Founding Dates of NIC (includes withdrawn members)

[TSteven]

North-American Intrafraternity Council
Apologies in advance if founding date is incorrect.

1825 Kappa Alpha Society
1827 Delta Phi
1827 Sigma Phi
1832 Alpha Delta Phi
1833 Psi Upsilon
1934 Delta Upsilon
1839 Beta Theta Pi
1841 Chi Psi
1844 Delta Kappa Epsilon
1845 Alpha Sigma Phi
1847 Theta Delta Chi
1847 Delta Psi
1847 Zeta Psi
1848 Phi Delta Theta (withdrew from NIC)
1848 Phi Gamma Delta
1850 Phi Kappa Sigma
1852 Phi Kappa Psi
1854 Chi Phi (1)
1855 Sigma Chi
1856 Theta Chi
1856 Sigma Alpha Epsilon
1858 Delta Tau Delta
1864 Theta Xi
1865 Alpha Tau Omega
1865 Kappa Alpha Order
1868 Pi Kappa Alpha
1869 Kappa Sigma (withdrew from NIC)
1869 Sigma Nu
1873 Phi Sigma Kappa (withdrew from NIC)
1889 Phi Kappa Theta
1890 Delta Chi
1895 Alpha Chi Rho
1895 Pi Lambda Phi
1897 Sigma Pi
1898 Zeta Beta Tau
1899 Delta Sigma Phi
1899 Tau Kappa Epsilon
1900 Kappa Delta Phi
1901 Sigma Phi Epsilon
1904 Acacia
1904 Alpha Gamma Rho
1904 Pi Kappa Phi
1905 Kappa Delta Rho
1905 FarmHouse
1906 Phi Kappa Tau
1907 Triangle
1909 Lambda Chi Alpha
1909 Sigma Alpha Mu
1910 Tau Delta Phi
1910 Tau Epsilon Phi
1911 Kappa Alpha Psi (also member of NPHC)
1913 Alpha Epsilon Pi
1914 Alpha Phi Delta
1914 Alpha Kappa Lambda
1918 Phi Mu Delta
1920 Sigma Tau Gamma
1922 Alpha Gamma Sigma
1924 Alpha Delta Gamma
1925 Beta Sigma Psi
1925 Phi Lambda Chi
1931 Phi Iota Alpha
1963 Iota Phi Theta (also a member of NPHC)
1965 Phi Eta Psi
1975 Lambda Theta Phi
1979 Lambda Sigma Upsilon
1981 Lambda Phi Epsilon
1986 Sigma Lambda Beta
1988 Phi Sigma Phi

ETA:

(1) 1824 is the oldest date of the three organizations that formed Chi Phi in 1854.

[SAEalumnus]

Below is some information from a PhD dissertation written by B.L.McMinn at the University of Mississippi in 1979. Some of the organizations mentioned may not be NIC members, and since the document was published in August of 1979, its records do not include any organization founded since.

