College Fraternities

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

societies existing in American colleges which are named from the letters of the Greek alphabet and therefore commonly called "Greek Letter Societies." They are secret organizations only in their grips and passwords. They are organized chiefly for literary and social purposes and are found among women students The first of these as well as men. fraternities, the Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at William and Mary College, in Virginia, in 1776. On account of the troubled state of the colony during the Revolutionary War, the original ch chapter ceased to exist in 1781, but branches, or "chapters," as they are called, had already been established at Harvard and Yale, and by these other branches were afterward organized. It still exists as the chief society, indicating scholarly distinction in 50 different colleges. Of the general fraternities now in existence the first, the Kappa Alpha, was founded at Union College in 1825. There are women's college fraternities, the oldest being the Pi Beta Phi, founded at Monmouth in 1867. A number of journals are published by by the societies, the oldest still in existence being the "Beta Theta Pi," established in 1872. The oldest women's journal is the "Golden Key," by Kappa Kappa Gamma in established ed 1882, now known as the "Key." COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, an educational (non-sect.) institution in Manhattan Borough, N. Y.; organized in 1848; reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors, 270; students, 10,763; president, S. E. Mezes. COLLEGES FOR WOMEN, institu- MEN tions of higher learning, designed to give women practically the same advantages of instruction and research as are afforded to men. They are of three types: independent or separate colleges; co-ordinate or affiliated colleges, connected more or less closely with an older college for men, and coeducational colleges. I. Independent colleges for women of the same grade as those for men are peculiar to the United States. The earliest foundation was Mount Holyoke College, opened as a seminary in 1837; reorganized as a college in 1893. The first charter for a collegiate institution founded only for women was granted Elmira College in 1855. The four colleges, Vassar, ope opened in 1861; Smith, in 1875; Wellesley, in 1875, and Bryn Mawr, in are ranked among the leading col. 1885, 85, leges of the United States. II. The affiliated colleges for women are five: Radcliffe College, at Harvard University, opened in 1879; Barnard College, at Columbia University, in 1889; Woman's College, of Brown University, in 1892; College for Women, of Western Reserve University, in 1888; Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, at Tulane University, in 1886. In all these colleges the standards of entrance and graduation are the sama og in leges with which they are affiliated, and usually the instructors are the same. III. The prevailing system of education in the United States for both men and women began in Oberlin College, in Ohio, founded in 1833, chartered as a college in 1850, built "for the education of both sexes and all colors." Antioch College, also in Ohio, followed in 1853, by admitting both men and women on equal terms. In 1900 every State university in the country, except those of Virginia, Georgia, and Louisiana, admitted women. Many professional schools and colleges have been opened to women in theology, City in 1876. law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, schools of technology and agriculture, and the number of women entering these professions is increasing rapidly. In Europe the advance in this direction has been much slower. The first woman's college in Cambridge, England, was begun in in 1869. Now Oxford and Cambridge give large opportunities to women, but do not confer upon them their degrees. With these exceptions, all the greater English and Scotch universities and colleges in Great Britain and in her colonies give their degrees to women.