In the United States, an honor society is generally an organization that recognizes excellence and leadership. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America. Often, the term can refers to scholastic honor societies, those that recognize students who excel academically or as leaders, often within a specific academic discipline.
Delta Phi (ΔΦ) is a fraternal society established in Schenectady, New York on November 17, 1827. Its first chapter was founded at Union College, and was the third and final member of the Union Triad. In 1879, William Raimond Baird's American College Fraternities characterized the fraternity's membership as being largely drawn from the old knickerbocker families of New York and New Jersey. Today, the fraternity consists of ten active chapters along the East Coast of the United States, and also uses the names "St. Elmo," "St. Elmo Hall," or merely "Elmo" for its relation to Erasmus of Formia, the patron saint of sailors, and the Knights of Malta.
Beta Upsilon Chi is an American Christian social fraternity. It was founded at the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 and has chartered 29 chapters.
Professional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose primary purpose is to promote the interests of a particular profession and whose membership is restricted to students in that particular field of professional education or study. This may be contrasted with service fraternities and sororities, whose primary purpose is community service, and social fraternities and sororities, whose primary purposes are generally aimed towards some other aspect, such as the development of character, friendship, leadership, or literary ability.
Alpha Rho Chi (ΑΡΧ) is an American professional co-educational college fraternity for students studying architecture and related professions. The fraternity's name is derived from the first three letters of the Greek word for architecture, ἀρχιτεκτονική.
While the traditional social 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 – developed in the early 20th century. They continue to grow in size and popularity.
The Upsilon Sigma Phi (ΥΣΦ) is the oldest Greek-letter organization and fraternity in Asia. Founded in 1918, it is also the oldest student organization in continuous existence in the University of the Philippines. It has two chapters—a single chapter for the UP Diliman and UP Manila campuses, and another for UP Los Baños. Membership remains exclusive to UP students, and is by invitation only.
Service fraternity may refer to any fraternal public service organization, such as the Kiwanis or Rotary International. In Canada and the United States, the term fraternal organization is more common as "fraternity" in everyday usage refers to fraternal student societies.
The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida and second oldest overall in the state.
The Order of Barristers is an honor society for United States law school graduates. Membership in The Order of Barristers is limited to graduating law students and practicing lawyers who demonstrate exceptional skill in trial advocacy, oral advocacy, and brief writing. The Order of Barristers seeks to improve these programs through interscholastic sharing of ideas, information, and resources. The Order is highly selective and provides national recognition to the top advocates at their respective law schools.
Fraternities and sororities exist for high school students as well as college students. Like their college counterparts, most have Greek letter names. Although there were countless local high school fraternities and sororities with only one or two chapters, many secondary fraternities founded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States grew into national organizations with a highly evolved governing structure and regularly chartered chapters in multiple regions. Many of the local chapters of these national fraternities were not tied to individual high schools but were instead area-based, often drawing membership from multiple high schools in a given area.
The North American fraternity and sorority system began with students who wanted to meet secretly, usually for discussions and debates not thought appropriate by the faculty of their schools. Today they are used as social, professional, and honorary groups that promote varied combinations of community service, leadership, and academic achievement.
Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, 561 U.S. 661 (2010), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld, against a First Amendment challenge, the policy of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, governing official recognition of student groups, which required the groups to accept all students regardless of their status or beliefs in order to obtain recognition.
Vanderbilt University requires registered student organizations to allow all students to enroll as members and to allow all members to seek leadership positions. The adoption of this provision, commonly called a "non-discrimination policy," has sparked controversy among religious groups. Though federal law provides a non-discrimination exemption for fraternities and sororities, religious organizations are not granted the same exemption.
Fraternities and sororities, collectively referred to as Greek Life, are social organizations at North American colleges and universities. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student but continues thereafter for life. Some accept graduate students as well. Individual fraternities and sororities vary in organization and purpose, but most share five common elements:
- Secrecy
- Single-sex membership
- Selection of new members based on a two-part vetting and probationary process known as rushing and pledging
- Ownership and occupancy of a residential property where undergraduate members live
- A set of complex identification symbols that may include Greek letters, armorial achievements, ciphers, badges, grips, hand signs, passwords, flowers, and colors
Kappa Beta Pi (ΚΒΠ) is a Legal Association which was formerly a professional law sorority in the United States.
