Corporation (university)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)
This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (May 2007)

Corporation refers to all different kinds of fraternities and sororities worldwide.

Contents

[edit] Corporations in the USA

Main article: Fraternities and sororities

Corporations in the United States are called "fraternities" or "sororities."

[edit] Corporations in Germany

Main article: Studentenverbindung
.

German corporations, usually called Corps or Burschenschaften, are about comparable to fraternities elsewhere. The name of the corporation is usually Latinized and refers to some country, tribe, hero or area in Germany.

Burschenschaft is a political fraternity in Germany and Austria. A Corps is a non-political corporation, known in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Burschenschaften and Corps still fight duells with sharp-edged sabers. The wounds are called "Schmiss" and are distinctive marks for this type of German fraternity students.

The Katholische Studentenvereine and Katholische Studentenverbindungen, known in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, have been founded as a countermovement to Burschenschaften and Corps. They strictly refuse academic fencing as unethical.

[edit] Corporations in Austria

Sharing common roots Austrian corporations are quite similar to their German counterparts. Generally spoken Austrian corporations are much more involved with the political system of the country and therefore are much more antagonistically separated by a nationality cleavage. While catholic corporations generally are associated with the Christian conservative Austrian Peoples Party (ÖVP) and are generally pro Austrian, especially Burschenschaften are involved with the right wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) and can be characterized as German national (which generally supports a unification with Germany).

[edit] Corporations in Estonia

Corporations in Estonia are very much like those in Germany, but foxes (first year members) don't wear colours, but a black cap instead. Estonian corporations usually have a Circinus stitched to their caps. It is the combination of letters V C F C (Latin sentence Vivat, craascat, floreat corporatio ...) and the initials of the name of the Corporation. Corporations are incredibly popular in Estonia. Similar student organisations with a strong historical background, but without the name "corporation", are also commonly referred to as corporations (these mainly include student societies).

[edit] Corporations in France

Corporations in France are mostly called "bureau des élèves" or "corpo".

[edit] Corporations in England

There are very few corporations in London, all of which were founded by foreign students from the continent.

[edit] Corporations in Finland

Corporations in Finland are called in Finnish osakunta, in Swedish, nationer, in Latin, Nationes and in English, Nations. The name refers to the historical custom of the continental universities where students usually formed corporations by their nations. In Swedish universities the same practice was followed by the provinces but the name remained. The Finnish version of the name actually is an archaic form of department and is taken during the 19th century when the government tried to diminish the importance of Nations as a political arena.

It was traditionally obligatory for the students to belong to the Nations of their provinces but the requirement was abolished in 1930s. Nowadays Nations are a feature peculiar to the University of Helsinki, the oldest Finnish university. Their membership is, since 1937 voluntary and they concentrate on the student culture. There is also a Swedish-speaking Nation (Teknologföreningen) in Helsinki University of Technology. In most universities, the primary form of corporations is the association of the students of particular subject. In the universities of technology, these are called guilds.

In addition to the voluntary corporations, every Finnish university student is also required to be a member of the general student corporation of the university, the Student Union (ylioppilaskunta, studentkår) which has a power to levy a membership fee. This corporation also has the legal power to represent the students in the university administration and in all other matters. It also organizes the health care of the students.

[edit] Corporations in Italy

Corporations in Italy are called ordine goliardico.

[edit] Corporations in Latvia

Corporations in Latvia follow traditions similar to those in Germany. The first Latvian corporation, Lettonia was founded in 1870 at University of Tartu (then Dorpat). It combined beer, commercium songs and academic fencing traditions of German corporations with Latvian nationalism and a strong emphasis on Latvian culture. The first women corporation, Daugaviete, was founded in 1921 at University of Latvia. As of 2004, Latvia has 23 men and 13 women corporations, with about 10,000 members.

[edit] Corporations in Lithuania

[edit] History

The history of student Corps in Lithuania began after our country regained its independence in the beginning of 20th century. Many various student organisations were founded at that time, but corporations were unique in several aspects. Firstly, Corps established the principle of belonging only to one corporation. Also these organisations had straight ideology, followed strict traditions and discipline, were able to represent the organisation outside the academic world. During the inter-war period, Corps were the most widespread and established form of student organisations in Lithuanian universities. In 1938, there were 57 student Corps in Lithuania.

The Corps in Lithuania follow the German model: with three hierarchical member levels and control structure. The first one to bring the ideas to the country was Lithuanian national student‘s Corp! Neo-Lithuania, established in 1922. The Corps ideas of promoting national pride and patriotic thought found a tremendous response among students of that time. Neo-Lithuania was growing very quickly, and soon became the strongest and the most numerous student organisation in Lithuania.

The situation lasted until 1940, when Soviets occupied Lithuania, and suspended almost all student activities. This was the main reason, why so many Lithuanian Corps vanished. Organisations of national patriotic ideology were to suffer the most. All Corps were forbidden, many active members were sent to Siberia. Some managed to escape, fleeing abroad – to the USA, Germany, Australia, etc.

During the Soviet occupation some Corps decided to restore “in exile”. Among those was also Neo-Lithuania, which renewed its activity in the USA in 1953, and has kept the corporation ideas alive till nowadays.

With the beginning of movement for Lithuania’s independence, re-establishing of the Corps became possible. Neo-Lithuania was the first to renew its activities in 1990, and some others followed. However, the Corps movement in Lithuania has not reached the heights of the pre-war period. Today there are only about ten student Corps in Lithuania, of which only seven are active.

