NIC fraternities and their founding
 

I am very curious. I've been trying to read about all fraternities in NIC, trying to learn why was each founded. I understand that, as time passed, these literary clubs, secret societies, etc… evolved into our fraternity system today, leaving behind many restrictions and/or emphasis on membership. Although many of the new members, do emphasize certain groups specifically, there are, I believe, no restrictions for membership in any of them.

I have compiled this list trying to get a general picture. I know it is not complete, and I am sure that there are many errors. I thought it would be better for brothers from each organization to identify themselves. I apologize before hand for any errors. As comments with corrections are added to the thread, I'll update the list. Thanks.

I have put in [] the original distinctive purpose for the fraternities, as I could read them on the internet.

=========================================

Acacia

Traditional/Social [Masonic Tradition]

FarmHouse

Traditional/Social [Professional (Agriculture)]

Triangle Fraternity

Restricted/Social (membership restricted to Engineers, Architects and Scientists)[Civil Engineers]

Alpha Gamma Rho

Social/Professional (Agriculture) (membership restricted to its field)

Alpha Gamma Sigma

Social/Professional (Agriculture) (membership restricted to its field)

Alpha Delta Gamma

Christian (Catholic)

Alpha Delta Phi

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Alpha Epsilon Pi

Jewish

Alpha Kappa Lambda

Traditional/Social

Alpha Sigma Phi

Traditional/Social [Secret Society]

Alpha Tau Omega

Traditional/Social [Leadership]

Alpha Phi Alpha

BGLO

Alpha Phi Delta

Traditional/Social [Italian American]

Alpha Chi Rho

Traditional/Social

Beta Theta Pi

Traditional/Social

Beta Sigma Psi

Christian (Luteran)

Beta Chi Theta

Asian (South Asian)

Delta Epsilon Psi

Asian (South Asian)

Delta Kappa Epsilon

Traditional/Social [Secret Society]

Delta Sigma Phi

Traditional/Social [Non-sectarian]

Delta Tau Delta

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Delta Upsilon

Non-Secretive Traditional/Social [Anti-secretive]

Delta Phi

Traditional/Social [Secret Society]

Delta Chi

Traditional/Social [Restricted/Social (Law)]

Delta Psi

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Zeta Beta Tau

Traditional/Social [Jewish]

Zeta Psi

Traditional/Social

Theta Delta Chi

Traditional/Social [Secret Society]

Theta Xi

Traditional/Social [Secret Society]

Theta Chi

Traditional/Social

Iota Nu Delta

Asian (South Asian)

Iota Phi Theta

BGLO

Kappa Alpha Order

Traditional/Social [Fraternal Order]

Kappa Alpha Society

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Kappa Alpha Psi

BGLO

Kappa Delta Rho

Traditional/Social

Kappa Delta Phi

Traditional/Social

Lambda Theta Phi

LGLO

Lambda Sigma Upsilon

LGLO [Social Fellowship]

Lambda Phi Epsilon

Asian (Asian & Pacific Islanders)

Lambda Chi Alpha

Traditional/Social

Nu Alpha Kappa

LGLO

Pi Kappa Alpha

Traditional/Social

Pi Kappa Phi

Traditional/Social [Non-Fraternity]

Pi Lambda Phi

Traditional/Social [Non-sectarian]

Sigma Beta Rho

Multicultural [Asian (South Asian)]

Sigma Nu

Traditional/Social [Anti-military school hazing / Anti-class hazing]

Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Traditional/Social

Sigma Alpha Mu

Traditional/Social [Jewish]

Sigma Lambda Beta

LGLO

Sigma Pi

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Sigma Tau Gamma

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Sigma Phi Society

Traditional/Social [Secret Society]

Sigma Phi Delta

Social/Professional (Engineering) (membership restricted to its field)

Sigma Phi Epsilon

Restricted/Social (membership restricted to believers in a higher power)[Christian]

Sigma Chi

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Tau Delta Phi

Traditional/Social [Jewish]

Tau Epsilon Phi

Traditional/Social [Jewish]

Tau Kappa Epsilon

Traditional/Social

Tau Phi Sigma

Multicultural

Phi Beta Sigma

BGLO

Phi Gamma Delta

Traditional/Social

Phi Iota Alpha

LGLO

Phi Kappa Theta

Traditional/Social [Christian (Catholic)]

Phi Kappa Sigma

Traditional/Social [Secret Order]

Phi Kappa Tau

Traditional/Social [Non-Fraternity]

Phi Kappa Psi

Traditional/Social [Service]

Phi Lambda Chi

Traditional/Social

Phi Mu Delta

Traditional/Social [Commons Club]

Phi Sigma Kappa

Traditional/Social

Phi Sigma Phi

Traditional/Social

Chi Phi

Traditional/Social

Chi Psi

Traditional/Social

Psi Upsilon

Traditional/Social [Literary Society]

Omega Delta Phi

Multicultural [LGLO]

This is pretty interesting, as there are at least a few "original purposes" that I did not know about.

Alpha Gamma Rho and Triangle both still restrict membership to men engaged in specific fields of study.

You might want to alter Sigma Nu's a bit to read "anti-military school hazing" or "anti-class hazing."

Lambda Sigma Upsilon was founded as a Social Fellowship. ;)

Some chapters of AGR will waive the agricultural major/minor requirement.

