Wondering if timing matters in your affiliation decision? Check out our new article on joining a Historically Black Greek Lettered Organization (HBGLO) at the college or alumni level.

Undergraduates at predominantly white institutions or Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) often wonder which Black Greek Lettered Organizations (BGLOs) they should affiliate with when confronted with the variety of options early in their college careers. Some individuals who are unable to join an organization during their college careers because of the lack of choices on their campus or other reasons related to chapters being inactive or not having enough quality or quantity candidates face this same uncertainty after college when the interest to affiliate continues as a prospective alumni member. How do you determine which organization is right for you in making a decision that will become a lifelong commitment? Here are three tips to guide you in your decision-making.

1. Get a full understanding of your options beyond local personalities. Research is important here. If you are an undergraduate student or alumni candidate, take some time to learn the general history of each organization by visiting their headquarters web sites and reading about their founding principles and current programs that are the focus of their national initiatives. Though character-building and community service are constants that run through all of the organizations, each has distinct differences given the history of their founding that give each a unique flavor that is often exaggerated by organizational stereotypes. By examining their history and national programs, you delve beyond superficial stereotypes and hype to gain a better understanding of what the organizations are really about. Chapter members on your campus or within your city may or may not be good examples of the national organization's principles and aims and you need to understand where there is alignment and where there are disconnects. Your membership with and organization is for a lifetime and not for the few years that you spend on campus or the first few years of initiation; however, the time spent with current members needs to be an enjoyable experience and if you aren't comfortable with the local personalities even after you've determined that the organizational values are consistent with your own, you might want to wait and pursue an affiliation at the graduate level if in college or with a different chapter if an alumnus. Do your research and don't affiliate simply based on who parties the hardest, puts on the best stepshow, or has the flyest Greek gear.

2. Talk to current members. Given the emphasis on avoiding hazing in any way, many current members may be guarded about discussions with you about their organizations. A friendly discussion about what the organization means to a current member and why they joined will not constitute an improper discussion provided there are no obligations or expectations placed on you as a person who simply has some questions and is seeking additional understanding. Understand the politics of seeking information as current members will likely take this as in interest in their organization and may not perceive similar requests that you make of other organizations as a positive thing. Some of this is rooted in their own immaturity and an understandable bias that their organization is the best along with a belief that questions about many different organizations is evidence that you don't really know who you want to affiliate with. Don't get caught up in others' misperceptions and immaturity about your research. You need to choose wisely and by attending a variety of information sessions and asking questions of a variety of individuals, you ensure that you know what you're getting into and who will become your lifelong fraternity brothers or sorority sisters. It's highly likely that there are also members who attend your church or who work with you or are even friends of your family if not family members who you could approach with questions. They would welcome your questions and would not be persons who would be in a position to make determinations about your membership in the local chapters to which you aspire. These people are great sources of information who will be honored by your questions.

3. Think about what you will contribute to the organization. It's not enough to admire the history of the organization or to be enamored with famous members or members that you look up to as mentors or outstanding current day examples of leadership, service or brotherhood and sisterhood. You need to know how your membership will take the organization even further in the work that it seeks to accomplish and the impact that it has in the community. If you are in college and you don't plan to be active after graduation because you move to a new city or you attend a graduate chapter meeting and just don't like fraternity or sorority life after graduation, then do yourself (and the organization) a favor, and don't affiliate. The real work happens by active members in college and by alumni members for years after college and if your commitment is only as good as the friends you meet in college, then it was never a commitment to begin with. If you are an alumni candidate and don't think that you can continue to be an active member year after year no matter how busy work, church, family, and other interests may pull on your time, then don't affiliate. Your membership becomes a part of who you are and is not a new set of items on a to-do list. The hardest part of being a member of any Black Greek Lettered Organization is not the membership process (which should not include hazing of any kind--if you need to be hazed to feel legitimate, then that's another example of a weak commitment) but the willingness of a member to be involved and to do the work when the public support and love of being the campus favorite is absent. People struggling in our communities nation-wide need to see the ever-present leadership and example that is the legacy of all the historically black organizations. These are the people we serve who are continuously in need of an unqualified and unwavering commitment to involvement that goes beyond letters on a nice jacket or a license plate frame on your ride. Only those who know why they want to affiliate in the absence of all the positive marketing will sustain a lifelong commitment in the darker times of competing family interests, conflicting member ideas and approaches to chapter relations and the actual doing of the good work that is the reality of life as a noble Black Greek.

By doing your own objective research, talking to current members to get qualified perspectives on life as a Black Greek, and giving serious thought to the individual contribution that you will make to your prospective organization, you are best prepared to make a solid decision that you will not regret. Research, relationships and humble reflection will establish a foundation for a rich and rewarding experience. Best wishes to you in your pursuit of the legacy.

