Perhaps because the historically African-American Greek organizations on campus do not have their own houses and do not host open parties, most Dartmouth students know very little about them.
But what truly separates the historically African-American fraternities and sororities from the rest of the Greek system is their focus on community service and the lifetime commitment of their members.
As Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity President Lewis Berry '97 said, "The meat and potatoes of the organization is all at the graduate level. When you join, you join for life."
The three College-recognized African-American Greek organizations are Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternities and Delta Sigma Theta sorority. All three organizations are governed by the Panhellenic Council, and they are not members of the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council.
The historically African-American Greek organizations' attention to seemingly strict rules really distinguishes them from other Greek houses.
"We hate the image of a drinking fraternity -- we can't even drink with our letters on," Berry said. "It is so disrespectful to do so. But historically white fraternities don't have a problem doing that."
Alpha Phi Alpha President Phillip Cherfrere '97 said members of his fraternity must follow rigid guidelines.
"When you wear the jacket with the letters ... you have to control yourself," he said. "You can't speak disrespectfully about women; you can't disrespect other organizations -- we have a moral code."
The historically African-American fraternities and sororities have a rich history that goes back nearly 100 years.
Cherfrere said his fraternity was founded at the College in the spring of 1972, and it was originally founded in 1906 at Cornell University by "seven men that wanted to give African-American students an outlet where they can get together socially and in other ways."
He said today there are over 250,000 members of Alpha Phi Alpha worldwide.
Berry said what makes Kappa Alpha Psi different from other historically African-American fraternities is that it is the oldest national collegiate historically African-American fraternity, founded in 1911 at Indiana University.
He said Alpha Phi Alpha would not allow any non-African-American members until the 1950s, but Kappa Alpha Psi had always permitted members from other ethnic groups.
In 1982, a Kappa Alpha Psi colony was founded at Dartmouth in conjunction with organizations at Harvard University, Tufts University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1987 the Mu Chi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi was founded at the College.
According to Berry, there are 300,000 brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi around the world.
The largest African-American women's organization, with over 200,000 members, Delta Sigma Theta was founded nationally at Howard University in 1913 and at the College in 1985, Delta Sigma Theta President Kaia Greene '97 said.
Small, but quality memberships
Despite such strong memberships internationally, the traditionally African-American chapters at Dartmouth have small membership totals, due in part to their rush process.
Under national rules, Delta Sigma Theta cannot participate in a rush process similar to the other seven sororities on campus. To induct new members, Delta Sigma Theta must get permission through the national chapter, Greene said.
Cherfrere said Alpha Phi Alpha is very selective in its membership and uptake and looks for members that will make a strong commitment to the fraternity.
Berry said the rush process for historically African-American fraternities uses tenets of the Interfraternity Council process, but only happens in the Fall and Spring terms "and always involves going out of town."
According to Berry, the African-American fraternities on campus used to have houses -- the house now belonging to Delta Delta Delta sorority at 1 Occom Ridge was occupied by Alpha Phi Alpha, and Kappa Alpha Psi had a house near Sigma Delta sorority on West Wheelock Street.
The houses were taken away, Berry said, after membership began to dwindle. Kappa Alpha Psi currently has four members and Alpha Phi Alpha has 11.
"We can get a house, but I don't see it happening any time soon," Cherfrere said. "Eventually we will get another one because membership is going up, but I don't think it is a problem without one. It would be a luxury."
Kappa Alpha Psi isn't "starving for members," Berry said. "We'd rather have four quality members than 15 or 20 random, marginal people."
Berry attributed the decline in membership partly to the change of rush from freshman spring to sophomore fall.
"If you're not in an organization by [freshman year] you really probably aren't going to join at all," he said.
He added since there are so few African-American males on campus, it is difficult to gain large memberships.
Alpha Phi Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta both meet weekly in apartments in the River residence cluster, and Kappa Alpha Psi meets in the room of one member in Massachusetts residence hall.
Committed to community service
Many of the activities of the historically African-American fraternities and sororities are service-oriented.
Delta Sigma Theta was awarded the 15 Webster Avenue award, a $5,000 grant towards a community service proposal, for an upcoming Spring-term project working with Habitat for Humanity.
Greene said Delta Sigma Theta and Habitat for Humanity tackle projects together on the national level, and along with the Tucker Foundation, they are trying to start a Habitat for Humanity chapter in Hanover.
Greene said the primary purpose of Delta Sigma Theta is to serve the African-American community. On campus the sorority's members have supported African-American women's issues like mental and physical health and economic empowerment.
The sisters have also held clothing drives, letter-writing campaigns and fashion shows for charity.
Alpha Phi Alpha also sponsored several programming events this term, Cherfrere said.
The brothers sponsored a "Know Your History" bowl, a program called Racism 102, a career services workshop for minority students, a Friday Night Dance Club in the Collis Center and a dinner for African-American men on campus.
"We try to do things that will uplift the community," Cherfrere said.
Berry said the projects Kappa Alpha Psi has taken on have been oriented towards the African-American and Latino/Latina community.
