Sure.

Phi Sigma Pi is not an honor society in the classic (Baird's) sense. It is a "Recognition Society" along the lines of Alpha Phi Omega.

On a random related note (for anyone who knows) how does Baird's classify the Pershing Rifles? Recognition or Professional?

Very true actually. I believe I have a journal entry from sometime last summer lamenting the fact that I did not spend that night drinking with KKYs. This was after a giant blackout and 3 hours puking.
I never knew bandos could drink the way they do.

Can't imagine. :)

Were your KKYs also not members of social fraternities?

I would call PRs professional, seeing as they wanted my ex and I to pledge and we certainly hadn't done anything to get "recognized."

Then again, the parties I went to most my freshman year were PR parties. That is to say our PRs were very social. :)

No, that was the funny part. I'll say this right now, I don't actually know any frat boys at my school. I've never desired to go to a frat party.

I'm good friends with the former Northeast District President which is how I got sucked into bando world to begin with.

That is exactly how is was at my school too. I had a lot of friends who were in Phi Sigma Pi and it was an honors co-ed fraternity but was very social too. They wore letters, participated in homecoming, and had big/littles.

I am a member of Alpha Chi Sigma (which is a professional fraternity), and we had a lot of social events that weren't networking. We had formals and socials, it was a lot of fun! We too wore letters and had bigs/littles, and from my alumni newsletter are now participating in homecoming activities.

Do you mean "professional" instead of "business"?

DSTChaos! Who'd've expected such a closed-minded overgeneralization from you? ;)

Yes...that's the word I was looking for at the time and couldn't think of.

People who know me. ;)

I'm going based on my own experiences with the students who were gungho about their professional/service/honor societies at the PWIs I attended. I was a member of such organizations but never a gungho one and these groups didn't do social events. Not to mention the fact that the fun members of professional/service/honor societies at HBCUs are people who either think they're in a social GLO or actually hold dual membership in a social GLO.

I was in a professional business fraternity in college, and our social events were fun for what they were. Its hard to describe, but we had Barn Dances, Formals, Bar crawls, pledge parties, etc. They didn't compare to BGLO or Black Student Union parties, but since they were in a whole different category, then I never tried to compare them. We did have pledge families (moms and dads), but I don't think that anybody ever confused it with a social organization or took it to be more than what it was.

:).............

If I were your new member, I would complain about that to Phi Sig headquarters. Seriously.

I agree that there is a huge difference between an honor / business society and an honor / business fraternity. I am a member of Phi Kappa Phi (National Honor Society) and I paid $50, showed up for a public initiation and that was that. We had one meeting a semester. It was not social. Professors and students alike were inducted. I have a badge with letters and a pen but that is it. I would never run out and get a sweatshirt but I receive the catalog and they do sell them.
I am a member of Alpha Psi Omega, Dramatic Fraternity and it operated similar to a social GLO. We followed national procedure with the new member process. The ritual is secret, secret handshake, all that jazz. PNM's must receive a "bid" and there is a "pledge" period.
So they were complete opposites. Did APO try to act like a social GLO? Not at all. We knew our place so to say.
My boyfriend pledged a business fraternity and they hazed. Imagine that. He quit because he was looking for a professional network, not a social org.
So yeah, it depends on what the organization is really, and what it stands for.