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Black Greek Forum

Black Greek Forum is well designed and offers a wealth of information in addition to content-rich forums where you will find general discussion on Black Greek issues of every variety along with special forums for each organization where members can network with one another, announce special events or promote programs while building a sense of community throughout the site.

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First things first: most organizations don't use the term "pledging" anymore. It evokes thoughts and images of hazing which is a crime in most jurisdictions. For purposes of this article, "pledge" or "pledging" will only be made with reference to the approved and officially sanctioned membership intake processes as established by the leadership and legal counsel of each Historically Black Greek-Lettered Organization's duly authorized officers.

When considering timing and the when's and how's of pledging an organization, it's important to note that many of the initial founders of the early organizations were mature students, and in some cases graduate students depending on the organization. Although all of the organizations have the college experience at the heart of their founding, the nature of the college experience and the maturity of the students involved in founding these organizations was as much an intellectual pursuit as a community service and social undertaking. Society and social graces at the time were much different than they are today and the glamour of what it meant to be Greek was more a matter of the individuals who made up the organization than the style and crispness of their step routines.

Still, the importance of being a member of a fraternity or sorority while in college should not be minimized and college members make up the lifeblood of each organization. The time you spend bonding with your Brothers or Sisters in a collegiate setting is an invaluable opportunity to enhance your organizational understanding while maturing as a member with your peers. Leadership opportunities during this time will provide foundational skills that you can use throughout your lifetime.

While the college experience is important, time is fleeting and you will only spend a fraction of your life as a member of a fraternity or sorority while in college and the remainder of your service to the Brotherhood or Sisterhood will occur while an adult alumni member. Membership rolls of each organization are full of those who stepped hard and sang the praises of their organizations while in college only to become inactive after graduation having never or seldom been involved with their beloved organizations at the alumni level.

Likewise, those who did not have an opportunity to pledge while in college due to low numbers, inactive chapter status or other reasons, and who affiliate at the alumni level become some of the strongest members of the organization. Like college initiates, not all alumni initiates remain active throughout their lives. The fact of the matter is that whether a person joins at the college or alumni level, when a person become a member is not important. What is most important is whether the individual understands the lifelong commitment of their oath of allegiance to the organization and its precepts independent of whether others in the organization are equally committed to excellence.

If you can affiliate while in college and are comfortable with making that choice early in your fraternal career, you should do so because the three years or so that you spend as an undergraduate member with your peer group is an experience that you will never repeat in your life and one ripe with opportunities for growth and development. If your choice is affiliation as an alumni member, the experience is no less rich or rewarding but will be tempered by a little more life experience with camaraderie built around family and professional pursuits. Either way, the easiest part of your journey will not be becoming a member, but in doing the work and making the kinds of sacrifices required of members who know that their greatest purpose is leadership in service to others in our communities.

Alpha Legacy: A Brief History

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 Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded 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 visionary founders, known as the "Jewels" of the Fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy.

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 developed at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. 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.

Founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC in 1908, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by and for African American college-trained women. To trace its history is to tell a story of changing patterns of human relations in America in the 20th century.

The small group of women who organized the Sorority was conscious of a privileged position as college-trained women of color, just one generation removed from slavery. They were resolute that their college experiences should be as meaningful and productive as possible. Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded to apply that determination.

As the Sorority grew, it kept in balance two important themes: the importance of the individual and the strength of an organization of women of ability and courage. As the world became more complex, there was a need for associations which cut across racial, geographical, political, physical and social barriers.

Alpha Kappa Alpha's influence extends beyond campus quads and student interest. It has a legacy of service that deepens, rather than ends, with college graduation.

The goals of its program activities center on significant issues in families, communities, government halls and world assembly chambers. Its efforts constitute a priceless part of the global experience in the 21st century.

Led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, the nine Howard University students who came together to form Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority were the scholastic leaders of their classes. Each also had a special talent or gift that further enhanced the potential of this dynamic group.

With the exception of Ethel, the original group of women was comprised of college seniors. To ensure the continuity of the organization, seven Class of 1910 honor students who had expressed interest were invited to join without initiation.

Nellie Quander was elected president in 1911. Under her visionary leadership, Alpha Kappa Alpha initiated a dynamic plan of expansion. The first step of establishing a national body in perpetuity was taken in 1913 when Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was legally incorporated.

Kappa Alpha Psi , a college Fraternity, now comprised of functioning Undergraduate and Alumni Chapters on major campuses and in cities throughout the country, is the crystallization of a dream. It is the beautiful realization of a vision shared commonly by the late Revered Founders Elder Watson Diggs; John Milton Lee; Byron K. Armstrong; Guy Levis Grant; Ezra D. Alexander; Henry T. Asher; Marcus P. Blakemore; Paul W. Caine; Edward G. Irvin and George W. Edmonds.

