While the traditional college fraternity is a well-established mainstay across the United States at institutions of higher learning. Alternatives – in the form of social fraternities that require doctrinal and behavioral conformity to the Christian faith – did not begin to be common until the early 20th century. They continue to grow in size and popularity, both as collegiate and community-based organizations.
History In the 19th century, there were several Catholic collegiate fraternities such as Phi Kappa, which was established in 1889 at Brown University. In the early part of the 20th century, Christian fraternities began to appear on college campus, often affiliated with a specific branch of Protestantism, such as Methodist or Lutheran. The three largest were Beta Sigma Psi (1925), Alpha Gamma Omega (1927), and Sigma Theta Epsilon (1941), which are all still active.
Beta Sigma Psi
Beta Sigma Psi was founded as a national fraternity for Lutheran students in 1925 at the University of Illinois, home to the largest fraternity and sorority system in the United States. The fraternity had its origins in the concerns of Rev. Frederick William Gustav Stiegemeyer, the son of a Lutheran pastor, who had been entrusted with the spiritual care of Lutheran students at the university. In the fall of 1919, he organized the Lutheran Illini League with a nucleus of ten students. At that time, they intended to meet once or twice a week for religious instruction and discussion on contemporary issues. In the fall of 1920, now with twenty members, the Lutheran Illini League rented a house. In early 1921, it reorganized as the Concordia Club. By 1923, the group regularly participated in campus activities; so much so that they began being referred to as the Concordia Fraternity. On April 17, 1925, incorporation papers were filed for Beta Sigma Psi National Lutheran Fraternity in Springfield, Illinois. By 1970, Beta Sigma Psi had grown to eighteen chapters. The fraternity had ten active chapters as of 2016.
Alpha Gamma Omega
Alpha Gamma Omega was established in 1927 at the University of California, Los Angeles. The fraternity suffered a decline in chapters and membership before experiencing extensive national growth starting in 1987. As of 2020, it had sixteen active chapters.
Sigma Theta Epsilon
Sigma Theta Epsilon was formed in 1941 from the merger of two Methodist-affiliated fraternities: Phi Tau Theta, founded in 1925, and Sigma Epsilon Theta, founded in 1936 at Indiana University. The merged fraternity was initially called Delta Sigma Theta, but the name was changed to Sigma Theta Epsilon in 1949 when a national sorority Delta Sigma Theta that was already using the name threatened legal action.
By the late 1950s, Sigma Theta Epsilon had grown to over twenty chapters. However, its numbers began to decline at the end of the 1960s. The fraternity became non-denominational in 1968. Down to only three chapters by the 1980s, Sigma Theta Epsilon began chartering new chapters again in 1988. The fraternity had twelve active chapters during the 2000s, but as of 2016 had only three active chapters. It ceased operations in 2022.
Texas movement At the same time that the historic Christian fraternities were beginning to rebound from their declining numbers, other groups of Christian fraternities developed, with the rise of the Evangelical Christian movement in Texas in the late 20th century. Beta Upsilon Chi began in 1985 on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin as a local Christian fraternity and expanded when students at neighboring Texas schools convinced the founders to open new chapters. As of 2017, it is the largest Christian fraternity in the United States.
Beta Upsilon Chi directly led to the founding of four other Christian collegiate fraternities. The second largest Christian fraternity in the United States, Alpha Nu Omega, was founded three years later at Morgan State University. It was followed by Gamma Phi Delta at the University of Texas at Austin in 1988, while Kappa Upsilon Chi was founded in 1993 on the campus of Texas Tech University. Kappa Upsilon Chi was founded by four men who led Christian college ministries and wanted to create an alternative fraternity for Christian men. Its first pledge class contained some former members of Phi Gamma Delta social fraternity. While its founders originally had no intentions of expanding, the fraternity grew to include seven chapters.
Christian-branded chapters Some non-religious national social fraternities allow individual chapters to brand themselves with unique ideals conforming to the specific interests of the local members. Instances have arisen in which a singular chapter of an IFC-affiliated social fraternity brands itself a Christian chapter and initiates members based on national membership standards as well as religious beliefs. One of the oldest such chapters is the Beta Alpha chapter of Theta Xi fraternity at Georgia Tech, which marked itself Christian in 1974. The chapter operates as a full social fraternity and member of IFC while pursuing Biblical masculinity and Christian brotherhood. The Beta Alpha chapter is currently the only Christian chapter of a secular fraternity. It expanded this model to a second chapter at Georgia Southern University; however, that chapter has since reverted to a non-religious chapter.
Legal challenges
Alpha Iota Omega Alpha Iota Omega and the University of North Carolina clashed over the university's anti-discrimination policy. The fraternity refused to agree to the policy, which banned religious discrimination. As a result, Alpha Iota Omega was not officially recognized by the university for the 2003–2004 academic year. The fraternity sought assistance from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a civil liberties group, and the Alliance Defense Fund, an American legal alliance defending religious liberties. A lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on August 25, 2004, citing the incident in the fall of 2003 when UNC administrator Jonathan Curtis refused to extend the benefits of official recognition to AIO. The group received temporary reinstatement in the spring of 2005.
