American College Fraternities, unique among the educational system of the world, had their genesis almost coincident with the founding of the American Republic itself and in their growth have kept pace with the robust nation and with Canada.
Only five months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Phi Beta Kappa was founded by five students at the College of William and Mary in ancient Williamsburg, VA, on the night of December 5, 1776.
It is generally believed that this first Greek-letter society grew out of an antecedent organization know as the “Flat Hat Club,” which had existed at William and Mary since about 1750. The Phi Beta Kappa of the late Eighteenth Century had all the earmarks of our present-day social fraternities: the charm and mystery of the secrecy, a ritual, oath of fidelity, a grip, a motto, a badge for external display, high ideals of morality, scholastic achievement and fellowship. The ancient society soon determined to extend its values to other institutions and within eleven year had established chapters at Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth.
Because of increased military activity in Virginia during the Revolutionary War, the parent chapter of Phi Beta Kappa became dormant in 1781 and the fraternity did not expand further for many years. In 1831, influenced by a nation-wide agitation against secret societies, the Harvard chapter voluntarily disclosed it secrets; thenceforth the entire organization became an honorary society in which membership was conferred solely for distinguished scholarship. Following this change of policy, Phi Beta Kappa emphasized the honorary nature of its membership and no longer considered itself in competition with social fraternities.
Phi Beta Kappa today is more widely distributed than any other Greek-letter
society and remains purely honorary in character. Yet the fraternities
of 1776-1831 was the progenitor of our whole species of college fraternities
and its numerous offspring bear all of its essential features. 
UNION COLLEE – “Mother of Fraternities”
The Kappa Alpha Society, Popularly known as Northern K.A., was organized at Union College, Schenectady, NY, in the autumn of 1825 and is the oldest of the existing social fraternities. Like many others that have followed, its formation was due either to imitation of or opposition to an antecedent society. It was patterned after Phi Beta Kappa, which had placed a chapter at Union College eight years before. The fraternity idea caught the fancy of the Union men of that generation and two years later-in 1827-Sigma Phi and Delta Phi both appeared on the scene. These three pioneer fraternities, know as the “Union Triad,” where the pattern for the American fraternity system.
Three other fraternities where later established at Union College: Psi Upsilon in 1833, Chi Psi in 1841, and Theta Delta Chi in 1847. Union properly bears the title of “Mother of Fraternities.”
Sigma Psi was the first of the “Union Triad” to expand. It placed a
chapter at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, in 1831. A rival fraternity,
Alpha Delta Phi, sprang up on the Hamilton campus in 1832. Kappa Alpha
and Delta Phi first expanded to Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.,
in 1833 and 1834, respectively. Almost immediately a coalition of anti-secret
groups, the progenitor of Delta Upsilon, around to oppose them.
What of fraternity expansion westward? In 1833, one year after its founding at Hamilton College, Alpha Delta Phi established its second chapter at Miami University, Oxford, OH. Displease with Alpha Delta Phi’s control of campus leadership at Miami, another group of students banded together in 1839 to establish Beta Theta Pi, the first fraternity to be founded west of the Alleghenies.
Phi Delta Theta, founded at Miami, owes its origins to a student prank, the famous “snow rebellion,” which started as a frolic and ended in open defiance of the college authorities. The students packed enormous quantities of snow in the entrances to the college buildings, thus preventing the faculty from entering the classrooms for two days. Expulsion of more than twenty students followed, including all the Alpha Delta Phi but one and all of the Beta Theta Pis but two. Thus both fraternities became inactive at Miami and remained so until 1852. Meantime, Phi Delta Theta was organized in December 1848, and gained a foothold before her rivals could reestablish themselves.
Miami University is likewise the birthplace of a third general fraternity, Sigma Chi. Six men who have been members of Delta Kappa Epsilon, which has entered Miami in 1852, founded it in 1855, after it’s founding at Yale in 1844. These six students had disagreed with their chapter over the election of a representative in a college oratorical contest and walked out to start a fraternity of their own.
Thus Beat Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, and Sigma Chi form the “Miami Triad.”
During the years proceeding the founding of fraternities at Jefferson College, Canonsbrug, PA, two literary societies existed at Jefferson. These were known as Franklin and Philo. Both were founded last in 1797 and heated oratorical contest typified the keen rivalry that existed between them. Phi Gamma Delta was founded in May of 1848 from the Franklin Society.
