What is your fraternity or Sorority's must interesting fact?

[KappaStargirl]

Hmm...all very interesting...a friend of mine who's a Phi Tau told me he learned about the whole "fraternity before 1888, sorority after." I should share this thread with him

Lauradav- That is really strange, with both groups claiming to have started the NPC! Anyone out there know the real story?


And another fun fact: Alpha Phi was the first group to use their letters as their badge, rather than a symbol (key, kite, arrow, etc.), or a shape with the letters enclosed (like the badges of ADPi and Phi Mu).

• The widest spread of collegiate chapters than any other NPC group across the US
• The first women's fraternity to establish a minimun GPA to attain for its chapters
• Has the largest international presence
• The first women's fraternity with the PURPOSE/INTENT (as Sarah said) of being International
• The first women's fraternity to establish and international philanthropy
• The first NPC to accept a MINORITY (not just black) member
• The first to have an Executive Council
• One of the first Central Offices established by an NPC (now IHQ) which was in NYC at the time
• ** We kind of have 2 Founders Days... Our initial Founder's Day, May 30th, and International Reunion Day which replaced Founders Day, the 3rd Sat in April. But I think we all celebrate both
• First NPC to establish Life Membership Alumnae Dues
• Purchase of first fraternity owned International Headquarters
• First to make our hazing program, "See Through The Haze...To A Clearer Purpose " available to all Greek organizations and colleges/universities
  
  Im surprised no one said this as a fave/first fact:
• We have 2 crest. One for our US chapters and one for our Canadian ones, b/c they cant have a helmet in honor of the Queen Mum
  
• We have 2 big sisters, Alpha Phi (1872),and Gamma Phi Beta (1874). We make the Syracuse Three or Syracuse Triad
• Our magazine, The Quarterly, is not only sent to actives and alumnaes homes, but also to colleges/universities and other womens and men fraternities and anyone else interested.

And not being biased or anything, but I seriously did read somewhere, and I believe that it was the NPC website, that Alpha Phi sent out the initial invitations to sororities asking them to unite in a conference or congress as it was called at that time.

[DeltAlum]

From the official history of Delta Tau Delta: Civil War nearly kills the new fraternity. Saved by a two man horseback ride in a blizzard...

1858 Delta Tau Delta is founded at Bethany College. Eight undergraduates, angered by a fixed vote for a prize in oratory to be given at the Neotrophian Literary Society the only real forum for students to practice and demonstrate skills in poetry, public speaking, and writing essays respond by forming a secret society. The purpose of the new society, known only by the Greek letters Delta Tau Delta, is to see that the Neotrophian is returned to popular control, and delivered from the hands of the group of students who seized it.

The Fraternity was founded to right an unjust situation; Delta Tau Delta was born of the knowledge that integrity is essential. Its eight founders' outraged that one group of students would and could choose in advance the candidate they favored, then join together to swing enough votes for that man to win, regardless of his actual performance in the contest, presented the first opportunity for Delts to realize the importance of accountability.

1859 Bethany Chapter grants charters to three chapters; West Liberty, West Virginia University, and Jefferson. To establish membership, the new chapters are given a Constitution and Ritual, membership badges, and are taught the Fraternity's mottoes and purposes all of which had been devised by the eight founders shortly after the group's initial formation.

Whether the founders realized it at the time or not, brotherhood truly did sustain the Fraternity. Had they not had the foresight to extend welcoming arms to other young men interested in becoming Delts, the organization would have dissolved.

1861 Jefferson Chapter assumes Fraternity control and Alpha designation. Henry Bell, a founder and alumnus, comes from his home in Kentucky to search for a way to preserve the Fraternity after the last remaining Bethany members leave for the armed forces. In Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at Jefferson College, he find Rhodes Sutton and Samuel Brown and persuades them to come to Bethany to be initiated. The two men brave a snowstorm and nearly impassible mountain roads on horseback to be initiated at Bethany on February 22. Sutton and Brown return to Canonsburg the following morning and that day initiate two more men at Jefferson.

Henry Bell knew his responsibility to keep Delta Tau Delta alive and flourishing; he was accountable to his brothers and to future members of the Fraternity. A man of integrity, he knew to look for other men of integrity Rhodes Sutton and Samuel Brown to entrust with the future of the organization.

[FuzzieAlum]

I saw somewhere that DZ had several other NPC sororities merge into it, including Delta Sigma Epsilon, one of the AES sororities. What other NPC groups include merged groups in their rolls? I know AXD doesn't.

