founders, Wilfred Albovias and Nick Tran, were joined by four others: Norman Chow, Gia Chung, Christopher Francisco, and Andrew Viloria. With the assistance of then ΛΦΕ National President, Jason Akima, they began their quest to bring ΛΦΕ to SLO.

As Alpha Pi Lambda, they set to establish themseleves on campus as a group dedicated to Asian awareness as well as helping the community in various ways. They were able to do this through such events as an Asian American Bone Marrow Donor Program, social gatherings, and assisting in other club's events such as the Chinese Student Association's Annual Chinese New Year Banquet and the Lantern Festival, highlighting Asian Awareness Week as well as Synergy, Cal Poly's first ever talent show.

During the process of establishing themselves, they also petitioned for Lambda Phi Epsilon colony status. On October 6, 1995, the Cal Poly SLO colony was founded under their auspices hosts, Gamma Chapter, UC Santa Barbara. The principal hosts of SLO were Chung Cho Chan, Nhan Ho, and Edmund Chiu. On February 4, 1996 the founding pledge class of Cal Poly SLO crossed to full active status and with the continued assistance of their hosts, Gamma Chapter, began the task of building Lambda Phi Epsilon in SLO.