A question to the NPHC Greeks

[Finer Woman10-A-91]

Technically no this has not happened in any of the NPHC organizations. I will leave the rest alone.

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Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated...Every Finer Woman's Dream!

[Rain Man]

I want to preface my question by saying I am not in, nor currently know of any existing situation such as this, but I was curious...

Has any of the NPHC GLOs ever had additional chapters as a result of a merger of a local or "up-n-coming" BGLO? For instance, at State U. there was a fraternity or sorority called, say Beta Chi Beta, which was founded in, say, 1980. 5 other chapters were formed at various schools. The membership has been at best, slow and rather stagnant. The BXBs got together and decided that they would be better off merging with the [insert NPHC org here]. Two chapters said NO! The remaining three said yes. Thus the BXBs merged with the [NPHC org] and the remaining 2 chapters dissolved.

I asked this b/c much of the larger NIC orgs' growth was as a result of mergers from other fraternities (Lambda Chi Alpha and Beta Theta Pi to name a few). I was curious if that has ever occured in NPHC orgs.

Sorry for the book

Da Rain Man

[Rain Man]

TTT for Mccoyred

Carry on...

[mccoyred]

Don't know about the chapter level but each of the NPHC orgs came into being as a full-fledged org, not as a result of a merger.

This question is a little different than what was alluded to in the other thread.

[Rain Man]

Originally posted by mccoyred
Don't know about the chapter level but each of the NPHC orgs came into being as a full-fledged org, not as a result of a merger.

This question is a little different than what was alluded to in the other thread.

OK, now I see where you are going with this (I posted a reply in the "10th NPHC org" thread.

Nonetheless, I still think this is an interesting question.

Anyhow,


Carry on...

[Senusret I]

Originally posted by Rain Man
I want to preface my question by saying I am not in, nor currently know of any existing situation such as this, but I was curious...

Has any of the NPHC GLOs ever had additional chapters as a result of a merger of a local or "up-n-coming" BGLO? For instance, at State U. there was a fraternity or sorority called, say Beta Chi Beta, which was founded in, say, 1980. 5 other chapters were formed at various schools. The membership has been at best, slow and rather stagnant. The BXBs got together and decided that they would be better off merging with the [insert NPHC org here]. Two chapters said NO! The remaining three said yes. Thus the BXBs merged with the [NPHC org] and the remaining 2 chapters dissolved.

I asked this b/c much of the larger NIC orgs' growth was as a result of mergers from other fraternities (Lambda Chi Alpha and Beta Theta Pi to name a few). I was curious if that has ever occured in NPHC orgs.

Sorry for the book

Da Rain Man

Our early growth wasn't due to mergers, but at some schools, there were local organizations that were worthy of becoming chapters. None of the local organizations that became chapters of APhiA were intercollegiate.

[Rain Man]

As a service to Mccoyred, I am going to help answer her question on whether or not the NIC/NPC mergers were as a result of orgs being too weak to sustain themselves. I will be compiling data taken from the 20th edition of Bairds Manual of American College Fraternities to help find out this answer.

(Note: due to the length, this will be in a series of posts in this thread). A summary of which will be posted in the "NPHC..10th Group" thread).

Ready? Here we go.

Alpha Gamma
- Primary cause of decease: Weak organization
- Founded 1867 @ Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN
- Had 21 chapters
- Two folded due to antifraternity laws (not sure of it was campus or jurisdictional).
- One became an Alpha Tau Omega chapter
- The rest disbanded

Alpha Gamma Upsilon
- Primary cause of decease: Merger w/Alpha Sigma Phi
- Founded 1922 in Fort Wayne Indiana
- Had 14 chapters
- The majority of the chapters (of which 4 was active) merged w/Alpha Sigma Phi in May 1965
- 1 joined FIJI (it was inactive in 1965)
- 1 disbanded because it was a chapter at an unaccredited school.
- 1 joined Sigma Phi Epsilon in 1968

Alpha Kappa Phi
- Primary cause of decease: Civil War
- Founded c.1858 at Centre College, KY
- 5 chapters, possibly more, but are unknown due to the Civil War
- A few chapters were revived after the Civil War, all but 1 went inactive, which became Beta Beta chapter of Beta Theta Pi

Alpha Kappa Pi
- Primary cause of decease: Merger with Alpha Sigma Phi
- Founded 1/1/21 at Newark College of Engineering
- Went national 3/23/26
- Had 36 chapters. Merged w/Alpha Sigma Phi in 1946.

