College fraternities and sororities

In North America, fraternities and sororities (Latin: fraternitas and sororitas, 'brotherhood' and 'sisterhood') are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sororities to differentiate them from general, non-university-based fraternal organizations and fraternal orders, friendly societies, or benefit societies.

Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student but continues thereafter for life by gaining alumni status. Some accept graduate students as well; some also provide honorary membership in certain circumstances. Individual fraternities and sororities vary in organization and purpose, but most – especially the dominant form known as social fraternities and sororities – share five common elements:

Fraternities and sororities engage in philanthropic activities; host social events; provide "finishing" training for new members, such as instruction on etiquette, dress, and manners; and create networking opportunities for their newly graduated members. Fraternities and sororities can be tax-exempt 501(c)(7) organizations in the United States.

The term fraternity is derived from the Latin word frater, which means "brother". Similarly the term "sorority", is derived from the Latin word soror, meaning "sister". However, sorority was not used in 1874, well after the establishment of the first organizations for women. As a result, a fraternity can consist men, women, or a mixture of the two. Members of fraternities and sororities address members of the same organization as "brother" in the case of fraternities or "sister" in the case of sororities.

The first fraternity in North America to incorporate most of the elements of modern fraternities was Phi Beta Kappa, founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776. The founding of Phi Beta Kappa followed the earlier establishment of two other secret student societies that had existed on that campus as early as 1750. In 1779, Phi Beta Kappa expanded to include chapters at Harvard and Yale. By the early 19th century, the organization transformed itself into a scholastic honor society and abandoned secrecy.

In 1825, Kappa Alpha Society, the first fraternity to retain its social characteristic, was established at Union College in Schenectady, New York. In 1827, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi were also founded at the same institution, creating the Union Triad. The further birthing of Psi Upsilon (1833), Omicron Kappa Epsilon (1834), Chi Psi (1841), and Theta Delta Chi (1847) collectively established Union College as the Mother of Fraternities. The social fraternity Chi Phi, officially formed in 1854, traces its roots to a short-lived organization founded at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey in 1824 bearing the same name.

In the 19th century, college fraternities represented the intersection between dining clubs, literary societies, and secret initiatory orders such as Freemasonry. Their early growth was widely opposed by university administrators, though the increasing influence of fraternity alumni, as well as several high-profile court cases, succeeded in largely muting opposition by the 1880s. The first fraternity meeting hall or lodge seems to have been that of the Alpha Epsilon chapter of Chi Psi at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1845, leading to a tradition in that fraternity to name its buildings "lodges". As fraternity membership was punishable by expulsion at many colleges at this time, the house was located deep in the woods.

Sororities, originally called women's fraternities, began to develop in 1851 with the formation of the Adelphean Society Alpha Delta Pi. However, fraternity-like organizations for women didn't take their current form until the establishment of Pi Beta Phi in 1867 and Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Kappa Gamma in 1870. The term sorority was used by a professor of Latin at Syracuse University, Frank Smalley, who felt the word "fraternity" was inappropriate for a group of ladies. The word comes from Latin soror, meaning "sister," "cousin, daughter of a father's brother," or "female friend." The first organization to use the term "sorority" was Gamma Phi Beta, established in 1874.