Chapter Designations

[tallgreekalum]

Originally Posted by banditone

I think that Fiji naming scheme is pretty cool. Mostly because I know Fiji's who are awesome guys.

Question: So how do you determine your oldest chapters if you don't do it by a standard 1) letter, then 2) two letter form?

For instance, in Sigma Nu if I hear a chapter update from a single letter chapter, I KNOW it's some old-school chapter founded in the 1800's. (Beta is the oldest still active chapter. As our founding site, VMI, no longer allows fraternities / U. of Virginia - Gamma - 1871.....)

How do you know?

If you're asking me, we've only had 48 chapters in all, so we just learn them in order.

[rufio]

For DU we just go by the name of the school. my Chapter is the Arizona State Chapter. then theres San Diego chapter, Northern Arizona Chapter... etc. etc.

[banditone]

Originally Posted by rufio

For DU we just go by the name of the school. my Chapter is the Arizona State Chapter. then theres San Diego chapter, Northern Arizona Chapter... etc. etc.

So if you were to tell someone your badge/pin number you'd say "I'm Arizona State Chapter #1156" or something like that?

[FSUZeta]

zta does the alphabetical chapter names:alpha thru omega and then alpha alpha, etc. the exception is that we do not have any chapters beginning with the greek letter epsilon. rumor has it that the presiding president at the time of what would have been epsilon alpha thought that epsilon ____ was too wordy, and decided to skip epsilon all together. odd!

[DUKyleXY]

That is exactly right!

As for remembering what chapters were first, at Iowa State Chapter, we only really worry about the first seven. They have a prominent place in our history. The first seven: Williams, 1834; Union, 1838; Middlebury,1845; Hamilton, 1847; Amherst, 1847; Wesleyan, 1850; Vermont, 1850; Western Reserve, 1851; Rochester, 1852; Colby, 1852; were the "Seven Stars" of the anti-secrecy fight. These chapters were members of the Anti-Secrecy Confederation which developed into Delta Upsilon.

As for a chapter for deceased brothers, we have a Chapter Eternal, but that is only spoken of in the Funerary Ritual. Not many DUs really know about that.

[rufio]

[QUOTE=DUKyleXY;

As for a chapter for deceased brothers, we have a Chapter Eternal, but that is only spoken of in the Funerary Ritual. Not many DUs really know about that.[/QUOTE]

yeah i had no idea about chapter eternal. i guess you learn something new everyday.

[LXA SE285]

Can any KDs or Tri-Delts shed any light on your naming systems? In KD, for example, Zeta chapter (Alabama, 1904) was founded before Epsilon (LSU, 1909), and Sigma Lambda (Auburn, 1922) came before Alpha Epsilon (Tennessee, 1925). Tri-Delt's Delta Mu (Alabama, 1914) and Theta Zeta (Texas, 1912) came before Alpha Rho (UGA, 1934) and Alpha Psi (Florida, 1948).

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by LXA SE285

Can any KDs or Tri-Delts shed any light on your naming systems? In KD, for example, Zeta chapter (Alabama, 1904) was founded before Epsilon (LSU, 1909), and Sigma Lambda (Auburn, 1922) came before Alpha Epsilon (Tennessee, 1925). Tri-Delt's Delta Mu (Alabama, 1914) and Theta Zeta (Texas, 1912) came before Alpha Rho (UGA, 1934) and Alpha Psi (Florida, 1948).

It's not that unusual for many organizations to have chapter designations "out of order" as it were. In some cases, usually early on, a designation would be assigned before the charter was granted. So it wasn't at all unusual for say the Zeta colony (later chapter) to be granted it's charter prior to an Epsilon colony (later chapter). Also, many chapters were a local GLO that was absorbed and their letters often incorporated into the chapter designation as well.

The University of Kentucky chapter (Epsilon Omega) of Kappa Delta has an interesting history regarding their chapter designation.

"The Epsilon Omega Chapter of Kappa Delta had its first beginnings under the name of "The Black Cats" in the early school year of 1903-1904. The Black Cats were a successor to the "Berry Quintette," composed of Mae Thurman, Edna Cremin, Grace Ogg, Mary Kendrick, and Minni Lee Dodd. In the fall of 1907, the girls changed their name to Epsilon Omega Delta. Their colors were black and gold and their flower was the pansy.

In 1909 under that name, the girls petitioned Kappa Delta and was installed with 13 initiates as Epsilon Omega Chapter. According to "Ordinary Miracles," it was so named for the National Chapterian who worked with the chapter in securing its charter, Edith (Orilla) Knox, however many suspect because their name was "Epsilon Omega" Delta the addition of the Greek letter Kappa would complete our name."

[Pike_Cardinal]

"Meaning you know who is from an OLD SCHOOL chapter due to the actual letter designation."


Oh yeah, it allows for one to know WHEN the fraternity was chartered but not WHERE. So, one sometimes needs to refer to a chapter by school AND chapter(ie Louisville Kappa Zeta)