National APIDA Panhellenic Association

National APIDA Panhellenic Association
NAPA
Founded2005; 20 years ago (2005)
TypeTrade association
AffiliationIndependent
StatusActive
EmphasisAsian, Pacific Islander, and Desi-American fraternities and sororities
ScopeNational
Slogan"The gold standard for APIDA fraternities and sororities"
Members20 organizations active
Headquarters9703 Camino Real
Frisco, Texas
United States
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, nine fraternal organizations that 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 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 the National Asian Pacific Islander American Panhellenic Association (NAPA) and recognized the following nine organizations as charter members:[3][4]

  • 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
  • Sigma Psi Zeta

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:

Pi Alpha Phi's membership was withdrawn in October 2023 when the fraternity closed its collegiate chapters.[6]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. The 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 Symbols Type Date founded Founding location Chapters Reference
alpha Kappa Delta Phi αΚΔΦ Sorority February 7, 1990 University of California, Berkeley 63 [11]
Alpha Phi Gamma ΑΦΓ Sorority February 1, 1994 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 16
Alpha Sigma Rho ΑΣΡ Sorority April 2, 1998 University of Georgia 10
Chi Sigma Tau ΧΣΤ Fraternity September 9, 1999 University of Illinois at Chicago 9
Delta Epsilon Psi ΔΕΨ Fraternity October 1, 1998 University of Texas at Austin 35
Delta Kappa Delta ΔΚΔ Sorority October 1, 1999 Texas A&M University 15
Delta Phi Lambda ΔΦΛ Sorority December 5, 1998 University of Georgia 24
Delta Phi Omega ΔΦΩ Sorority December 6, 1998 University of Houston 49
Delta Sigma Iota ΔΣΙ Fraternity August 15, 2000 Pennsylvania State University 8
Iota Nu Delta ΙΝΔ Fraternity February 7, 1994 Binghamton University 30
Kappa Phi Gamma ΚΦΓ Sorority November 8, 1998 University of Texas at Austin 19
Kappa Phi Lambda ΚΦΛ Sorority March 9, 1995 Binghamton University 37
Kappa Pi Beta ΚΠΒ Fraternity March 16, 2000 Northern Illinois University 5
Lambda Phi Epsilon ΛΦΕ Fraternity February 25, 1981 University of California, Los Angeles 70
Pi Delta Psi ΠΔΨ Fraternity February 20, 1994 Binghamton University 31
Sigma Beta Rho ΣΒΡ Fraternity August 16, 1996 University of Pennsylvania 57
Sigma Psi Zeta ΣΨΖ Sorority March 23, 1994 University at Albany 39
Sigma Sigma Rho ΣΣΡ Sorority December 10, 1998 St. John's University 26

Former members of National APIDA or its Predecessors

Organization Symbols Type Date founded Founding location Chapters Reference
Alpha Iota Omicron ΑΙΩ Fraternity October 16, 1998 University of Michigan 6
Beta Chi Theta ΒΧΘ Fraternity June 2, 1999 University of California, Los Angeles 29
Nu Alpha Phi ΝΑΦ Fraternity March 18, 1994 State University of New York at Albany 9
Pi Alpha Phi ΠΑΦ Fraternity February 1, 1929 University of California, Berkeley 28

See also

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.