Fraternities and sororities

While the term fraternity can be used to describe any number of social organizations, including the Lions Club and the Shriners, fraternities and sororities are most commonly known as social organizations of higher education students in the United States and Canada. Fraternities are all-male or mixed-gender; the female-only equivalent is called a sorority. Fraternities and sororities are also referred to as student corporations or academic corporations or simply corporations.

With few exceptions (notably "Acacia", "FarmHouse" and "Triangle"), the names of fraternities and sororities are comprised of two or (usually) three Greek letters. For this reason, fraternities and sororities are known collectively as the Greek System, and its members are known as Greeks.

The Purposes and Types of Fraternities

There are various types of fraternities: social, professional, and honorary fraternities. The most recognizable (and cliched) form of fraternity is the college social fraternity, as lampooned by John Belushi in the film Animal House. Some fraternities today are alcohol-free (referred to as "dry"), and focus on community service, sound learning and leadership qualities in their membership, though some are purely "social". Apart from the use of Greek letters, the common theme running through all is the building of friendships and "brotherly" or "sisterly" bonds through shared experiences and efforts.

Structure and Organization

Ritual and Secrecy

Most of fraternities maintain a ritual system that is highly symbolic in nature and kept a closely guarded secret. Some signs point to common ancestry in both sorority and fraternity ritual, but most is likely derived from Masonic order ritual. Other "fraternity secrets" may include passwords, songs, handshakes, journals and initiation rites.

Meetings of the active members are generally secret, and not to be discussed without the formal approval of the chapter as a whole.

The Fraternity House

Uniquely among most campus organizations, members of social fraternities and sororites often live together in a large house or apartment complex. This serves two purposes. First, it emphasizes the bonds the members share as "brothers" or "sisters". Second, the house serves as a central off-campus location for the events and administration of the fraternity. Because of the unique nature of this setup, the individual organizations themselves at their respective schools are known as "houses". Professional, academic or honorary societies rarely (if ever) maintain a permanent housing location.

A fraternity house can usually be identified by large Greek letters on the front of the house, advertising the name of the group. Depending on the size of the house, there may be anywhere from 3 to 20 bedrooms or more. The larger houses generally have a large meeting room and/or dining room, commercial kitchen and study room. There is usually a lounge of some sort, access to which is often restricted to fully initiated members. The walls are decorated with pictures of past house events, awards and trophies, and decorative (or historic) paddles. A stereotype, but true, the public areas of sorority houses are generally cleaner than fraternity houses.

For reasons of cost, liability and stability, housing is usually overseen by an alumni corporation or its respective national fraternity organization. As a result, many houses prohibit members of the opposite sex from going "upstairs" or into the individual bedrooms. Other houses may impose a curfew or "open door" policy. Furthermore, some national organizations restrict or prohibit alcohol in the house at any time.

Joining a Fraternity or Sorority

During a period known as "Rush" or "Rush Week", fraternities and sororities invite fellow students to attend events at the house (or on-campus) and meet the current members of the organization. At the end of this period, the house invites the visitors of their choice to "pledge" the fraternity. If the invitation, or "bid", is accepted, the student will enter a period of pledgeship.

Pledge requirements for each house vary, and some houses have eliminated pledgeship entirely. However, common requirements usually include wearing a "pledge pin", learning about the history and structure of the fraternity (and the local chapter), performing a service of some kind, and maintaining a deferential attitude toward current members. Upon completion of the pledgeship and all its requirements, the active members will invite those pledges of their choosing to become active members.

Ideally, those pledges who have demonstrated their commitment to the organization and its members are invited, while those who are demonstrate little-to-no effort and/or cause divisions and conflict are dismissed. On more than rare occasions, however, houses will invite anyone who completes the program in order to maintain their numbers (and survival). Other times, they may invite those who contribute little but a fun personality.

Hazing Issues

Historically, many fraternities and sororities hazed their pledges, especially during certain initiation rites. In extreme cases, some pledges even died as a result. Though now created for decoration, the iconic "pledge paddle" is a tradition and reminder of this history.

During the 1960s-1980s, however, most organizations (especially those governed by alumni at the National level) implemented clear no-hazing policies. The National Interfraternity Conference also requires anti-hazing education for members, as do most universities. Since at least the 1990s, if hazing was conducted at a local chapter, it was without the knowledge or consent of the national organization and outside the guidelines for their initation rituals. If discovered, it usually results in the revocation of the local charter.

