Huw Williams

Sororities and Fraternities On most college and university campuses in the United States and some in Canada there can be found a number of social, professional, or honorary organizations called fraternities (from frater, the Latin word for brother) and sororities (from soror, Latin for sister). The members are called brothers and sisters. Membership in these organizations is normally drawn from the student body of the school, though in some societies graduates can be elected to membership.

Most fraternities and sororities are called Greek-letter societies because they take as a name a combination of two or three Greek letters. An example is Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest fraternity in the United States. These letters normally represent a motto that indicates the aim or spirit of the society. The Greek letters Phi Beta Kappa, for example, stand for “Love of wisdom, the guide of life.”

Social fraternities and sororities.

These organizations are intended to serve as the campus home of members, and the brothers or sisters become a kind of family. In many schools fraternities and sororities are the basis of social and political life, and membership in a Greek-letter society is virtually a necessity to attain any position of importance on campus.

Many fraternities and sororities are national organizations, but the basic unit is the local chapter, consisting of all its undergraduate members at a specific school. Some colleges have fraternities and sororities that are entirely local, having no connection with outside organizations. Each chapter has its own alumni group, and in many places there are alumni chapters whose members come from different schools.

Members of the societies are normally recruited from among first-year students by means of rushing, a process by which new students and society members get acquainted. If rushees are acceptable to the group, they are given bids, or invitations, to join. If they accept the bids, they become pledges. After several months the pledges are initiated into full membership if they meet the membership requirements set by both the society and the school.

Many campuses have fraternity or sorority houses that provide members living quarters while they attend school. Each society also has its distinct insignia: a coat of arms, a badge or pin, a flag, and rituals, passwords, and handshakes. Some wear distinctive dress on informal occasions.

The first of the social fraternities, Phi Beta Kappa, is today an honorary society devoted to excellence in academic pursuits. It was founded on Dec. 5, 1776, at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The oldest social fraternity that is still a social fraternity is Kappa Alpha, founded in 1825 at Union College, in Schenectady, N.Y. The idea of fraternities spread to the Midwest in the 1830s and to the Far West after the Civil War.

Beta Theta Pi was the first Midwestern fraternity, founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1839. In 1870 Zeta Psi, founded at New York University in 1847, opened a chapter at the University of California; a chapter at the University of Toronto in Canada followed in 1879.

The first sorority was not founded until May 15, 1851: the Adelphean (now Alpha Delta Pi) at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Ga. The expansion of sororities came at the same time that state-supported universities began accepting women as students.

Professional fraternities.

These societies are specialized organizations whose membership is limited to students and faculty members who work in a particular area of study. They began at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., where medical students formed the Kappa Lambda Society in 1819. Phi Delta Phi (law) was organized in 1869, Nu Sigma Nu (medicine) in 1882, and Delta Sigma Delta (dentistry) in 1882. Other professional fraternities include Alpha Chi Sigma (chemistry), Kappa Phi Kappa (education), Kappa Psi (pharmacy), Alpha Eta Rho (aviation), Alpha Tau Delta (nursing), Mu Phi Epsilon (music), Epsilon Eta Phi (commerce and business administration), Theta Sigma Phi (journalism), Beta Alpha Psi (accounting), and Alpha Alpha Gamma (architecture).

Honor societies.

These fraternities recognize student scholastic achievement. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa, for example, is awarded for general excellence in the arts and sciences. There are many fraternities, dedicated to specific fields of study, that elect students to membership in their undergraduate years. In some cases alumni who have distinguished themselves are also elected to membership. One of the earliest honorary fraternities (after Phi Beta Kappa) was Tau Beta Pi (engineering), founded in 1885. There is a society for nearly every field of endeavor, including Beta Kappa Chi (mathematics and natural sciences), Chi Epsilon (civil engineering), Delta Phi Delta (art), Kappa Tau Alpha (journalism), Phi Alpha Theta (history), Phi Sigma (biology), Phi Sigma Tau (philosophy), Pi Kappa Lambda (music), Sigma Tau (engineering), and Sigma Theta Tau (nursing).

Interfraternal organizations.

Relations between the national fraternities and sororities are handled by several organizations, the largest of which is the National Conference on College Fraternities and Sororities, organized in 1941. Several other national organizations cooperated to found the conference—the National Panhellenic Conference, founded in 1902 as the first cooperative group; the National Interfraternity Conference; the Association of College Honor Societies; the Professional Interfraternity Conference; and the Professional Panhellenic Association. An Interfraternity Research and Advisory Council was organized in 1946. In addition to the national groups, most campuses have undergraduate interfraternity and intersorority councils.