What you read DubaiSis' post? I thought the exact same thing!

When we were chartered, our local Alpha Xi Delta chapter, which was founded about the same time as ours, gave us a really nice framed picture with an excerpt from what I'm assuming is one of Alpha Xi's main history books, commemorating that shared bit of history.

Within our chapter, it seems a disproportionate number of our brothers have ended up marrying Alpha Xis.

Most importantly, the official website for Delta (and http://www.deltasigmatheta.org/history.htm) and AKA make no mention of one another.

Yes, we sometimes mention one another in chants/strolls/steps (one of my favorite being "...so your president walked out and founded DELTA SIGMA THETA!!) and individual members jab sometimes. Many of us continue to lovingly joke sometimes but have begun to appreciate and support one another. Darn, I'm maturing, booooooooo....:p There are different recollections of why things happened as they did 1908-1913. The fact remains that Delta is the better sorority. Okay, I'm not maturing, at least I'm no liar. :p

There are also recollections that mention Coleman Love (Delta Founder Edna Brown Coleman and Omega founder Frank Coleman) and any assistance Omega Psi Phi may have given our Founders. That is also not mentioned in official reports of Delta and Omega history. It is not even acknowledged by all Deltas and Omegas. It can be regional, campus-based, generational, and based on individual preferences. The world doesn't end because everyone doesn't acknowledge Coleman Love. I am only amused when older Deltas and older Omegas scoff and get angry over the idea. Those of us who acknowledge Coleman Love got that account of history from people who pledged decades before us. These much older members passed down history from one generation to the next (if books and official historical accounts were difficult to access, since some of us pledged either before the Internet existed or before it was so pervasive). LOL. Don't scoff now just because some of you have "outgrown" the idea or never heard of the idea.

Carter Ashton Jenkens was a member of Chi Phi at Rutgers. He transferred to Richmond College where he helped found Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Phi Kappa Psi founder CPT Moore left Jefferson College and went to Union College where he joined Delta Phi. He is listed in both groups directories. But, that may not be the point of this thread....

Kappa Alpha Society, along with all the early groups were originally based on the concepts of Phi Beta Kappa, which itself was based on the earlier FHC society at W&M...

Many if the groups founded prior to the civil war all had ties to the older literary societies which existed on campuses.....most of the literary societies died out or just became loose debating societies at many schools. (This is just a brief, skimming the surface of this topic)
Fraternities and sororities founded after the civil war seem to have closer ties to Masonic and other fraternal orders rather than the old literary society base.....

When it comes down to it in the most basic sense, all groups are somewhat connected to each other becuase there were always some founder who had connections to somebody who was connected to another group, or founders were rivals of other groups at their schools......in all my years of research I have yet to truly find any group that was completely autonomous without ANY connections to some other group.

My $.02 worth.

BG

^This. CAJ is our first founder and actually pioneered the idea of the Fraternity and what it would stand for. He initially wanted to bring a chapter of Chi Phi to Richmond College (now University of Richmond) in 1900 but Chi Phi refused his proposal because Richmond College only had 200-300 students and five already active fraternities: Kappa Alpha Order had come there in 1870, Phi Kappa Sigma in 1873, Phi Gamma Delta in 1890, Pi Kappa Alpha in 1891, and Kappa Sigma in 1898.

Plus, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Chi, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon also had established chapters there which had expired.

According to our text:
So, ultimately, Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded in response to Chi Phi's rejection of their colony proposal and in response to the other five already existing on campus.

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ETA: Local fun fact: The local sorority at Lawrence Tech, Chi Omega Rho was founded in 1978 by Sigma Phi Epsilon Girls of the Golden Heart. When SigEp HQ ruled that female auxiliary groups were no longer allowed, some of the girls got together and founded their own local sorority, Chi Omega Rho. Although there are no Ritual similarities, a lot of internal traditions and structure overlap.

One of Delta Chi's Founders, Monroe Marsh Sweetland, was a member of the Delta Tau Delta Chapter at Cornell. Since Delta Chi was founded as professional fraternity many of our early members held dual membership including two very famous alumni initiates: Benjamin Harrison and William Jennings Bryan.

That being said, Delta Chi was operating as a social fraternity, albeit one for law students, from the beginning. Our 1912 vote to become single membership was the first step in becoming a general, social fraternity and highlighted the fact that many of our chapters were already A)refusing to initiate men in other organizations, B)operating as social ground on their campuses, and C)breaking the rules by initiating men who were not law students or legacies who had a course of study exemption.

The other three groups in the Farmville Four (KD, ZTA and Tri Sigma) are mentioned in Alpha Sigma Alpha's history, since the 5 founders were all bid by different groups, but turned down the bids because they all wanted to be sisters together.

Also, one of the founders of Tri Delta (Sarah Ida Shaw Martin) was at one time president of ASA and helped us reorganize. This was when ASA was specifically a sorority for women in schools of education (whether it be a normal school or within a larger university's school of education). In other words, she wasn't "double dipping" Panhellenically - it would be kind of like if today a KKG was also national president of Alpha Psi Omega.