Alpha Lambda Tau
- Primary cause of decease: World War II
- Founded 1920 at Oglethorpe University
- Several chapters joined Tau Kappa Epsilon, the rest disbanded.

Alpha Mu Sigma
- Primary cause of decease: The Great Depression & World War II
- Founded 3/21/14 at Cooper Union University
- Had 21 chapters, which was reduced to 3 by 1962
- 1 joined Tau Epsilon Phi in 1962
- 2 dissolved, of which Alpha Chapter dissolved due to the decline of the fraternity system in 1971 (antiestablishment)

Alpha Sigma Chi
- Primary cause of decease: Merger with Beta Theta Pi
- Founded 1871 at Rutgers and Cornell Universities
- Had 7 chapters
- 1 chapter was expelled due to "creative differences"
- All other active chapters joined Beta Theta Pi

Beta Kappa
- Primary cause of decease: Merger with Theta Chi
- Founded 10/15/1901 at Hamline University
- Had 40 chapters
- Merged with Theta Chi in 1942
- One chapter joined Lambda Chi Alpha in 1942

Beta Sigma Rho
- Primary cause of decease: Merger with Pi Lambda Phi
- Founded in 1910 at Cornell University
- Had 15 chapters
- Merged with Pi Lambda Phi 12/12/72

Beta Sigma Tau
- Primary cause of decease: Merger with Pi Lambda Phi
- Founded May 1948 at the National Conference of Intercultural Fraternities, Chicago, IL
- Had 15 chapters
- Merged with Pi Lambda Phi in 1956

Chi Tau
- Primary cause of decease: Internal dissention
- Founded 10/3/20 at what is now Duke University
- Had 9 chapters & possibly others.
- Dissolved in 1929

Delta Alpha Pi
- Primary cause of decease: Merger with Phi Mu Delta/Great Depression (org was weakened as a result of it)
- Founded 11/22/19 at Ohio Wesleyan University
- Had 6 chapters
- All but one joined Phi Mu Alpha, the remaining one joined Alpha Chi Rho

Delta Epsilon
- Primary cause of decease: Weak organization (possibly due to Civil War)
- Founded 1862 at Roanoake College (chapters were to be in the state of Virginia only).
- Had 3 chapters, 2 of which died out, the remaining one joined Beta Theta Pi in 1868

Delta Kappa
- Primary cause of decease: Merger with Sigma Pi
- Secondary cause of decease: Org was weakened due to change in SUNY policy forbidding any of its colleges to have a chapter of a national GLO on its campus. As a result, 12 chapters of the org was forced to go inactive.
- Founded 1920 at State Teachers College, Buffalo NY
- Had 19 chapters
- Merged with Sigma Pi in September 1964, one chapter joined Delta Sigma Phi

Delta Sigma Lambda
- Primary cause of decease: Weak organization
- Founded 9/9/21 in San Francisco
- Had approx. 10 chapters
- 2 joined FIJI
- 2 joined Theat Chi
- 1 became a local org
- 1 joined Lambda Chi Alpha

Epsilon Alpha
- Primary cause of decease: Civil War
- Founded at University of Virginia in 1855
- Had 5 chapters

Gamma Tau
I'm giving this org it's own private post. Scroll down a little and you will see why.

And that's it for now. I will be listing more orgs in a separate post at a later time.

[Tom Earp]

I an sure We all can find History for the Growth of Our Groups in one form or another. Expansion is the thing that helps all of those that servive grow and become stable as We know ourselves today.

But, I just wonder if there reaches a certain point that The Regulatory Groups just feel it is time to call a halt?

I really feel that maybe, just maybe, this is the reason for the expansion of Asian, Latino, and Multi-Culture GLOs.

I am not saying that there can not be intermingling of races, but as is normal, groups gravitate to The People that They feel comfortable with on both Active Members and New Possible Members.

[Rain Man]

*cue TJMS Little Known Black History Fact African music*

It isn't common knowledge to the average HBCU student or even NPHC member, but there was actually a THIRD fraternity founded at Howard University.

That fraternity was called Gamma Tau and it was founded March 16, 1934. Little is known about this organization except that there were several chapters at other colleges and that the fraternity later died out.

*Perhaps a Howard student or alumni can help us reseach this org and give us a little more background on what it was all about*

They had a fraternity badge which had a gold triangle with garnets or rubies at the points and 4 pearls along each side. Triangular black and gold border(?) with the word "Excalibur" flanked by the Greek letters Gamma and Tau inlaid in gold.

