Talk:Professional fraternities and sororities/Archive 1

Archive 1

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Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Fraternities and sororities which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:34, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Page creation notes

Are only 'residential' groups intended? If so, it needs to be stated, and then 'honor societies' (like the two I just added) should be deleted. 129.237.114.171 16:47, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I'd suggest using the membership of the PFA (Professional Fraternity Association) as a guide. (www.profraternity.org), but given that Alpha Phi Omega is now a member, that may not be as much help as before. I think the primary difference between Honoraries and Professionals is that Honoraries have objective joining criteria and Professionals may include subjective, but I'm not sure. Naraht 18:33, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Tax code of fraternities and sororities

Title IX provides exemptions for groups at institutions:

"...a social fraternity or social sorority which is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of title 26"

What definition does Title IX use for defining "social"? Is it any group that is a 501(c)(#) organization (e.g., 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(7))?

What tax status does a professional fraternity have? IlliniFlag (talk) 21:28, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Alpha Phi Omega which is a service fraternity which is a member of the Professional Fraternity Association has been a 501(c)(7) since it was founded, however as I understand it, that was a result of our extremely strong ties to the Boy Scouts at the time. I'm pretty sure that Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the United States of America are 501(c)(7).Naraht (talk) 15:20, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the information, Naraht. I believe that social fraternities and sororities also have a 501(c)(7) designation. I'm trying to understand how, in the eyes of the government, a professional fraternity is different than a social fraternity. I am looking at the requirements for exemption from the government for statuses other than 501(c)(3) here [1] and do not see any category that would fit a professional fraternity. I wonder if all professional/service/honorary fraternities are classified as 501(c)(7) organizations and if so, does that make them social fraternities at heart? If not, what distinguished a social fraternity from a professional or service fraternity on a legal level? IlliniFlag (talk) 18:44, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm trying to work through the IRS documentation on this and it is getting pretty heavy. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicq99.pdf is one that seemed moderately useful. The entire area under http://www.irs.gov/charities/content/0,,id=96931,00.html might be as well... Naraht (talk) 17:15, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Welcome to my world, friend. Your links are good, and get us in the right direction. Check out this site. http://www.irs.gov/publications/p557/ch04.html IlliniFlag (talk) 23:26, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Another interesting read is from 1958 re: defining the criteria for 501(c)(7) status. You can find that here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/rr58-589.pdf

The only wording that confuses me is "other nonprofitable purposes". I cannot seem to find a definition of that term. The ruling does say that to fulfill the requirement of being "organized and operated for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofitable purposes", an organization must have a membership of individuals, personal contracts, and fellowship.

What else is interesting to note is that Kappa Psi, the "oldest and largest professional fraternity in the world" is a 501(c)(7) organization http://www.kappapsi.org/national/preston/content?p=about . Now, Kappa Psi is co-ed, but how does that figure in to being "professional"? As a 501(c)(7) organization, you will be automatically rejected if your constitution or bylaws discriminate on the basis of race, color, or religion http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/article/0,,id=96189,00.html . Read another way, you might still be 501(c)(7) exempt if you discriminate on the basis of sex. So, is there another law at play here in between Title IX and the tax code? IlliniFlag (talk) 00:47, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

501(c)7 seems to be the standard. I'm a Theta Tau ("oldest and largest prof engineering fraternity") and nationally we are a 501(c)7 ( http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/np.asp?zip=43-0765719 ). The same is true for individual chapters and all the individual housing corporations as far as I am aware. Nationally we are co-ed but the decision is left up to each chapter (NCSU's is all male). I am the current President of the NCSU Chapter's Housing Corporation and we got our exemption status as (c)7 as recently as 2002. --ShadowRAM (talk) 21:00, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

Delta Omicron Omega

I removed an entry for Delta Omicron Omega under the Performing Arts section.

The Illinois state registry for corporations shows it "dissolved" and "Involuntary Dissolution on Friday, 9 September 2016" (File Number 69576265). Search at: https://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/

Otherwise, all I could find of it online was a blank facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Delta-Omicron-Omega-Performing-Arts-Fraternity-inc/750332338338587

There is a Delta Omicron Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority: http://akadeltaomicronomega.org/ Located in Orlando, FL. Tangurena (talk) 00:06, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

Remaining Red

I think that for all redlinks, we should have at least one reference, even if to the group webpage. Naraht (talk) 15:15, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

The ones without right now are

• Hygeia Medical Sorority
• Omega Delta
• Sigma Phi Chi

Naraht (talk) 15:32, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

The last two are national, I think we *may* be able to create articles for them.Naraht (talk) 15:51, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for catching the ones I missed yesterday. I attempted to find sources for all of them. I think Phi Boota roota has enough sources for an article as well. Epsilon Eta was on your Wp page list of drafts--I worked on it today and believe it is ready for prime time. Rublamb (talk) 03:18, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

I've primetimed it. :)Naraht (talk) 15:46, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

