National APIDA Panhellenic Association

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]

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

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.

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.[6]

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.[7]

Member organizations

The alphabetical list of NAPA member fraternities and sororities. [8][9]

Organization NameGreek LettersChaptersDate FoundedPlace FoundedNotes
alpha Kappa Delta Phi sororityαΚΔΦ63February 7, 1990University of California, Berkeley[10]
Alpha Phi Gamma sororityΑΦΓ16February 1, 1994California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Alpha Sigma Rho sororityΑΣΡ10April 2, 1998University of Georgia
Beta Chi Theta fraternityΒΧΘ29June 2, 1999University of California, Los Angeles
Chi Sigma Tau fraternityΧΣΤ9September 9, 1999University of Illinois at Chicago
Delta Epsilon Psi fraternityΔΕΨ35October 1, 1998University of Texas at Austin
Delta Kappa Delta sororityΔΚΔ15October 1, 1999Texas A&M University
Delta Phi Lambda sororityΔΦΛ24December 5, 1998University of Georgia
Delta Phi Omega sororityΔΦΩ49December 6, 1998University of Houston
Delta Sigma Iota fraternityΔΣΙ8August 15, 2000Pennsylvania State University
Iota Nu Delta fraternityΙΝΔ30February 7, 1994Binghamton University
Kappa Phi Gamma sororityΚΦΓ19November 8, 1998University of Texas at Austin
Kappa Phi Lambda sororityΚΦΛ37March 9, 1995Binghamton University
Kappa Pi Beta fraternityΚΠΒ5March 16, 2000Northern Illinois University
Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternityΛΦΕ70February 25, 1981University of California, Los Angeles
Pi Alpha Phi fraternityΠΑΦ28February 1, 1929University of California, Berkeley
Pi Delta Psi fraternityΠΔΨ31February 20, 1994Binghamton University
Sigma Beta Rho fraternityΣΒΡ57August 16, 1996University of Pennsylvania
Sigma Psi Zeta sororityΣΨΖ39March 23, 1994University at Albany
Sigma Sigma Rho sororityΣΣΡ26December 10, 1998St. John's University

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. Jones, LaMont (August 24, 2018). "New Semester, Old Challenges for Fraternities, Sororities". Diverse Issues in Higher Education. CMA. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  7. Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors - Essentials E-Magazine September 2019
  8. From the NAPA website, list of organizations, accessed 12 Jun 2021.
  9. 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..
  10. alpha Kappa Delta Phi prefers that the leading "alpha" in their name not be capitalized.
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