USC Upstate is home to 6 active (inter)national fraternities. Click on each organization below to visit their chapter page and learn more about the organization.
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Upsilon Alpha Chapter
Founded Nationally: Cornell University, December 4, 1906
Chartered at Upstate: February 8, 2009
Symbol(s): Sphinx
Color(s): Black & Old Gold
Nickname(s): Alpha, YA
National Affiliation: National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
Minimum National Requirements*
Chapter Instagram: upstatealphas
Since its founding on Dec. 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 was the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African- Americans. The organization 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.
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.
The fraternity’s national programs and special projects are community- outreach mentoring initiatives that have been adopted by the organization’s governing body and mandated for implementation by all of its chapters. The organization’s national programs include:
- Go-to-High School, Go-to-College
- Project Alpha
- A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People
- Brother’s Keeper
* These are the national minimum requirements. Chapters may have higher standards. Please reach out directly to the chapter to inquire about their chapter requirements.
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Kappa Kappa Provisional Chapter
Founded Nationally: Yale University, December 6, 1845
Chartered at Upstate: January 2020**
Symbol(s): Phoenix
Color(s): Cardinal Red and Stone Grey
Nickname(s): Alpha Sig
National Affiliation: Fraternity Forward Coalition (FFC)
Minimum National Requirements*
Chapter Instagram: uscupstate_alphasig
Alpha Sigma Phi National Website
** New provisional chapter started in Spring 2020
Founded at Yale University in 1845, a brotherhood was developed with strong ties of friendship. One that has endured for 175 years — Alpha Sigma Phi.
The Fraternity was founded upon the values of character. These Values, once secret but made public in 2005, are what make Alpha Sigma Phi unique. These Values are call each member to better themselves through their actions and words.
CHARITY
He is charitable in the broadest sense of the word. A man who strives for a life of charity and service is more patient, kinder, and more forgiving of the flaws of others. A charitable man sacrifices of himself to help others and seeks no recognition in return. He is humble, reverent, and generous.
PURITY
He consistently strives for purity of mind, body, and soul. The man who is pure of thought, word, and deed does not shrink from adversity or lofty goals. There is no self-pity, rationalizations, or apologies. He is moral and a gentleman in the finest sense of the word.
HONOR
He lives a life of personal integrity, thereby accruing honor. An honorable man lives up to promises made to others and to himself. A man of honor is not vain, and is willing to endure scorn or ostracism rather than conform to the pressures of peers, superiors, or the fashion of the day. He is ethical, honest, and trustworthy.
PATRIOTISM
He loves his country, remaining consistently engaged in its affairs. He seeks to know his country and to pass that knowledge on to others. He is devoted to the principles of personal freedom, justice, and civic responsibility embedded in the U.S. Constitution that have made our country. He is loyal, proud, and humble.
Thus the purpose of Alpha Sigma Phi is to Better the Man through the creation and perpetuation of brotherhood founded upon these values.
* These are the national minimum requirements. Chapters may have higher standards. Please reach out directly to the chapter to inquire about their chapter requirements.
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Colony of USC Upstate Chapter
Founded Nationally: Morgan State University, September 19, 1963
Chartered at Upstate: 2024
Symbol(s): Centaur
Color(s): Charcoal Brown & Gilded Gold
Nickname(s): Iotas, Centaurs, Outlaws, Thetamen
National Affiliation: National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
Minimum National Requirements*
Chapter Instagram: @uscupstateiotas
On September 19, 1963, at Morgan State College (now Morgan State University), 12 students founded the Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Incorporated ®, and established the following purpose: “The development and perpetuation of Scholarship, Leadership, Citizenship, Fidelity, and Brotherhood among Men.”
As Iota Phi Theta continues to grow and strengthen, so will its commitment to make meaningful contributions to society in general, with particular emphasis in the African American community. Throughout America, Iota Phi Theta ® has come to represent excellence in all areas. The Fraternity is, and shall forever remain, dedicated to its founders’ vision of Building a Tradition, Not Resting Upon One.