Alpha Zeta

I'm not sure if this is intended to include historical organizations (no longer active). If it does, I recently ran across what appears to be a sorority for pharmacy students called Alpha Zeta (apparently different from Alpha Zeta Omega). It is in a yearbook page on Ancestry.com, specifically for a yearbook called The Scarlet Ray (1928 edition). This yearbook is from the New Jersey College of Pharmacy of Rutgers University. Ancestry.com subscribers can reach it by searching for "Jeannette Golosoff" (who was my mother). So far as I have been able to determine, this sorority is no longer active. It was apparently started at Columbia University in 1924 and the New Jersey chapter, the Beta Chapter, was organized in 1926. Ccf149 (talk) 16:43, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

There is a disambiguation page for Alpha Zeta, as this name has been used already by two similar organizations. This smaller pharmacy sorority would be a third, and may or may not be connected to the fourth group you mention. Alpha Zeta Omega is indeed an active professional pharmacy fraternity founded at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy which adds to the naming confusion. Its Rutgers chapter, Epsilon chapter, founded in 1923 and therefore a presence at the time Mrs. Golosoff was at the school, closed in the Spring of 2019. Baird's indicates that it also had a Columbia chapter (likewise formed in 1923). Jax MN (talk) 01:10, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

References

Theta Nu Psi

What is the proper protocol to have Theta Nu Psi Military Fraternity Inc. added to the list of military fraternities? We have been established since 2016. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SCgentleman98 (talk • contribs) 17:54, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Additions to the page are based on notability, which is indicated by significant external, verifiable references or by having the groups own Wikipedia page. Once someone creates a valid Wikipedia page (which itself will have one or more external references), that is generally considered as proof of notability and a link may be added here. Jax MN (talk) 18:34, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Got it! So we need to establish our own wiki page or if we add our reference (i.e. official website) we should be ok? — Preceding unsigned comment added by SCgentleman98 (talk • contribs) 18:57, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Sort of... But just having a website isn't always proof of legitimacy. Better to add a second, external and link-able reference like a citation in a known and legitimate magazine, or an article on a verifiable military website. (I'm clarifying for you and other readers, and not trying to make life difficult for you.) See, anyone can make a website and self-reference to make it appear legitimate. Wikipedia editors sniff this out fairly easily. Multiple references help assure your fine efforts don't get deleted because of a simple omission.

Also, a couple of pointers:

• When responding to a Talk discussion like this, best practice is to inset your comment with one or more colons " : ", with each comment gaining an additional colon to indicate a response rather than a new paragraph. I've fixed yours, here.
• Always sign your comments with four tildes, that's this symbol " ~ ". This is a Wikipedia shortcut that will automatically insert your user name. If you don't have a user name, your comment will appear to be either anonymous, or the system will attempt to insert one for you based on your IP code. But this doesn't always work well.

Best wishes to you, and others who seek to improve Wikipedia. Jax MN (talk) 19:22, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Professional fraternity and honor society

Can anyone find information outside of wikipedia about how to distinguish between a professional fraternity and an honor society? As far as I can find, it's totally a matter of preference in the organization, and even then some chapters will use a name of their own designation; eg. a friend of mine refers to her "fraternity" AED, even though they cite themselves as an honor society. —ScouterSig 22:54, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

According to my research, the definition of honor fraternity is muddled. From Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (circa 1920), a professional fraternity "confines their membership to students in professional schools," (pg. 485) and "aims to restrict its membership to persons intending to engage in the same profession" (pg. 9). Baird also provides a definition for Honor fraternity where membership "is determined primarily by ability in some chosen field of intellectual endeavor and if social qualities are considered they are secondary" (pg. 600). Baird further states "it is difficult to draw the line between them and a professional fraternity, and others like Tau Beta Pi are emphasizing the social element and encouraging their members to enter houses and to assume some or all of the characteristics of a regular undergraduate organization." This I get a kick out of: "It might be said that there are too many of these fraternities [honor fraternities] in conflicting fields and their consolidation or simplification would be of benefit to all" (pg. 600). lol

So if we accept the professional fraternity definition of "aiming to restrict its membership to persons intending to engage in the same profession" we can contrast that with the honorary fraternity definition of "some chosen field of intellectual endeavor" and stop there. Many honorary fraternities are established based on GPA whereas professional (and social) are not. My 2c. IlliniFlag (talk) 23:07, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Military groups...

How do people feel about trimming out the ones with just a facebook page started in the last 10 years...Naraht (talk) 22:45, 20 September 2018 (UTC)

They have websites now. One has four chapters. The others seem to have a few members and a IRS ruling. I can probably find a source for the latter, if that makes a dfiference. Rublamb (talk) 10:53, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma?

Do they belong in this list or not? Naraht (talk) 01:23, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

I know your question is old, but is still valid. They say they are an honor and service fraternity/sorority but are also a member of PFA. Rublamb (talk) 03:59, 1 February 2023 (UTC)