The five main social Greek organizations at Centenary have been established for a while. Some of us may know some of the stories from their early years or just from years past, but how many of us know about the Greek organizations that have not been on campus in years? Greek organizations started at universities in the United States as early as the late 1700s, so the history of Greek life is as old as our country. With Centenary being founded in 1825 and celebrating its bicentennial in just three years, how far back can we go to find Greek organizations that were social in nature? How many organizations have had a home at Centenary? Were they all nationally recognized? Many Greek organizations at universities are called “local” fraternities and sororities, where their chapter is the only chapter of their kind. To answer all these questions, I visited our Archivist, Chris Brown, a few weeks ago. He and one of his work study students, Jasmine, worked with me to track down just how many fraternities and sororities had been at Centenary throughout its 197 years, when they were founded, and if they had dissolved, when they dissolved. 

Obviously, fraternities with male members were the majority of the first groups we found as Centenary did not allow female students to attend until the transition from the 19th Century to the 20th Century. The first few groups that we found records for were not specifically Greek, but they had very similar setups and purposes. We referred to them as secret societies. Some of the older fraternities were local, but many were and still are nationally recognized fraternities.

Past Fraternities and Secret Societies:

1849: Mystical Seven or “Mystics” — Temple of the Wreath chapter; organized in 1845, but was not officially founded until June 27, 1849; disbanded in 1861 when the school closed in for the Civil War; the Mystical Seven was a nationally recognized society that disbanded in 1890 and the remaining ‘temples’ or chapters merged into national fraternal societies.

1850s: Palladians — a secret society that existed in the 1850s which was not affiliated with any Greek fraternities; disbanded in 1861.

1850s: Seven Wise Men — a secret society that existed in the 1850s which was not affiliated with any Greek fraternities; disbanded in 1861.

1855: Phi Kappa Sigma — Theta Chapter; established in 1855; disbanded in 1861; national affiliation with the North American Interfraternity Council (NIC).

1858: Delta Kappa Epsilon — Zeta Zeta Chapter; chartered January 30, 1858; disbanded in 1861; nationally recognized and affiliated with NIC.

1858: Chi Phi — Beta Chapter of the Southern Order; founded November 12, 1858; disbanded in 1861; Chi Phi is still nationally recognized and affiliated with NIC.

1901: Pi Kappa Alpha—  not many records, but it was founded around 1901; probably disbanded when the campus moved to Shreveport.

1922: Alpha Kappa Pi — organized January 7th, 1922; local fraternity; disbanded in 1924.

1922: Phi Beta Psi—  organized the fall of 1922; local; disbanded by 1925. 

1922: Sigma Phi — organized in 1922; local fraternity; disbanded by 1940.

1923: Beta Eta — established September 26, 1923; local; disbanded the next year.

1923: Pi Omicron Lambda — founded February 17, 1923; local fraternity; later became Theta Kappa Nu in 1925.

1925: Theta Kappa Nu—  Louisiana Beta chapter; national fraternity that later merged with Lambda Chi Alpha in 1940.

1926: Pi Theta Upsilon — established April 30, 1926; local fraternity; disbanded in 1932.

1927: Lambda Theta Chi — established December 1st, 1927; local fraternity; disbanded by 1940.

1940: Lambda Chi Alpha — Theta-Rho chapter; dormant since 1958; their national affiliation was with NIC until 2015.

1967: Alpha Delta — founded in 1967; local fraternity that became a chapter of Theta Chi in 1969.

1969: Theta Chi — Eta Rho Chapter; Established in 1969; dormant since 2016; national affiliation is with the Interfraternity Council (IFC).

1990s: there is some record of a Centenary specific chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi in the early 1990s, but not enough to know the date of establishment or when it disbanded. There is a current affiliation with the organization, though, but that one is for the Shreveport area more than Centenary itself. 

Current Fraternities: 

1885: Kappa Sigma — Epsilon Chapter ; Est. 1885; dormant from 1905-1940; national affiliation is with IFC.

1891: Kappa Alpha — Alpha Iota Chapter ; Est. September 14, 1891; withdrawn from 1903-1909 and 1913-1922; national affiliation with IFC.

1963: Tau Kappa Epsilon — Iota Theta Chapter; Established March 23, 1963; national affiliation is with IFC.

Sororities were established on campus not long after women started to attend Centenary. Many of the first ones were local to begin with, but by the early 1930s, all sororities were chapters of nationally recognized organizations. 

Past Sororities: 

1922: Kappa Pi — established in fall of 1922; local; ended by 1928.

1922: Phi Omega — established October 11, 1922; local; ended by 1928.

1923: Zeta Delta — established November 17th, 1923; local; ended by 1932.

1927: Chi Delta — established April 1927; local; ended by 1932.

1931: Alpha Xi Delta—  Beta Gamma chapter; established March 28, 1931; disbanded in 1977; affiliation with National Panhellenic Council (NPC).

1980: Zeta Phi Beta — charted February 23, 1980; disbanded by 1983; historically Black sorority that is nationally recognized.

Current Sororities: 

1927: Zeta Tau Alpha — Beta Iota Chapter; established May 6, 1927; NPC.

1928: Chi Omega — Iota Gamma; established February 14, 1928; NPC.

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