The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) is an umbrella or trade association for 26 national and international women's sororities throughout the United States and Canada. Panhellenic () refers to the group's members being autonomous social Greek-letter societies of college women and alumnae.
The National Panhellenic Conference provides guidelines and resources for its members and serves as a national voice on contemporary issues of sorority life. Founded in 1902, the NPC is one of the oldest and largest women's membership organizations, representing more than four million women at over 650 college and university campuses and 4,600 local alumnae chapters in the U.S. and Canada. Each year, NPC-affiliated collegians and alumnae donate more than $5 million to causes, provide $2.8 million in scholarships to women, and volunteer 500,000 hours in their communities.
The organization is a conference, not a congress, as it enacts no legislation and only regulates its own meetings. Other than basic agreements which its member groups must unanimously vote to follow, the NPC confines itself to recommendations and advice and acts as a court of final appeal in any college Panhellenic disputes. One of its services is providing advisors for sororities.
History
Early histories of sororities contain accounts of rushing and pledging agreements or compacts among sororities on various campuses, and many stories of cooperation and mutual assistance. However, no actual Panhellenic organization existed and no uniform practices were observed. The NPC's origin can be traced to 1891, when Kappa Kappa Gamma invited all seven existing sororities to a Boston meeting, with the intention to meet again in 1893.
In 1902, Alpha Phi invited Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Chi Omega, and Chi Omega to a conference in Chicago on May 24 to set standards for collegiate sororities. Alpha Chi Omega and Chi Omega were unable to attend and joined the following year. The remaining seven groups met and the session resulted in the organization of the Inter-Sorority Conference, the first interfraternity association and the first intergroup organization on college campuses.
In 1917, it changed back to the National Panhellenic Conference, only to return to the National Panhellenic Congress name in 1921. That year, the congress also began plans for a centralized headquarters to coordinate and streamline interactions with the separate sororities.
The Association of Education Sororities (AES) merged with NPC in 1947. At the time of its merger with NPC, AES included six member organizations. By the end of the 1960s and the civil rights movement, NPC sororities eliminated official policies that prevented minority members from joining,
21st century
As of the 2010s, sorority members and outside observers noticed a shift in sorority culture; though sororities began as feminist organizations, emphasis during the mid-1900s on social reputations and exclusionary recruitment policies (such as a refusal to recruit Jewish and African-American women) led to a reputation for following cultural hegemony and being made up of upper-class white women. Though such issues continue to persist in various ways, sorority and anti-sorority women alike observed sororities becoming more ethnically diverse and moving away from traditional power structures towards their feminist roots.
In 2016, collegiate members began discussing membership offers for transgender women, which was supported by some national organizations with changes to their national policies; however, some national organizations delayed membership offers for trans women due to fears about Title IX exemption status, which caused dissent in local chapters. Though the NPC created a gender identity study group to examine potential legal consequences, they concluded that the legal precedents were "incomplete, inconclusive, and inconsistent," and did not enact official policy or recommendations.
By 2021, most national organizations had released political statements on racial and social equity and inclusion, while also developing membership policies regarding gender identity. Delta Phi Epsilon developed a policy explicitly open to trans and non-binary individuals, and sororities open to anyone who identifies as a woman include: Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Sigma Tau, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Theta Phi Alpha. Sororities open to anyone who identifies and lives as a woman include: Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Delta Tau, and Sigma Kappa, while Zeta Tau Alpha specifies that the individual must consistently identify and live as a woman.
Symbols
Panhellenic () is the Greek word for "All Greek" and was selected to refer to the group's members being autonomous social Greek-letter societies of college women and alumnae.
The National Panhellenic Conference adopted its coat of arms in 1975. It features shield that symbolizes protection.
{| class="wikitable sticky-header sortable"
|-
! Sorority
! Greek letters
! Founding date and range
! Year joined NPC
! Status
!References
|-
| Alpha Delta Theta
|
| November 10, 1919 – August 30, 1939
| 1923 (associate),<br />1926 (full)
| Merged (Phi Mu)
|
|-
| Beta Phi Alpha
|
| May 8, 1909 – June 22, 1941
| 1923
| Merged (Delta Zeta)
|
|-
| Beta Sigma Omicron
|
| December 12, 1888 – August 7, 1964
| 1930 (associate),<br />1933 (full)
| Merged (Zeta Tau Alpha and Alpha Phi)
|
|-
| Delta Sigma Epsilon
|
| September 28, 1914 – August 21, 1956
| 1947 (associate),<br />1951 (full)
| Merged (Delta Zeta)
|
|-
| Iota Alpha Pi
|
| March 3, 1903 – July 1971
| 1953 (associate),<br />1957 (full)
| Disbanded
|
|-
| Lambda Omega
|
| October 31, 1915 – September 1933
| 1930 (associate)
| Merged (Theta Upsilon)
|
|-
| Phi Omega Pi
|
| March 15, 1910 – August 10, 1946
| 1930 (associate),<br />1933 (full)
| Merged (Delta Zeta)
|
|-
| Pi Kappa Sigma
|
| November 17, 1894 – May 15, 1959
| 1947 (associate),<br />1951 (full)
| Merged (Sigma Kappa)
|
|-
| Pi Sigma Gamma
|
| November 23, 1919 – 1932
| 1930 ?
| Merged (Beta Sigma Omicron)
|
|-
| Sigma Phi Beta
|
| November 1, 1920 – October 1, 1933
| 1928 (associate)
| Merged (Phi Omega Pi)
|
|-
| Theta Sigma Upsilon
|
| March 25, 1921 – June 29, 1959
| 1947 (associate),<br />1951 (full)
| Merged (Alpha Gamma Delta)
|
|-
| Theta Upsilon
|
| January 1, 1914 – May 6, 1962
| 1923 (associate),<br />1928 (full)
| Merged (Delta Zeta)
|
|}
Governance
Throughout its history the NPC Executive Board has been led by a chairman. In 2018 the NPC Board of Directors voted to change its governance model. As of 2021, members rotate onto the board in the order their organization joined the NPC, but the chairman is now elected.
A Panhellenic Council consists of executive board members at each university or college. Each institution holds different executive positions based on its size and the NPC's relationship with it. The basic positions at each institution are president, vice president of communications, vice president of finance, vice president of philanthropy and community service, vice president of programming, vice president of recruitment, vice president of scholarship, and vice president of judicial. The number of positions is based on the number of NPC sororities at each institution. Along with the delegates each being a representative from their sorority, the executive board includes a member from each sorority as well.
See also
- List of social sororities and women's fraternities