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Revision as of 18:41, 27 October 2005 by Jacqui M (talk | contribs) (second AfD closed by Snowspinner)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Greek life at The College of Wooster is an enigma, even for those who go there. Whether it's the underground groups who seem mythic at times or the legends about the reasons for bans on national groups or the "Omegas", "Sigs" and "Betas" mysterious parallels to a few national fraternities, there is a great amount of mystery surrounding Greek life at this Ohio school.
Greek Groups
Officially, as of August, 2005, the College had 4 Fraternities and 6 sororities.
Active, Chartered Fraternities
Beta Kappa Phi
- I (First) Section
- Founded: 1913
- Short Name: Betas
- Motto: First and Finest
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Rumored to have sprung from remnants of Beta Theta Pi
- Colors: Green and White
- Mascot: Under Research
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VII Section 4th Floor
Xi Chi Psi
- Never lived in Section in Kenarden, so no official number. Sometimes referred to as VIII, however other groups, including the one that is now Men of Harambee, used this prior to the Xi Chi's existence
- Founded: February 1991
- Short Name: Xi Chis
- Motto: Rari Inventu Sunt
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Used Theta Upsilon Gamma (THUG) for less then a semester before asked by school to change in 1991
- Colors: Black, Royal Blue, White
- Mascot: No official Mascot, however the WB character Taz is accepted to be the mascot by most
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VIII Section 2nd/3rd Floor.
Phi Omega Sigma
- IV (Fourth) Section
- Founded: 1913
- Short Name: Omegas
- Motto: Brotherhood, Unity, Trust and Respect
- Original Letters/National affiliation: rho chapter of Delta Tau Delta in 1887 until ban in 1913
- Colors: Crimson and White
- Mascot: Osprey
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall Basement, 1st floor
Phi Sigma Alpha
- VI (Sixth) Section
- Founded: 1937
- Short Name: Sigs
- Motto: "Haste Makes Waste" - 9/13/91 Wooster Voice
- Original Letters/National affiliation: ??? Allegedly the Sigs are truely the group on campus that can trace its roots back the farthest, to 1870.
- Colors: Blue and Gold
- Mascot: Sam the Sig
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VI Section 3rd Floor
Men of Harambee
Men of Harambee
- Apparently a name change from what was originally VIII Section
- Though the group did not start out as a minority-based group, in 1969, with a dwindling membership, the group took ten African-American pledges, and over time became the Men of Harambee. It is unknown if the group still practices the traditions of the VIII section it was created from, although it is suspected that they do not. It is known that they do no formal pledging in the sense of hazing or initiation.
- Housing, 2005-6: On-Campus house.
Active, Unchartered Fraternities
On March 3, 1983, hazing became a crime in the state of Ohio. Over the next two decades, the school's longstanding policy of don't ask dont tell evolved into a crackdown of hazing activities with two major, and very different, highlights. In 1993, according to the Wooster Voice, the school told the fraternity Omega Alpha Tau and the sorority Pi Kappa that they could not take pledges due to alledged hazing. In both cases, the decisions later reversed by the Judicial Board due to a lack of evidence. In 1999, on the other hand, the school received national attention when four Kappa Chi members were arrested for hazing pledges by beating them and urinating on them, leading to the eventual ban of the Fraternity. The groups below find it easier to operate outside of the college's purview in the aftermath of this crackdown.
Omega Alpha Tau
- The result of a split among VII Section (Kappa Kappa Kappa) members
- Founded: 1976
- Short Name: OATs
- Motto:
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Kappa Kappa Kappa. It should be noted that this was the first Wooster group to openly refer to itself as a fraternity rather than a section.
- Colors: Gold and Brown
- Mascot: ??? Likely none.
- Housing: No official housing
- Reasons for unchartered status: Pulled own charter
Kappa Chi
- The result of a split among VII Section (Kappa Kappa Kappa) members, Kappa Chi got to keep the Section number and therefore the history
- Founded: Allegedly 1875.
- Short Name: Krappers
- Motto: Pride of the Hill
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Kappa Kappa Kappa
- Colors: Blue and Red
- Symbol: Winning
- Flower: Beeble Flower
- Reasons for unchartered status: Permanantly banned following 1999 "no contest" pleas of four members to hazing charges.
