2008 Woodie Awards
It's all Greek to me
Understanding the fraternity system
Sheeraz Hyder
Issue date: 1/26/07 Section: Campus Life
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Alpha Sigma Phi. Once just random Greek letters, those three together represent one of the 17 Greek-affiliated organizations on campus. Greek-affiliated organizations have been at Stevens since 1879 according to Kenneth Nilsen, Dean of Student Life.
All through out the first semester of freshman year, current members of a fraternity house go around and try to figure out who among the freshman (or non-pledged upper-classmen) they would like to be in their house. This is a process traditionally called "rushing". In the first two weeks of the spring semester the fraternities send out bids which are invitations to pledge night and gives permission to the recipient to join the house from which the bid came.
Anyone who has a bid can come and offer a non-binding pledge to as many Greek organizations as they received bids. Each house except for Sigma Phi Epsilon has a pledging process a pledger must complete before they can join the house. The pledging process differs from house to house but it usually involves activities designed for the brothers to get to know each other. The pledging process cannot exceed eight weeks. Every Greek-affiliated organization has some sort of an organizational structure and you can de-pledge from a house although houses have different processes on how to go about that procedure.
Campus Greek Organizations are divided into three groups: The Interfraternity Council which is the fraternities umbrella organization, the Panhellenic Council, which is the sororities umbrella organization and the Multicultural Greek Council which was established in 2005 to help all the minority Greek-affiliated organizations. Members of the Interfraternity Council are Alpha Sigma Phi (???) , Beta Theta Pi (???), Chi Phi (??), Chi Psi (??), Delta Tau Delta (???), Phi Sigma Kappa (???), Sigma Phi Epsilon (???), Sigma Nu (??) and Theta Xi (??). Delta Phi Epsilon (???), Omicron Pi (??), and Phi Sigma Sigma (???) make up the Panhellenic Council. Chi Upsilon Sigma (???), Lambda Theta Phi (???), Lambda Upsilon Lambda (???), Mu Sigma Upsilon (???), Sigma Beta Rho (???) make up the Multicultural Greek Council. Alpha Phi Omega (???) while not part of any of the umbrella Greek-affiliated organizations identifies itself as an official co-ed service fraternity while the other organizations are primarily social fraternities.
In the fall of 2006 membership in the Greek organizations ranged from as little as a single-member organization to a 55-brother organization. As far as percentages, approximately 28.99% of Stevens' females were part of Greek life in the fall of 2006, while 30.31% of Stevens's males were part of Greek life. The total percentage on campus is 29.99%. Many of Stevens famous alumni were also part of Greek organizations. Among them, William Baird was part of Beta Theta Pi, artist Alexander Calder and former chairman of Verizon Larry Babbio were both part of Delta Tau Delta while at Stevens.
All through out the first semester of freshman year, current members of a fraternity house go around and try to figure out who among the freshman (or non-pledged upper-classmen) they would like to be in their house. This is a process traditionally called "rushing". In the first two weeks of the spring semester the fraternities send out bids which are invitations to pledge night and gives permission to the recipient to join the house from which the bid came.
Anyone who has a bid can come and offer a non-binding pledge to as many Greek organizations as they received bids. Each house except for Sigma Phi Epsilon has a pledging process a pledger must complete before they can join the house. The pledging process differs from house to house but it usually involves activities designed for the brothers to get to know each other. The pledging process cannot exceed eight weeks. Every Greek-affiliated organization has some sort of an organizational structure and you can de-pledge from a house although houses have different processes on how to go about that procedure.
Campus Greek Organizations are divided into three groups: The Interfraternity Council which is the fraternities umbrella organization, the Panhellenic Council, which is the sororities umbrella organization and the Multicultural Greek Council which was established in 2005 to help all the minority Greek-affiliated organizations. Members of the Interfraternity Council are Alpha Sigma Phi (???) , Beta Theta Pi (???), Chi Phi (??), Chi Psi (??), Delta Tau Delta (???), Phi Sigma Kappa (???), Sigma Phi Epsilon (???), Sigma Nu (??) and Theta Xi (??). Delta Phi Epsilon (???), Omicron Pi (??), and Phi Sigma Sigma (???) make up the Panhellenic Council. Chi Upsilon Sigma (???), Lambda Theta Phi (???), Lambda Upsilon Lambda (???), Mu Sigma Upsilon (???), Sigma Beta Rho (???) make up the Multicultural Greek Council. Alpha Phi Omega (???) while not part of any of the umbrella Greek-affiliated organizations identifies itself as an official co-ed service fraternity while the other organizations are primarily social fraternities.
In the fall of 2006 membership in the Greek organizations ranged from as little as a single-member organization to a 55-brother organization. As far as percentages, approximately 28.99% of Stevens' females were part of Greek life in the fall of 2006, while 30.31% of Stevens's males were part of Greek life. The total percentage on campus is 29.99%. Many of Stevens famous alumni were also part of Greek organizations. Among them, William Baird was part of Beta Theta Pi, artist Alexander Calder and former chairman of Verizon Larry Babbio were both part of Delta Tau Delta while at Stevens.
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