History of North American College Fraternities and Sororities - Interfraternity Organization

Interfraternity Organization

The first attempt at organization between different fraternities began as a recommendation from members of Beta Theta Pi. Men representing thirteen fraternities officially and others present unofficially met in Philadelphia, PA in 1883. They had intentions of having a conference the following year and several edits formed the Inter-Fraternity Press Association. Neither of these two ideas lasted.

Kappa Kappa Gamma began the process of attempting to organize sororities in 1890. The first Panhellenic Convention of Woman's Fraternities was held in August 1891. Committees were created and reports were drafted but little was done to continue the organization.

Fraternities and sororities united their efforts to make an appearance at the upcoming World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. They formed the Columbian Exposition Committee on Pan-Hellenism (the Chicago World's Fair was officially called the World's Columbian Exposition) and held a number of meetings on how to put together a joint exhibit. The exhibit never came together.

Alpha Phi would take the initiative to inspire the first Inter-Sorority Conference in 1902. The conference was attended by representatives from Delta Delta Delta, Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, and Pi Beta Phi in Chicago. The next few conferences would establish rules and standards such as a student-run Panhellenic Association on college campuses with two or more sororities and the rotation of officers in these associations and in the conference. The next decade would add many more sororities to the organization and it would be renamed the National Panhellenic Conference (Not to be confused with the National Panhellenic Conference, which is open only to sororities.) The decade would also hold a new emphases on community service, standardized house rules, fairness policies for member recruitment, and an official stance against all secondary school sororities.

The social fraternities would create small Pan-Hellenic organizations in various cities in the late 1890s and early 1900s. George D. Kimball of Sigma Alpha Epsilon would take initiative and call for a true national Pan-Hellenic group during a meeting of the National Religious Education Association in Chicago in February 1909. The Inter-Fraternity Conference would begin with twenty-six organizations that November in New York City. Like the sororities, the conference would call for local student-run Inter-Fraternity Councils on college campuses with more than one member organization.