Fraternity - College and University Fraternities

College and University Fraternities

Fraternities have a history in American colleges and universities and form a major subsection of the whole range of fraternities. In Europe, students were organized in nations and corporations since the beginnings of the modern university in the late medieval period, but the situation can differ greatly by country.

In the United States, fraternities in colleges date to the 1770s, but did not fully assume an established pattern until the 1820s. Many were strongly influenced by the patterns set by Freemasonry. The main difference between the older European organizations and the American organizations is that the American student societies virtually always include initiations, the formal use of symbolism, and the lodge-based organizational structure (chapters) derived from usages in Freemasonry and other fraternal organizations such as the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

The oldest active American college fraternity is The Kappa Alpha Society founded in November 1825, at Union College in Schenectady, New York, followed closely by Sigma Phi Society (1827) and Delta Phi Fraternity (1827) at the same school. Other fraternities are also called literary societies because they focus on the literary aspect of the organization and its role in improving public speaking.

In Germany the German Student Corps are the oldest academic fraternities. Twenty-eight were founded in the 18th century and two of them still exist.

At Swedish universities, especially those of Uppsala and Lund, students have organized in nations since the 16th century. These organisations are open to all students who wish to join. Parallel to the nations both Uppsala and Lund play host to a large number of university related secret societies, for both students and older academics.