Wikipedia:WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities/Notability

This page provides a guideline of how the concept of notability applies to topics related to fraternities, sororities, and other Greek letter organizations. Principles desicrbed here may also apply to college Secret societies and student clubs.

Important note: Failing to satisfy the notability guidelines is not a criterion for speedy deletion. However, an article on an fraternity or sorority that does not indicate that the subject of the article is important or significant can be speedily deleted under criterion A7, or {{Db-club}}. A mere claim of significance, even if contested, may avoid speedy deletion under A7, requiring a full Proposed deletion or Articles for Deletion process to determine if the article should be included in Wikipedia.

Many who spend significant time improving Wikipedia's fraternity and sorority coverage feel that notability is required for such topics to deserve an encyclopedia article. Please note that the failure to meet any of these criteria does not mean an article must be deleted; conversely, meeting any of these criteria does not mean that an article must be kept. These are merely rules of thumb used by some editors when deciding whether or not to keep an article that is on articles for deletion.

In order to meet Wikipedia's standards for verifiability and notability, the article in question must actually document that the criterion is true. It is not enough to make vague claims in the article or assert a band's importance on a talk page or AfD page – the article itself must document notability.

See also Notability (people) for notability guidelines for biography articles in general.

Criteria for fraternities and sororities

A fraternity or sorority may be notable if it meets at least one of the following criteria:

1. Has been the subject of multiple, non-trivial, published works appearing in sources that are reliable, not self-published, and are independent from the fraternity or sorority itself or a chapter thereof.
   • This criterion includes published works in all forms, such as newspaper articles, books, magazine articles, online versions of print media, and television documentaries except for the following:
     • Any publication that was created by the fraternity or sorority, whether it comes from an individual chapter or central authority. This includes any and all press releases, alumni magazines, or books of ritual. This includes any book or monograph published by the fraternity or sorority.
     • Articles in a school or university newspaper, website, or yearbook. This applies whether the content was produced by the students, administrations, or the local chapter on campus. Such local coverage do not indicate that the subject of the article has gained attention "by the world at large."

Secondary considerations

The following are secondary considerations that may indicate that a fraternity or sorority is notable:

1. Has been recognized by a national Greek umbrella organization. In nations where such organization exist, the lack of official recognition by these bodies is an indication that the fraternity or sorority is not notable.
2. Has a national organization to manage the regulate the affairs of local chapters.
3. Has more than 20 chapters worldwide. Small fraternities and sororities are less likely to be notable. While there are exceptions, single-chapter fraternities and sororities are almost never notable.