Really? Interesting -- I was going by their national website, which says:

All men pursuing an undergraduate or post-graduate degree in agriculture, food, fiber, life sciences, natural resources, forestry, environmental or related agricultural fields, as well as men intending to pursue a career in these fields, are eligible for membership.

I've dug around a little more. Their sample constitution and bylaws for chapters is a little more nuanced:

Any man pursuing collegiate courses in agriculture or approved related programs, without regard to the school in which he is registered, provided his primary career interest is in agriculture, or any male member of an agricultural or related faculty, shall be eligible for initiation and membership in this Fraternity, provided he is not now an initiated member of another collegiate social fraternity.

I have learned something thanks to GreekChat (and Lane) today.

You will have to excuse me, what does that mean exactly?

They were founded at a military school because the founders were fed up with all the bs the older cadets put them through. Stated the way LD had it can make it sound like they were founded as a response to hazing in other fraternities, which wasn't the case.

Interesting.

I'm not sure it's quite that clear cut. According to what at least one Sigma Nu regular poster has said here at GreekChat, Sigma Nu was founded as a response to hazing by a precursor organization to another fraternity.

Paging Kevin for clarification.

For Delta Upsilon, you have non-secret, which is correct today, but at our founding we were specifically Anti-Secret and actively attempted to rid secretive organizations at our early schools of certain practices employed through the use of secrecy. As those practices fell out of common usage, DU recognized the change by adopting non-secrecy.

Update.
 

Implemented changes suggested by MisticCat, 33girl, Monarca and DUKyleXY. Thanks. Keep them coming!

Alpha Gamma Rho should not be listed as "professional" though. There are no professional fraternities in the NIC; professional is not the same as "limited to certain majors/fields of study." The distinction you're looking for is between "general" fraternities (no restrictions as to field of study) and non-general or limited/restricted fraternities.

I actually found AGR in a list of professional fraternities and sororities not conforming to Title IX. In that same list was Sigma Phi Delta, which is a member of both NIC and PFA. I don't know about AGS, which in its website calls itself professional fraternity. As for triangle, I do have it as Restricted/social.

I'll look into them. Thanks for the feedback.

Psi Upsilon was founded originally as a literary society.

I assume AGR considers itself a social-professional fraternity:

http://www.alphagammarho.org/prospective-members

Perhaps the same applies to Sigma Phi Delta based on the "social-professional fraternity" references on its national and chapter websites.

Looking at the PFA can be a little misleading, in that membership eligibility is fairly broad -- member fraternities "shall be identified by, or related to a field of study or common interest." (Per the PFA website.) The PFA includes professional fraternities, service fraternities (like APO) and honor fraternities (like Kappa Kappa Psi).


AGR does refer to itself that way, as perhaps do a few other GLOs. If they're being classified, they'd be best classified in the manner they describe themselves ("social-professional') or as social, non-general (or special interest) fraternities. They shouldn't be identified simply as "professional."

I'm trying to figure out how you actually draw the distinction. It's pretty clear that you can't be an AGR and be in another social fraternity. Can you be an AGR and be in another professional fraternity?

Yes, I assume you can. Social fraternities do not prohibit membership in professional fraternities and professional fraternities generally do not prohibit membership in other professional fraternities, except perhaps for other professional fraternities related to the same field of study.

Social/Professionals
 

I have updated AGR, AGS and SPhD to Social/Professional with restricted membership. I left triangle as Restricted/Social, since they don't call themselves professional, although they do develop it.

Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded as a fraternity for Christian men. It is now broadened, but limited only to men who believe in a higher power.

Update.
 

Done.

Triangle was founded as a fraternity for civil engineers only. We later expanded membership to engineers, architects, and scientists.

Done!

(Very belated) bump!

I wanted to make a small - and really quite insignificant, but I'm persnickety - correction to your listing of Delta Chi. We were founded as a law fraternity, however social/professional would be a better designation for our founding. We have quite a few letters and documents that make it clear that Delta Chi was intended to be a social fraternity from its founding, albeit one for law students only. There's a really good essay written by a past international president about it, but I can't find it at the moment. If I do I will post a link here, I know some of you would be interested in that!

Pi Lambda Phi, although founded as a non-sectarian, was actually founded by 3 jews who were suppressed. I'm not a member so I don't know can't say anything else about it.

What does [Non-Fraternity] mean on Pi Kappa Phi's??

From Phi Kappa Psi's website (link)

He asked about Pi Kappa Phi:
http://www.pikapp.org/

I think non-fraternity comes from the fact that they started as "Nu Phi" for "Non-Fraternity" based on their history:
http://www.pikapp.org/content.aspx?id=172

Wow, time for glasses?

Bump.
Delta Chi updated as per Gusteau.
Omega Delta Phi updated based on current impression. (Shadow Knight, please let me know if this is right)

I think it's fine

I'm way late to this discussion, but my college roommate from Maryland is married to an AGR, and he never studied anything related to agriculture. He was also chapter president. At the time, I remember it was regarded as "unusual/odd," as in "why were you drawn to AGR?" Not, "you're not allowed." There were a couple other guys in the same situation, but the rest were all some type of agriculture major.

Here's a bit of trivia. My fraternity had 2 previous names prior to our current greek letter name.

3/17/1906: Non-Fraternity Association.
3/6/1909: Changed to "Phrenocon" to sound more "greek-like".
3/9/1916: Changed to Phi Kappa Tau.

Hmmm, all the changes occured in March...