Greek Trivia and Fun Facts

[Sciencewoman]

The newest manuals tell the part about Francis declining Alpha Phi, and Helen writing the constitution, I don't know about Helen helping with Alpha Phi's constitution.

[d59u]

Reviving an old thread to lighten the mood from the many troubling things going on right now, here is some interesting trivia:

1) No institution has ever been home to all 26 NPC sororities. Illinois & Penn State come close with 25, followed by Indiana, Miami & Ohio State with 24.

2) Only 31 schools can claim active chapters of half or more of the 26 groups. Currently, Indiana has 22 active, followed by Illinois, Washington & Georgia with 19.

3) Only seven sororities have ever had chapters at al 31 institutions and none currently have chapters at all. Alpha Chi Omega, Kappa Delta & Kappa Kappa Gamma have 30, followed by Pi Beta Phi with 29.

Lots of potential. Too bad the cost of housing makes it almost prohibitive at many of these schools.

[d59u]

Oops!!!! Missed one. Syracuse also has had all but one. Thanks, Fran

[Cookiez17]

On the 26 NPCs that's something I would love to see someday at a school.

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

On the 26 NPCs that's something I would love to see someday at a school.

That would be one l-o-o-o-o-n-g recruitment.

[Cookiez17]

Yeah I can't wrap my head around doing 13 houses over 2 days and then afterwards the max for philanthropy/sisterhood/etc.

Just my hunch but I feel like Indiana or some huge school like that could have it happen in the future. But that's me speculating

[GoldBows]

Originally Posted by d59u

Reviving an old thread to lighten the mood from the many troubling things going on right now, here is some interesting trivia:

1) No institution has ever been home to all 26 NPC sororities. Illinois & Penn State come close with 25, followed by Indiana, Miami & Ohio State with 24.

I found this to be really interesting so I did a little more digging (thanks insomnia) to see how many each campus had open at the same time. All of my years are based off the list that IrishPipes puts out for her NPC recruitment thread.

1) A lot of chapters closed and reopened in the late 80s at Illinois so this might be wrong but according to the dates in IrishPipes's thread, Illinois has only ever been home to 24 NPCs at one time, in 1988.
Tri Sigma's chapter became inactive in 1987, but in 1988 Zeta Tau Alpha and Delta Zeta reopened their chapters. Alpha Sigma Tau has never had a chapter at Illinois.


2) Penn State has also only ever had 24 NPC chapters at one time, between 1962-1966. Alpha Sigma Alpha colonized in '62 and the Delta Phi Epsilon chapter became inactive in '66. However, Sigma Kappa didn't join the campus until '92. Alpha Sigma Tau has also never had a chapter at Penn State.


3) Indiana has only ever been home to 23 of the 26 current NPC organizations at the same time - in 2016, after Sigma Kappa recolonized but before Tri Delta's chapter became inactive in 2017.
Alpha Sigma Tau and Phi Sigma Sigma have never had chapters at IU, and Tri Sigma's chapter has been inactive since 1994.


4) Miami University has only had 21 NPC chapters open at the same time, in 1992 after Alpha Sigma Alpha recolonized but before Tri Sigma became inactive in 1993.
The Alpha Sigma Tau chapter has been inactive since 1929, Sigma Delta Tau became inactive in 1987 and Phi Sigma Sigma didn't join the campus until 2016. Delta Phi Epsilon and Theta Phi Alpha have never had chapters at Miami University.

5) Ohio State has only had 20 NPC chapters open at the same time, between 1948-1958 after Delta Phi Epsilon recolonized and ending when the Phi Sigma Sigma chapter became inactive in '58.
The Alpha Sigma Alpha chapter has been inactive since 1934, the Theta Phi Alpha chapter has been inactive since 1944, the Sigma Kappa chapter was inactive between 1940-1991, and Alpha Omicron Pi didn't join the campus until 1993. Alpha Sigma Tau and Tri Sigma have never had chapters at Ohio State.