Kappa Phi Sigma
- Historical records indicate II Section, modern group has a "3" in its logo, so in dispute
- Founded: under research
- Short Name: Crandall House (members lived there for quite a number of years), Crandalls
- Motto: ???
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Under research. A possible history for this group is that it was Section II until the 1970s, when it began to admit women, and began to call itself III section. The section is co-ed to this day.
- Colors: Scarlet and Grey
- Symbol: Steal your Face (???)
- Flower: Begonia
- Housing: No official housing
- Reasons for unchartered status: Pulled own charter
National Fraternities
There is a common misconception that the College dosn't have any national fraternities. This is entirely incorrect - Wooster has 6 national fraternities, all of which became inactive between 1914 and 1917. Wooster did not ban fraternities; if they had, the groups would no longer exist. Instead, they barred the groups from pledging new members. This subtle difference allows for these greek groups of the past to continue, if only on paper, at the College of Wooster. The first two fraternities listed below are not currently inactive, they no longer exist as they ceased to operate at the College before the new initiate ban.
Phi Kappa Psi
- Established at Wooster: June 1871
- Wooster's first National Fraternity
- No longer exists in any form at the College of Wooster
Phi Delta Theta
- Established at Wooster: 1872
- Wooster's third national Fraternity
- No longer exists in any form at the College of Wooster
Beta Theta Pi
- Established at Wooster: April 1872
- Chapter: Alpha Lambda
- Wooster's second national fraternity
- Colors during last active year at Wooster: Light pink and Light Blue
- Flower during last active year at Wooster: American Beauty
- Currently inactive follwing 1913 order of Board of Trustees
Sigma Chi
- Established at Wooster: March 1873
- Chapter: Beta
- Wooster's fourth national fraternity
- Colors during last active year at Wooster: Blue and Gold
- Flower during last active year at Wooster: White Tea Rose
- Currently inactive follwing 1913 order of Board of Trustees
Delta Tau Delta
- Established at Wooster: 1880
- Chapter: Psi
- Wooster's fifth national fraternity
- Colors during last active year at Wooster: Purple, White and Gold
- Flower during last active year at Wooster: Pansy
- Currently inactive follwing 1913 order of Board of Trustees
Phi Gamma Delta
- Established at Wooster: 1882
- Chapter: Rho Deutron
- Wooster's sixth national fraternity
- Colors during last active year at Wooster: Royal purple
- Flower during last active year at Wooster: Heliotrope
- Currently inactive follwing 1913 order of Board of Trustees
Alpha Tau Omega
- Established at Wooster: 1888
- Chapter: Beta Mu
- Wooster's seventh national fraternity
- Colors during last active year at Wooster: Blue and Gold
- Flower during last active year at Wooster: White Tea Rose
- Currently inactive follwing 1913 order of Board of Trustees
Sigma Phi Epsilon
- Established at Wooster: 1912
- Chapter: Ohio Delta
- Wooster's eighth national fraternity
- Colors during last active year at Wooster: Putple and Red
- Flower during last active year at Wooster: American Beauty; Violet
- Currently inactive follwing 1913 order of Board of Trustees
Inactive Local Fraternities
Phi Delta Sigma
- V (Fifth) Section
- Founded: "A long, long time ago"
- Short Name: Delts
- Motto: Carpe Diem
- Original Letters/National affiliation: None (???)
- Colors: Red and Grey
- Mascot: Viking
- Last Active at Wooster: 2005
- Over the past 4 years, the Delts lost a pledge class, had most members graduate, and over the last 2 years their remaining members were kicked out of the college, graduated or transfered. While there is still at least one Delt member on campus, the group allowed its charter to expire in May, 2005.
Original Third Section
- III (Third) Section
- Founded between 1913-1930
- Short Name: Rabbis
- Last Active at Wooster: likely in 1940s or 50s, under research
- Little else is known about this group, except that they were the College's best at serenading women and they liked chinese food at their social meals.
Active, Chartered Sororities
Pi Kappa
- Founded: 1918
- Short Name: Peanuts
- Motto: We've come a long way (?)
