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FRATERNITIES, COLLEGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 41 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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FRATERNITIES, COLLEGE

FRATERNITIES, See also:
COLLEGE (Collegium)
COLLEGE , a class of student See also:

SOCIETIES, LEARNED

societies See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to the colleges and See also:

UNIVERSITIES

universities of the See also:

UNITED

United States and See also:

CANADA

Canada, with certain See also:

COMMON

common characteristics, and mostly named from two or three letters of the See also:

Greek See also:

ALPHABET (see also WRITING)

alphabet; hence they are frequently called " Greek See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

Letter Societies." They are organized on the See also:

lodge See also:

SYSTEM

system, and each fraternity comprises a number of affiliated lodges of which only one of any one fraternity is connected with the same institution. The lodges, called " chapters," in memory of the convocations of monks of See also:

MEDIEVAL

medieval times, are usually designated by Greek letters also. They are nominally See also:

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

secret, with one exception (See also:

DELTA (from the shape of the Gr. letter A, delta, originally used of the mouth of the Nile)

Delta Upsilon). Each See also:

CHAPTER (a shortened form of chapiter, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. chapitre, Lat. capitellum, diminutive of caput, head)

chapter admits members from the lowest or freshman class, and of course loses its members as the students depart from college, consequently each chapter has in it at the same See also:

time members of all the four college classes and frequently those pursuing postgraduate studies. Where the attendance at a college is large the material from which fraternity members may be See also:

DRAWN

drawn is correspondingly abundant, and in some of the large colleges (e.g. at Cornell University and the University of See also:

Michigan) there are chapters of over twenty fraternities. All the fraternities aim to be select and to pick their members from the See also:

mass of incoming students. Where, however, the material to select from is not abundant and the See also:

RIVAL

rival fraternities are numerous, care in selection is impossible, and the chapters at any one college are See also:

apt to secure much the same See also:

general type of men. Many of the fraternities have, however, on See also:

account of a persistent selection of men of about the same tastes at different colleges, acquired a distinct See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character and individuality; for instance, See also:

ALPHA

Alpha Delta Phi is See also:

LITERARY

literary. The first of these fraternities was the Phi Beta Kappa, founded at the College of See also:

William and See also:

Mary at See also:

WILLIAMSBURG

Williamsburg, See also:

Virginia, in 1776. It was a little social See also:

CLUB (connected with " clump ")

club of five students: See also:

John See also:

Heath, See also:

Richard Booker, See also:

Thomas See also:

Smith, Armistead Smith and John See also:

Jones. Its badge was a square See also:

SILVER

silver See also:

MEDAL (Fr. medaille, from Lat. metallum)

medal displaying the Greek letters of its name and a few symbols. In 1779 it authorized See also:

ELISHA (a Hebrew name meaning " God is deliverance ")

Elisha Parmelee, one of its members, to establish "meetings" or chapters at Yale and Harvard, these chapters being authorized to establish subordinate branches in their respective states.

In 1781 the College of William and Mary was closed, its buildings being occupied in turn by the See also:

BRITISH

British, See also:

French and See also:

AMERICAN

American troops, and the society ceased to exist. The two branches, however, were established—that at Yale in 178o and that at Harvard in 1781. Chapters were established at See also:

Dartmouth in 1787, at See also:

Union in 1817, at See also:

BOWDOIN, JAMES (1726—1790)

Bowdoin in 1824 and at See also:

Brown in 183o. This society changed its character in 1826 and became non-secret and purely honorary in character, admitting to membership acertain proportion of the scholars of highest See also:

STANDING

standing in each class (only in classical courses, usually and with few exceptions only in graduating classes). More See also:

RECENT

recent honorary societies of similar character among See also:

SCHOOLS

schools of See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science and See also:

ENGINEERING

engineering are Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi. In 1825, at Union College, Kappa Alpha was organized, copying in See also:

style of badge, membership restrictions and the like, its predecessor. In 1827 two other similar societies, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi, were founded at the same See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place. In 1831 Sigma Phi placed a See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch at See also:

Hamilton College and in 1832 Alpha Delta Phi originated there. In 1833 Psi Upsilon, a See also:

FOURTH

fourth society, was organized at Union. In 1835 Alpha Delta Phi placed a chapter at See also:

MIAMI

Miami University, and in 1839 Beta Theta Pi originated there, and so the system spread. These fraternities, it will be observed, were all undergraduate societies among the male students. In 1910 the See also:

TOTAL

total number of men's general fraternities was 32, with 1o68 living chapters, and owning See also:

PROPERTY

property See also:

worth many millions of dollars.

In 1864 Theta Xi, the first professional fraternity restricting its membership to students intending to engage in the same profession, was organized. There were in 1910 about 50 of these organizations with some 400 chapters. In addition there are about See also:

LOO (formerly called " Lanterloo," Fr. lanturlu, the refrain of a popular 17th-century song)

loo See also:

LOCAL

local societies or chapters acting as See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent See also:

units. Some of the older of these, such as Kappa Kappa Kappa at Dartmouth, IKA at Trinity, Phi Nu Theta at Wesleyan and Delta Psi at See also:

VERMONT

Vermont, are permanent in character, but the See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of them are purely temporary, designed to maintain an organization until the society becomes a chapter of one of the general fraternities. In 187o the first See also:

WOMEN

women's society or " sorority," the Kappa Alpha Theta, was organized at De Pauw University. There were in 1910, 17 general sororities with some 300 active chapters. It is no exaggeration to say that these apparently insignificant organizations of irresponsible students have modified the college See also:

LIFE

life of See also:

AMERICA

America and have had a wide See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence. Members join in the impressionable years of their youth; they retain for their organizations a peculiar See also:

LOYALTY

loyalty and See also:

AFFECTION (Lat. ad, and facere, to do something to, sc. a person)

affection, and freely contribute with See also:

MONEY

money and influence to their See also:

ADVANCEMENT

advancement. Almost universally the members of any particular chapter (or See also:

PART

part of them) live together in a lodge or chapter See also:

house. The men's fraternities own hundreds of houses and See also:

RENT

rent as many more. The fraternities See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form a little See also:

ARISTOCRACY (Gr. apuvror, best; «paria, government)

aristocracy within the college community. Sometimes the See also:

LINE

line of separation is invisible, sometimes sharply marked.