11/26/1825 - Kappa Alpha Society - Union College
03/04/1827 - Sigma Phi Society - Union College
11/27/1827 - Delta Phi Fraternity - Union College
01/??/1832 - Alpha Delta Phi - Hamilton College
11/24/1833 - Psi Upsilon - Union College
11/04/1834 - Delta Upsilon - Williams College
08/13/1839 - Beta Theta Pi - Miami University
05/20/1841 - Chi Psi - Union College
06/22/1844 - Delta Kappa Epsilon - Yale College
12/06/1845 - Alpha Sigma Phi - Yale College
01/17/1847 - Delta Psi - Columbia College
06/01/1847 - Zeta Psi - New York University
10/31/1847 - Theta Delta Chi - Union College
04/22/1848 - Phi Gamma Delta - Jefferson College
12/26/1848 - Phi Delta Theta - Miami College
08/16/1850 - Phi Kappa Sigma - University of Pennsylvania
02/19/1852 - Phi Kappa Psi - Jefferson College
Winter 1854 - Chi Phi - Princeton College
06/28/1855 - Sigma Chi - Miami University
03/09/1856 - Sigma Alpha Epsilon - University of Alabama
04/10/1856 - Theta Chi - Norwich University
Spring 1858 - Delta Tau Delta - Bethany College
04/29/1864 - Theta Xi - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
09/11/1865 - Alpha Tau Omega - Virginia Military Institute
12/??/1865 - Kappa Alpha Order - Washington and Lee University
03/01/1868 - Pi Kappa Alpha - University of Virginia
01/01/1869 - Sigma Nu - Virginia Military Institute
12/10/1869 - Kappa Sigma - University of Virginia
03/15/1873 - Phi Sigma Kappa - University of Massachusetts
10/01/1889 - Phi Kappa Theta - Brown University
10/13/1890 - Delta Chi - Cornell University
03/21/1895 - Pi Lambda Phi - Yale University
06/04/1895 - Alpha Chi Rho - Trinity College
02/26/1897 - Sigma Pi - Vincennes University
12/29/1898 - Zeta Beta Tau - City College of New York
01/10/1899 - Tau Kappa Epsilon - Illinois Weslyan University
12/10/1899 - Delta Sigma Phi - CCNY/Columbia/NYU
11/01/1901 - Sigma Phi Epsilon - Richmond University
05/12/1904 - Acacia - University of Michigan
10/02/1904 - Alpha Gamma Rho - Ohio State University
10/15/1904 - Theta Tau - University of Minnesota
12/10/1904 - Pi Kappa Phi - College of Charleston
04/15/1905 - Farmhouse - University of Missouri
05/15/1905 - Kappa Delta Rho - Middlebury College
03/17/1906 - Phi Kappa Tau - Miami University
12/04/1906 - Alpha Phi Alpha - Cornell University
04/15/1907 - Triangle - University of Illinois
11/02/1909 - Lambda Chi Alpha - Boston University
11/26/1909 - Sigma Alpha Mu - CCNY
02/??/1910 - Phi Sigma Epsilon - Kansas State Teachers College
06/22/1910 - Tau Delta Phi - CCNY
10/19/1910 - Tau Epsilon Phi - Columbia University
01/05/1911 - Kappa Alpha Psi - Indiana University
11/17/1911 - Omega Psi Phi - Howard University
11/07/1913 - Alpha Epsilon Pi - New York University
01/09/1914 - Phi Beta Sigma - Howard University
04/22/1914 - Alpha Kappa Lambda - UC Berkeley
11/05/1914 - Alpha Phi Delta - Syracuse University
03/01/1918 - Phi Mu Delta - University of Massachusetts
06/28/1920 - Sigma Tau Gamma - Missouri State Teachers College
11/24/1920 - Delta Phi Kappa - University of Utah
10/23/1922 - Alpha Gamma Sigma - Ohio State University
10/10/1924 - Alpha Delta Gamma - Loyola University
03/15/1925 - Phi Lambda Chi - Arkansas State Teachers College
04/17/1925 - Beta Sigma Psi - University of Illinois
1943 - Sigma Beta Kappa - St. Bernard's College
11/04/1967 - Sigma Gamma Chi - Salt Lake City, UT

[lyrica9]

i thought it was Kappa Alpha Order, not society?

[Betarulz!]

Originally posted by lyrica9
i thought it was Kappa Alpha Order, not society?

There's both: KA Order was after the civil war. KA Society was very early.

As for the founding dates listed in the dissertation, I'm not sure how the guy figured it, but Beta Theta Pi was founded 8/8/1839, as any Beta would tell you "on the eighth day of the eighth month in the year 1839..."

[Diamond Delta]

Kappa Sigma left the NIC? Is it like that still?

[TSteven]

Originally posted by Diamond Delta
Kappa Sigma left the NIC? Is it like that still?

Yes. Kappa Sigma and Phi Delta Theta withdrew from the NIC in 2002 and Phi Sigma Kappa withdrew this year.

Kappa Sigma's decision to leave

[Firehouse]

Alpha Delta Phi actually comprises two distinct institutions: Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and Alpha Delta Phi Society. They are a small but ancient and honorable, mostly northeastern organization that traditionally put a premium on chapter autonomy. The organization split over coeducational membership, so now chapters of ADPhi that have women as members are known as the Society. The Fraternity chapters' membership is limited to men.

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by Firehouse
Alpha Delta Phi actually comprises two distinct institutions: Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and Alpha Delta Phi Society. They are a small but ancient and honorable, mostly northeastern organization that traditionally put a premium on chapter autonomy. The organization split over coeducational membership, so now chapters of ADPhi that have women as members are known as the Society. The Fraternity chapters' membership is limited to men.

