There have been a lot of urban legends that have floated around, and some are believed to be fact. Here are a few questions and answers regarding issues such as "is my pin on the moon" and so on. You can click on the links below to jump to a specific question.

1. There is a fraternity (or sorority) pin on the moon.

Not true. While Neil Armstrong did take his Phi Delta Theta badge with him on the flight, it was likely never taken out of the lunar module. The badge is on display at Phi Delta Theta headquarters in Oxford, OH, along with a document signed by Armstrong saying he took it with him to the moon. The document states, "This badge of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity was placed aboard the Apollo 11 and carried to the surface of the moon by the lunar module "Eagle" on mankind's first lunar landing, July 20, 1969." Neil A. Armstrong, Command Pilot". So a badge has been to the moon but is not ON the moon. Armstrong returned to space on another flight with a Phi Delta Theta flag.

Armstrong's first wife, Janet Shearon Armstrong, is an Alpha Chi Omega, but Armstrong also never left her badge on the moon. It is doubtful he even took it into space with him.

Other badges have gone into space:

Alpha Xi Delta - By Jan Davis
Beta Theta Pi - Unknown
Chi Omega - By Susan Helms who kept her badge with her on the Mir Space Station.
Kappa Delta - By Dr. Bonnie Dunbar
Phi Gamma Delta - By Eugene A. Cernan on Gemini 9, Apollo 11 and to the moon on Apollo 17.
Sigma Chi - John Watts Young took the badge to the moon on Apollo 16.
Sigma Kappa - By Rhea Seddon in 1985.

Flags have also gone into space:

Alpha Kappa Alpha - Dr. Mae Jemison
Sigma Chi - John Watts Young

2. The Smithsonian had a display of badges and [insert sorority name here] was chosen as the most beautiful.

While they did have a display of badges, there was never any voting on a most beautiful badge.

3. Some sororities don't have houses because of brothel laws saying that more than [enter number here] women living in a house is a brothel.

Not true.

There is no such thing as a brothel law, but there are zoning laws in some areas that prevent more than a certain number of non-family members (of either sex) from living together. A violation of that code would still not be considered a brothel, as a brothel is called such because of what goes on in one, not because of how many people live there.

From 33girl at Greekchat:

"There is no such thing as a brothel law.

There may be zoning laws prohibiting sorority houses but if you check them out they prohibit ANY large group of unrelated students living together. It has nothing to do with women or brothels. The reason men sometimes have houses and women don't is that women sometimes weren't allowed by the college to move out of the dorms in the olden days - or the colleges were all male - so the men sucked up all the available land. By the time the college OKed the women moving out, no land was available.

Plus, Panhel regulations won't let one group get housing without all of them getting it (if it is sanctioned housing). THIS is most likely what prevents campuses from gettting sorority houses nowadays. There isn't enough room to move everyone out at the same time.

ZONING LAWS ARE NOT BROTHEL LAWS."

The fallacious brothel law is such an urban legend that Snopes.com features it on the site and they have yet to see actual proof of any brothel law.

4. Dr. Seuss' 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' has Sig Ep and Sigma Kappa secrets in it, because he was a Sigma Phi Epsilon and his wife a Sigma Kappa.

Dr. Suess (Theodore Geisel) was a Sigma Phi Epsilon at Dartmouth. Since I am not one, I can't tell you if there are secrets in the movie or not.

His wife however, was never a Sigma Kappa according to their headquarters, so any secrets in the movie for Sigma Kappa are just coincidence. And if you think about, if it was true, she would have had to have told her husband the secrets in order to have them included.

5. The Library of Congress has copies of every fraternity and sorority ritual.

Not true. They actually get so many people calling them about this they have a form letter that they send out to anyone who asks. They have no secret college rituals in their collection.

There have been occasions however, where people have turned over rituals to researchers. From kmullini at Greekchat:

"There HAVE been at least two incidents where fraternities turned over rituals or esoteric information to a central body or person. In 1924, the National Interfraternity Conference's Committee on Fraternity Ideals sent out a confidential questionnaire to member fraternities asking specific questions about their rituals. And, for his 1979 Ph.D. dissertation, Bobby McMinn sent out requests to 67 fraternities for copies of their rituals, agreeing to provide anonymity for participating fraternities. McMinn got 22 rituals in response and used them as source material for an interesting content analysis."

6. There are websites out there revealing the secret rituals of some sororities and fraternities.

While these websites do pop up from time to time, the information in them is questionable at best. Anyone could claim they are true or false.

