The College of William & Mary fraternities and sororities include chapters of national organizations belonging to the Panhellenic Council, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the National Pan-Hellenic Council, and also recognizes one local fraternity without Greek letters (Queens' Guard) and the local chapter of one national fraternity (Kappa Sigma) that abandoned membership in an inter-Greek consortium.The College of William & Mary Fraternity/Sorority Life – Greek Chapters . Accessed September 30, 2008. The school also offers a variety of honor and co-ed service fraternities as well. The first collegiate fraternity within the present borders of the United States, the Latin-letter F.H.C. Society, was founded at the College of William & Mary on November 11, 1750. The new country's first Greek-letter fraternity was founded at the College on December 5, 1776. However, the Phi Beta Kappa society is no longer a social fraternity but is now the leading American academic honor society. Some fraternities and sororities are limited to graduate students at William & Mary, while others may only be joined at the undergraduate level. Still, other Greek-letter organizations operate without recognition or approval from college administrators.Fraternity Council . The College of William & Mary. Retrieved on 17 February 2010.

Two social fraternities were established at William & Mary before the Civil War: Theta Delta Chi in 1853 and Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1857. By the turn of the twentieth century, there were seven social fraternities and by 1940 a total of 14 fraternity chapters and nine sorority chapters had been established at the College. Photographs in early twentieth-century volumes of the Colonial Echo illustrate the variety of houses around Williamsburg used by these organizations, including several houses later incorporated into the Restored Area of Colonial Williamsburg. By 1925 there was an early fraternity row on Jamestown Road with Theta Delta Chi at #216, Sigma Nu at #234, Sigma Alpha Epsilon at #308, and Kappa Sigma at #312.

Between 1927 and 1931 a collection of brick houses was built to house the sororities on the first block of Richmond Road, across from the President's House. Five nearly identical houses face a mid-block interior courtyard and four additional houses front of Richmond Road.

By 1940 the College Terrace neighborhood adjacent to campus hosted six large fraternity houses:  Sigma Nu (later Phi Kappa Tau) at 601 College Terrace, Sigma Phi Epsilon (#415), Theta Delta Chi (#606), Lambda Chi Alpha (#607), and Kappa Sigma (#700) on Richmond Road, and Kappa Alpha Order in what is today part of the Alumni House at 500 Richmond Road.  For many years Pi Lambda Phi was housed at 230 Griffin Avenue, Pi Kappa Alpha at 205 Richmond Road, and Sigma Pi in the southern annex of Reves Hall. World War II decimated male student enrollment and challenged fraternity operations.  In 1943 the College forced all fraternities to surrender their houses to help address a war-related housing shortage.

Male enrollment rebounded after the war and the surviving fraternities petitioned the College to provide meeting spaces to support the social organizations. In 1948 eleven small lodges were constructed in the woods on the then-western edge of campus for this purpose. The lodges were subsequently used for faculty offices and upperclassmen housing.

By the 1960s the College desperately needed additional housing and the fraternities had outgrown the lodges. Two residential complexes were built in the woods on the then-western edge of campus for Greek organizations. Both were designed as dormitories with large meeting rooms and outdoor terraces. The Fraternity Complex opened in 1968 comprising three buildings containing a total of twelve semi-detached "houses" or units. These buildings have now been converted into freshman dormitories known as the Green and Gold Village. What is now known as the Botetourt Complex opened in 1973 to relocate the women's organizations from Sorority Court. Comprising five buildings containing nine units the complex never hosted sororities. At the end of the 2007–08 academic calendar year, 25% of undergraduate men and 27% of undergraduate women participated in the Greek system. The average fraternity size was 38 members, while the average sorority size was seventy members.

In the Autumn of 2013, eleven new fraternity houses and a Greek community center were opened. Each of the new houses accommodates seventeen men.on New Fraternity Housing. Retrieved on 5 May 2013 . After the new fraternity buildings were opened, Delta Phi acquired one of the eleven new fraternity houses, and Alpha Epsilon Pi took over Delta Phi's old house on Armistead Avenue.

NAIC social fraternities Following is a list of William & Mary's North American Interfraternity Conference social fraternities with year of local establishment.

