Fraternities and sororities will also often maintain a chapter room, to which only initiates may ever be admitted and even whose existence may be kept secret. There is usually a lounge of some sort, access to which is often restricted to fully initiated members. The larger chapter houses generally have a large meeting room, a large dining room, a commercial kitchen, and a study room. They can usually be identified by large Greek letters or flags on the front of the house. Design įraternity and sorority houses range in size from three to twenty bedrooms or more. The number of houses owned by fraternities and sororities grew from 772 in 1915 to 928 in 1920. The Inter-Sorority Congress of 1913 saw the establishment of uniform rules and regulations regarding life in chapter houses. It was further recognized that, while fraternities having chapter houses did not raise academic performance, it did tend to keep it from falling as the chapters could not afford (financially) to have members leaving school and no longer paying for their rooms. The nature of this benefit varied between campuses as some houses were paid for entirely by alumni, some were rented, and some were built on land leased from the college. Many colleges eventually came to support fraternity and sorority housing as they allowed increased enrollment without the construction of costly dormitories. The first chapter house built by a women's fraternity was the one Alpha Phi erected at Syracuse University in 1886. This was in a day before colleges and universities had housing available. Įarly chapters of women's fraternities often rented houses where they could live together, usually with a chaperone. Alpha Tau Omega was then the first fraternity to own a house in the South when, in 1880, its chapter at The University of the South acquired one. The first fraternity house in the South was likely one rented by members of Beta Theta Pi at Hampden–Sydney College from at least 1856. The idea of substantial fraternity housing caught on quickly, but was accomplished with much greater ease in the North as southern college students had far less available money for construction. Lodges were often no more than rented rooms above stores or taverns. The lodges came first and were largely replaced by houses with living accommodations. įraternity chapter housing initially existed in two forms: lodges that served as meeting rooms and houses that had boarding rooms. As fraternity membership was punishable by expulsion at many colleges at this time, the house was located deep in the woods. The first fraternity house seems to have been located at Alpha Epsilon of Chi Psi at the University of Michigan around 1846. The annual philanthropy drive honors a former brother named Hamm Ansley.Gamma Phi Beta house at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon History It has been home to the SAE fraternity for more than fifty years.Įach year SAE raises money for the Leukemia Society. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was also included in the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1963. Since its inception, it has grown to become one of the largest national social fraternities with over 200,000 initiates.īuilt in 1842, by architect and businessman Ross Crane, the 178-year-old columned mansion is considered one of three perfect examples of Southern architecture in America. SAE was the first fraternity to be founded in the South, the first fraternity to build a national headquarters, and the first fraternity to found a leadership school for its members. The Alpha Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded Maat The University of Alabama. It is the oldest chapter in continual existence and has initiated more members than any other chapter in the nation. The Georgia Beta Chapter, founded December 10, 1865, was the first fraternity to be founded at The University of Georgia.
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