University of Illinois--Delta Tau Delta and there is a dispute between Kappa Alpha Theta and Pi Beta Phi.

The greek system in the SUNY (State University of New York) system is fairly new since the SUNY system itself was started in 1950. Binghamton's first national chapter was TEP which was promptly closed. There were a few local fraternities which started in the 1960's. The bulk of the national GLO's started from the mid-1980's to the early 1990's. DPhiE started as the second local sorority in 1982 and went national in 1985.

At Valdosta State, TKE is the oldest on Jan 17, 1959. On the same day Pi Kappa Phi became the second fraternity. We beat them on campus by 5 mins!

The Zeta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi came to the University of Iowa in 1882 - they've been here ever since, i believe!

Sig Ep was chartered as the first national fraternity at Texas A&M University in 1963, and Delta Zeta was chartered as the first national sorority in 1975. Fraternities were not university recognized student organizations until 1978, with Sororities following in the early 80's.

The stories of how all those underground Greeks met and rushed at A&M until they were recognized are really funny!

Carnation,

Yes, there are some pretty hilarious stories relating back to the fact that since the University refused to recognize social fraternities and sororities as official student organizations, they were not allowed to advertise on campus or use campus facilities for their affairs. Couple that problem with the allure of these org's being taboo as far as the administration went and the resulting autonomy of the org's themselves........ The greek scene here was pretty wild for a while.

Kappa Delta is the oldest sorority at Longwood College (founded in 1897) but Tri Sigma is the longest standing (founded 1898 and never gone underground). I have no idea which fraternity has been here the longest. Longwood wasn't even co-ed until the 1970s.

At elon university, Tri-Sigma was the first national GLO to colonize in 1970, followed by Phi Mu and ASA in the 1970's. I think the oldest frat on campus is Sigma Chi.

At Rose-Hulman, then Rose Polytechnic Institute, ATO was founded in 1894, followed closely by Theta Xi, Sigma Nu, and PIES, which became Theta Kappa Nu, and then Lambda Chi Alpha. We were founded in 1900, and I believe SN was before us and TX was after us. There were a couple other fraternities that aren't around any more back in the early 1900s, and no one else came on campus until the 1960s with Triangle and FIJI, and then in the 80's Delta Sigma Phi and Pi Kappa Alpha. I have no idea when Alpha Phi Omega or any of the academic/honorary fraternities were started here.

The first sorority was Chi Omega, in 1996, just a year after the school went co-ed. Later the same year Tri-Delt was started here.

Actually, I am fairly confident that Beta Theta Pi was the first fraternity founded at UM....this is out of the Son of the Stars, pledge manual:

"......In thirty-three instances, Beta has enterd an institution with the first chapter of any fraternity to be represented there and in seven others instances, Beta was second. In a number of cases, the Beta chapter was the only one for ten to twenty years before the appearance of its first rival. The thirty three campuses where Beta pioneered are listed.....Michigan (Lambda) - 1845....Chi Psi came later that year."

Actually both came at the same time, in 1845 and they both claim to be the first fraternity at UM. Here is why each has a claim. Chi Psi was the first fratenity to set itself at UM (and the first to have a house in US Greek history), however fraternities were against UM's code of conduct at the time and it wasnt recognized along with Beta. Beta however was the first fraternity to show a legalized constitution to the Board of Regents, which would make it the first recognized fraternity. Its kinda confusing but you can read more into it at UM Greek History
Plus both fraternities have they are the first on their websites...
Beta Theta Pi- Lambda Chapter
Chi Psi- Alpha Epsilon Chapter

Not sure about the first fraternity at MIT, but the first sorority was Alpha Phi.

Thanks for the info. I can only imagine how difficult it can be for a chapter to trace their roots back 155 years. I can understand them both claiming to be the oldest.

As Carnation knows, I was one of the chapter consultants sent to TAMU in early 1975 to begin the Panhellenic system. We followed up on recommendations from alums. ("Hi, I'm from Alpha Gamma Delta. We're starting a chapter here at A & M and Mrs. Smith from your hometown suggested I call you.") Since many of these coeds didn't know one sorority from another on more than one occasion they scheduled themselves for coke dates with reps from two sororities. Then there were the hours and hours of meetings to set up the college panhellenic--DZ's Gwen McKeeman (sp) and AGD's Patsy Davis were especially helpful.

Carnation and I still laugh about Debbie L's experience. Debbie was invited to a wedding shower at the Bryan, TX, country club. She walked into the wrong room and and only later realized that Rhonda, the bride-to-be, wasn't there. It turned out she was at a rush party. She never got to the shower but she did pledge Chi O. (Debbie was something of a ditz and for all Carnation and I know she still is, 27 years later.)