History of North American College Fraternities and Sororities - The First Fraternities

The First Fraternities

The first general Greek letter fraternity is considered to be the Kappa Alpha Society, established at Union College in Schenectady, New York on November 26, 1825 by John Hart Hunter. Kappa Alpha's founders adopted many of Phi Beta Kappa's practices (Phi Beta Kappa had been established at Union College in 1817), but designed their organization as solely for students. Students liked the organization but the faculty was opposed to the small secret society.

Following the establishment of Kappa Alpha Society, an event occurred that would come to shape the public perception of fraternities for decades. In 1826, a man named William Morgan who was a member of the Freemasons published the degrees of Freemasonry through the Royal Arch degree. He then disappeared and was assumed murdered or abducted. Public interest in the case led to a severe anti-secret society sentiment. Fraternity members faced expulsion and general suspicion that only increased the secrecy of the early organizations. On the other hand, the anti-masonic conventions that followed published all the degrees of Freemasonry, which provides endless amounts of raw material for new college fraternity initiations.

The spirit of emulation, or competition, was strong among the students of Union College and the Sigma Phi Society formed on the Fourth of March 1827, followed by Delta Phi in November. Kappa Alpha Society, Sigma Phi, and Delta Phi are often called the Union Triad. Union College is often called the "Mother of Fraternities". A second "triad" of fraternities was founded at Union College with the establishment of Psi Upsilon (1833), Chi Psi (1841), and Theta Delta Chi (1847). Union College is the founding campus of six of the thirteen oldest fraternities in the nation.

Sigma Phi became the first "national" fraternity when it opened a second chapter at Hamilton College in 1831. The tradition of expansion would continue when Kappa Alpha Society chartered a second chapter at Williams College in 1833.

The establishment of Alpha Delta Phi by Samuel Eells at Hamilton College in 1832 was significant in that Eells proposed a society that would not just be a club, but a complete commitment of character and personal development. His society was formed out of dissatisfaction with the elections to Phi Beta Kappa. Not only did Alpha Delta Phi include a personal commitment to ethical integrity, members were encouraged to support or even criticize the character of fellow members in any aspect of their lives. Further, Alpha Delta Phi adopted a vigorous in-society curriculum meant to supplement the academic curriculum. Eells basically raised the stakes of fraternity life from a social pastime to a comprehensive plan. Virtually all fraternities came to adopt this plan later.

The Mystical Seven at Wesleyan (1837) expanded to Emory University and the University of Georgia in the early 1840s, spreading the concept to the South, where for two decades before the Civil War, these kinds of organizations were called "Mystic Associations". The Mystical Seven was also the first society to initiate women as members. In 1833, the Skull and Bones Society was organized at Yale University among members of the senior class as a burlesque of Phi Beta Kappa. This spawned other similar secret societies that differentiate themselves from Greek-lettered societies.

The incidents involving William Morgan had not been forgotten, however, and Phi Beta Kappa came under public scrutiny. The increasing influence of the society came to seem undemocratic and contrary to the free flow of intellectual ideas in American academia, and under great pressure, the undergraduate members at Harvard revealed the secrets of Phi Beta Kappa in 1831.

In 1833, the Skull and Bones society was organized at Yale University among members of the senior class, following in the pattern established by Phi Beta Kappa and Chi Delta Theta, and formed in a dispute over elections to Phi Beta Kappa. From this point, the class societies followed a different line of development from the fraternities. See Collegiate secret societies in North America.

In 1834, Delta Upsilon fraternity was founded at Williams College. Delta Upsilon was established as the nation's first open, non-secret fraternity in that it still to this day does not maintain secret admonitions, handclasps, etc. and does not safeguard its rituals, which are open to public speculation. Delta Upsilon was founded to counter what was believed to be the unjust dominance by secret societies of the time over the student affairs at Williams College.

Beta Theta Pi was founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in August 1839, in response to the chartering of the west-most chapter of Alpha Delta Phi. Phi Delta Theta (1848) and Sigma Chi (1855), also founded at Miami University, emulated Beta Theta Pi's focus on establishing new chapters. These three constitute the Miami Triad. Zeta Psi, founded in 1847 at New York University, similarly pursued expansion.

Influences from Freemasonry would still be explicitly clear in the development of fraternities such as Phi Kappa Sigma, founded 1850, and Delta Tau Delta, founded 1858, as were Zeta Psi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon, and Delta Psi.

As with men's fraternities, women's fraternities would largely be inspired or preceded by student societies with Greek-inspired names but without Greek letters. The Adelphean Society was established in 1851 at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, making it the first secret society for collegiate women. The Philomathean Society (not associated with the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania) was also founded at Wesleyan College in 1852.

The first Greek letter women's sorority, Chi Theta Delta, was formed in 1856 at Troy Female Seminary. It was formed by female students who had become so intrigued and impressed by the fellowship displayed by the men's fraternity Theta Delta Chi that they sought membership. This being an impossibility, the Delta chapter of Theta Delta Chi helped them form their own group, which would last only a few years when Troy Female Seminary ceased being a board school. 1856 would also see the establishment of Kappa Sigma (not to be confused with Kappa Sigma fraternity) at Elmira College.

The first Greek letter multicultural fraternity, Sigma Chi Omega was formed in 1993 at the University of California, Santa Barbara.