A Greek Odyssey

Recent revival of interest in fraternities, sororities ensures their survival at UCLA

The Daily Bruin
Narges Zohoury
October 16, 2003

Over the past 80 years, the fraternities and sororities on the UCLA campus have been part of a storied history that has had many ups and downs throughout its path.

Though these social organizations have been a part of UCLA since 1923, their popularity and member count have fluctuated over the years.

Ellen Archibald, sorority adviser for the Center for Student Programming’s Fraternity and Sorority Relations, said that despite a drop in sorority and fraternity membership during the 1990s, membership has been increasing recently.

As of spring 2003, 2,500 UCLA students were involved with Greek organizations recognized by the UCLA Center for Student Programming and Fraternity and Sorority Relations.

This number makes up 12 percent of all UCLA undergraduate students.

Trevor Gribble, president of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and internal vice president of the Interfraternity Council, said their house has been getting bigger over the past years, but their numbers are not a good representation of the Greek system as a whole.

The number of members depends on recruitment and the “kind of guys” a house is looking for; that’s why the numbers are always changing, he added.

Organizations under Panhellenic and IFC are traditionally gendered organizations – 18 fraternities located west of campus near Gayley Avenue and 11 sororities located on the east of campus on Hilgard Avenue – and are built based on principles of social networking and philanthropy.

“I’m not going to walk away. ... You get out of this what you put in,” Gribble said.

The kind of activities that a house is involved with depend a lot on the previous members of the house because many Greek alumni continue to play a role in advising chapters.

Alexis Smith, president of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, stressed this point and mentioned the job opportunities and networking available to members who stay involved.

Gribble said what Greek life offers students today is owed to the men and women who were here in the past.

The UCLA chapter of his fraternity opened in 1926 and was one of the first to build a chapter house adjacent to the campus.

Before the Beta house existed at UCLA, Sigma Pi became the university’s first men’s fraternity in 1923.

The new social outlet for men went hand in hand with the Chi Omega sorority, which opened a chapter for women that same year.

Also, 1923 marked an important year for the black community at UCLA, as the first sorority chartered here was also the first black Greek-letter organization at UCLA, according to the Greek Life Web site.

The first black community fraternity at UCLA was also chartered in 1923.

When UCLA moved to the Westwood campus in 1929, the Asian American women of UCLA started the Chi Alpha Delta sorority, which became the first Asian American-founded society in the nation.

The sorority was closed from 1942 to 1945 during World War II, when most members were unable to attend UCLA as racial tensions flared against them in the United States, which was at war with Japan during that period of time.

The sorority’s involvement in the community continued after the end of the war.

The members of Chi Alpha Delta were not the only ones who were affected by the war. Many fraternity members were sent overseas in the 1940s to serve in the U.S. military.

Despite the deep impact of the war on UCLA’s Greek system, members carried on with their traditions, sponsoring numerous activities and events.

UCLA’s annual Spring Sing, sponsored by the Student Alumni Association, originated from a fraternity singing challenge in 1944.

Years later, when the war and political dilemmas of the 1940s were far behind, social change was taking place within the UCLA community.

The first lesbian-founded sorority in the nation, Lambda Delta Lambda, was established in 1989 and was chartered at UCLA as a Greek-letter organization.

It was during the same year that a national gay-founded fraternity – Delta Lambda Phi – was chartered at the university.

An annual Greek Leadership Retreat was established in 1997, and has been bringing all the leaders from Greek-letter organizations together since then.

Smith said sorority and fraternity members are actively involved in addressing issues that affect not only members of the Greek system, but the university community at large.

“Other than leadership, we are all very productive in our community and deal with issues like rape and drinking,” Smith said.

Though fraternities and sororities make up the majority of Greek membership at UCLA, they are not the only Greek-letter organizations associated with the university.

Alpha Gamma Epsilon – a self-titled “sorofrat” – is the first Greek-letter organization that allows both male and female students to join.

Counting the sorofrat, UCLA houses over 55 international, national and local Greek-letter organizations. This group is one of the largest Greek communities on the West Coast.

The relationship between the university and the fraternities and sororities is one of give and take. UCLA supports Greek Life, and the sororities and fraternities also contribute to the community and the school, said Mark Wishon, a fourth-year history student and the historian of the Beta fraternity.

“Both (William) Ackerman and (Arthur) Anderson used to live in this house. ... I enjoy all this history,” he said, referring to the namesakes of Ackerman Student Union and the Anderson School at UCLA.

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