Photo by Bradley University NPHC
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), also known as the “Divine Nine”, is a collaborative council formed of African American sororities and fraternities that was founded on May 10, 1930 at Howard University in Washington, DC.
This council consists of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority , Inc. and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
Out of those nine organizations, the six that are on Bradley’s campus are fraternities Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi, as well as sororities Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho.
We sat down with a few of those organizations that have a chapter on Bradley’s campus to learn more about them.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Founded on Dec. 4, 1906 at Cornell University, APA was officially added to the NPHC in 1931.
“We are the only [Black] male organization that’s currently on campus,” senior sports communication major Devin Foster said. “There are five male organizations [in the NPHC], but we’re the only ones with current chapter members. We hold ourselves to trying to uplift everybody else and making sure that the campus knows who we are, what we do and how it benefits everyone else.”
This upcoming spring, APA will be hosting an event called Ice an Alpha. This event consists of taking a cold bucket of water and pouring it on the fraternity members.
“Sometimes we will give away shirts. We usually sell to our grad chapters or older brothers in the fraternity… Sometimes we’ll do a candy sale,” Foster said. “One of our biggest events is Pie an Alpha. Basically they hit us in the face with cream pies. That does do really well.”
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Delta Sigma Theta was founded on Jan. 13, 1913 at Howard University in Washington D.C. with its motto being “Intelligence is the torch of wisdom” and was chartered on Bradley’s campus Feb. 13, 1971.
“We really push for college educated women to have a strong sisterhood, while also providing service to our community, especially Black people,” senior psychology and French double major and chapter president De’Jah Donahue said. “Our principles are scholarship, sisterhood and service so that’s what we try to focus all of our programing on.”
To accomplish those principles, DST ensures that their members ultimately receive their degrees, look up to each other as mentors and commit to completing community service in the area.
“In 1906, Black men couldn’t join white fraternities. Black students, Black women [and] Black men need a space on these predominantly white campuses where they can build that sisterhood and brotherhood,” Donahue said.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
This sorority was formed on Jan. 16, 1920 at Howard University. They’ve been chartered on Bradley campus just short of 50 years since their inception on May 6, 1973.
Their ideals are built on scholarship, service, sisterhood and finer womanhood.
“A lot of people have misconceptions about who we are and what we stand for,” sophomore public health education major Jinaiyah Moore said. “We want to make a good impact on our community, the Bradley community, which is why we choose to be open to sharing about who we are.”
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Kappa Alpha Psi was founded on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University and was chartered on Bradley’s campus on Oct. 1, 1978.
Their motto is “Achievement in Every Field Of Human Endeavor.” As said on the Kappa Alpha Psi website, their objectives are “To unite college men of culture, patriotism and honor in a bond of fraternity, to encourage honorable achievement in every field of human endeavor, to promote the spiritual, social, intellectual, and moral welfare of its members, to aid the aims and purposes of colleges and universities, to inspire service in the public interest.”
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
Sigma Gamma Rho was founded on November 12, 1922, at Butler University and was chartered to Bradley’s campus on Feb. 2, 1974.
“The sorority was made to rebuttal the KKK,” sophomore social work and sociology major Rayne Stokes said. “They used to live across the street from them so this was their way to kind of steal back their freedom and, overall, their power of going to school and getting a college education.”
Stokes explains how Sigma Gamma Rho gets to continue the mission that their campus started on, along with helping other students of color find themselves throughout their journey on campus.
“Some of our [philanthropies] as a chapter are programs such as Swim 1922 where we help people learn how to swim and overall the water safety,” she said. “We also do a breast cancer awareness and overall health awareness [programs],” Stokes said. “Our main one that we’re known for on campus is Operation Big Book Bag, where we make a box for donations for kids in need in elementary schools nearby in Peoria.”
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
This sorority was formed on Jan. 15, 1908 at Howard University in Washington D.C. They were chartered on Bradley’s campus on Dec. 14, 1968.
AKA’s mission, as stated on their website, is “To cultivate and encourage high scholastic and ethical standards, to promote unity and friendship among college women, to study and help alleviate problems concerning girls and women in order to improve their social stature, to maintain a progressive interest in college life, and to be of ‘Service to All Mankind.’”
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
This fraternity was founded on Nov. 17, 1911 at Howard University and is not on Bradley’s campus, but is a part of the Divine Nine.
Omega’s chapters strive to uplift and help their community. Its website states that it is involved with Habitat for Humanity, Assault on Illiteracy, mentoring, voter registration and participating in fundraisers for charities.
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Formed on Jan. 9, 1914 at Howard University, Phi Beta Sigma also isn’t on Bradley’s campus.
As stated on Phi Beta Sigma’s website, their mission is to “Encourage social, political and philanthropic leadership which strengthens our respective communities and our membership by: Educating fraternity members on health issues… increasing visibility and sense of self-worth…providing education/information about political and community issues, and increasing awareness of the legislative process, involving the membership in fund raising activities that support organizations, sharing our vision and promoting health awareness to encourage prevention of health challenges and promote health maintenance.”
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
This fraternity was founded on Sept. 19, 1963 at Morgan State University. Iota Phi Theta is also not present on Bradley’s campus.
Involvements that Iota Phi Theta participates in include the NAACP, Project IMAGE and The National Federation of the Blind. They also help their local communities by hosting food drives, Walk-A-Thons and senior citizen homes.
This article was updated for clarity reasons on March 22 at 8:26 p.m.