Four years after the founding of Phi Gamma Delta, an epidemic of typhoid
fever struck the student body at Jefferson College and those who were not
prostrated by the disease ministered to their comrades. The warm friendships
formed among certain men in such trying times ripened into the sentiment
which lead to the founding, in 1852, of Phi Kappa Psi, the only other fraternity
existing today which had its origins at old Jefferson. These two-Phi Gamma
Delta and Phi Kappa Psi- comprise the famed “Jefferson Duo.” A third fraternity,
Kappa Phi Lambda, also had its genesis at old Jefferson College, where
it was established in 1862, spreading to nine other colleges. The fraternity
became extinct in 1874.
In 1849, one year after Phi Gamma Delta’s genesis at Jefferson, the first distinctively Southern fraternity originated at the University of Mississippi. It was know as the WWW or “Rainbow” and its founding was thought to have been influenced by expansion of the now extinct “Mystical Seven” (founded in 1837 at Wesleyan University) into Emory College in Atlanta in 1841 and into the parent college of what is now the University of Georgia in 1844. The Rainbow Society expanded to a known total of 13 chapters, only two of that were active when the society was absorbed by Delta Tau Delta in 1886.
Other existing fraternities founded in the South prior to the War Between the States were Sigma Alpha Epsilon, arising at the University of Alabama in 1856; Chi Phi, the second of the three orders to bear the name, founded at the University of North Carolina in 1858, and Delta Tau Delta, established at Bethany College, WV, in 1859.
In brief, it may be said that when the Civil War began there were 26 American College Fraternities. Of these, 20 had been founded north of the Mason and Dixon Line and six south of it. By the year 1861, these fraternities are reliably reported to have established a total of 379 chapters, of which 142 has been distributed throughout 39 Southern colleges. Within a few months after the beginning of the war, may of the chapters in the South has succumbed and within a year non was in existence, unless the nominal life maintained by one chapter each of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Phi Kappa Psi be considered active operations.
When the arms were finally laid down, some of the northern fraternities showed courage and fraternal spirit in attempts to revive their fallen Southern chapters. For the most part, however, the state of affairs in the South was so uncertain that the reestablishment of chapters by the northern fraternities was undertaken slowly or not at all. Their tardiness or unwillingness to reclaim old fields naturally presented opportunities for new fraternities to be created in answer to the need; thus the so-called Southern fraternities came into existence, many during the very throes of the dying Confederacy and especially at institutions made prominent by their military character. At Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA, Alpha Tau Omega was born in 1865 and Sigma Nu in 1869.
Kappa Alpha (Southern) was founded at Washington and Lee University,
also in Lexington, VA, in 1865. Two years later Kappa Sigma originated
at the University of Virginia, where in 1868 the Southern filed, was again
adequately occupied by flourishing fraternities.
Approximately 40 college fraternities had been founded by the beginning of the Twentieth Century. The development of new national fraternities, however, has been so rapid that those founded since 1900 almost outnumber those established during the whole of the 124 preceding years. Simultaneous with the creation and spread of younger fraternities has been the notable expansion of the “old-time” Greek-letter groups.
To be sure, the cavalcade of American college fraternity system from it humble beginning to its present position as an indispensable part of higher education has not been without trials and tribulations. Wars, depressions and legislatures have all left their scars. The wounds and fatalities inflicted by the Civil War and Reconstruction Era created trying times indeed; they have already received our attention. The blow dealt fraternities in the United States by World War I was less disastrous in comparison, because of the relatively short duration of America’s participation therein, and the relatively greater human and financial resources upon which the fraternities, by their seasoned organizations, could draw. At a time when student were enlisted in the Student Army Training Corps and when fraternity houses were taken over by the government to be converted into barracks, a subordinate in the War Department issued an order prohibiting all secret assemblages, including fraternity meetings and initiation. Had it not been for the timely countermand of Phi Gamma Delta Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, who recognized the detrimental effects such edict would have on fraternities, the toll of dead chapters might have been far greater.
While not unduly calamitous for fraternities, the war had done things to the youth of the country. Millions of them had been transported all over this continent and Europe-they had seen beyond countless new horizons- they had tasted education through travel and association with their fellow men; it was inevitable that they should seek to purse their newfound concepts at the institutions of higher learning. They do authorities explain in part the phenomenal increase in college enrollments which began in the early 1920s.
