[MysticCat]

Originally posted by Ginger (in part)
I'll be the first to bite....I'm probably going to get some of this wrong though...

Hope you don't mind, Ginger, if I do make a few corrections.

a social GLO (any of the 26 NPC sororities, the IFC fraternities, and dozens of independent national and local groups) are greek letter organizations (GLOs) that were founded to form a sister/brotherhood among their members through social interaction and community service. Members can be of any major, any GPA (within limits, usually something like 2.5 or so), etc.

Actually, some social GLO's do limit membership to, or at least cater to, students in certain majors: Triangle for enigeering and similar sciences, and Alpha Gamma Rho and Farmshouse for agricultural students come to mind. All three fraternities are members of the North-American Interfraternity Conference ("NIC").

The older distinction is not social vs. professional, but general vs. professional. Comparing these two terms, general fraternities draw their membership generally from the student population, primarily for social and general self-improvement purposes, while professional fraternities draw their membership from students preparing for work in a specific profession in order to help that preparation. The social vs. professional distinction is probably more a result of Title IX, which allows GLO's to be single-sex if their purpose is primarily "social."

But as noted above, there are social fraternities that draw their membership primarily from students engaged in certain courses of study or with common interests. Phi Mu Alpha (which is not a member of the NIC -- yet, at least -- although a growing number of chapters are members of their campuses' IFCs) would fit this discription.

Professional GLOs are a varied bunch. They are generally focused on the advancement of a certain profession, and being of that major may or may not be a requirement. They may or may not be co-ed.

Professional fraternities are required by law to be co-ed. Federal funding can be withheld from any college or university that houses a single-sex professional fraternity. The reasoning is that professional fraternities exist primarily (1) to prepare a student for participation in a specific profession, and (2) to advance the interests of the profession itself. Under Title IX, it is discrimination to limit such opportunities to one sex.

And you're right -- many professional fraternity chapters have houses.