The split was fairly recent. It happened in 1992.

Alpha Delta Phi is extremely important in the lineage of fraternities. KA Society was founded at Union, followed by Sigma Phi and Delta Phi. Sigma Phi soon chartered at Hamilton College. A year later, Alpha Delta Phi was founded.

Alpha Delta Phi chartered at Miami University, and Beta popped up soon after, thus beginning the Miami Triad. Beta chartered at Jefferson College. Soon after Fiji and Phi Psi were founded forming the Jefferson Duo. Phi Psi chartered at Bethany College, and soon after Delta Tau Delta was founded.

Most national fraternities can trace their lineage through Alpha Delta Phi to Kappa Alpha Society.

[Firehouse]

Russ: I know who comprises the Triad, but Phi Tau was founded there too. Is any notice given them? Is there no term for the four of them together? I've never heard of anything like that, although it doesn't seem to bother the Phi Taus.

[TSteven]

Originally posted by Firehouse
Russ: I know who comprises the Triad, but Phi Tau was founded there too. Is any notice given them? Is there no term for the four of them together? I've never heard of anything like that, although it doesn't seem to bother the Phi Taus.

None that I can recall. I asked a Phi Kappa Tau friend about this and he too referred to Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi as the Miami Triad.

FYI: Delta Zeta was founded at Miami as well.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Firehouse
Alpha Delta Phi actually comprises two distinct institutions: Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and Alpha Delta Phi Society. They are a small but ancient and honorable, mostly northeastern organization that traditionally put a premium on chapter autonomy. The organization split over coeducational membership, so now chapters of ADPhi that have women as members are known as the Society. The Fraternity chapters' membership is limited to men.

What did you mean by chapter autonomy?

On my campus they seemed more like a local in a few ways. But I thought it was just them. Is it basically a "follow the ritual" type thing and the rest is up to you? I know they are smaller so I wouldn't expect a large national office laying down the law every minute of every day.

-Rudey

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by Firehouse
Russ: I know who comprises the Triad, but Phi Tau was founded there too. Is any notice given them? Is there no term for the four of them together? I've never heard of anything like that, although it doesn't seem to bother the Phi Taus.

The term "Miami Triad" was already being used well before Phi Kappa Tau was founded. Also, Phi Tau is an Era III fraternity, and Beta, Phi Delt and Sigma Chi are all Era I fraternities. There is also the point that the Miami Triad were important in spurring on the development of the fraternity system, and Phi Tau came on to the scene very late.

Similarly, there are 6 fraternities that were founded at Union College, but only the first three are grouped together as the "Union Triad." Only these first three, and ironically the smallest of the six, are part of the lineage with which we can trace the founding of most fratenities.

[Firehouse]

Rudy asked: "What do you mean by chapter autonomy?"
PhiPsiRuss sounds like the in-depth fraternity history scholar and I'm sure he can shed more light on this in detail. But basically, the great majority of the national college fraternities on campus today - the ones you'd normally identify as IFC chapters - were founded in the 19th Century. Early on, they tended to develop along one of two lines: either grow aggressively and expand with a strong national identity, or remain very exclusive with a small number of chapters and a sense that each individual chapter should be a strong, independent entity with fraternal but not necesasarily governance ties to other chapters of the same fraternity. For instance, Psi Upsilon is a wonderful old fraternity, small but with chapters at many of America's elite colleges. In Psi-U, each chapter designs its own Coat of Arms, each with a different set of colors and emblems unique to that chapter, but all within the basic Psi-U graphic (ie. an owl, a shield, a pair of clasped hands, etc.). Psi-U is typical of these early "slow growth" fraternities in that after World War II when the rest of the fraternity world experienced explosive growth, they remained ultra-conservative with regard to expansion, and often had no national travelling staff or strong central headquarters. There are a numnber of these fraternities and they are quite happy with their organization and their place in the universe. But, when the hippie era pressured fraternities to go co-educational beginning in the early 1970s, it was largely these national fraternities that were affected. Some left campus rather than admit women; many continue today as locals (see Dartmouth). Some, unrestrained by a strong central government, admitted women into full membership. Such practice was seen by other chapters as an expression of that chapter's local autonomy. The Higher Education Act of 1965 gives fraternities the right to exist as male-only organizations (no corresponding right exists with regard to race).
None of what you would consider the, say, top 30 most recognized national fraternity names in America today allow women as members, but they are all more or less tightly governed by a strong central office and national Board, and by the dictates of their Conventions. For those thirty-or-forty-or-so national fraternities, there is little or no 'local autonomy' with regard to ritual, pledge programming, the authorized badges, the coat-of-arms, even chapter size in some cases (my fraternity has a minimum chapter size requirement).

