Greek Life
Barton College will support returning and incoming new students, with a 2.0 and above grade point average, to join sorority or fraternity life. With academics being of utmost priority, all new sorority and fraternity members will be required to participate in mandatory study hours during their first semester of membership. Hours of study will be determined by the Barton College Greek Council in conjunction with the Vice President of Student Engagement.
Although membership is allowed a 2.0 grade point average by Barton College, each fraternity and sorority may require a separate grade point average, independently of the College, please check with your organization of interest on their grade point average requirement.
Greek Council
The purpose of the Greek Council is to provide an avenue and forum of communication for the chapter presidents and advisors, provide oversight and advice to the entire Greek system, and coordinate annual Greek Life events.
The Greek Council of Barton College is composed of the current six social Greek-lettered organizations’ chapter presidents and advisors. The Council appoints an annual chair of council meetings. The following councils may be present, depending on the discretion of the Office of Student Engagement:
- Panhellenic Conference (Sororities)
- Delta Zeta
- Sigma Sigma Sigma
- Interfraternity Council (Fraternities)
- Alpha Sigma Phi
- Sigma Phi Epsilon
- National Pan-Hellenic Council (Fraternities and Sororities)
- Alpha Phi Alpha
- Kappa Alpha Psi
Alpha Phi Alpha – ΑΦΑ
Alpha Phi Alpha™, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American Men, was founded on December 4, 1906™ at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of brotherhood among African descendants in this country.
The fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. The Jewel founders and early leaders of the fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha’s principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity.
Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were established at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell.
The first alumni chapter was established in 1911. While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community’s fight for civil rights through leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others. True to its form as the “first of firsts,” Alpha Phi Alpha has been interracial since 1945.
Since its founding on December 4, 1906™, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color around the world.
Alpha Sigma Phi – ΑΣΦ
Alpha Sigma is the tenth oldest national social fraternity. This association was founded at Yale University on December 6, 1845.
The purposes of Alpha Sigma Phi are to foster education, to maintain charity, and to promote patriotism. The objectives of the fraternity, incidental to these purposes, are to encourage culture and high scholarship, to assist in the building of character, to promote college loyalties, to perpetuate friendships, to cement social ties within the fraternity memberships, and to foster the maintenance of college homes by chapters for their undergraduate members.
The Gamma Lambda chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi was founded May 3, 1958, evolving from the local Sigma Alpha Fraternity.
Delta Zeta – ΔΖ
Delta Zeta was founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Its colors are Old Rose and Vieux Green; the flower is the Killarney Rose; and the jewel is the diamond.
Delta Zeta is one of the largest national sororities with over 150 chapters.
The sorority strives to unite its members in the bonds of sincere and lasting friendships, to pursue knowledge, and to promote moral and social culture in its members. Delta Zeta’s philanthropic program, “Adventures in Friendship,” includes support of Gallaudet College, the only college in the world for the deaf, and other related funds.
The Theta Omega Chapter of Delta Zeta was installed at the College in October 1965. Formerly, Delta Zeta was Omega Chi local sorority.
Kappa Alpha Psi – ΚΑΨ
Kappa Alpha Psi® Fraternity, Inc. (ΚΑΨ) is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity, founded on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington. Kappa Alpha Psi® is the 2nd oldest existing collegiate historically Black Greek letter fraternity and the 1st intercollegiate fraternity incorporated as a national body. It is the first Greek letter organization to establish its Alpha Chapter on Indiana University’s campus. The fraternity has over 250,000 members with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in nearly every state of the United States, and thirteen international chapters in Nigeria, South Africa, Bermuda, Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Panama, United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Abu Dhabi, Canada, and Japan.
Through its worldwide prominence, Kappa Alpha Psi® has had a global impact on events that affect our local communities and places around the globe. Local chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi® participate in community outreach activities to feed the homeless, provide scholarships to young people matriculating to college, serve as mentors to young men, participate in blood drives, and serve as hosts of seminars for public health awareness, to name a few. Nationally, Kappa Alpha Psi® has provided summer enrichment camps and funds for St. Jude Medical Research Center to assist in the fight against childhood catastrophic diseases by raising more than $1 Million. Internationally, Kappa Alpha Psi® members have answered the call to service by proudly serving our military in wars since WWI and raising funds to assist those in need following natural disasters worldwide, including hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, and earthquakes.
Sigma Phi Epsilon – ΣΦΕ
Sigma Phi Epsilon is the nation’s largest fraternity. For the last fifteen years, more men have joined Sigma Phi Epsilon than any other college fraternity. SigEp was founded at Richmond College, now the University of Richmond, on November 1, 1901 on the cardinal principles of Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love. Today, over 240,000 men have joined the fraternity and taken a vow to uphold these values. North Carolina Iota Chapter was founded on this campus April 26, 1958. This chapter grew out of a local social fraternity, Sigma Rho Phi, which was founded at the College. The purposes of Sigma Phi Epsilon are to develop a fellowship within the fraternity based on high moral standards and to provide an organization which will be a distinct asset to the college and community.
Sigma Sigma Sigma – ΣΣΣ
Sigma Sigma Sigma was founded in Farmville, Virginia, at Longwood College in 1898. Its colors are Royal Purple and White, the flower is the purple violet, and the jewel is the pearl. The open motto is “Faithful Unto Death.”
As its philanthropy, Sigma Sigma Sigma established the Robbie Page Memorial Fund to aid in polio research. As the Salk vaccine was successful, the Robbie Page Memorial prepared to enter another state of service for children, a program to provide improved hospital facilities for their care and rehabilitation. Sigma Sigma Sigma chose the North Carolina Memorial Hospital at Chapel Hill and with the sorority’s contributions of over $150,000 to the hospital in the last ten years, a Children’s Room on the seventh floor has been constructed.
The Gamma Xi Chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma was installed at the College in October, 1965. Formerly, Tri Sigma was Phi Sigma Tau, a local sorority.