[MysticCat]

Professional fraternities are required by federal law (commonly referred to as "Title IX," enacted in 1972) to be co-ed. Federal funding, including money for student loans, can be withheld from any college or university (or elementary or high school) that discriminates on the basis of sex. Allowing a single-sex professional fraternity or sorority on campus is considered discrimination on the basis of sex. The reasoning is that professional fraternities/sororities 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.

The regulations adopted by what is now the Department of Education pursuant to Title IX, however, make an exception for "the membership practices of social fraternities and sororities." (34 C.F.R. Sec. 106.14(a)) Groups like Boy and Girl Scouts are also exempt.

Sigma Alpha Iota received an exemption from Title IX's co-ed requirements in the late 1970's, based on SAI's representation that it exists "... to foster interest in music and to promote social contact among persons sharing a general interest in that art form rather than to prepare persons for professional endeavors relating to muisc." (Source: Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia: A Centennial History, T. Jervis Underwood, p. 6.17) In other words, SAI was found by the federal government to be a "social sorority," not a "professional sorority," and therefore to be exempt from Title IX's requirements. That is why/how it avoided going co-ed. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia received a similar determination in 1984. Since that time, Phi Mu Alpha has taken numerous steps to return to the social basis upon which we were founded.

As for the Professional Fraternity Association (membership in which has been the basis for Baird’s classification of a GLO as "professional"), it needs to be noted that the membership requirements of the PFA are broad enough to include GLOs that are not actually professional in status. The Constitution of the PFA (Article III) simply provides that: "The fraternity shall be identified by, or related to, a field of study or common interest."

Hope this helps.