Happy Founders' Day to FarmHouse and Triangle Fraternities

[nyapbp]

Well I.C. Sororis was founded as a women's fraternity based on the men's fraternity model and by the 1880s the collegians clamored for a name change. It was an interesting convention when the change was made to Pi Beta Phi in 1888.

My feeling about the three NIC members is that there are two to three times as many men's groups and it just wasn't important to them.

When I was at Michigan in the 1890s, there was a local called Collegiate Sorosis (in the 1800s it had been a Kappa Alpha Theta chapter). The members decided in the 1980s that they needed Greek letters to compete and they became Chi Sigma. They are no longer on the Michigan campus.

[MysticCat]

Fraternities with non-Greek letter names weren't unheard of in the 1800s. Rainbow and The Mystical 7 come to mind, and I think there were others. We were, of course, initially founded as the Sinfonia Fraternity, though we started using the Greek letters very early on. (We didn't officially change our name until 1948, though.)

Greek-letter societies arose in a liberal arts context for students who would have studied Greek and Latin. Triangle, FarmHouse and Sinfonia all share the background that they would have been founded for students in specialized degree programs -- engineering, agricultural or music -- for which Greek would not have typically been part of the curriculum at the time. (Indeed, that was an early objection to Greek letters in our name -- Greek wasn't part of a music student's course of study.) I doubt there was too much pressure on Triangle, FarmHouse or Acacia to change their names.

[nyapbp]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Fraternities with non-Greek letter names weren't unheard of in the 1800s. Rainbow and The Mystical 7 come to mind, and I think there were others. We were, of course, initially founded as the Sinfonia Fraternity, though we started using the Greek letters very early on. (We didn't officially change our name until 1948, though.)

Greek-letter societies arose in a liberal arts context for students who would have studied Greek and Latin. Triangle, FarmHouse and Sinfonia all share the background that they would have been founded for students in specialized degree programs -- engineering, agricultural or music -- for which Greek would not have typically been part of the curriculum at the time. (Indeed, that was an early objection to Greek letters in our name -- Greek wasn't part of a music student's course of study.) I doubt there was too much pressure on Triangle, FarmHouse or Acacia to change their names.

Good point. By the early 1900s when the three were founded, the curriculum had changed from an emphasis on Latin and Greek to more specialized programs.

[OHNOITSJESS]

Originally Posted by nyapbp

When I was at Michigan in the 1890s, there was a local called Collegiate Sorosis (in the 1800s it had been a Kappa Alpha Theta chapter).

Do you mean the 1980's or is there something you aren't telling us?

[nyapbp]

Originally Posted by OHNOITSJESS

Do you mean the 1980's or is there something you aren't telling us?

While I wish I could say I'm very well preserved, the truth is that I am a lousy typist. 1980s it is.