Active fraternities Theta Delta Chi (ΘΔΧ) 1853 Sigma Alpha Epsilon (ΣΑΕ) 1857 Kappa Alpha Order (ΚΑ) 1890 Sigma Phi Epsilon (ΣΦΕ) 1904 Sigma Pi (ΣΠ) 1931 Sigma Chi (ΣΧ) 1968 Psi Upsilon (ΨΥ) 1984 Kappa Delta Rho (ΚΔΡ) 1993 Delta Chi (ΔΧ) 2002 Alpha Tau Omega (ΑΤΩ) 2006 Alpha Epsilon Pi (ΑΕΠ) 2007 Phi Gamma Delta (ΦΓΔ) 2018 Alpha Sigma Phi (ΑΣΦ) 2020 Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠΚΑ) 1871

Suspended or inactive fraternities Beta Theta Pi (ΒΘΠ) 1876 Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ) 1890 Sigma Nu (ΣΝ) 1922 Phi Kappa Tau (ΦΚΤ) 1926 Lambda Chi Alpha (ΛΧΑ) 1927 Phi Alpha (ΦΑ) 1927 Pi Lambda Phi (ΠΛΦ) 1929 Alpha Phi Delta (ΑΦΔ) 1930 Delta Phi (ΔΦ) 1987 Chi Phi (ΧΦ) 2009

Panhellenic social sororities Following is a list of William & Mary's National Panhellenic Conference sororities with a year of local establishment. Chi Omega (ΧΩ) 1921 Kappa Alpha Theta (ΚΑΘ) 1922 Kappa Kappa Gamma (ΚΚΓ) 1923 Pi Beta Phi (ΠΒΦ) 1925 Phi Mu (ΦΜ) 1926 Alpha Chi Omega (ΑΧΩ) 1927 Delta Delta Delta (ΔΔΔ) 1928 Kappa Delta (ΚΔ) 1928 Gamma Phi Beta (ΓΦΒ) 1934 Delta Gamma (ΔΓ) 1982

National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities Following is a list of William & Mary's National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities with year of local establishment. Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) 1975 Delta Sigma Theta (ΔΣΘ) 1976 Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΑΚΑ) 1981 Zeta Phi Beta (ΖΦΒ) 1982 Kappa Alpha Psi (ΚΑΨ) 1992 Phi Beta Sigma (ΦΒΣ) 2008 Omega Psi Phi (ΩΨΦ) 2010 Sigma Gamma Rho (ΣΓΡ) 2020

Multicultural Greek Council fraternities and sororities Following is a list of William & Mary's multicultural fraternities and sororities with year of local establishment. Sigma Iota Alpha (ΣΙΑ) 2013 Delta Phi Omega (ΔΦΩ) 2016 alpha Kappa Delta Phi (αΚΔΦ) 2026 Lambda Upsilon Lambda (ΛΥΛ) 2026

Honor and service fraternities and sororities Following is a list of William & Mary's honor and service fraternities and sororities. Alpha Kappa Psi (ΑΚΨ) – co-ed professional business fraternity Alpha Lambda Delta (ΑΛΔ) – co-ed freshman year honor society Alpha Phi Omega (ΑΦΩ) – co-ed service fraternity Alpha Psi Omega (ΑΨΏ) – co-ed theatre fraternity Beta Gamma Sigma (ΒΓΣ) – co-ed business fraternity Delta Omicron (ΔΟ) – co-ed music fraternity Eta Sigma Phi (ΗΣΦ) – co-ed classical honor society Kappa Delta Pi (ΚΔΠ) – co-ed international education honor society Nu Kappa Epsilon (NKE) – female-only music sorority Phi Alpha Delta (ΦΑΔ) – co-ed professional law fraternity Phi Alpha Theta (ΦΑΘ) – co-ed history honor society Phi Beta Delta (ΦΒΔ) – co-ed international studies honor society Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) – co-ed academic honor society Phi Eta Sigma (ΦΗΣ) – co-ed freshman honor society Phi Mu Alpha (ΦΜΑ) – male-only musical social fraternity Phi Sigma Pi (ΦΣΠ) – co-ed academic honor society Pi Delta Phi (ΠΔΦ) – co-ed French honor society Pi Gamma Mu (ΠΓΜ) – co-ed social sciences honor society* Pi Sigma Alpha (ΦΣΑ) – co-ed political science honor society Psi Chi (ΨΧ) – co-ed psychology honor society Sigma Delta Pi (ΣΔΠ) – co-ed Spanish honor society Sigma Gamma Epsilon (ΣΓΕ) – co-ed earth sciences honor society Queens' Guard (QG) – co-ed military fraternity

Notes

References

External links Fraternity Complex floor plans Sorority Court housing and floor layout