[d59u]

In 1930 University of Illinois had 33 sororities & 80 fraternities active! That includes NPHC, locals & small nationals then existing. I would love to hear a first-hand account of how rush was conducted then. Almost all of the groups had housing of some sort and for a few years in the 1920s more than 20 Greek houses were under construction at the same time.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by d59u

Reviving an old thread to lighten the mood from the many troubling things going on right now, here is some interesting trivia:

1) No institution has ever been home to all 26 NPC sororities. Illinois & Penn State come close with 25, followed by Indiana, Miami & Ohio State with 24.

Which chapters were not at Penn State? Or Illinois?

[Cookiez17]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Which chapters were not at Penn State? Or Illinois?

Both campuses actually never had Alpha Sigma Tau on them! This was just looking at the irishpipes threads and counting each chapter.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

Both campuses actually never had Alpha Sigma Tau on them! This was just looking at the irishpipes threads and counting each chapter.

(referring to Penn State and U of Illinois)
I know Alpha Sigma Tau was once part of the Association of Education Societies (which merged into the NPC in 1951) which would have focused on Teacher's Colleges, but I would have *expected* that to have changed since then...

Looking at the active chapters of Alpha Sigma Tau at https://alphasigmatau.org/members/find-a-chapter/ I don't see *any* active chapters at the primary Land Grant University for a State. So for example, 15 active chapters in Pennsylvania, including most of the former teacher's colleges in the State, but has never had a chapter at Penn State. (And doesn't currently have one (and not sure ever had one) at the other large schools mentioned: Illinois, Indiana, & Ohio State) (it did have a chapter at Miami U of Ohio, Kappa chapter)

I'm not sure if the Sorority has a specific policy for focusing on expansion at smaller schools and/or former teachers colleges, but at least at this point, it appears so from their active chapter list.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

Yeah I can't wrap my head around doing 13 houses over 2 days and then afterwards the max for philanthropy/sisterhood/etc.

Just my hunch but I feel like Indiana or some huge school like that could have it happen in the future. But that's me speculating

Virtual Recruitment means no running from house to house for parties, a BOON to the University of Illinois and/or Indiana University as their sorority homes are spread far and wide. Perhaps one of them may become the first campus to garner all 26 NPC groups at one time.

[UVASquirrel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Before someone from UVa comes on and has a hissy fit, it's the Lawn, not the quad.

And if I remember right (I've seen the rooms), they're not exactly across from each other. There are four ranks of buildings that run parallel to each other: West Range, West Lawn, East Lawn and East Range. The Lawn is between East and West Lawn, and there are gardens between West Range and West Lawn and between East Lawn and East Range. The Lawn rooms face the Lawn; the Range rooms face away from the Lawn (so that the gardens are in the back of all rooms).

Pike was founded at 47 West Range and Kappa Sig at 46 East Lawn, so West Lawn runs between them. Both rooms face west, not each other. But yes, very close together.

BTW, both rooms have markers commemorating the founding of the respective fraternities, and as I understand, each fraternity can choose a rising fourth year member (they don't have "seniors" at UVa) to live in the room fourth year, if that member has been otherwise selected to live on the Lawn.

LOL....I was about to be that "someone from UVa"

[UVASquirrel]

Interesting fact about Alpha Phi and Alpha Gamma Delta. Both are part of the Syracuse Triad (along with Gamma Phi Beta). One of Alpha Phi's founders was a cousin of 2 of Alpha Gam's founders....so we really ARE family!!

[PKT4LIFE]

Here's a fact pertaining to both Phi Delta Theta and Phi Kappa Tau founding at Miami University

Phi Delta Theta fraternity was founded in 1848, in Elliott Hall, room 202, by co-founders Robert Morrison and John M Wilson.

Phi Kappa Tau founders William H. Shideler and Clinton D. Boyd lived together in the same room (room 202) in Elliott at the time of their fraternity's founding in 1906.