Three letter chapters

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I happened across a company selling chapter guards that has different pricing based on one, two, or three letter chapter designations. I have never known of a three letter chapter. Does anyone else know of GLO's that have chapters with three lettters? And, why (if it's open information)? I'm pretty sure that nobody has enough collegiate chapters to have used up all of the two letter designations, but maybe some groups give letters to their alumnae chapters? Just curious.

[NinjaPoodle]

Sigma Gamma Rho has three letter chapters, of which I am a member: Beta Theta Sigma. Now that you know, I will have to kill you. No, not really. Well, maybe.

Oh, some of the D-9 use 3 -letter chapters.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by NinjaPoodle

Sigma Gamma Rho has three letter chapters, of which I am a member: Beta Theta Sigma. Now that you know, I will have to kill you. No, not really. Well, maybe.

Oh, some of the D-9 use 3 -letter chapters.

Is it because you have more than 600 collegiate chapters, or is it because you don't just go through the single letters, followed by alpha alpha through alpha omega, etc.?

[knight_shadow]

The 3-letter chapters I've seen have been for alumni/alumnae groups.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Is it because you have more than 600 collegiate chapters, or is it because you don't just go through the single letters, followed by alpha alpha through alpha omega, etc.?

Alpha Phi Omega has more than 600 chapters and thus has three letter chapters. In 1979, Omega Omega at Gallaudet University was followed by Alpha Alpha Alpha at Maryville University, We just chartered (August 13th) Alpha Eta Beta.

Our chapter letters are assigned in the order Alpha, Beta, Gamma, ... Omega, Alpha Alpha, Alpha Beta, ... Alpha Omega, Beta Alpha...., there are a few glitches, of course. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...(chronological)


I think all nine of the NPHC fraternities have three letter chapters with a specific greek letter typically placed at the end of the names of graduate chapters.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by naraht

I think all nine of the NPHC fraternities have three letter chapters with a specific greek letter typically placed at the end of the names of graduate chapters.

There are 5 NPHC fraternities. Not all of them use Greek letters for graduate/alumni chapters.

As for the 4 NPHC sororities, Delta does not have three letter chapters and does not use Greek letters for alumnae chapters (stopped doing that many years ago). We would have three letter chapters if we still used Greek letters for alumnae chapters. Some of the alumnae chapters used to be three letter (alumnae) chapters generations ago.

[ForeverRoses]

AOII has one chapter that has a three letter designation. I believe the chapter was a local that then affiliated with us. However the chapter is no longer open. But AOII also doesn't follow a sequential naming structure for chapters.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

AOII has one chapter that has a three letter designation. I believe the chapter was a local that then affiliated with us. However the chapter is no longer open. But AOII also doesn't follow a sequential naming structure for chapters.

And we don't use chapter guards.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

There are 5 NPHC fraternities. Not all of them use Greek letters for graduate/alumni chapters.

As for the 4 NPHC sororities, Delta does not have three letter chapters and does not use Greek letters for alumnae chapters (stopped doing that many years ago). We would have three letter chapters if we still used Greek letters for alumnae chapters. Some of the alumnae chapters used to be three letter (alumnae) chapters generations ago.

OK, to be specific, note this is from about 30 minutes of research on Wikipedia and google. (note, I'm using the terms graduate chapters and alumni/ae chapters interchangably here, I know some use one term and one the other)

Alpha Phi Alpha: Graduate chapters end in Lambda, many three letter.
Omega Psi Phi: A mess. Some of the newer undergrad chapters are three letters. Some of the later(?) graduate chapters are three letters with the second and third the same. Maybe they started with having all chapters assigned names in order and latter changed to the 2nd & 3rd identical.
Kappa Alpha Psi: Appears to use only geographic names for graduate chapters .
Phi Beta Sigma: Graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letter
Iota Phi Theta: Graduate chapters end in Omega, many three letter

Alpha Kappa Alpha: Graduate chapters end in Omega, many three letter
Delta Sigma Theta: Formerly used: Most graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letter. Changed to geographic names during the 1956 National Convention (December 26-30, 1956) (term changed from graduate chapters to alumnae chapters)
Zeta Phi Beta: Graduate chapters end in Zeta, may three letter
Sigma Gamma Rho: Graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letters

So I count it as 6 that more or less follow the "end in a specific letter" rule, one (DST) that used to, one that never did(KAPsi) and I'm still trying to figure out Omega Psi Phi.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by naraht

OK, to be specific, note this is from about 30 minutes of research on Wikipedia and google. (note, I'm using the terms graduate chapters and alumni/ae chapters interchangably here, I know some use one term and one the other)

Alpha Phi Alpha: Graduate chapters end in Lambda, many three letter.
Omega Psi Phi: A mess. Some of the newer undergrad chapters are three letters. Some of the later(?) graduate chapters are three letters with the second and third the same. Maybe they started with having all chapters assigned names in order and latter changed to the 2nd & 3rd identical.
Kappa Alpha Psi: Appears to use only geographic names for graduate chapters .
Phi Beta Sigma: Graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letter
Iota Phi Theta: Graduate chapters end in Omega, many three letter

Alpha Kappa Alpha: Graduate chapters end in Omega, many three letter
Delta Sigma Theta: Formerly used: Most graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letter. Changed to geographic names during the 1956 National Convention (December 26-30, 1956) (term changed from graduate chapters to alumnae chapters)
Zeta Phi Beta: Graduate chapters end in Zeta, may three letter
Sigma Gamma Rho: Graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letters

So I count it as 6 that more or less follow the "end in a specific letter" rule, one (DST) that used to, one that never did(KAPsi) and I'm still trying to figure out Omega Psi Phi.