[Betarulz!]

Beta Firsts


First Fraternity founded west of the Alleghenies (the "Old" West)
First Fraternity on 35 campuses - more than any other GLO
First and oldest continuously published Magazine
First to establish a chapter west of the Mississippi
First to form districts for Administrative purposes
First to publish an open constitution for widespread distribution
First to have Alumni chapters
First to have a General Convention and one the few to have Annual ones
First to adopt a 2.5 GPA for a chapter to remain in good standing at convetion
First to adopt a 2.5 for all members

Some other interesting facts:
There was a Beta on the supreme court from 1877 to 1975, including 4 in 1911 and three from 1881-1889
More than 197 Betas have been members of Congress (either Senators, or representatives) which is more than any other Fraternity

In 1959, the 11 chapters Theta Sigma Upsilon sororities merged into Alpha Gamma Delta

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by SoCalGirl

Sorry KappaStar, see CutiePie's answer for the correct info.

Okay, guys, I amended my post and put up the founding dates so you can verify the fraternity/sorority conundrum!

Does anyone else find it odd that out of the 26 groups in the NPC only 9 are called sorority ?
yeah, I guess it is a bit strange, but in layman's terms, they're all basically sororities, wouldn't you agree?

I just hope to one day get a clear answer to why Sigma Kappa was never a fraternity but yet still isn't the first sorority even though we are two days older than Gamma Phi Beta!
Yeah, that is a weird situation, yet I always believe that that Professor Coddington coined the phrase "sorority" for Gamma Phi Beta? (see below...I correct myself later!)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Prof that suggested GPhiB use sorority, the same guy that told Alpha Phi to pronounce Phi like fee?

That's always what I believed.
However...here is a question about the Syracuse Triad..
Alpha Phi Fraternity was founded on October 10, 1872
Gamma Phi Beta Sorority was founded on November 11, 1874
Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity was founded on May 30, 1904.
All 3 groups had contact with Prof. Coddington. So, if AGD came *AFTER* GPhiB (a sorority), why is AGD a Fraternity and not a Sorority? How come? How come?

Also, as for non-white women being initiated into NPC orgs, I have always thought that Sigma Kappa initiated the first African American woman (Barbara something was her name) and that Alpha Gamma Delta initiated the first Asian woman, Diana Lam.

Oh, and a few more tidbits:
Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi comprise the Monmouth Duo.
Alpha Sigma Alpha, Kappa Delta, Zeta Tau Alpha and Sigma Sigma Sigma comprise the Farmville Four.

As for the founding of the NPC: everything that I have ever read had leaned that Alpha Phi spearheaded the getting together of all the groups. I will search my pledge manual and other books and see if I can come up with the definitive answer!

[SigkapAlumWSU]

Originally posted by SoCalGirl

Does anyone else find it odd that out of the 26 groups in the NPC only 9 are called sorority ?

I just hope to one day get a clear answer to why Sigma Kappa was never a fraternity but yet still isn't the first sorority even though we are two days older than Gamma Phi Beta!

This debate was brought up a couple of months back, and I still don't have any real confirmation as to why this is. Although, if you are ever at HQ, for either Sigma Kappa or Gamma Phi Beta, all you would have to do is look on the original charters. They would either say fraternity or sorority, and then find out when they began regular use of the term. IMHO, I think that this won't be solved for a while!!

[DeltAlum]

Betarulz,

Not disputing your comments, but...

I have been told that the former Delt chapter at the University of Colorado at Boulder was the oldest Greek Letter Organization founded West of the Mississippi. I'm not sure that's true, and would be interested to know which was actually first. I was told that by an international president of our Fraternity.

About thw first minority woman initiated...

Diana Lam- Alpha Gamma Delta- UBC -initiated in 1952
Barbara Delany- Sigma Kappa- Cornell(?)- initiated in 1954
I know Lam was initiated first, cuz this topic has been brought up before and its was 2 years before Delany, but I cant remember whether the years are 1952:1954, or 1954:1956? I believe the first one is correct.
As far as the Syracuse III go...I dunno, I dont think anyone can really tell you why AGD is officially a fraternity and not a sorority. It might be just because even though the word sorority was around, it was just more common to be known as a women's fraternity. It just states in our new member book that , "unlike other groups that were founded as local groups or literary societies, AGD was founded to become a national women's fraternity."

[Betarulz!]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Betarulz,

Not disputing your comments, but...

