List of Colgate University societies explained

Since being founded in 1819, Colgate University has had a rich tradition of student societies. Literary societies, Greek letter fraternities and sororities, non-Greek letter organizations, honor societies, and secret societies have all played a part in Colgate history.

Social fraternities came to Colgate in 1850 when Alpha Delta Phi was granted a chapter.^[1] The first sorority was brought to Colgate in 1982 when a chapter of Gamma Phi Beta (Gamma Phi) received a charter.

Secret or underground organizations have had a widespread existence at Colgate University. Many of the school's original societies had roots as underground organizations. In terms of secret honor societies, Colgate has also had its fair share. Two secret Honor Societies, the Gorgon's Head and Skull and Scroll, enjoyed a period as rival societies until 1934 when they merged to form Konosioni, now known as the Tredecim Senior Honor Society. Even with its history, Tredecim is no longer a secret society but is now seen as a leadership society, with only 26 members of each graduating class peer-selected to membership.

Following is a list of Colgate University societies, organized by charter date. Active organizations are indicated in bold.

Name	Charter date and range	Type	Status	References
Society for Inquiry	1824	Literary	Inactive	^[2]
	bef. 1833–1840	Literary	Inactive
Pi Delta	–1840	Literary	Inactive
	1840–1880	Literary and oration	Inactive
Aeonian Society	1840–1887	Literary and oration	Inactive	^[3]
Alpha Delta Phi	1850–1851; 1964–1972	Social fraternity	Inactive
Delta Kappa Epsilon	1856–2009	Social fraternity	Inactive
Delta Upsilon	1865	Social fraternity	Active
Aldelphia	1872–1880	Social fraternity	Merged
Delta Phi	1874–1876	Social fraternity	Inactive
Aeonia	1880–1887	Social fraternity	Merged
Union Debating Society	188x ?–1887	Literary and oration	Merged
	1880	Social fraternity	Active	^[4]
Theta Nu Epsilon	1880	Social fraternity	Inactive
	1887–1982	Social fraternity	Inactive	^[5]
	1886–1969, 1976–1989	Social fraternity	Inactive	^[6]
Madison Club	1902–1917	Literary and oration	Inactive
Owls Club	1907–1908	Non-Greek fraternal organization	Inactive
Gorgon's Head	1908–1934	Secret senior honor society	Merged	^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
Sigma Alpha	1909–1918	Social fraternity	Merged
Theta Mu	1911–1912	Social fraternity	Merged
Skull and Scroll	1912–1934	Secret senior honor society	Merged
	1912	Social fraternity	Active
Theta Delta Sigma	1914–1917	Social fraternity	Merged
Lambda Chi Alpha	1916–1972	Social fraternity	Inactive	^[10]
Alpha Tau Omega	1917–2000	Social fraternity	Inactive	^[11]
Sigma Nu	1917–1968	Social fraternity	Inactive	^[12]
Kappa Delta Rho	1917–1972, 1985–2003	Social fraternity	Inactive
	1918–1968, 1973	Social fraternity	Active
Theta Pi Delta	1923–1930	Social fraternity	Merged
Delta Pi Sigma	1927–1937	Social fraternity	Merge
Colgate Commons Club	1927–1960	Counter-culture fraternal organization	Inactive
Alpha Psi Omega	1928–May 2023	Honor society, theater	Inactive	^[13]
	1930–1963, 1971–2015	Social fraternity	Inactive
Tredecim Senior Honor Society.(previously Konosioni)	1934–20xx ?	Senior leadership society	Active
Phi Kappa Tau	1937–1971, 2007	Social fraternity	Active
Psi Chi		Honor society, psychology	Active	^[14]
Alpha Beta	1951–1956	Social fraternity	Merged
Tau Kappa Epsilon	1956–1972	Social fraternity	Inactive
Alpha Chi Epsilon	1960–1964	Social fraternity	Merged
Beta Beta Beta	1971	Honor society, biology	Active	^[15]
Phi Tau	1971–20xx ?	Social fraternity, local	Inactive
Delta Nu	1979–1981	Social sorority	Merged
Delta Sigma Upsilon	1980–1988	Social sorority, local	Inactive
Chi Omega Rho	1981–1990	Social fraternity, co-ed, local	Inactive	^[16]
Gamma Phi Beta	1982	Social sorority	Active
Phi Eta Sigma	1982	First-year academic honor society	Active	^[17]
Phi Psi	1982–1992	Social fraternity, local	Inactive
Alpha Theta Pi	1984–1988	Social sorority, local	Merged
Kappa Psi Lambda	1984–1986	Social sorority	Merged
Zeta Delta Pi	1985–1988	Social sorority	Merged
Pi Beta Phi	1986–1992	Social sorority	Inactive
Kappa Alpha Theta	1988–2008	Social sorority	Inactive
Kappa Kappa Gamma	1988	Social sorority	Active
Pi Beta Phi	1989–1992	Social sorority	Inactive
	1988–1996	Social sorority	Inactive
Delta Delta Delta	1996	Social sorority	Active
Brothers of Colgate	1999	Social fraternity, local	Active	^[18]
	2005–2013	Social fraternity	Inactive	^[19]
	2006	Social fraternity, local	Active	^[20]
Sorella Society	2008	Social sorority, local	Active

References

Bibliography

• The History of Greek Life

Notes and References

1. Lurding, Carroll and Becque, Fran. (December 3, 2022) "Colgate University" Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities. Urbana: University of Illinois. Accessed October 23, 2023.
2. [College literary societies]
3. The Record of Phi Kappa Psi - A Short History of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity by Guy Morrison Walker, 1906.
4. Web site: Colgate Beta - Home . www.colgatebeta.org.
5. [List of Phi Kappa Psi chapters and colonies]
6. [List of Phi Gamma Delta chapters and colonies]
7. Web site: Spring Scene 2013 . Issuu.
8. Web site: - Get Involved at Colgate . www.getinvolved.colgate.edu.
9. Web site: Sportelli . Natalie . February 3, 2015 . Konosioni Senior Honor Society set to induct newest members . 2023-10-24 . Colgate University . en.
10. [List of Lambda Chi Alpha chapters]
11. Web site: Around the college (The Colgate Scene, January 2001) . www4.colgate.edu.
12. Web site: ISSUU - Multicultural Life at Colgate by Colgate University . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114216/http://issuu.com/colgateuniversity/docs/multicultural_life_at_colgate/10 . 2014-08-26 . 2014-08-22.
13. Web site: Chapters – Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society . 2023-10-24 . en-US.
14. Web site: April 29, 2019 . Find Out When Your Chapter Was Chartered . 2023-10-24 . Psi Chi.
15. Web site: Beta Beta Beta Local Chapter . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20010415045919/http://www.tri-beta.org/localchapters.html . 2001-04-15 . 2014-08-22.
16. News: Hamilton . Robert A. . 12 July 1987 . Fraternities Admit Women Into Ranks . New York Times .
17. Web site: Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society Chapter Directory . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115757/https://www.phietasigma.org/chapters . 2014-08-26 . 2014-08-22.
18. Web site: The Brothers of Colgate University . The Brothers of Colgate University.
19. Web site: The Lion - Summer 2014 . Issuu.
20. Web site: - Get Involved at Colgate . colgate.campuslabs.com.