[Erik P Conard]

In many cases the involvement in the social fraternity was far more intense than the others....
Sometimes one joined the professional or honorary ones due to
pressures put on by departments, like history, radio, art, foreign
language. Sinfonia and Sigma Alpha Iota were never even close
to being "social" on my campuses. The boy scout one was fine, and we discussed our old "camporee" days and merit badges, but
little else in our 2-3 meetings held in the school year. And all too
often, especially social sororities, heavily encouraged members to
belong to several greek letter clubs and these memberships were
often touted as "resume packers."
They had no housing, did no philantropy, met seldom, did not participate in intramurals or in exchanges. Never wore "letters."
Most of their members also belonged to social outfits.
This does not mean they were useless or merely plaques; their
missions were different.
If anything, recent times seem to indicate a desire by these groups, professionals mostly, to be a social but not have the
involvement which was expected from social ones.
Now, don't get all bent out of shape over this...but there is a helleva lot of difference between the social, IFC, PanHel, what
have you, and the professionals. This does not imply that they
are inferior, just different orientations.