I have been told that the former Delt chapter at the University of Colorado at Boulder was the oldest Greek Letter Organization founded West of the Mississippi. I'm not sure that's true, and would be interested to know which was actually first. I was told that by an international president of our Fraternity.

Okay after a little research, just on the fact that I don't like to be wrong if I can help it, I found that the University of Colorado-Boulder was founded in 1876 which would be a full 10 years after the establishment of the Alpha Beta chapter of Beta Theta Pi at the University of Iowa. Also noticed that Delta Tau Delta's international website claims something about the "Four Divisions of the Fraternity" in 1874 and something about Delt being the first Fraternity to do so. Now I'm not sure exactly what the Four Divisions are but they sound similar to administrative districts like Beta has. If this is true then Delt would be incorrect to claim that they were the first Organization to do this because Beta did it a year earlier in 1873. Perhaps though I'm reading something else in to it that isn't really there so I could be wrong and whatever you did, you did first.

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by UMgirl

About the first minority woman initiated...
Diana Lam- Alpha Gamma Delta- UBC -initiated in 1952
Barbara Delany- Sigma Kappa- Cornell(?)- initiated in 1954
I know Lam was initiated first, cuz this topic has been brought up before and its was 2 years before Delany, but I cant remember whether the years are 1952:1954, or 1954:1956? I believe the first one is correct.
Thank you so much for the information! Also, just to help out, according to
this webpage, Diana Lam's initiation year was 1953, and I did a search on the threads...Barbara Delaney was 1956 (1 or 2 posts said "1957"....go figure)

As far as the Syracuse III go...I dunno, I dont think anyone can really tell you why AGD is officially a fraternity and not a sorority. It might be just because even though the word sorority was around, it was just more common to be known as a women's fraternity. It just states in our new member book that , "unlike other groups that were founded as local groups or literary societies, AGD was founded to become a national women's fraternity."

Thanks so much for your thoughtful posts! That makes a lot of sense actually!
I just found this tidbit as well, from an old, old thread, posted by localsororities:
Actually, the word "sorority" was coined specifically for the Gamma Phi Betas by Professor Frank Smalley of Syracuse U in 1882. Before that time, all the new women's groups were called "women's fraternities" or "societies," making Gamma Phi Beta the first "sorority." ..
and also an old post by SoCalGirl:
Okay this is what GPhiB's website says:
"Eight years after their first meeting, two members of the Alpha chapter went to the University of Michigan to charter the Beta chapter. Upon their return to Syracuse, Professor Frank Smalley commented, "I presume that you young women are now members of a sorority." Thus, Gamma Phi Beta became the first women’s fraternity to be called a sorority."
(So I guess it wasn't Professor Coddington, after all! )

I think I have solved the Sigma Kappa / Gamma Phi Beta mystery!!!
This is what I surmised happened.......
Sigma Kappa founded on November 9, 1874
(perhaps it was called Sigma Kappa Society or just Sigma Kappa)
Gamma Phi Beta founded on November 11, 1874
(perhaps it was called Gamma Phi Beta Society or just Gamma Phi Beta)
So, it cannot be argued that Sigma Kappa, is indeed the OLDER group. However, Professor Frank Smalley invents the word SORORITY not until 1882 in Syracuse (where Gamma Phi Beta is, so they would have had "access" to the word first).
What must have happened is that Gamma Phi Beta adopted the word first , calling themselves "Gamma Phi Beta Sorority", since they were right there in Syracuse...Frank Smalley would have said the word to them directly. Then Sigma Kappa must have adopted the word themselves after, calling themselves "Sigma Kappa Sorority". Therefore, Gamma Phi Beta kind of beat Sigma Kappa to the word "Sorority" first, so in that line of thinking, Gamma Phi Beta is the first "sorority", even though Sigma Kappa is technically the older of the 2 groups! Ai yi yi! So confusing!

[Hootie]

A little interesting fact...

Until a year ago, Chi Omega did not have a declaired National Philanthropy. Instead it encouraged its members to do service in their community where need-be. Then a partnership with Make-A-Wish occured and finally, we have a National Philanthropy.

I would have to guess we are were one of the only sororities to not have a national philanthropy. But that's still just a guess!

Hootie

[LeslieAGD]

I wanted to bump this up because I enjoy reading all the cool things about everyone else's GLOs.

[Hootie]

Originally posted by LeslieAGD
I wanted to bump this up because I enjoy reading all the cool things about everyone else's GLOs.

Me too...
Keep em' coming ladies and gents!