[Rudey]

It's strange in a way. I do see how they can have bonds because of the crowds they attract - let's fact it, brothers at Yale and Harvard will probably have more in common than brothers at Yale and some community college. On the other hand it must be strange having different traditions at other chapters. We had Psi U and Alpha Delt at our school and I'd heard about both having co-ed chapters, but not about the crests and traditions.

-Rudey

Originally posted by Firehouse
Rudy asked: "What do you mean by chapter autonomy?"
PhiPsiRuss sounds like the in-depth fraternity history scholar and I'm sure he can shed more light on this in detail. But basically, the great majority of the national college fraternities on campus today - the ones you'd normally identify as IFC chapters - were founded in the 19th Century. Early on, they tended to develop along one of two lines: either grow aggressively and expand with a strong national identity, or remain very exclusive with a small number of chapters and a sense that each individual chapter should be a strong, independent entity with fraternal but not necesasarily governance ties to other chapters of the same fraternity. For instance, Psi Upsilon is a wonderful old fraternity, small but with chapters at many of America's elite colleges. In Psi-U, each chapter designs its own Coat of Arms, each with a different set of colors and emblems unique to that chapter, but all within the basic Psi-U graphic (ie. an owl, a shield, a pair of clasped hands, etc.). Psi-U is typical of these early "slow growth" fraternities in that after World War II when the rest of the fraternity world experienced explosive growth, they remained ultra-conservative with regard to expansion, and often had no national travelling staff or strong central headquarters. There are a numnber of these fraternities and they are quite happy with their organization and their place in the universe. But, when the hippie era pressured fraternities to go co-educational beginning in the early 1970s, it was largely these national fraternities that were affected. Some left campus rather than admit women; many continue today as locals (see Dartmouth). Some, unrestrained by a strong central government, admitted women into full membership. Such practice was seen by other chapters as an expression of that chapter's local autonomy. The Higher Education Act of 1965 gives fraternities the right to exist as male-only organizations (no corresponding right exists with regard to race).
None of what you would consider the, say, top 30 most recognized national fraternity names in America today allow women as members, but they are all more or less tightly governed by a strong central office and national Board, and by the dictates of their Conventions. For those thirty-or-forty-or-so national fraternities, there is little or no 'local autonomy' with regard to ritual, pledge programming, the authorized badges, the coat-of-arms, even chapter size in some cases (my fraternity has a minimum chapter size requirement).

[PhiPsiRuss]

One of the things that makes some fraternities have "more autonomous" chapters is their method of governance. Many fraternities started with a "grand chapter" type of governance. This is where one chapter calls the shots, and after a period of time, the position is either rotated or elected. Some have retained this. My fraternity abandoned this type of governance in 1885 for a type that most of us recognize; a governing convention that meets biennially, with some type of board of directors to govern between then.

If I had to guess which fraternity has chapters that function more autonomously than any other, I would guess that its Delta Psi, also known as St. Anthony's Hall. Today, most of their (9?) chapters are co-ed. From what I understand, their governance resembles a coalition of locals that share the same ritual.

Delta Psi, like the Union Triad, lacks the resources to increase their number of chapters. I don't know if Delta Psi is looking to expand, but some of the others are. I believe that these four have no staff members.

Then you have a next tier of fraternities that are selective in their choice of host institutions, and do have some staff members, but still are limited in resources. Among these are Theta Delta Chi, Psi Upsilon, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and Chi Psi.

All of these fraternities may lack the resources, but they could come up with the resources if they really wanted to. The average Ivy League (or school of similar caliber) chapter will have at least a few alumni who are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The average chapter at a teachers college will never see alumni that are even close to being that affluent. If you were to compare an elite fraternity with 30 chapters, it will probably have more fund raising potential than any fraternity with 200+ chapters. The difference is that the small fraternity usually can't get itself organized to properly raise money, so it continues to lack resources, and it remains small.