honor societies
 

Has anyone else ever encountered a honor society that was a wannabe social fraternity/sorority? I'm working as a GA with the greeks at my graduate college and all the honor societies here go around having bigs/lils and wearing letters and jackets and such. I have never seen this before. At my undergrad, honor societies were just something to put on your resume and help you academically, we didn't go around wearing letters and having big/lil night. It just seems to me like these students should just join social organizations. So I didn't know if this was a common thing elsewhere or if this university is just wierd.

I'd say it's just campus culture. Otterbein doesn't have such a thing...our honor societies, however, do tend to wear their keys/pins often. Delta Omicron is a little more social than say, Phi Eta Sigma, but that's because theyre departmental.

It depends...are they "Honor Socities" or are they "Business GLOs"?

If Order of Omegas are all running around in "letters" and having big/littles, that's weird...but if Mu Phi Epsilon (music business fraternity) or Sigma Tau Delta (English business) are, I don't find that wierd.

Exactly what groups are you classifying as "honor societies"?

I think it depends on the honor society. I know that Delta Sigma Pi (Business) have Big/Littles, wear letters, and have socials. That is the only one that I see.

But I don't see Eta Kappa Nu, Pi Tau Sigma, Phi Eta Sigma, or any other honor societies doing this.

I had a boyfriend that was Phi Eta Sigma...they tried to do one social event and it flopped like an elephant trying to swan dive.

Loved the analogy!:D

Honor groups will have social parties and may try to emulate Social Greeks, but, they still are not the same.

There is a difference of course, but heck dont they like to party and get stupid like we do?

STDs? lol

the honor society that i am talking about in particular is Phi Sigma Pi. i don't think its a big deal, its kinda cool, but my psychology honor society didn't do anything like that in my undergrad and i guess i was just surprised. i had to research what phi sigma pi was cuz they are not connected to a particular department, they are an honor society trying to bridge the gaps between academics, leadership, and social.

I was/am a member of Phi Sigma Pi, and I know we did have some social aspects (like socials with the members) and some people had jerseys and hats made with letters. We never did bigs/littles, but we were a fairly new chapter when I was there, so that may be why. It seems that many chapters of Phi Sigma Pi act a little more "social" than other honor societies.

I'm a member of Pi Alpha Psi, which is a honorary for Printing Students. We hold socials, but that's about it. From my understanding, though, back in the 60's it did sorta operate like a social GLO, but not anymore.

Good question. :)

I would never go to a social event sponsored by an honor society, a professional fraternity, a music fraternity, or a service fraternity and actually expect to have fun. Events sponsored by such groups are networking opportunities and nothing more.

Now if the event is actually FUN it is probably because the organization takes a back seat to the fun nature of the people at the event and/or the members of the organization are members of popular social fraternities and sororities.

Phi Sigma Pi at my school is called an "honors co-ed fraternity" and they do big/lil, have rush and PR t-shirts, and are fairly social as compared to honors societies. Same with the chemistry fraternity (Alpha Chi Sigma) at my school. I think the difference is that they are more academically and service based; I know both orgs tutor students fairly often. Social is a priority but not the primary aim.

Not to nit-pick, but Delta Sigma Pi is not an honor society. It is a professional fraternity. I am a member (alumna) and we had a lot of social aspects as well as professional ones. Part of the official "purpose" which we had to memorize as pledges includes the phrase to foster "social activity and the association of students for their mutual advancement." Members are expected to be VERY active - unlike an honor society like Golden Key or Phi Kappa Phi which is just an honor - you go to one ceremony, get a pin, and put it on your resume. :)

The only Delta Sigma Pi letters I remember wearing were on party shirts. We did have big/little brothers, but we didn't do car decals, jerseys, or jackets.

Sorry, but this is untrue. I have partied with both Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigmas. I had an insane amount of fun. They work hard AND play hard. They weren't members of social orgs either.

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.

I was a member of Pi Theta Epsilon, an honorary society for OT majors. Not all OT students were invited as there were GPA requirements and professor recommendations involved. We did have some meetings and do some community service, but it was nothing like my Alpha Gam experience. Our OT class was close though, because there were 50 of us in the same exact classes for two years straight.

OT = ?

Yes, Occupational Therapy

We have multiple professional frats and sororities. We have 4 music ones, two are considered service and the other two are considered social. I know for a fact that at least 3 of them have big/littles, formals, wear their letters, and have social functions at least once a month. Some of these functions are all four combined and I can tell you they are a blast.

That was exactly what I was talking about. The one I know of when so far as to try to put it in their by-laws that joining a social GLO was not allowed. That didn't pass but there is a very large anti-greek sentiment and all the "social" greeks feel it

Same here for Phi Kappa Phi. Oh, we had a nice dinner as well. My mom liked it. :)

When I was living in NYC, between undergraduate and graduate school, my dad's Phi Kappa Phi badge was stolen in a burglary along with his fraternity badge. :( I called my mom to report this...I was sobbing. He died when I was a kid and I really treasured his badges. She told me that what he would really care about most was my safety. Her words comforted me.

Years later, in graduate school, I was presented with my own Phi Kappa Phi badge. It was identical to my dad's. I felt like dad found a special way to get it back to me.

I'm a member of Sigma Alpha, a professional sorority, as well as Alpha Zeta, a co-ed honor fraternity, at UGA. At Sigma Alpha, the main difference between us and Panhellenic sororities is the fact that we do not have weekly socials. We do get together weekly for meetings, but most of our priorities revolve around promoting academics and leadership opportunities. Unlike Panhellenic sororities, which have their own stereotypes, Sigma Alpha (and Alpha Gamma Rho, our brother fraternity) have to deal with stereotypes based on the fact that we promote agriculture in a modern world. Many of our events deal with this.
Alpha Zeta focuses mostly on philanthropy and service; I am not sure if there are socials other than initiation. We do have letters, obviously, and merchandise that members wear, but I guess we are supposed to feel "elite" among our peers, and so we don't do many things social or even professional sororities do.

I still feel like purist "honor societies" are not social. I was/am in Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Eta Sigma, ODK, and Order of Omega. No social events except for networking stuff at the most.

I do think when honors/professional fraternities are for a single discipline, there's more likelihood there's going to be actual socialization and a real organization beyond just a nice induction ceremony. The history honors fraternity at UT (we didn't have a chapter of it at W&L for whatever reason) is fairly active, but mostly I think because they have to be to earn points to wear cords at graduation. Which I consider lame, but hey, if it's motivational to them, cool.

There seem to be some orgs on some campuses which have really broken out of the honors/professional mold...

I've kind of skimmed through this thread, so I'm gonna add my two cents.

The biggest difference I see between pure honor societies and say, Phi Sigma Pi, an honor FRATERNITY is the secrecy of the ritual. The only people that know the inner meanings of Phi Sigma Pi are initiated brothers. We have a secret grip, password, meanings for all of our symbols, etc.

Compare that to Kappa Delta Pi, the education honor society. The 'initiation' ceremony was totally public--everyone and their momma was there to see every one take a 'vow'--whatever. There was no recruitment, no pledging ceremony, no pledging period. All I had to do to get in was maintain a 3.0 (I believe), which I would have done anyway.