 |
|
History of Greek Life at SUNY Geneseo
The first forms of fraternities and sororities to appear on the Geneseo campus were literary societies. They were formed to provide a place for social interaction. The first two formed were the Delphic Society for men, who wore red and white and the Clionian Society for women, whose colors were gold and white. They were formed in the 1870s. Two other societies formed soon after; the Philalethean Society for men (colors purple and yellow), and the Agonian Society for women (colors light blue, gold, and white). The last literary society to form was the Athenean Society. By the 1890s, other schools in the area began to petition Geneseo chapters for membership. All of the societies chartered organizations at other schools and came to be known as the alpha chapter of their organization because they were the first.
The Athenean Society petitioned to the Arethusa sorority for membership in 1902 and were accepted. Arethusa’s colors are green and white. Around the same time, another society was formed and admitted into the Alpha Delta Epsilon Sorority. Their colors are lavender and white. Most societies around this time decided to take on Greek letters. Clionians became Phi Kappa Pi, Agonians became Alpha Kappa Phi, Philalethean became Phi Alpha, and Arethusa became Sigma Gamma Phi.
The Inter-Greek Council was established in 1915. The original members were Delphic, Phi Kappa Pi, Phi Alpha, Agonian, and Arethusa.
Phi Alpha eventually affiliated with the national fraternity Phi Sigma Epsilon (Phig), and the Delphic Society became part of Delta Kappa (DK), a national fraternity as well. This occurred in the early to mid 1900s.
In 1953, New York State banned national fraternities and sororities at SUNY schools. This happened because many national fraternities were thought to have discriminated on the basis of race, religion, and other factors in their member selection. Delta Kappa became Delta Kappa Tau, a local fraternity. Phi Sigma Epsilon disassociated from their national, but kept the same letters and colors. New local organizations appeared due to the ban on nationals. The Order of Prometheus was formed, which later became Phi Kappa Sigma, a national fraternity, with colors of gold and black. Sigma Tau Psi, a local fraternity, was also formed. Their colors are blue and white. A local sorority, Phi Lambda Chi, was also formed around this time.
When the ban was lifted on national organizations in 1976, many local organizations petitioned for and received national charters. In 1980, Gamma Chi chose to affiliate with the national fraternity Alpha Chi Rho (Crows). The Crows' colors are garnet and white. Sigma Phi Epsilon (Sig Ep) was also chartered. Their colors are purple and red. Omega Beta Psi (Omega) was en route to becoming a national, tied to Tau Epsilon Phi, but never completed their charter. Their colors are green and gold. In 1988, Sig Nu was chartered, its colors are light blue and white. In 1990, the Sigma Tau chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon was formed. TKE’s colors are cherry red and grey.
The national sororities that appeared were the Epsilon Iota chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon in 1986, with colors of purple and gold, the Theta Pi chapter of Sigma Kappa in 1989, with colors of maroon and lavender, and Sigma Delta Tau in 1992, with colors of royal blue, gold, and raspberry.
In the 1990s, Phi Kappa Sigma became Phi Kappa Chi by dropping their national affiliation, as did Phi Sigma Epsilon, which became Phi Sigma Xi. Sigma Phi Epsilon lost its national charter in 1992, becoming Sigma Theta Epsilon. Alpha Omega Pi, a new local sorority, was formed in May 1985. They chose the colors pink, black, and grey.
In 1993, Zeta Beta Xi was formed as a local fraternity. Their colors are blue and gold. Phi Eta Psi is the newest sorority at Geneseo. Formed in 1995 as a local sorority, their colors are black and red. Sigma Nu dropped its national affiliation and is now Sigma Nu Chi.
There are also multicultural fraternities and sororities on campus. Phi Beta Sigma, a large national African American fraternity was established here in 1988 but has since closed. Soon after, their national sister sorority, Zeta Phi Beta was established at Geneseo. Lambda Pi Upsilon sorority was the first Latino organization to be founded at Geneseo in 1992 and has since colonized chapters at half a dozen other colleges. The sorority was founded on the principle of female empowerment. Sigma Psi Zeta, an Asian American Sorority chartered their Mu chapter here in June 2002. The Allied Greek Council (AGC) was founded to unite the minority and small fraternities and sororities. In 2004 AGC changed its name to the Multicultural Greek Coucil (MGC) to better reflect the member organizations it serves. Today, it functions in conjunction with the Inter-Greek Council.
Today, there are nine IGC fraternities (7 local and 2 national), ten IGC sororities (7 local and 3 national) and 4 MGC organizations at Geneseo. New organizations have been formed, some have changed their names, and the faces in each organization have changed. In 2006, the National Panhellenic Council, a national organization that is made up of Geneseo's Delta Phi Epsilon, Sigma Kappa, and Sigma Delta Tau, took hold in Geneseo. The Greek system has diversified over the years. Locals, nationals, traditional, and multicultural organizations have learned to work together. One thing has remained the same, however: Greek life has always provided a place for people to come together, share ideas and feelings, and has helped prepare its members for life. This will never change.
© 2006 Inter Greek
Council - IGC
State University of New York at Geneseo
Originally created by Stephanie Brown & Maintained by Tim Szczerba and Ryan
Lang '07
Redesigned by Sunny Lecce '08