It was the vision of these astute men that enabled them in the school year 1910 - 11, more specifically the night of January 5, 1911, on the campus of Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, to sow the seed of a fraternal tree whose fruit is available to, and now enjoyed by, college men everywhere, regardless of their color, religion or national origin. It is a fact of which KAPPA ALPHA PSI is justly proud that the Constitution has never contained any clause which either excluded or suggested the exclusion of a man from membership merely because of his color, creed, or national origin. The Constitution of KAPPA ALPHA PSI is predicated upon, and dedicated to, the principles of achievement through a truly democratic Fraternity.

Chartered and incorporated originally under the laws of the State of Indiana as Kappa Alpha Nu on May 15, 1911, the name was changed to KAPPA ALPHA PSI on a resolution offered and adopted at the Grand Chapter in December 1914. This change became effective April 15, 1915, on a proclamation by the then Grand Polemarch, Elder Watson Diggs. Thus, the name acquired a distinctive Greek letter symbol and KAPPA ALPHA PSI thereby became a Greek letter Fraternity in every sense of the designation.

KAPPA ALPHA PSI Fraternity, relatively early, envisioned the modified attitudes of college administrators and administrations regarding certain frivolous activities previously identified with Greek letter organizations; and it initiated appropriate changes. Among the early changes brought about was the banning of paddling and other forms of physical abuse, and the introduction of constructive endeavors during pledgeship and probation. To date, KAPPA ALPHA PSI Fraternity is organizationally and administratively mature. It moves steadily toward a tomorrow of promise, productivity and influence.

On Friday evening, November 17, 1911, three Howard University undergraduate students, with the assistance of their faculty adviser, gave birth to the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. This event occurred in the office of biology Professor Ernest E. Just, the faculty adviser, in the Science Hall (now known as Thirkield Hall). The three liberal arts students were Edgar A. Love, Oscar J. Cooper and Frank Coleman. From the initials of the Greek phrase meaning "friendship is essential to the soul," the name Omega Psi Phi was derived. The phrase was selected as the motto. Manhood, scholarship, perseverance and uplift were adopted as cardinal principles. A decision was made regarding the design for the pin and emblem, and thus ended the first meeting of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity .

The next meeting was conducted on November 23, 1911. Edgar Love became the first Grand Basileus (National President). Cooper and Coleman were selected Grandkeeper of the Records (National Secretary) and Grandkeeper of Seals (National Treasurer), respectively. Eleven Howard University undergraduate men were selected as charter members.

Alpha Chapter was organized with fourteen charter members on December 15, 1911. Love, Cooper and Coleman were elected the chapter's first Basileus, Keeper of Records, and Keeper of Seals, respectively. On March 8, 1912, the previously submitted fraternity constitution was rejected by the Howard University Faculty Council. The Faculty Council proposed to accept the fraternity as a local but not a national organization. The fraternity refused acceptance as a strictly local organization.

Omega continued to flourish, largely because Founders Love, Cooper, Coleman and Just were men of the very highest ideals and intellect. The Founders selected and attracted men of similar ideals and characteristics. It is not by accident that many of America's great black men are/were Omega Men. To this date, there are very few Americans whose lives have not been touched by a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide assistance and support through established programs in local communities throughout the world. A sisterhood of more than 200,000 predominately Black college educated women, the Sorority currently has over 900 chapters located in the United States, England, Japan (Tokyo and Okinawa), Germany, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Republic of Korea. The major programs of the sorority are based upon the organization's Five Point Thrust of:

* Economic Development
* Educational Development
* International Awareness and Involvement
* Physical and Mental Health
* Political Awareness and Involvement

The Sorority was founded in 1913 by 22 students at Howard University. These young women wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence; to provide scholarships; to provide support to the underserved; educate and stimulate participation in the establishment of positive public policy; and to highlight issues and provide solutions for problems in their communities.

The organizational structure and governance of the Sorority is invested in the Grand Chapter, which meets in National Convention biennially. Regional Conferences are held in the seven geographic regions of the organization during non-convention years. In the interim, the Executive Board, consisting of elected and appointed members, acts to establish and implement policies, as needed. A paid professional staff, under the leadership of the Executive Director, operates the National Headquarters office in Washington, D.C.

No part of the net income or contributions of the Sorority are utilized to the benefit of, or is distributed to members, officers or other private persons except as authorized by the Sorority to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered or to make payments in furtherance of its purposes.

As a non-profit organization, no part of the Sorority's activities shall be for propaganda purposes or otherwise attempting to influence legislation in a lobbying role.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. conducts all of its activities in accordance with the rule that govern organizations whose tax status is 501 (c)(7).