National APIDA Panhellenic Association
AbbreviationNAPA
Founded2005
TypeTrade association
Location
Membership
20 Organizations
Websitewww.napahq.org

The National APIDA Panhellenic Association (NAPA) is an umbrella council for twenty Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American fraternities and sororities (Greek Letter organizations) in universities in the United States.[1]

History

In the summer of 2004, 9 fraternal organizations which served Asian and Pacific Islander students at US schools came together to form what was then called the APIA Greek Alliance (AGA), a partnership with APIA Vote aimed at registering voters in advance of the 2004 United States elections. These nine organizations were alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Iota Omicron, Delta Phi Lambda, Lambda Phi Epsilon, Kappa Phi Lambda, Nu Alpha Phi, Pi Alpha Phi, Pi Delta Psi, and Sigma Psi Zeta.[2]

The success of this partnership led to additional collaboration. The AGA hosted the first ever leadership summit in the summer of 2005 with support from OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates. By the end of this summit, the fraternities and sororities present formed the North American Greek Council (NAGC) which comprised the following seven organizations: alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Phi Gamma, Delta Phi Lambda, Pi Alpha Phi, Pi Delta Psi, Sigma Beta Rho, and Sigma Psi Zeta.

In 2006, the NAGC formalized its constitution and renamed itself to the National APIA Panhellenic Association or National Asian Pacific Islander American Panhellenic Association (NAPA) and recognized the following 9 organization as charter members: alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Phi Gamma, Delta Phi Lambda, Delta Kappa Delta, Kappa Phi Lambda, Pi Alpha Phi, Pi Delta Psi, Sigma Beta Rho and Sigma Psi Zeta.[3][4]

In 2017, the member organizations unanimously voted to add Desi to its formal name, a word describing people from the Indian subcontinent or South Asia, and in doing so adopted the acronym APIDA, to explicitly reflect their service of groups with South Asian membership. NAPA remains the preferred abbreviation.[5] The organizations at the time were alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Phi Gamma, Beta Chi Theta , Chi Sigma Tau, Delta Epsilon Psi, Delta Phi Lambda, Delta Kappa Delta, Delta Phi Omega, Delta Sigma Iota, Iota Nu Delta, Kappa Phi Gamma, Kappa Phi Lambda, Lambda Phi Epsilon, Pi Alpha Phi, Pi Delta Psi, Sigma Beta Rho, Sigma Psi Zeta, and Sigma Sigma Rho. Pi Alpha Phi's membership was withdrawn in October 2023 when the fraternity closed its collegiate chapters.[6]

NAPA has worked with peer organizations like NALFO, NMGC, NIC, NPC and NPHC on legislative issues. For example, in 2018 they successfully opposed legislation that would ban Greek life across all colleges and universities in Tennessee.[7]

Membership Requirements

APIDA requires that its members (organizations) meet Fraternal Information and Programming Group (FIPG) guidelines in Risk management, hazing, and liability insurance. They decision to do so was made in 2006 with then-current groups allowed two years to meet these requirements.[8]

Member organizations

The alphabetical list of NAPA member fraternities and sororities. [9][10]

Organization Name Greek Letters Chapters Date Founded Place Founded Notes
alpha Kappa Delta Phi sorority αΚΔΦ 63 February 7, 1990 University of California, Berkeley [11]
Alpha Phi Gamma sorority ΑΦΓ 16 February 1, 1994 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Alpha Sigma Rho sorority ΑΣΡ 10 April 2, 1998 University of Georgia
Chi Sigma Tau fraternity ΧΣΤ 9 September 9, 1999 University of Illinois at Chicago
Delta Epsilon Psi fraternity ΔΕΨ 35 October 1, 1998 University of Texas at Austin
Delta Kappa Delta sorority ΔΚΔ 15 October 1, 1999 Texas A&M University
Delta Phi Lambda sorority ΔΦΛ 24 December 5, 1998 University of Georgia
Delta Phi Omega sorority ΔΦΩ 49 December 6, 1998 University of Houston
Delta Sigma Iota fraternity ΔΣΙ 8 August 15, 2000 Pennsylvania State University
Iota Nu Delta fraternity ΙΝΔ 30 February 7, 1994 Binghamton University
Kappa Phi Gamma sorority ΚΦΓ 19 November 8, 1998 University of Texas at Austin
Kappa Phi Lambda sorority ΚΦΛ 37 March 9, 1995 Binghamton University
Kappa Pi Beta fraternity ΚΠΒ 5 March 16, 2000 Northern Illinois University
Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity ΛΦΕ 70 February 25, 1981 University of California, Los Angeles
Pi Delta Psi fraternity ΠΔΨ 31 February 20, 1994 Binghamton University
Sigma Beta Rho fraternity ΣΒΡ 57 August 16, 1996 University of Pennsylvania
Sigma Psi Zeta sorority ΣΨΖ 39 March 23, 1994 University at Albany
Sigma Sigma Rho sorority ΣΣΡ 26 December 10, 1998 St. John's University

Former members of National APIDA or its Predecessors

Organization Name Greek Letters Chapters Date Founded Place Founded Notes
Alpha Iota Omicron ΑΙΩ 6 October 16, 1998 University of Michigan
Beta Chi Theta fraternity ΒΧΘ 29 June 2, 1999 University of California, Los Angeles
Nu Alpha Phi ΝΑΦ 9 March 18, 1994 State University of New York at Albany
Pi Alpha Phi fraternity ΠΑΦ 28 February 1, 1929 University of California, Berkeley

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ National APIDA Panhellenic Association Archives – Student Life and Culture Archives – U of I Library, accessed 12 Jun 2021.
  2. ^ Brian Gee; Hannah Seoh (2020). Pietro A. Sasso; J. Patrick Biddix; Mónica Lee Miranda (eds.). Supporting Fraternities and Sororities in the Contemporary Era: Advancements in Practice. Myers Education Press. pp. 225–232. ISBN 978-1-975502-70-6.
  3. ^ Sasso, P. A.; Miranda, M. L. (2019). Foundations, Research, and Assessment of Fraternities and Sororities: Retrospective and Future Considerations (1 ed.). Stylus Publishing, LLC. pp. Section: History of Asian American GreekLetter Organizations. ISBN 9781975502669. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  4. ^ Founding and organizational information from the NAPA website, accessed 12 Jun 2021.
  5. ^ Noted in a 2016 press release, accessed 12 Jun 2012.
  6. ^ Shah, Suhani (2023-10-15). "NAPA Announces Departure of Pi Alpha Phi Fraternity, Inc". National APIDA Panhellenic Association. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  7. ^ Jones, LaMont (August 24, 2018). "New Semester, Old Challenges for Fraternities, Sororities". Diverse Issues in Higher Education. CMA. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  8. ^ Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors - Essentials E-Magazine September 2019
  9. ^ From the NAPA website, list of organizations, accessed 12 Jun 2021.
  10. ^ William Raimond Baird; Carroll Lurding (eds.). "Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities (Baird's Manual Online Archive), main page. Most NAPA fraternities and sororities are listed; send in a correction with the appropriate details if not". Student Life and Culture Archives. University of Illinois: University of Illinois Archives. Retrieved 31 December 2021..
  11. ^ alpha Kappa Delta Phi prefers that the leading "alpha" in their name not be capitalized.
Categories