I am glad you are learning something new.

I just wanted you to know that there are not 9 NPHC fraternities and not all of us use Greek letters for alumni/alumnae chapters.

Omega Psi Phi's lettering is not "a mess" even if it is unclear to you.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I am glad you are learning something new.

I just wanted you to know that there are not 9 NPHC fraternities and not all of us use Greek letters for alumni/alumnae chapters.

Omega Psi Phi's lettering is not "a mess" even if it is unclear to you.

If you can direct me to any source as to how letters have been assigned to alumni/alumnae chapters in Omega Psi Phi I would be grateful. Ideally this would be an explanation that would enable me to figure out if tomorrow a new alumnae chapter was chartered in Ottumwa, Iowa what it's letters would be. (I don't *think* location affects lettering, but beats me)

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by naraht

If you can direct me to any source as to how letters have been assigned to alumni/alumnae chapters in Omega Psi Phi I would be grateful. Ideally this would be an explanation that would enable me to figure out if tomorrow a new alumnae chapter was chartered in Ottumwa, Iowa what its letters would be. (I don't *think* location affects lettering, but beats me)

Omega Psi Phi has graduate chapters. I used alumni (and alumnae) in the post you quoted but not in reference to Omega Psi Phi and other fraternities that use "graduate" instead of "alumni."

Check out their national website and district websites.

This excites you but bores the hell out of me so good luck figuring this all out.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Omega Psi Phi has graduate chapters. I used alumni (and alumnae) in the post you quoted but not in reference to Omega Psi Phi and other fraternities that use "graduate" instead of "alumni."

Check out their national website and district websites.

This excites you but bores the hell out of me so good luck figuring this all out.

I'm still trying to figure out why I used alumni/alumnae. Fortunately, there aren't WiOPF websites.

I tried their National site, While I can find geographically based searches for Omega Psi Phi, I can't find anything on that site with the chapters (much less the graduate chapters) with the order of chartering. It does appear that the graduate chapters in the larger communities (especially those likely to have early graduate chapters like Atlanta and Chicago) have two letter names and the smaller communities (which would be more likely to come later) are in the second and third letter same category.

I'm on the National History Committee for APO, so I'm used to this. (I've done research on both closed schools with APO charters and the two chapters in the APO whose chartering dates are more than 5 years from where they should be in the letter order)

Thanx for your help.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by naraht

OK, to be specific, note this is from about 30 minutes of research on Wikipedia and google. (note, I'm using the terms graduate chapters and alumni/ae chapters interchangably here, I know some use one term and one the other)

Alpha Phi Alpha: Graduate chapters end in Lambda, many three letter.
Omega Psi Phi: A mess. Some of the newer undergrad chapters are three letters. Some of the later(?) graduate chapters are three letters with the second and third the same. Maybe they started with having all chapters assigned names in order and latter changed to the 2nd & 3rd identical.
Kappa Alpha Psi: Appears to use only geographic names for graduate chapters .
Phi Beta Sigma: Graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letter
Iota Phi Theta: Graduate chapters end in Omega, many three letter

Alpha Kappa Alpha: Graduate chapters end in Omega, many three letter
Delta Sigma Theta: Formerly used: Most graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letter. Changed to geographic names during the 1956 National Convention (December 26-30, 1956) (term changed from graduate chapters to alumnae chapters)
Zeta Phi Beta: Graduate chapters end in Zeta, may three letter
Sigma Gamma Rho: Graduate chapters end in Sigma, many three letters

So I count it as 6 that more or less follow the "end in a specific letter" rule, one (DST) that used to, one that never did(KAPsi) and I'm still trying to figure out Omega Psi Phi.

Just because you will find this interesting, there are two active alumni chapters which do not end in Lambda:

Rho (Philadelphia)
Omicron Lambda Alpha (DC)

I do not know off the top of my head why Rho is special.

Omicron Lambda Alpha was the first intermediate chapter, which loosely defined means a chapter for people enrolled in graduate and professional schools or approximately in that age group.

Omicron Lambda Beta was the only other intermediate chapter. They were for graduate students at Illinois.

Me and another Greekchatter were discussing this last week and we were uncertain whether Chi Chapter at Meharry Medical College was considered by the fraternity to be a collegiate chapter or an alumni chapter. We decided to ask somebody but neither of us did. lol

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Just because you will find this interesting, there are two active alumni chapters which do not end in Lambda:

Rho (Philadelphia)
Omicron Lambda Alpha (DC)

I do not know off the top of my head why Rho is special.

Omicron Lambda Alpha was the first intermediate chapter, which loosely defined means a chapter for people enrolled in graduate and professional schools or approximately in that age group.

Omicron Lambda Beta was the only other intermediate chapter. They were for graduate students at Illinois.

Me and another Greekchatter were discussing this last week and we were uncertain whether Chi Chapter at Meharry Medical College was considered by the fraternity to be a collegiate chapter or an alumni chapter. We decided to ask somebody but neither of us did. lol

My guess is that Rho was so early that they hadn't established the system yet. And in this case, Graduate chapter is confusing because the intermediate chapters were for graduate students.

In regards to Chi chapter, I think the question is whether they initiate brothers who aren't currently attending Meharry (or other institutions of higher education). If they do, alumni chapter, if they don't collegiate.