7. A sorority or fraternity did something so awful they are banned from campus until all of their former members are dead.

Not true. This rumor seems to float around about Ohio University, and Washington and Lee on a regular basis.

8. [Insert celebrity name here] is a member of [insert sorority/fraternity name].

Lots of celebrities get credited with being in an organization they were never in. Many collegiate websites incorrectly list a celebrity because they "heard" the person was in their sorority and they didn't check to verify it. The only way to find out is to look at the official websites of each organization. Some celebrities may have pledged a sorority but never initiated and other real celebrity members may have initiated under their real name and not stage name and may be hard to verify. Here's a short list of celebs commonly mistaken for Greeks or attributed to the wrong organization, listed alphabetically by last name:

Kirstie Alley - She is not a Gamma Phi Beta.
Courteney Cox Arquette - She actually moved away from the South for school to avoid the pressure of joining a sorority.

Delta Burke - Her character on Designing Women was a Pi Beta Phi, but the actress was not in a sorority.

Cindy Crawford - Rumors that she was a Pi Beta Phi pledge are not true.
Betty Crocker - She wasn't a real person, but made up for the ad campaign. The author of the Betty Crocker cookbooks is Alpha Delta Pi Agnes White Tizard.

Farrah Fawcett - The book "From Here to Fraternity" says she was a pledge of Delta Delta Delta, but never initiated.

Faith Hill - Never went to college.

Ron Jeremy - The porn star was initiated by a Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter and his name is on the scroll, but the international office refused to recognize him.

Donna Karan - She is not a Delta Phi Epsilon.
Kourtney Kardashian - Sometimes claimed by Alpha Phi, she was never in a sorority.
Grace Kelly - Sometimes claimed by Delta Delta Delta, it isn't true.
Anne Klein - She's not an ADPi. The rumor continues because she uses the lion in her designs ... because she's a Leo, not an ADPi or Phi Mu.
Carole King - The singer is not an Alpha Gamma Delta.

Heather Locklear - Both Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta websites (not official sites) have claimed she pledged but never initiated. Neither is true.

Dave Matthews - He didn't attend university and is not in a fraternity.
Jenny McCarthy - Went to college but wasn't Greek.
Bette Midler - Some sites claim she is a Delta Phi Epsilon, but she attended college in Hawaii and dropped out - there are no DPhiE chapters in HI.
Elizabeth Montgomery - She was not a Gamma Phi Beta.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - A rumor claims she pledged Phi Mu but dropped out, it's not true.
Sandra Day O'Connor - I've seen her claimed by Kappa Alpha Theta, Alpha Delta Pi & Pi Beta Phi, but she isn't. Her mother is a Gamma Phi Beta.

Sarah Jessica Parker - She is not Greek. She has been asked in person and verified this.

Julia Roberts - Some sites claim she is an honorary Phi Mu because of her work in Steel Magnolias, but this is not true.

Brooke Shields - She is not Greek.
Elisabeth Shue - Sometimes claimed as a Pi Beta Phi, there was never a chapter at her alma mater of Harvard.
Jane Seymour - She's British and went to school in England, so no.
Carly Simon - She isn't claimed by Alpha Gamma Delta headquarters.
Jodie Sweetin - The Full House actress pledged Alpha Phi at Chapman University, but wasn't initiated according to her autobiography.

Tiffani Amber Thiessen - Claimed as a Zeta Tau Alpha sometimes, she never attended college.

Raquel Welch - She's not an AGD, or a member of any sorority.
Betty White - Didn't attend college, so she's not a Delta Zeta or Alpha Gam. (Her Golden Girls co-star Rue McClanahan is a Kappa Alpha Theta & McClanahan's character Blanche was an AGD).
Heather Whitestone - The former Miss America pledged Alpha Omicron Pi, but never initiated, according to her autobiography.
Oprah Winfrey - She had interest in an NPHC sorority, but wasn't invited to pledge. She was later extended an honorary membership to the same group, but declined, because she was aware her membership could draw people to one specific group, and didn't want to influence membership in that way.

9. Phi and Xi are pronounced differently because of vowels, feminine/masculine, it's in the middle of a word...

The real reason that Phi and Xi are pronounced differently by some groups is that some organizations choose to use the more correct Greek pronunciations of the words (FEE and ZEE) while most choose to use the Anglicized pronunciations (FIE and ZIE). 

10. Chi Omega is the 2nd largest women's organization after the Girl Scouts.

Not true. There are many organizations that are larger in membership, including Delta Sigma Theta, Beta Sigma Phi and Junior League.

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