College Greek life history started in 1776, where a secret society was founded by John Heath, who had originally failed at being admitted in the two existing Latin-letter fraternities at the College of William & Mary. It was called Phi Beta Kappa, which was considered as the first Greek letter organization. It has become a great part of the college Greek life history because it started all the traditions that are still present in a Greek fraternity right now. Traditions like, the Greek letters, a secret ritual, a secret handshake, a badge, mottoes, and the code of laws are still very evident nowadays. Sooner or later, Phi Beta Kappa discarded its secrecy and publicly revealed the secret motto for which it stands: Philosophia Bios Kybernethes = “Philosophy [is the] guide to life.” However, unlike a typical college fraternity of today, Phi Beta Kappa was very different because membership was generally restricted to upperclassmen, and the men initiated as students remained active in the society even after their graduation.
A big part of the college Greek life history won’t be complete without the “mother” of the existing college fraternity, which is the Union College, where Kappa Alpha Society was first established. Kappa Alpha Society has become a model of the modern fraternity with practices that have made their organization an exclusive student group. They have adopted a much more elaborate ritual and doubled as a literary society. Sigma Phi and Delta Phi have followed their paths and all three became competitors. The three made up what is now called the Union Triad. As Sigma Phi expanded nationally, other Greek letter organizations founded themselves and expanded as well.
The Miami University is also a part of the college Greek life history because it had also formed the “Miami Triad” composed of three fraternities: Beta Theta Pi, Delta Theta, and Sigma Chi. These early groupings later gave way to a large expansion of the Greek system throughout the colleges. Later, the Union College initiated the second “triad” with the founding of Psi Upsilon (1833), Chi Psi (1841) and Theta Delta Chi (1847). With this, Union College laid claims to the foundation of nearly half of the oldest fraternities in the USA. The 1990s saw more changes for the Greek system. Fraternities for African-American, Latino-American, Asian-American, Native American, and other multicultural fraternities were then founded.
Currently, college Greek life history has become an inspiration to modern Greek letter organizations. Some are still very traditional and they stick to their rituals, gatherings and secrets. Although, there are still other universities that do not allow Greek letter organizations, or if they do, secrecy and rituals are not allowed.