* These are the national minimum requirements. Chapters may have higher standards. Please reach out directly to the chapter to inquire about their chapter requirements.
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Pi Omicron Chapter
Founded Nationally: Indiana University Bloomington, January 5, 1911
Chartered at Upstate: 2009
Symbol(s): Diamond, Red Carnation, Laurel Wreath
Color(s): Crimson & Cream
Nickname(s): Kappa, Nupe
National Affiliation: National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
Minimum National Requirements*
Chapter Instagram: theprettyomazingnupes
Kappa Alpha Psi is the beautiful realization of a vision shared commonly by the late Revered Founders Elder Watson Diggs, John Milton Lee, Byron Kenneth Armstrong, Guy Levis Grant, Ezra Dee Alexander, Henry Tourner Asher, Marcus Peter Blakemore, Paul Waymond Caine, Edward Giles Irvin and George Wesley Edmonds.
It was the vision of these astute men that enabled them on Jan. 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 that 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.
The objectives of Kappa Alpha Psi 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 members
- To assist the aims and purpose of colleges and universities
- To inspire service in the public interest
Guide Right is the national service program of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and encompasses many of our youth-oriented programs such as mentoring, college-preparatory programs and tutoring. The Flagship Initiative of the Guide Right Service Program is the Kappa Leadership Development League.
* These are the national minimum requirements. Chapters may have higher standards. Please reach out directly to the chapter to inquire about their chapter requirements.
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Gamma Alpha Gamma Chapter
Founded Nationally: Howard University, January 9, 1914
Chartered at Upstate: 2007
Symbol(s): Dove & White Carnation
Color(s): Royal Blue & Pure White
Nickname(s): Sigma
National Affiliation: National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
Minimum National Requirements*
Chapter Instagram: upstatemab
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The founders, Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek-letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship and service.
The founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as “a part of” the general community rather than “apart from” the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged by his own merits, rather than his family background or affluence, without regard to race, nationality, skin tone or texture of hair. They desired for their fraternity to exist as part of an even greater brotherhood that would be devoted to the “inclusive we” rather than the “exclusive we.”
From its inception, the founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to deliver services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively for themselves and their immediate families, they held a deep conviction that they should return their newly acquired skills to the communities from which they had come. This deep conviction was mirrored in the fraternity’s motto, “Culture for Service and Service for Humanity.”
The ideals of the fraternity are crystallized into three philosophies: brotherhood; scholarship; and service. The Phi Beta Sigma programs of bigger and better Business, education and social action are realized through the fraternity’s overarching program, Sigma Wellness.
* These are the national minimum requirements. Chapters may have higher standards. Please reach out directly to the chapter to inquire about their chapter requirements.
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Alpha Delta Tau Chapter
Founded Nationally: Howard University, November 17, 1911
Chartered at Upstate: December 3, 2011
Symbol(s): Lamp
Color(s): Royal Purple & Old Gold
Nickname(s): Omega, Ques, Bruhz
National Affiliation: National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
Minimum National Requirements*
Chapter Instagram: alphadeltatau_bruhz
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. is the first international fraternal organization founded on the campus of a historically black college.
On the evening of November 17, 1911, Omega Psi Phi was founded inside the Science Building (later renamed Thirkield Hall) at Howard University located in Washington, D.C. The founders were three undergraduates — Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman. Joining them was their faculty adviser, Ernest Everett Just.
From the initials of the Greek phrase meaning, “friendship is essential to the soul“, the name Omega Psi Phi was derived. That phrase was selected as the motto.
Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift were adopted as Cardinal Principles.Throughout its history, Omega built a strong and effective force of men dedicated to its cardinal principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift. Since its humble beginnings on the Howard University campus, the Omega Psi Phi fraternity continues to be on the front line, leveraging its power, influence and more than 100 years of commitment to the uplift of our people and our communities.