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Kappa Kappa Gamma National Sorority (about 1870-1918)
- Colors: Purple and Gold
- Mascot: Mr. Peanut
- Flower: Yellow Rose
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VII Section 3rd Floor
- Fun Fact: When hazing was legal, the Pi Kappa pledges had to take their worst jeans and write "Peanut" on the butt in Yellow. The Section men would then be instructed that the way to say hi to these girls, who were not allowed to talk with boys during pledging, was to "Slap their peanut"
Epsilon Kappa Omicron
- Founded: 1948
- Short Name: EKOs (echos)
- Motto: Excellence, Kindness, Oneness
- Original Letters/National affiliation: None
- Colors: Green and Gold
- Flower: Narcissus
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VII Section 2nd Floor
Zeta Phi Gamma
- Founded: At least before 1937; Reinstatement: 1988
- Short Name: Zetas; original group was called Imps
- Motto: Seek the high call of friendship
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Unknown
- Colors: Red, Black, and White
- Mascot: Imp with a pitchfork
- Flower: Red Rose
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VIII Section 4th Floor
- Fun Fact: when hazing was legal, the Zeta pledge class President had to carry around a pitchfork with her for all of "hell week"
Alpha Gamma Phi
- Founded: February 28, 1983
- Short Name: Alpha Gamms
- Motto: Always Good Friends Always Good Times
- Original Letters/National affiliation: None
- Colors: Blue and Grey
- Symbols: Diamond Ring, Champagne Flute
- Flower: Gardenia
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VI Section (lounge in VII section)
Delta Phi Alpha
- Founded: 1989
- Short Name: D Phi A's
- Motto: ???
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Unknown. The college had a national history honorarium by the same name chartered in 1939, although this appears to be coincidence. They also appear to be unrelated to the DPAs at Miami International University (Fla.)
- Colors: Pink, Purple and Grey
- Mascot: Unicorn
- Flower: African Violet
- Housing, 2005-6: Unknown
Delta Theta Psi
- Founded: Spring 1992
- Short Name: Thetas
- Motto: ???
- Original Letters/National affiliation: None
- Colors: Emerald Green and Amethyst
- Mascot: Dolphin
- Flowers: Iris; bluebells
- Housing, 2005-6: Bissman Hall VI Section
Active, Unchartered Sororities
Kappa Phi Sigma
- Historical records indicate II Section, modern group has a "3" in its logo, so in dispute
- Founded: under research
- Short Name: Crandall House (members lived there for quite a number of years), Crandalls
- Motto: ???
- Original Letters/National affiliation: Under research. A possible history for this group is that it was Section II until the 1970s, when it began to admit women, and began to call itself III section. The section is co-ed to this day.
- Colors: Scarlet and Grey
- Symbol: Steal your Face (???)
- Flower: Begonia
- Housing: No official housing
- Reasons for unchartered status: Pulled own charter
Inactive Local Sororities
Delta Delta Gamma(?)
- Founded: At least before 1937
- Died out: At least before 1991.
- Short Name: Pyramids
- Original Letters/National affiliation: There is evidence that this sorority emerged from the remnants of a national sorority, but no proof.
- It is rumored that plenty of Pyramid supplies, including pins and composites, exist in Greek Storage. If anyone with access to said storage can update this area, it would be appriciated.
Sphinx
- Founded: At least before 1937
- Died out: At least before 1991.
- It is rumored that plenty of Sphinx supplies, including their sorority log binders, exist in Greek Storage. If anyone with access to said storage can update this area, it would be appriciated.
=Chi Omega Psi
- Founded: 1976
- Short Name: Chi Ohs
- Motto: Honesty, Friendship and Understanding
- Original Letters/National affiliation: None
- Colors: Red and White
- Flower: Red Carnation
- Last mentioned in September 13, 1991 issue of The Wooster Voice. Rumored to have articles in Greek Storage - If anyone with access to said storage can update this area, it would be appriciated.
National Sororities
There is a common misconception that the College dosn't have any national sororities. This is entirely incorrect - Wooster has 4 national sororities, all of which became inactive between 1914 and 1917. Wooster did not ban sororities; if they had, the groups would no longer exist. Instead, they barred the groups from pledging new members. This subtle difference allows for these greek groups of the past to continue, if only on paper, at the College of Wooster.
References
- 1991-2005 issues of The Wooster Voice available on microfiche at the College of Wooster Library
- Wooster of the Middle West by Lucy Lilian Notestein, particularly vol. 2 (book)
- "A Troubled Past: Greek Letter Organizations and The College of Wooster" - the 1997 Senior History Independent Study by James Morse on the Greeks at the College of Wooster
- 1912-1917 issues of the Wooster Index (school yearbook).