Fraternities and sororities

Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept graduate students as well.[1][2]

Individual fraternities and sororities vary in organization and purpose, but most share five common elements:

Fraternities and sororities engage in philanthropic activities, host parties, provide "finishing" training for new members such as instruction on etiquette, dress and manners, and create networking opportunities for their newly graduated members.

Fraternities and sororities have been widely criticized for practicing elitism and favoritism, discriminating against non-white students and other marginalized groups, conducting dangerous hazing rituals, and facilitating alcohol abuse. Fraternities specifically have been further criticized for encouraging misogynistic behavior and perpetrating sexual violence. Many colleges and universities have sought to reform or eliminate them due to these concerns, but these efforts have typically been met with intense controversy.[3][4][5][6]

The first fraternity in North America to incorporate most of the elements of modern fraternities was Phi Beta Kappa, founded at the College of William and Mary in 1775. The founding of Phi Beta Kappa followed the earlier establishment of two other secret student societies that had existed at that campus as early as 1750. In 1779 Phi Beta Kappa expanded to include chapters at Harvard and Yale. By the early 19th century, the organization transformed itself into a scholastic honor society and abandoned secrecy.[7]

In 1825, Kappa Alpha Society, the first fraternity to retain its social characteristic, was established at Union College. In 1827, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi were also founded at the same institution,[8] creating the Union Triad. The further birthing of Psi Upsilon (1833), Chi Psi (1841) and Theta Delta Chi (1847) collectively established Union College as the Mother of Fraternities. The social fraternity Chi Phi, officially formed in 1854, traces its roots to a short-lived organization founded at Princeton in 1824 bearing the same name.[9]

The fraternity system in North America began at the College of William and Mary in 1755.
Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter house at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Wesleyan College was the birthplace of Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Mu sororities. Image circa 1877.
U.S. Air Force, Airmen, presumably members of Sigma Phi Epsilon, display that fraternity's flag in Iraq in 2009.
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity members with Georgia Air National Guard Col. Ato Crumbly at a protest in Atlanta, June 2020
Alpha Delta Phi chapter house at Cornell University
Alpha Sigma Phi chapter house at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Members of Phi Kappa Sigma at Washington & Jefferson College in 1872
A "model chapter room" of Kappa Sigma
Ronald Reagan was initiated into Tau Kappa Epsilon at Eureka College. George H.W. Bush joined Delta Kappa Epsilon at Yale University.
A depiction of fraternity hazing from the early 20th century
Members of the Miami University Sigma Chi chapter, including founders Benjamin Piatt Runkle and Daniel William Cooper plus an unidentified woman at a 1909 reunion.