History of North American fraternities and sororities

The North American fraternity and sorority system began with students who wanted to meet secretly, usually for discussions and debates not thought appropriate by the faculty of their schools.

Modern days they are used as social, profession hial, and honorary groups that promote varied combinations of community service, leadership, and academic achievement.

The group consisted of students who frequented the Raleigh Tavern as a common meeting area off the college campus.

"[7] The founders of Phi Beta Kappa declared that the society was formed for congeniality and to promote good fellowship, with "friendship as its basis and benevolence and literature as its pillars.

"[7] By a stroke of good fortune, the society initiated a Yale student before disbanding at the advance of British forces.

As Phi Beta Kappa developed, it came to be a very influential association of faculty and select students across several colleges.

However, Phi Beta Kappa was very different from a typical college fraternity of today in that the membership was generally restricted to upperclassmen, if not seniors, and faculty, (made members earlier in their careers) played an active role.

[9] The advent of other Greek letter fraternities met the social needs or supposed needs of underclass men and left Phi Beta Kappa to give sole concern to scholarly affairs.

The first national, secret, Greek letter social fraternity is considered to be the Kappa Alpha Society, established at Union College in Schenectady, New York, on November 26, 1825, by John Hart Hunter.

[11] Following the establishment of Kappa Alpha Society, an untimely event occurred that would come to shape the public perception of fraternities for decades.

In 1826, a man named William Morgan professed himself to be a high-ranking member of the Freemasons and said he intended to publish their secrets.

In 1833, the Skull and Bones Society was organized at Yale University among members of the senior class as a burlesque of Phi Beta Kappa.

The increasing influence of the society came to seem undemocratic and contrary to the free flow of intellectual ideas in American academia, and under great pressure, the undergraduate members at Harvard revealed the secrets of Phi Beta Kappa in 1831.

[1][11] In 1833, the Scull and Bones Society was organized at Yale University among members of the senior class to carry on the legacy of Phi Beta Kappa.

Delta Upsilon was established as the nation's first open, non-secret fraternity in that it still to this day does not maintain secret admonitions, handclasps, etc.

Delta Upsilon was founded to counter what was believed to be the unjust dominance by secret societies of the time over the student affairs at Williams College.

[14] Beta Theta Pi was founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and held its first meeting on August 8, 1839.

[15] The first Greek letter women's fraternity, Chi Theta Delta, was formed in 1856 at Troy Female Seminary.

It was formed by female students who had become so intrigued and impressed by the fellowship displayed by the men's fraternity Theta Delta Chi that they sought membership.

[18] After the war, the system would begin encountering racial, religious, and gender diversity and new colleges would be founded or reformed throughout the south and west.

"[19] The so-called Lexington Triad would begin its formation when Alpha Tau Omega was founded in 1865 at the Virginia Military Institute.

The founding of Kappa Alpha Order at Washington and Lee University in 1865 and Sigma Nu at VMI in 1869 would complete the triad.

In 1867, a society called I. C. Sorosis was founded as the nation's first women's fraternity at Monmouth College in Illinois, and later became known as Pi Beta Phi.

They would put together skits for entertainment, hold events for singing and waltzing after meetings were over, and held socials at the houses of local members.

[17] While the late 19th century held tremendous growth for the fraternity system, it was also a time of great discrimination against the minorities who were increasingly entering the universities.

Next there were unsuccessful attempts to create collegiate fraternities, such as Gamma Phi fraternity at Wilberforce University (first official campus recognition in 1923; a 1923 yearbook entry reported operation as early as 1905), Alpha Kappa Nu at Indiana University (formation attempted in 1903, but involved too few registrants to assure continuing organization), and Pi Gamma Omicron at Ohio State University (formation reported in the Chicago Defender in 1905; organization failed to receive school recognition).

Ideas over who should be a member (often tied to racial or cultural background) differed between chapters which now spread throughout the United States and Canada.

Detractors argued that the groups hurt intellectual development, affronted religion with secret oaths, and fostered inappropriate behavior.

[15] The decade would also hold a new emphases on community service, standardized house rules, fairness policies for member recruitment, and an official stance against all secondary school sororities.

Like the sororities, the conference would call for local student-run Inter-Fraternity Councils on college campuses with more than one member organization.