 In 1841 , two factions of the United Fraternity split off from the literary society . One of the new societies called itself Omega Phi and on May 10 , 1842 , obtained a charter as the Zeta chapter of Psi Upsilon . The other faction to split from the United Fraternity organized itself on July 13 , 1842 , as Kappa Kappa Kappa , a local fraternity . More Greek organizations were founded , and by 1855 , 64 % of students , mostly upperclassmen , were members of the Greek letter societies on campus . Initially , the original Greek letter societies would not extend invitations of membership to first year students . Two separate Greek letter organizations were created exclusively for freshmen : Kappa Sigma Epsilon and Delta Kappa . These societies would dissolve in 1883 , when the fraternities of the upper classes began to pledge freshmen . A chapter of Phi Beta Kappa survived at Dartmouth , but by the 1830s had established its role as a strictly literary society by dropping requirements of secrecy for membership and activities . The new , social Greek organizations distinguished themselves from Phi Beta Kappa and the previous literary societies in several ways . The new fraternities were self @-@ selective and exclusive . Each organization developed its own secret rituals and procedures . Most of the societies began to invest in creating their own meeting halls , either upstairs rooms in buildings on Main Street , or free @-@ standing structures near campus . There were 11 active Greek organizations at Dartmouth College in 1900 . [ a ] 
