Links to Student Communities
by Sarah Spears
U.S. colleges and universities offer many ways for students to get involved—with each other, the community, and the world at large. Here are some of the types of student organizations typically found on campus:

Greek Letter Organizations

Greek letter organizations thrive on U.S. campuses and provide social opportunities for students. Each organization has a name consisting of two or three characters from the traditional Greek alphabet.

Greek letter organizations are divided along gender lines: men join fraternities and women join sororities. Many fraternities and sororities have houses near college campuses in which their members can choose to live.

You can look up a fraternity or sorority by name or by campus location at Greek Pages.  For a description of Greek letter organizations in general, visit Wikipedia.

Here are a few Web sites for individual fraternities and sororities:

Professional Organizations

Students interested in a certain field of study can usually find a professional organization centered on their major. These organizations allow students with common interests to explore ideas and to network with professionals in their field for the future of their careers. Some professional organizations are fraternities (unlike social fraternities, these organizations are coeducational, having both male and female members) and so share the Greek letter naming system described above, while others are named for the field they represent.

There are hundreds of professional organizations on U.S. campuses; some are specific to one campus and some are part of a national organization. Some of the national organizations are:

Arts

Students can participate in dance, theater, musical groups (both vocal and instrumental), art programs, and more on college campuses. Some groups are restricted to students majoring in a certain area (such as some performance music groups), but generally there are opportunities for novice and amateur students. Most arts organizations are campus-specific, without national organizations.

Honor Societies

Students who maintain high levels of academic achievement may be invited to join an honor society. There are both general and field-specific honor societies, and like fraternities and sororities, many have Greek names.

The Association of College Honor Societies is the certifying agency for college and university honor societies. Through this Web site students can search an alphabetical list of societies, search by school to see which societies have chapters on their campus, and search by society to see where chapters are located.

Some of the better-known national honor societies include:

  • Alpha Lambda Delta  (???) and Phi Eta Sigma  (???), national honor societies for first-year students; Alpha Lambda Delta (women's) and Phi Eta Sigma (men's) were founded at the University of Illinois in 1923 and 1924, respectively. They remained single sex organizations until the mid 1970s; now both are coeducational.
  • Golden Key International Honour Society  invites the top 15 percent of junior and senior students to join. Golden Key operates 350 chapters throughout the United States and across the globe.
  • Alpha Epsilon Delta  (???), Premedical Honor Society
  • Gamma Theta Upsilon  (???), International Geographical Honor Society
  • Mu Kappa Tau  (???), National Marketing Honor Society
  • Omicron Delta Epsilon (???), International Honor Society for Economics
  • International Honor Society for Economics
  • Psi Chi  (??), National Honor Society in Psychology

Political

With their expanding knowledge of the world, many students choose to become involved in political organizations. Some organizations exist to bring attention to one issue or a group of related issues. Political parties often operate specific organizations for college students, such as:

Service

 

Students interested in joining community service organizations will find a number of groups operate campus chapters, including:

  • Circle K  is a coeducational service and leadership group organized and sponsored by local Kiwanis clubs on college and university campuses.
  • Big Brothers/Big Sisters  allows students to serve as mentors to children ages 6 to 18.
  • Habitat for Humanity International  is a Christian housing ministry that builds and renovates houses around the world for families in need.