Beta Upsilon Chi In late 2006, the Pi chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi at the University of Georgia was not recognized as a student organization by university officials "because the group requires its members and officers to share the group's Christian beliefs." After months of negotiation between university officials, student officers of the local chapter and officials at the fraternity's national headquarters in Texas, attorneys with the Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund filed a civil rights suit on December 6, 2006, in federal court against the university on behalf of Beta Upsilon Chi. On December 7, 2006, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the university would remove the religion clause from its anti-discrimination policy.
List of Christian fraternities Fraternity Symbols Chartered Founding locationScopeTypeSecondary emphasis Active chapters StatusAlpha Delta GammaLoyola University Chicago NationalCollegiateJesuit, social12Active Alpha Gamma Omega University of California, Los AngelesNationalCollegiate15 ActiveAlpha Iota Omega 1999University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLocalCollegiate1Active Alpha Nu Omega Morgan State UniversityNationalCollegiateAfrican American, fraternity and sorority23 ActiveAlpha Omega1998Young Harris CollegeRegionalCollegiate7ActiveAlpha Omega 1994Western Michigan UniversityNationalCollegiateAfrican American, coed8ActiveAlpha Omega ThetaSt. Louis, Missouri.RegionalCollegiate6ActiveBeta Alpha GammaIllinoisLocalCommunity-basedAfrican American1Active Beta Sigma Psi University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignNationalCollegiateLutheran12 ActiveBeta Sigma Theta1973Michigan Technological UniversityLocalCollegiate1ActiveBeta Tau Theta19xx ?–1925Pennsylvania State CollegeLocalCollegiateMethodist0Merged Beta Upsilon Chi University of TexasNationalCollegiate37 Active Chi Alpha Omega East Carolina UniversityRegionalCollegiate9 ActiveChi Omicron Rho 2017Pittsburg State UniversityLocalCollegiate1ActiveDelta Nu Omega Broward County, FloridaLocalCommunity-basedAfrican American, professional men1ActiveDelta Phi XiTarleton State UniversityLocalCollegiate0Inactive Gamma Phi DeltaUniversity of Texas at AustinNationalCollegiateAfrican American18 ActiveGamma Phi Lambda202x ?Morton, MississippiLocalCommunity-basedActiveGamma Psi LambdaFort Valley State UniversityNationalCollegiateAfrican American, coed8ActiveKappa Phi Epsilon2004University of FloridaLocalCollegiate1Active Kappa Upsilon Chi 1993 Texas Tech UniversityNationalCollegiate7 ActiveLambda Sigma Phi2000University of AlabamaRegionalCollegiate2Active Megisté Areté Christian FraternityMA 1989 Illinois State UniversityRegionalCollegiateAfrican American10 ActiveMen of GodM.O.G.1999Texas Tech University RegionalCollegiateAfrican American5ActiveMu Omicron GammaOld Dominion UniversityRegionalCollegiateAfrican American3ActiveMu Sigma ChiFerrum CollegeLocalCollegiate1ActiveNu Alpha Omega 2020United StatesLocalCommunity-basedAfrican American0InactiveOmega Kappa Psi–1997, 2017University of North Carolina at CharlotteLocalCollegiateAfrican American1Active Phi Alpha Kappa 1929 Calvin CollegeLocalCollegiateNon-sectarian 1 ActivePhi Kappa (see Phi Kappa Sigma)1900 – April 29, 1959Brown UniversityNationalCollegiateCatholic0Merged Phi Kappa Chi 1988 Baylor UniversityLocalCollegiate1 ActivePhi Kappa Sigma (see Phi Kappa) – 1900Brown UniversityLocalCollegiateCatholic0RenamedPhi Kappa ThetaOhio State University NationalCollegiateNon-denominational57ActivePhi Lambda Phi19xx ?–1925University of South DakotaLocalCollegiateMethodist0MergedPhi Tau Theta1925–1941Lincoln, NebraskaNationalCollegiateMethodist0MergedSigma Epsilon Theta1936–1941Indiana UniversityLocalCollegiateMethodist0MergedSigma Kappa Lambda Birmingham, AlabamaLocalCommunity-basedAfrican American1ActiveSigma Theta Epsilon 1941–2022 Cedar Falls, IowaNationalCollegiateNon-denominational0 InactiveTau Alpha Gamma 2007United StatesAfrican American0InactiveTheta Kappa Phi – April 1959Lehigh UniversityNationalCollegiateCatholic, social0MergedXi Upsilon Gamma 2022–2026United StatesLocalCommunity-basedAfrican American0Merged Zeta Phi Zeta Chicago, IllinoisLocalCollegiateAfrican American, fraternity and sororityActive
See also Christian sororities Cultural interest fraternities and sororities List of social fraternities and sororities Knights of Columbus
References