College fraternities and sororities
While the term fraternity can be used to describe any number of social organizations, including the Lions Club and the Shriners, Fraternities and sororities are most commonly known as social organizations of higher education students in the United States and Canada. Fraternities are all-male or mixed-gender; the female-only equivalent is called a sorority. Fraternities and sororities are also referred to as student corporations or academic corporations or simply corporations.
There are various types of fraternities: social, professional, and honorary fraternities. The most recognizable (and cliched) form of fraternity is the college social fraternity, as lampooned by John Belushi in the film Animal House. More so than social sororities, many social fraternities maintain their own housing, usually overseen by an alumni corporation or its respective national fraternity organization. Some fraternities today are alcohol-free (referred to as "dry"), and focus on building friendship, community service, sound learning, and leadership qualities in their membership, though some are purely "social".
While the purposes of fraternities vary wildly, most of them maintain a ritual system that is highly symbolic in nature and kept a closely guarded secret. Some signs point to common ancestry in both sorority and fraternity ritual, but most is likely derived from Masonic order ritual.
The Phi Beta Kappa Society was founded on December 5th, 1776 at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg VA. It is the oldest college fraternity and the first organization to have a greek letter name. It has since evolved into a national honor society with chapters at 270 institutions of higher learning in the United States.
List of Fraternities
- Acacia
- Alpha Delta Phi
- Alpha Epsilon Pi (ΑΕΠ) - National Jewish Fraternity
- Alpha Kappa Psi
- Alpha Phi Omega - coed service fraternity
- Alpha Tau Omega
- Beta Theta Pi
- Chi Phi
- Delta Chi
- Delta Kappa Epsilon
- Delta Phi
- Delta Sigma Phi
- Delta Upsilon
- Kappa Alpha Order - traditional southern fraternity
- Kappa Alpha Society
- Kappa Alpha Psi
- Kappa Kappa Psi
- Kappa Sigma
- Lambda Chi Alpha
- Phi Delta Theta
- Phi Gamma Delta known more commonly as Fiji
- Phi Iota Alpha the Oldest Latino Fraternity in existence
- Phi Kappa Psi
- Phi Kappa Sigma
- Phi Sigma Kappa
- Phi Sigma Pi
- Pi Kappa Alpha
- Pi Kappa Phi
- Psi Upsilon
- Saint Anthony Hall
- Sigma Alpha Epsilon
- Sigma Chi
- Sigma Nu
- Sigma Phi Delta
- Sigma Phi Epsilon
- Sigma Pi
- Sigma Tau Gamma
- Tau Kappa Epsilon
- Theta Chi
- Theta Tau
- Triangle - social fraternity of Engineers, Architects & Scientists
- Zeta Psi
- Zeta Beta Tau
List of Sororities
- Alpha Chi Omega
- Alpha Delta Pi
- Alpha Gamma Delta
- Alpha Omega Epsilon
- Alpha Phi
- Alpha Sigma Alpha
- Delta Delta Delta
- Delta Gamma
- Delta Phi Epsilon
- Gamma Phi Beta
- Kappa Alpha Theta
- Kappa Kappa Gamma
- Lambda Theta Alpha
- Phi Mu
- Pi Beta Phi
- Sigma Gamma Rho
- Tau Beta Sigma
- Zeta Tau Alpha
List of Honorary Fraternities
- Note: Most honorary fraternities are open to both sexes.
- Phi Beta Kappa Society (originally a secret society, but public since 1831)
- Phi Theta Kappa (two year colleges)
- Tau Beta Pi (engineers)
- Upsilon Pi Epsilon (computer science/computer engineering)
Fictional Fraternities and Sororities
Revenge of the Nerds
- Alpha Beta, Jock fraternity
- Lambda Lambda Lambda, a black fraternity that has nerd chapters
- Omega-Mu, sorority
- Pi-Delta-Pi, sorority
National Lampoon's Animal House
See:National Lampoon's Animal House
Misc.
- Eta Beta Pi, a fraternity at UU.