Their colors were garnet and gold and their flower was the white carnation.

If anyone has any additional information about the now defunct Gamma Tau fraternity at Howard University, please call 1-800-CRIME---oops, wrong spiel, please let us know. I'm sure it would be very insightful.

[exlurker]

Originally posted by Rain Man
*cue TJMS Little Known Black History Fact African music*

It isn't common knowledge to the average HBCU student or even NPHC member, but there was actually a THIRD fraternity founded at Howard University.

That fraternity was called Gamma Tau and it was founded March 16, 1934. Little is known about this organization except that there were several chapters at other colleges and that the fraternity later died out.

*Perhaps a Howard student or alumni can help us reseach this org and give us a little more background on what it was all about*

They had a fraternity badge which had a gold triangle with garnets or rubies at the points and 4 pearls along each side. Triangular black and gold border(?) with the word "Excalibur" flanked by the Greek letters Gamma and Tau inlaid in gold.

Their colors were garnet and gold and their flower was the white carnation.

If anyone has any additional information about the now defunct Gamma Tau fraternity at Howard University, please call 1-800-CRIME---oops, wrong spiel, please let us know. I'm sure it would be very insightful.

I'm not a Howard alumnus or a member of an NPHC fraternity, but here's a little more information from the 1940 edition of Baird's Manual, for what it's worth.

Besides what has already been mentioned --
Founding date is listed as March, 1934.
Founders are listed as John West Butcher, Henry Dixon Jr., George P. Lawrence, Ulysses Lee, C. Stewart Randall, John G. Risher, Robert E. Taylor, and James A. Washington.

The pledge pin was "a small reproduction of the sword Excalibur."

Chapters:
Alpha, 1934 -- Howard University

Beta, 1936 -- Virginia State College (inactive 1939)

Gamma, 1936 -- North Carolina Agricultural and Tehnical College

Delta, 1937 -- Virginia Union University.

Hope this helps, and also hope more knowledgeable people can add or correct as necessary.

Edited to add: the founding date is listed as March 16, 1934. Sorry I left out the actual day above.

[Rain Man]

Thanks, exlurker.

Hopefully this will add more fuel to a Howard student (or alumnus)who can give us more info on this org from some archived records or something.

This additional info is piquing my curiousity even more.

ETA: Wouldn't it be interesting if it turned out that Gamma Tau (or a chapter or two thereof), merged with a chapter of a NPHC org?

*RM sits back, patiently waiting for more info*

[Ch2tf]

Originally posted by Tom Earp


But, I just wonder if there reaches a certain point that The Regulatory Groups just feel it is time to call a halt?

I really feel that maybe, just maybe, this is the reason for the expansion of Asian, Latino, and Multi-Culture GLOs.

I am not saying that there can not be intermingling of races, but as is normal, groups gravitate to The People that They feel comfortable with on both Active Members and New Possible Members.

Tom can you please clarify? Are you saying that Multicultural, Latino, and Asian GLO's emerged because older orgs wouldn't expand?

[Intense1920]

Originally posted by Rain Man
Thanks, exlurker.

Hopefully this will add more fuel to a Howard student (or alumnus)who can give us more info on this org from some archived records or something.

This additional info is piquing my curiousity even more.

ETA: Wouldn't it be interesting if it turned out that Gamma Tau (or a chapter or two thereof), merged with a chapter of a NPHC org?

*RM sits back, patiently waiting for more info*

This does not surprise since there were many orgs that were founded at Howard but went defunct over the years.

[Rain Man]

Originally posted by Intense1920
This does not surprise since there were many orgs that were founded at Howard but went defunct over the years.

Is there a way we can get more info on these orgs b/c I think this is a very interesting topic, especially considering that these orgs were founded at an HBCU?

[Tom Earp]

Originally posted by Ch2tf
Tom can you please clarify? Are you saying that Multicultural, Latino, and Asian GLO's emerged because older orgs wouldn't expand?

I was stating My thoughts only.

But for many years, the HWGLOs and HBGLOs seemed worlds apart for many.

They did not feel comfortable with either, some felt they wanted to start a Greek Organization that they felt at ease with. Dont We all?

None or very many of us felt corret about crossing lines so to speak even though it has and will still be done.

It is just a matter of people feeling at ease with thier group.