Greek Umbrella Organizations

Greek life is in general a very secretive life style, filled with many different rituals and customs, beliefs and reasons for being founded. It has its own culture, and every organization is different. On the Armstrong campus we have the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) Greeks and the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) Greeks. The NPC, founded in 1902, is an umbrella organization for 26 (inter)national sororities. Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek-lettered society of college women and alumnae. NPC is a conference and not a congress, it does not create any legislation except for how its own meetings are run. Other than the basic Unanimous Agreements which all groups have voted to observe NPC only gives recommendations,

advice, and acts as a court of final appeal in any College Panhellenic difficulties. On this campus that would include Alpha Sigma Tau (AST), Phi Mu, and Sigma Sigma Sigma (TriSig). The NPHC, not to be confused with the NPC, is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. The nine NPHC, commonly referred to as the “Divine Nine”, was established during the age of racial segregation and have a common stated purpose and mission: Unanimity of thought and action as far as possible in the conduct of Greek lettered collegiate fraternities and sororities, and to consider problems of mutual interest to its member organizations. The Divine Nine include Alpha Phi Alpha (Alphas) Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA or the K’s) Sorority, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi (Kappas) Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi (Ques) Fraternity, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta (Deltas) Sorority, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma (Sigmas) Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta (Zetas) Sorority, Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho (SGRhos) Sorority, Inc., and Iota Phi Theta (Iotas) Fraternity, Inc. There are some similarities and differences between these umbrella organizations on how they’re run, and differences within the different organizations as individual groups.

For this project I will be solely looking at the organizations on Armstrong State University, and Savannah State University campuses. These organizations hold all kinds of social, philanthropy, cultural, and community enriching events, in order to uphold the principals upon which they were founded. A quick way to see a good bit of their rituals and ideals is to view one of their most public, for some, and entertaining ceremonies. For the NPHC organizations it is what was once known as a probate and more recently referred to as new member presentations, to avoid the stigma that hazing has placed on probates and redefine their image. Family, friends, other organizations, and everyone and anyone are encouraged to come and take part as a member of the crowd during these shows For the NPC sororities this is a more private event and difficult for anyone unrelated to the happenings of the event to take part

in.
A probate, or new member presentation, is a presentation of the new members coming out about what sorority or fraternity that they have joined.

They spit, speak quickly and in unison, their history and the Greek alphabet along with greeting the other Divine Nine (also referred to as D9) members that might be in attendance. They also do some of the culturally significant symbols, gestures, and/or rituals of that organization. Most recently we had the charter line for the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity come out to us on the Armstrong campus. Being the charter line means that they were the first to found a chapter on this campus, a difficult task, because first they must find a group of like-minded young men to go on this journey through “the burning sands” in order to make it to “Que land”, or cross into becoming a man of Omega Psi Phi. That entails many different things that they must learn in their course of study; they have to learn the history of Greek lettered organizations, the history of the NPHC and its affiliate organizations names, Greek letters, founding dates and places, headquarters locations, pledge clubs, and colors, the date in which they were incorporated into the NPHC, then the history of the organization that they’re aspiring to enter, its governance, membership, graduate and undergraduate chapters, structures by regions, any national observances, the founders, all of the presidents of that organization past and present, whatever property that organization owns,

the structure of the executive board, any national projects that they may have, any national education foundations, the national magazine title, all past and active auxiliaries that they may have and the histories of each, whether they have youth auxiliaries and the history of those, national poetry, prayers, rituals, gestures, protocol, secret handshakes, and more. All of this usually takes place during one semester, and all the history learned usually has to be learned by all those on the line in less than a month. A line is the aspirants as a whole singular entity. They’re together through this whole process, helping each other and learning together. The charter line also begins keeping the history of the new chapter that has been born and starts to bring interest for that organization on the new campus. Imagine it, the crowd is filled with purple and gold, the official colors of the fraternity, along with other fraternities and sororities wearing their colors and also in attendance. The young men walk out in line together as the other Ques present “bark” and the rest of the crowd cheers, the act of barking their call. There is music and singing as the men cross the “burning sands” of “Quedom” and are in a way born a new, no longer as just themselves but as men of Omega Psi Phi. Then usually begins the dancing strolling and in the Ques case “hopping”. They line up information as they have practiced and begin spitting their history, founders, any other relevant information, and the Greek alphabet. After they begin greeting all the Divine Nine, in descending order by founding date and leaving their own organization for last, by doing skits dances, and singing songs so that they can properly thank them for coming to show support their support of this joyous occasion. The men are completely engaged in their show and staying in sync with their other line brothers (LBs). They occasionally drop things and you can see the other members of the graduate chapter in charge of them walking around and picking up discarded or unneeded items so that the young men performing don’t have to worry about tripping and falling while they hop sing and dance. Next they go down the line and unveil themselves. They talk about their names, majors, hometowns, their place on the line and its significance, and finally what their line name is which is given to them by their dean of pledges and whoever else in charge of their process. Once they make it to the end of the line and everyone has been unveiled the Ship name is then told, which is what that line is collectively called, and then they huddle up and all present Ques gather around and they’re brought in to the organization, usually through more singing of ritualistic songs. One of the young men that crossed this charter line on the campus of Armstrong State University is actually blind and learned how to hop by getting on his LBs back and copying the movement. The crowd was electrifying and watching them was exhilarating.
Phi Mu’s creed is to lend to those less fortunate a helping hand, to walk in the way of honor, guarding the purity of our thoughts, and deeds, and to serve in the light of truth avoiding egotism, narrowness, and scorn. Their mission is to provide personal and academic development, service to others, commitment to excellence and lifelong friendship through a shared tradition. Phi Mu promotes “Vibrant living” and encourages their members to achieve their personal bests. They call it the Phi Program and it lasts eight weeks. They have an online portion which includes orientation, expectations of membership and journal prompts. They also attend Phi meetings that give them the foundation they will need for personal, academic, social and professional growth. They call their pledges Phi’s and they go on a retreat to get to know their pledge sisters and Phi Mu better. This semester they took their retreat at one of the Phi Mu sister’s farm. Also during the eight weeks a phi meets her big. It lasts a week and at the end of it they have a big/little reveal ceremony. The purpose of a big is to be in essence a big sister to the new pledge, a role model, someone who can help them out through their Phi period, initiation, their whole Phi Mu experience, and life in general. Their week of initiation is called I-Week and they have activities each day that are related to Phi Mu and Kappa Omicron, the chapter on Armstrong’s campus. Each day stands for something different and at the end of the week the Phi’s are initiated and become Phi Mu’s and official sisters. Ryan Hague felt that being a Phi, for her, was more than “just being in a sorority”, that it was setting her up for a “lifetime of friends, leadership experiences, and potential goals” to help her succeed in her future endeavors.
I was unable to bear witness to any of the events that the Phi’s took part in due to the “secretive nature” that is Greek life, and the fact that it is really a rite of passage for the initiates to go through only; not for outside eyes to bear witness, and I took no offense. However the girls were more than happy to describe the basics of what they were doing with me to give me an idea of what kind of process they undertake. The same could be said about the men of Omega Psi Phi, their process is their own and was done without anyone knowing, but their probate was public unlike with Phi Mu. This just goes to show that the NPC sororities and NPHC organizations are different. NPC organizations tend to hold Rushes, where they quickly bring in new members where as NPHC organizations don’t believe in Rushing and usually take all semester to go through everything they need to know to join the organization.