University of Virginia fraternities and sororities

[8] The first was Delta Kappa Epsilon, or DKE (ΔΚΕ), which was founded in 1852 as a "secret" colony and remains active to this day.

According to University historian Philip Alexander Bruce, the faculty feared the "orderly spirit of the student body acting as a whole or in segments, whether organized into secret fraternities or Calathumpian bands."

[8] Fraternity growth was interrupted by the Civil War, as men from many Southern colleges halted their studies to join the Confederate army.

The ribbon societies, such as Eli Banana and T.I.L.K.A., were originally meant to increase social involvement among students, but eventually took on a political role in the university as well.

[12]Pi Kappa Alpha was founded on Sunday evening March 1, 1868, at 47 West Range at the University of Virginia, by Robertson Howard, Julian Edward Wood, James Benjamin Sclater Jr., Frederick Southgate Taylor, Littleton Waller Tazewell Bradford and William Alexander.

[15][16] After almost a decade of decline, Pi Kappa Alpha was "re-founded" as part of the Hampden-Sydney Convention, held in a dorm room at Hampden–Sydney College.

[16] It remained a Southern fraternity until the New Orleans Convention in 1909 when Pi Kappa Alpha officially declared itself a national organization.

[19] On December 10, 1869, five students at the University of Virginia met in 46 East Lawn and founded the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

[1][20] William Grigsby McCormick, George Miles Arnold, John Covert Boyd, Edmund Law Rogers, Jr., and Frank Courtney Nicodemus established the fraternity based on the traditions of the Kirjath Sepher, an ancient order at the University of Bologna in the Middle Ages.

"[20][21] In 1872, Kappa Sigma initiated Stephen Alonzo Jackson, who would go on to transform the struggling local fraternity into a strong international Brotherhood.

[25] Most of these were located just north of the Rotunda, on Rugby Road, Madison Lane, University Place, and the surrounding streets.

The university chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (ΠΒΚ) was founded in 1908, promoting scholarship in all fields of study.

[34] In 1947, with the inauguration of Colgate Darden as president of the university, first-year students were prohibited from joining fraternities and sororities.

[38] Darden was critical of the fraternities' behavior, arguing in a 1949 report to the Board of Visitors that the groups had failed to uphold the interests of the university community and to provide the leadership expected of them.

Members would often solicit tens of thousands of dollars of donations from alumni to refurbish houses, only to see the improvements disappear within a few years.

[36] The HRC, which later became a subsidiary of the UVA Foundation, renovates and manages the properties of several fraternity and sorority houses.

[40] In the 1970s the annual tradition of Easters' parties, which began in the 1800s as formal dances sponsored by the ribbon societies, had evolved into a weekend-long celebration where fraternities would flood Mad Bowl and the surrounding areas, creating huge mud pits for the event.

[41] Students washing off mud led to clogged drainage systems in the university, and entire dorms were flooded.

[40][41] African Americans were originally admitted to the university in the mid-1950s, but few attended until the 1970s; fraternities at this time were generally racially and religiously segregated.

[35] In 1970 the College of Arts and Sciences allowed the first women to enroll in its undergraduate programs, which effectively made the university coeducational.

The ISC was founded to continue the tradition of student self-governance and was similar to the university's Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) in its function.

[45] In 2001, Phi Delta Theta established another chapter at the university that adheres to its directives concerning alcohol consumption.

[51] The four Greek councils at the University of Virginia are as follows: In 2014 the University of Virginia fraternity and sorority system became the focus of significant national scrutiny due to the publication of an article in the December 2014 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, entitled "A Rape on Campus" and authored by Sabrina Erdely.

On January 12, 2015, Charlottesville Police Department officials told the university that "their investigation has not revealed any substantive basis to confirm that the allegations raised in the Rolling Stone article occurred at Phi Kappa Psi...so there's no reason to keep them suspended".

[59] Charlottesville Police officially suspended their four-month investigation on March 23, 2015, stating that they had no evidence of a gang rape taking place, and that "there is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in the Rolling Stone article.

"[60] On April 5, 2015, Columbia Journalism Review published a report calling the Rolling Stone article "a failure" and criticizing the magazine's actions.

[61] In 2019, the Alpha Rho chapter of the Latina-interest sorority Sigma Lambda Upsilon and UVA were the centers of a notable debate highlighting what constitutes hazing in colleges and universities and the enforcement of anti-hazing policies.

UVA's decision to classify mandatory study hours as hazing was met with criticism from several writers and media outlets.

The National Review published an article arguing that the lawsuit against Sigma Lambda Upsilon was a sign of the "hazing hysteria" that has taken hold on university and college campuses.

[66][67] A local columnist, Kerry Dougherty, in Virginia, also weighed in on the controversy, arguing that UVA was "making a mockery" of the anti-hazing policy by equating mandatory study hours with hazing.