Sinfonia, perhaps? I have never heard of any connection, formal or informal, with any other collegiate fraternity, beyond general knowledge of the existence of other, general fraternities. There were, so far as I recall, no other fraternities at the New England Conservatory at the time of our founding. I've never seen any reference to Father Mills belonging to any other fraternity, and the nature of the Conservatory at that time would suggest that most if not all of the faculty were probably educated somewhere other than a liberal arts college or university, which is where general fraternities would have been found. Many would have been educated or trained in Europe.

The Zeta Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega was chartered at NEC almost 3 years before Sinfonia's founding, but I can't recall ever seeing any reference to that in any Sinfonia history, nor have I ever seen anything to suggest that Father Mills or anyone else was trying to provide an Alpha Chi Omega-like experience for men at NEC. What history I have read would seem to suggest a different impetus for founding the Sinfonia Club, which soon became the Sinfonia Fraternity.

That said, there are historical snippets to suggest some influence of European student groups -- the (unverifiable) story that NEC president George Chadwick suggested the name "Sinfonia" after an organization to which he had belonged while a student in Leipzig (the "Symphonia Club") comes to mind. And I do know that when the Fraternity was still young (10+ years), people involved in the Greek movement, like George Banta and Emily Butterfield, were influential, but that would have been after founding.

But otherwise, I don't see anything in our history suggesting a connection with any other GLO.

I know that Beta Sigma Phi was originally a book club under a different name, and became Beta Sigma Phi in 1931. I don't know if any of our founders were members of other GLOs, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Also, isn't it theoretically possible for a local to form without any connection to ANY other group?

I guess what I was more referring to, and didnt say this adequately was that any "fraternity or sorority" be it a local or what have you, may have come up with an idea of starting a new club or group, of which the reasons for doing so may be unique, like Sinfonia, but the organization of such groups by its members were almost always influenced by some other knowledge or direct connection to another group.

The history of Sinfonia is like any other group in that students got together for fraternal reasons, or for extra curricular reasons, or for religious reasons and after some time be it short or long, they come up with an idea of creating a new "fraternity" (or sorority) and as they sit down in their first meetings to develop how the new organization will operate, be it open or secret, someone within the group certainly has knowledge or a connection to how to write rituals, constitutions, and whatnot.

I was just trying to be all inclusive in the "general idea" of fraternal group at all schools because each groups story is basically the same.

In looking into Father Mills history, he may have had knowledge with fraternities as he lived in Delaware, Ohio home of Ohio Wesleyan University where he met his wife Clara. OWU had LOTS of fraaternities and literary societies.

He saw a need to get the music students to do something other than studying music all the time and prayer meeting was his answer. I would love to know if there are any records left behind from those early meetings, maybe one or two of the students at the time knew any AXO's at the school and saw how that group operated and there may be a connection to them.......

Anyway, good point though about Symphony club in Europe being an connection, because there are several national groups that make reference to being connected to the European fraternities and student groups.

And theoretically yes, locals may not have a direct connection to other fraternities per se, but even locals when being formed will often use the knowledge of the greek letter systems from other schools, or even their own school as a model.

BG

Obviously, there's likely to be knowledge of other groups, whether collegiate, Masonic or whatever. I think that's a given.

"Direct connection" is a whole 'nother matter, though, and that's what I think this thread is asking about -- instances of where one GLO will acknowledge the role that one or more other specific GLOs had in the reason for or circumstances of their founding. In Sinfonia's case, I'll readily admit that Father Mills and others had a general knowledge of other fraternities and how they worked. Early use of (and resistance to) the Greek letters illustrates that. But I don't think there's any evidence of any "direct connection" to any other group.

Acacia was originally founded as a masonic Club - meaning you had to be a mason to join. This also meant a member had to be (roughly) 22 years old. Up until the 1920's, college students didn't usually start at 18; a campus was full of students mostly in their twenties.

Many of the early Acacians were members of other fraternities, and dual membership was allowed for a while. For much of Acacia's early history, other masonic fraternities existed, and they acted as fraternities (not masonic clubs) - participated in rush, had houses, were members of IFC, etc.

Prior to Acacia, two other fraternities discussed the idea of being a Mason-only fraternity. In the early 1800's, Psi Upsilon talked about it, but the anti-masonic political activity of that era pretty much ruled it out. In the late 1800's, TKE had considered being mason-only (actually, the group that formed the Knights of the Classic lore explored the idea). But when TKE formed, they opened up to all, and not mason only. TKE did stay close to masons, and when Sigma Mu Sigma, a mason only fraternity, folded in 1935, a few chapters became TKE and the official national was absorbed by TKE's headquarters.

It would be interesting to hear someone from Psi U or TKE report on this part of their archives and history.

Correct.

This dialogue brings an excellent point about what constitutes a "direct connection."

It is because of Phi Lambda Epsilon that Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity exists today.

Our history reads, in part:

taken from www.phisigmapi.org