Hand in hand with rapid growth of this continent’s colleges and universities marched the fraternities. Older Greek-letter groups established more and more chapter while several new fraternities came into existence almost overnight. The average size of chapters increased from 25 to 40 members within a few years. With the economic boom came large-scale building for fraternity houses to accommodate the unprecedented influx of students.
Then came the financial crash, which struck colleges and their fraternities with terrific force. Construction of new fraternity houses virtually ceased for several years. Some fraternity chapters perished in the storm, which a few entire national fraternities merged with other national or disbanded outright. On many campuses, local fraternities which has flourished for years succumbed with scarcely a murmur; others petitioned general fraternities for charters or merged with struggling chapters of national organizations on the same campus. Through it all, however, the number of losses failed to equal the gains. Consequently, the general fraternities were able to enlarge their list of chapters thought the depression, so that in 1946 there were approximately 2,500 chapters maintained by some 60 fraternities with an aggregate all-time membership of more that 1,000,000 undergraduates and alumni. It is of interest to note that an average of 35% of the students in the 261 institutions where fraternities where represented in 1946 took the vows of membership in some Greek-letter social body.
Within the past 80 years the legislatures of three states-South Carolina, Arkansas and Mississippi-had passed acts to prohibit fraternities but, thanks to the cooperative efforts of resident fraternity men and efficient committees of the Intrafraternity Conference, the prohibitory legislation was happily repealed, resulting in the reestablishment to many old chapters.
At one time or another, principally during the Nineteenth Century, various colleges have forbidden the existence of fraternities. Prior to 1880 and in a few cases afterwards, the fraternities evaded antifraternity rules and operated sub rosa chapters. There are not few male or coeducation institutions of importance that prohibit fraternities. No fraternity of consequence now permits sub rosa chapters.
Some interesting figures compiled by one of the country’s leading fraternities
illustrate part of the growth pattern of the fraternity system in America.
In 1956, there were 3,095 active chapters on 349 college and university
campuses in the United States and Canada. As of June 1, 1991, there were
over 5,400 active chapter on more than 810 campuses, -- a gain of over
74 percent in number of chapters.
Thus, despite opposition and hard times, the fraternity system has
prospered and its amazing growth continues. More than ever, the real value
of fraternities as educational institutions supplemental to academic progress
on the North American continent has become apparent. Indeed, fraternities
are a far-reaching influence in virtually every walk of life today.
The development of “sororities,” as they are more commonly called, has followed a course parallel to the chartered by men’s organization. It should be noted that there is but one women’s sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, the word “sorority” being based on Latin for “sister.” All the other groups are “fraternities,” the word being based on Greek, “phratar,” meaning member of a group. The first such group, the I.C. Sorosis, was organized at Monmouth College, Illinois, in 1867, but did not assume its Greek name of Phi Beta Phi until 1888. Thus the first Greek-letter women’s fraternities were Kappa Alpha Theta, founded at what is now DePauw University, in Indiana, and Kappa Kappa Gamma, organized at Monmouth College, both in 1870. Delta Gamma first appeared at Oxford, Mississippi and Alpha Phi at Syracuse University, both in the year 1872. These early successes caused competition that resulted in the founding of Gamma Phi Beta at Syracuse two years later, Alpha Chi Omega at DePauw in 1885, and Delta Delta Delta at Boston University on 1888. Two literary societies founded in the early 1850s at Wesleyan College, Macon, GA, --the oldest chartered college for women in the United States—assumed Greek names in 1904 and become national women’s fraternities at Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Mu.
The 26 college “sororities” which belong to the National Panhellenic
Conference, with their founding dates are as follows: Alpha Chi Omega,
1885; Alpha Delta Pi, 1851; Alpha Epsilon Phi, 1909; Alpha Gamma Delta.
1904; Alpha Omicron Pi, 1897; Alpha Phi, 1872; Alpha Sigma Alpha, 1901;
Alpha Sigma Tau. 1899; Alpha Xi Delta, 1893; Chi Omega, 1895; Delta Delta
Delta, 1888; Delta Gamma, 1874; Delta Phi Epsilon, 1917; Delta Zeta, 1902;
Gamma Phi Beta, 1874; Kappa Alpha Theta, 1870; Kappa Delta, 1897; Kappa
Kappa Gamma, 1870; Phi Mu, 1852; Phi Sigma Sigma, 1913; Pi Beta Phi, 1867;
Sigma Delta Tau, 1917; Sigma Kappa, 1874; Sigma Sigma Sigma, 1898; Theta
Phi Alpha, 1912; Zeta Tau Alpha, 1898.