Sometimes this See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition militates against the college discipline and sometimes it assists it. Conflicts not infrequently occur between the fraternity and non-fraternity See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element in a college. It can readily be understood how See also:

young men living together in the intimate relationship of daily contact in the same house, having much the same tastes, culture and aspirations would form among themselves enduring friendships. In addition each fraternity has a reputation to maintain, and this engenders an esprit du See also:

CORPS (pronounced as in French, from which it is taken, being a late spelling of tors, from Lat. corpus, a body; cf. " corpse ")

corps which at times places loyalty to fraternity interests above loyalty to college See also:

INTEREST

interest or the real See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage of the individual. At commencements and upon other occasions the former members of the chapters return to their chapter houses and help to See also:

foster the See also:

PRIDE, THOMAS (d. 1658)

pride and loyalty of the under-graduates. The chapter houses are commonly owned by corporations made up of the alumni. This brings the undergraduates into contact with men of mature See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age and often of See also:

NATIONAL

national fame, who treat their membership as a serious See also:

PRIVILEGE

privilege. The development of this collegiate aristocracy has led to See also:

JEALOUSY (adapted from Fr. jalousie, formed from jaloux, jealous, Low Lat. zelosus, Gr. j'i os, ardour, zeal, from the root seen in '&u', to boil, ferment; cf. " yeast ")

jealousy and See also:

BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

bitter animosity among those not selected for membership. Some of the states, notably See also:

South Carolina and See also:

ARKANSAS

Arkansas, have by legislation, either abolished the fraternities at See also:

state-controlled institutions or seriously limited the privileges of their members. The constitutionality of such legislation has never been tested. Litigation has occasionally arisen out of attempts on the part of college authorities to prohibit the fraternities at their several institutions. This, it has been held, may lawfully be done at a college maintained by private endowment but not at an institution supported by public funds.

In the latter See also:

case all classes of the public are equally entitled to the same educational privileges and members of the fraternities may not be discriminated against. The fraternities are admirably organized. The usual system comprises a legislative See also:

BODY

body made up of delegates from the different chapters and an executive or administrative body elected by the delegates. Few of the fraternities have any judiciary. None is needed. The See also:

FINANCIAL

financial systems are See also:

sound, and the conventions of delegates meet in various parts of the United States, several See also:

HUNDRED

hundred in number, spend thousands of dollars in travel and entertainment, and attract much public See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention. Most of the fraternities have an inspection system by which chapters are periodically visited and kept up to a certain level of excellence. The leading fraternities publish See also:

JOURNALS

journals usually from four to eight times during the college See also:

YEAR

year. The earliest of these was the See also:

Bela Theta Pi, first issued in 1872. All publish catalogues of their members and the most prosperous have issued histories. They also publish See also:

SONG

song books, See also:

MUSIC

music and many ephemeral and local publications. The alumni of the fraternities are organized into clubs or associations having headquarters at centres of See also:

POPULATION (Lat. populus, people; populare, to populate)

population.

These organizations are somewhat loose, but nevertheless are capable of much exertion and influence should occasion arise. The college fraternity system has no parallel among the students of colleges outside of America. One of the curious things about it, however, is that while it is practically See also:

UNIFORM

uniform throughout the United States, at the three prominent universities of Harvard, Yale and See also:

PRINCETON

Princeton it differs in many respects from its character elsewhere. At Harvard, although there are chapters of a few of the fraternities, their influence is insignificant, their place being taken by a See also:

GROUP

group of local societies, some of them class organizations. At Yale, the See also:

REGULAR

regular system of fraternities obtains in the engineering or technical See also:

DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department (the See also:

Sheffield Scientific School), but in the classical department the fraternity chapters are called " junior " societies, because they limit their membership to the three upper classes and allow the juniors each year practically to See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control the chapter affairs. Certain See also:

SENIOR, NASSAU WILLIAM (1790-1864)

senior societies, of which the See also:

OLDEST

oldest is the See also:

SKULL

Skull and Bones, which are inter-fraternity societies admitting freely members of the fraternities, are more prominent at Yale than the fraternities themselves. Princeton has two (secret) literary and fraternal societies, the American Whig and the Cliosophic, and various local social clubs, with no relationship to organizations in other colleges and not having Greek letter names. At a few universities (for instance, Michigan, Cornell and Virginia), senior societies or other inter-fraternity societies exert See also:

GREAT

great influence and have modified the strength of the fraternity system. Of See also:

LATE

late years, numerous societies bearing Greek names and imitating the externals of the college fraternities have sprung up in the high schools and See also:

ACADEMIES

academies of the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country, but have excited the See also:

EARNEST (probably a corruption of the obsolete arles or erles, adapted from Lat. equivalent arrha, due to a confusion with the adjective " earnest," serious, O. Eng. eornust, cognate with Ger. ernst)

earnest and apparently united opposition of the authorities of such schools. See William Raimond See also:

Baird, American College Fraternities (6th ed., New See also:

York, 1905) ; See also:

Albert C. See also:

Stevens, Cyclopedia of Fraternities (See also:

Paterson, N. J., 1899) ; See also:

Henry D.

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