fraternity and sorority

Student societies (fraternity for men; sorority for women) in some US and Canadian universities and colleges. Although mainly social and residential, some are purely honorary, membership being on the basis of scholastic distinction; Phi Beta Kappa, the earliest of the fraternities, was founded at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, in 1776.

Usually named with Greek letters, they are nominally secret, with badge, dues, passwords, motto, and initiation rites. They have a central governing body and a ‘chapter’ at participating colleges.

The first school ever to combine fraternities and sororities was Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1965. Dartmouth College of Hanover, New Hampshire, became in 1999 the first Ivy League school to do so.