History Lesson

Greek organizations have a long history that dates back to the first recognized Greek letter society, Phi Beta Kappa, founded at William and Mary in 1776. This, however, was a literary society that came under pressure to reveal its rituals. Since then it has been purely an honors society. The first organization recognized as a male fraternity was Chi Phi, founded at Princeton in 1824. The Adelphean Society, later named Alpha Delta Pi, was the first women's society founded at Wesleyan in 1851. There are several women's societies that, while generally called sororities, are actually women's fraternities that predate the coining of the term sorority. Three such organizations, Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi, and Phi Mu all have chapters on the University of Maine Campus. Greek Letter Societies are named using the Greek alphabet, often to signify some motto or list of virtues. Each chapter of the organizations is named using Greek letters beginning with Alpha Chapter, then Beta Chapter, and so on. This is only a brief history of Greek Life, for more information on a particular organization try visiting their website!