PROFESSIONAL AND HONORARY SOCIETIES
There are many college organization, knows as professional or honorary
societies, which bestow their membership in recognition of distinction
in selected fields. Honorary societies are generally those, which confer
membership as an honor on students who, have distinguished themselves in
campus activities, scholarship and/or prominence in a field. The majority
of these have followed the pattern of Phi Beta Kappa, membership in which
is limited to these student who have distinguished themselves in liberal
arts studies. Further examples are found in Sigma Xi, enlisted largely
from graduate students attaining distinction in scientific research; Tau
Beta Pi, which honors outstanding achievement in engineering studies; Phi
Kappa Phi, which elects on the basis of scholarship without reference to
the field of study; Phi Eta Sigma, the roster of which is made up of freshmen
excelling in scholarship, irrespective of department; Alpha Zeta, limited
to outstanding agricultural students, and Blue Key and Omicron Delta Kappa,
which recognize leadership as evidenced by prominence in campus activities,
plus good scholarship. Most of these groups are not secret societies and
are open to members of social fraternities as well as to other deserving
students. Virtually every department of college endeavor has its own organization
to regard merit in its particular field.
As a rule, members of college fraternities are chosen from all four
undergraduate college classes, through in the early days only upperclassmen
were admitted and on two or three campuses that custom still prevails.
The unfortunate scramble and haste of “rushing season” on most campuses
have made advisable the deferring of initiation of pledged members until
certain scholastic prerequisites are attained. Most fraternities have provisions
for faculty memberships. Membership in two social college fraternities
is now universally prohibited, although some years ago it was not uncommon.
Membership in a “social” fraternity does not affect one’s eligibility for
membership in one or more professional or honorary societies.
Names of fraternities are made up of combinations of two or three Greek
letter – as Psi Upsilon or Phi Gamma Delta – which usually represent a
secret motto indicating the aims or purposes of the group. The different
chapters of each fraternity are given distinguishing titles and the methods
used in naming chapters vary with the fraternity. Sometimes they are named
from the letters of the Greek alphabet in the order of the chapters’ establishment,
as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and when the alphabet is exhausted other
combinations are employed. A common meaning of showing that they alphabet
is being repeated is to use it again, as Alpha Alpha, Alpha Beta, Alpha
Gamma, or to annex the symbol “Deuteron (meaning ‘the second’),” as Alpha
Deuteron, Beta Deuteron, etc. Using Greek letters in no apparent order,
as Gamma Beta, Sigma, Delta Rho, in which case the letters may represent
a code or motto, makes some designations peculiar to the chapter. Yet other
chapters receive their name from the institution in which they are situated,
as Ithaca Chapter, Lexington Chapter, Berkeley Chapter. Several of the
fraternities use the “state system.” Naming the first chapter established
in a state the Alpha of the state, the second the Beta, as Virginia Alpha,
Virginia Beta.
The Distinctive badges of the fraternities fall into three general types:
(1) a shield or plate of gold displaying upon it the fraternity name, together
with symbol of general or peculiar significance, which may be worn as a
pin or as a key pendant from the watch chain; (2) a monogram of the Greek
letters making up the fraternity name; (3) some symbol representing the
name of the fraternity or some of its degrees such as a skull, key, star,
diamond, harp, cross, etc.
In the early days, there were no chapter houses. Groups where small
and usually met in some student’s room, in a vacant classroom or even in
some secluded spot in the woods. The prototype of the modern fraternity
house was a log cabin built, by the University of Michigan chapter of Chi
Psi, in 1846 in the wood near Ann Arbor, as a place where meeting could
be help peacefully and secretly. The first known instance of fraternity
ownership of real estate came when Kappa Alpha Society purchased a lot
and dwelling at Williams College in 1864. As sizes of chapter are increased,
fraternities began to rent halls and houses, a few even buying them outright.
About the turn of the century the housing movement began to spread in earnest.
By 1915, approximately 600 chapters owned houses of some descriptions,
mostly private dwellings adapted to their use. These were a feeble contrast
to modern, made-to-order fraternity houses which boast luxurious common
rooms, libraries, recreation rooms, complete kitchens and dining rooms,
as well as sleeping and studying accommodations of 20 to 80 members. A
great boom in fraternity construction has swept the country in the past
quarter century and millions of dollars have been invested by the fraternities
in their buildings and furnishings.