Fraternities in North America

Fraternities are organizations of like-minded individuals that are open to new members only through invitation. While fraternal organizations such as the Freemasons, which was established in the United States during the colonial era, are technically defined as fraternities, the term is most often used to refer to Greek-letter organizations on college campuses. Unlike the sorority, which is exclusively female, a fraternity may be composed of both males and females. Examples of mixed-sex fraternities include academic honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa and discipline-related societies. Fraternities in the United States have become a multibillion-dollar business that is represented by such organizations as the North-American Interfraternity Conference and the National Panhellenic Conference.

The interests of fraternities are protected by teams of lawyers, insurance companies, and the political action committee FratPAC. Most fraternities live in private housing rather than in college-owned dormitories. Across the United States, about 11 percent of college students belong to a fraternity or a sorority, but such organizations play a much larger role on some campuses than on others.

Brief History

From the earliest days, most fraternities have promoted exclusivity with secret handshakes and passwords and an emphasis on rituals. The exclusive nature of fraternities was originally heightened by the fact that many fraternities required a unanimous vote to accept a new member. If an individual received even one negative vote, they were blackballed. While twenty-first century fraternities are technically open to males of all races, religions, and ethnicities, the majority are composed of heterosexual white men. Supporters of fraternities suggest that they serve a valid social purpose, citing their ability to promote leadership qualities, involvement in community projects, and networking possibilities after leaving college.

American fraternities began as literary societies rather than social clubs. The first Greek-letter organization was Phi Beta Kappa, which was established in 1776 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The first social fraternity was the Kappa Alpha Society, established in New York in 1825 at Union College. By the mid-nineteenth century, fraternities had spread from coast to coast. In the 1870s, the first hazing incidents were reported, and the first death at a fraternity house occurred in 1873 when a student fell during a fraternity initiation at Cornell University. By 1881, 299 fraternity chapters had been established at seventy-one colleges.

The 1920s brought major changes to fraternity life. Automobiles were becoming common, and they offered a good deal of privacy to dating couples. The link between fraternities, alcohol, and sex became entrenched as the twentieth century advanced. In the postwar years, life on college campuses underwent additional changes with passage of the GI Bill and the entry of World War II veterans. Being older and having more experience with other races, religions, and cultures, postwar college students became more open to diversity.

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of protest in the United States, and students on college campuses fought for minority and women’s rights, against war in Vietnam, and for the right to have a say in how colleges were being run. Students insisted that college students were adults and rejected the right of officials to force them into conformance to restrictive rules and practices. Membership in fraternities dwindled as students turned away from all forms of establishment.

In 1978, comedian John Belushi’s portrayal of fraternity life in the movie Animal House helped significantly to reinvigorate interest in fraternities and to change the culture of fraternities, which became the centers of campus party culture. College Greek life was changed for the worse and became much more dangerous with the passing of the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act that pushed the national drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one. College drinking moved to private fraternity houses and out of bars or public spaces in order to continue, in many ways, unchecked. Alcohol-related incidents became so common that in 1997 Phi Delta Theta became the first fraternity to ban alcohol. As lawsuits against fraternities proliferated, four fraternities jointly established the Fraternity Risk Management Trust to provide liability coverage for fraternities since many insurance companies refused to do so. Many fraternities agreed to either hire third-party bartenders to check identification in order to prevent underage drinking or host only bring-your-own-beer (BYOB) events in which each attendee assumed responsibility for their actions by bringing their own bottles.

Overview

Since the mid-twentieth century, fraternities have earned an increasingly poor reputation because of the drinking and party atmosphere that has pervaded many campuses. Many accidents and deaths have been blamed on initiation rituals known as hazing, and critics repeatedly suggest that hazing in all forms should be outlawed. Insurance reports suggest that the most common fraternity-related injuries concern either assault and battery (23 percent) or sexual assault (15 percent), while 7 percent are the result of hazing.

According to NBC News in 2021, fifty-two deaths occurred on college campuses in connection with fraternity-related activities from 2000 to 2021. Sigma Alpha Epsilon has the worst reputation of all fraternities, with a reported ten deaths between 2006 and 2015. Sigma Alpha Epsilon has since banned all initiations at its 240 chapters. In 2015, the North American Interfraternity Conference created its own task forces to examine the issues of hazing, sexual assault, and alcohol on campus. Supporting organizations included the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors (AFA), the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values (AFLV), the Southeastern Greek Leadership Association (SGLA), and the Northeast Greek Leadership Association (NGLA).

Sexual assault charges against fraternities and their members are reported at three times the rate of charges against other male students. At fraternity parties, the presence of large amounts of alcohol and date-rape drugs such as rohypnol and ketamine has created campus rape cultures where women are easily abused and not often protected. Many universities have responded by disbanding fraternities for such behavior, but it is a problem that still persists.

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