History of the Greek System as a Whole

The Phi Beta Kappa Society was founded on December 5, 1776 at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg VA. It is the oldest college fraternity and the first organization to have a greek letter name. It was started as an outlet to let students discuss current issues, instead of school related topics like other groups on campus had been pressured into doing from faciulty and staff. It has since evolved into a national honor society with chapters at 270 institutions of higher learning in the United States.

Lists of Fraternities and Sororities

Social Fraternities

• Acacia
• Alpha Delta Phi
• Alpha Epsilon Pi (ΑΕΠ) - National Jewish Fraternity
• Alpha Gamma Omega - National Christian Fraternity
• Alpha Kappa Psi
• Alpha Phi Alpha - fraternity of the black
• Alpha Phi Omega - coed service fraternity
• Alpha Sigma Phi
• Alpha Tau Omega
• Beta Theta Pi
• Chi Phi
• Chi Psi
• Delta Chi
• Delta Kappa Epsilon
• Delta Phi
• Delta Sigma Phi
• Delta Tau Delta
• Delta Upsilon
• FarmHouse
• Kappa Alpha Order - traditional southern fraternity
• Kappa Alpha Society
• Kappa Alpha Psi
• Kappa Sigma
• Lambda Chi Alpha
• Lambda Phi Epsilon - First and Only National Asian-Interest Fraternity
• Phi Beta Sigma Historically African-American Fraternity
• Phi Delta Theta
• Phi Gamma Delta known more commonly as Fiji
• Phi Iota Alpha the Oldest Latino Fraternity in existence
• Phi Kappa Psi
• Phi Kappa Sigma
• Phi Kappa Tau
• Phi Sigma Kappa
• Phi Sigma Pi
• Pi Kappa Alpha
• Pi Kappa Phi
• Psi Upsilon
• Saint Anthony Hall
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon
• Sigma Alpha Mu - aka Sammy
• Sigma Chi
• Sigma Nu
• Sigma Phi Delta
• Sigma Phi Epsilon
• Sigma Pi
• Sigma Tau Gamma
• Tau Kappa Epsilon
• Theta Chi
• Theta Tau
• Triangle - social fraternity of Engineers, Architects & Scientists
• Zeta Psi - members are commonly known as Zetes
• Zeta Beta Tau

Social Sororities

• Alpha Chi Omega
• Alpha Delta Chi - National Christian Sorority
• Alpha Delta Pi
• Alpha Gamma Delta
• Alpha Epsilon Phi
• Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Alpha Omega Epsilon
• Alpha Phi
• Alpha Sigma Alpha
• Delta Delta Delta
• Delta Gamma
• Delta Phi Epsilon
• Delta Sigma Theta
• Gamma Phi Beta
• Kappa Alpha Theta
• Kappa Kappa Gamma
• Lambda Theta Alpha
• Phi Mu
• Phi Sigma Rho
• Pi Beta Phi
• Sigma Gamma Rho
• Sigma Delta Tau
• Sigma Psi
• Tau Beta Sigma
• Zeta Phi Beta
• Zeta Tau Alpha

Academic or Honorary Fraternities and Sororities

Note: Most honorary fraternities are open to both sexes.

• Kappa Kappa Psi (coed fraternity for college bandmembers)
• Phi Beta Kappa Society (originally a secret society, but public since 1831)
• Phi Theta Kappa (two year colleges)
• Tau Beta Pi (engineers)
• Tau Beta Sigma (coed sorority for college bandmembers)
• Upsilon Pi Epsilon (computer science/computer engineering)

Fictional Fraternities and Sororities

Revenge of the Nerds

• Alpha Beta, Jock fraternity
• Lambda Lambda Lambda, a black fraternity that has nerd chapters
• Omega-Mu, sorority
• Pi-Delta-Pi, sorority

National Lampoon's Animal House

• Delta Tau Chi, fraternity
• Omega Theta Pi, fraternity

Discworld

• Eta Beta Pi, a fraternity at Unseen University.

Other University Societies

• Skull and Bones

Fraternities and Sororities Outside of North America

• Studentenverbindung

External links

• Academic corporations worldwide
• International academic dictionary
• English and Latin commercium songs