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.