[edit] Corps Today

Corp! Neo-Lithuania Established in 1922 11 11 by 13 founders, who brought the idea of a student fraternity organisation from their studies in German Universities. In 1928, the ladies separated and established corp! Filiae Lithuaniae. After Soviet occupation these Corps were dispersed, and reunited to one again in the USA, seeking to strengthen each other. Today Neo-Lithuania and Filiae Lithuaniae are working together under the name of Neo-Lithuania, with a single governing body, but have retained their separate colours and insignia, as well as many traditions. Corporation unites students from all universities.

Corp! Fraternitas Lituanica Established in 1908 in St. Petersburg as an organisation of Lithuanian medical students there. Originally only males could become members. In Lithuania the corporation was registered in 1930. In 1940 forbidden by communist regime, it was reconstituted in USA. In 1975 two corps – Fraternitas Lituanica and female corporation Patria – united in exile. After re-establishing in 1991, it unites both male and female medical students.

Academic Scout Movement (corp!Vytis and the Academic Female Scout Union) Established in 1924. Members call each other “academics”. The main principles are related to the scout movement.

Corps Gaja Established in Lithuanian University in 1928. Members of Corps Gaja are members or candidates of Lithuanian Catholic Federation Ateitis and studying at Kaunas University of Medicine. Gaja was re-established in 2005, and after one year incorporated in Ateitis Federation.

Corp! Plienas Established in 1931, it unites male students from Kaunas University of Technology, who study technologic sciences.

Corps Tautito Established in 1998, in Kaunas. Unites students from Kaunas University of Technology, both male and female. Corps basically follows the principles of Christianity in it’s activities.

Corp! RePublica Created in 2001 in the Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS), Vilnius University. It incorporates students of political sciences from the IIRPS. Although Corp! RePublica is young, it is one of the most active corps in Lithuania. Corp! RePublica is not a complex of two separate Corps – it is an organisation, where men and women stand together under the same colors, the same name and the same flag.

All these Corps co-operate together. In 2006, these seven Corps met and decided to establish the Council of Lithuanian Corporations. Web page http://korp.lt was created, where corporation may publish all information about themselves and their activities, discussion forums are set up for members and so on. The above mentioned Corps organise common projects, discussions on events in political, cultural and academic life. Most corporations have established relationships with foreign Corps. Last year (2006)corp! Neo-Lithuania and corp! Republica attended BTK in Tartu.

[edit] Relevance Today

Today we have only seven active student Corps in Lithuania - unlike the other Baltic State countries Latvia and Estonia, where corporations are counted in tens. There are several reasons behind the scarcity of Corps in Lithuania. During the pre-war Independence, the only existing Lithuanian University in Vilnius fell under the Polish rule with the whole capital itself, so a new University in Kaunas had to be created. Lithuania was independent for only just over 20 years and had not enough time to build strong traditions in the academic world. Later Lithuanian student organisations were severely persecuted by the soviet regime, as most of them had a very strong national bias. Not only student organisations, but Universities themselves were substantially restructured by the soviets in Lithuania, and Vytautas Magnus Universityin in Kaunas, the cradle of most of the organisations and fraternity ideas among students, was closed and dispersed altogether. Most members of the academic community were either sent to Siberia or fled abroad, as far as the USA and Australia, and the traditions went away together with them.

Another reason why Corps movements are not so popular in Lithuania should be sought for in the strength of our student self-governing bodies in the universities. In Lithuania each university and each faculty has its student board or agency, which unites students and represents their interests, organises various seminars, festivals and other activities. So there is not much room left for other student organisations.

Nevertheless, Lithuanian student corporations are without doubt those student organisations, which kept the faith in values and principles of morality. That is why Corps, cherishing the idea of a conscious and active Lithuanian citizen – and first of all student – can make a great impact to the prosperity of our state and nation.

[edit] Corporations in the Netherlands

The first Dutch Corporation Vindicat atque Polit was established in the Dutch city of Groningen, on 4 February 1815 by Dutch students. More corporations were established soon in the cities of Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Wageningen.

During the first half of the 19th century, it was very common for every student to join such a student 'corps' (pl. corpora). At the beginning of the 20th century, more types of corporations were established, from which a great deal had religious grounds.

During World War II all corpora after not wanting to sign for the ne German law that Jewish students no longer could become member of non-commercial unions, the corpora closed down and went into clandestine existence. During the 1970s most of the corporations started to accept women as fully accepted members. Nowadays student corporations in the Netherlands are widespread. Although the corpora are still the major corporations, other corporations are gaining ground.

[edit] Corporations in Poland

Corporations in Poland also, are very much like those in Germany. The first Polish corporation (Konwent Polonia) was established in 1828 by the Polish students of the University of Dorpat. The second and third oldest corporations were established by the Polish students of the Riga Technical University: Arkonia (1879) and Welecja (1883). There were more than 100 corporations existing and established in Poland between 1918 and 1939. During the communism in Poland (1944-1989) corporations were forbidden. Today about 15 corporations continues their activity in Poland, among them all three of the oldest: Konwent Polonia (in Gdańsk), Arkonia and Welecja (in Warsaw).

[edit] Corporations in Spain

The corporations in Spain are called tuna.

[edit] External links