i believe that SAE had a women initiatied. her name was Lucy Pattie. all the guys were going out to fight in war and they gave her everything to keep (documents and rituals) until they come back. she was told not to give it back to anyone unless they can give her the hand shake. she is believed to be the only women.

There are actually a couple of instances that I read about...I will try to find the article/book and see if I can post a little bit of that here.

In the past, a number of men were initiated or helped found some women's organizations, and thus have been held with special status in those groups, i.e. "founder" "initiated member", etc.

George Banta (Phi Delta Theta) was initiated in Delta Gamma to help them with their northern expansion....according to Baird's Maual, " A chance meeting between a Mississippi Phi Delt and a fraternity brother from the north , George Banta, brought about the imporant move by Delta Gamma onto campuses in the Midwest. Mr. Banta was initiated by Delta Gamma's Psi chapter in 1878 and deputized to install a chapter at Franklin College. His fiancee, Lillie Vawter, was a charter member of this gorup. The couplpe provided contacts and encouragement, for a number of other early chapters in the region."

Dr. Guy Potter Benton, President of Miami Univ. of Ohio (Phi Delta Theta) according to the Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, "Delta Zeta had the acitive assistance of Dr. Guy Potter Benton, president of Miami, and past national president of Phi Delta Theta. Because of his continued interest, Dr. Benton was made grand patron."

SAE did initiate Lucy Pattie, and I have heard of a couple of other male orgs...and will try to get a little more info.

Thanks for listening.

don't forget Jefferson Davis

DU debated the issue of female members in the 1970's. The vote went overwhelmingly against female members. The vote in 1972 was 15 chapters in favor 39 against, in 1974 the vote was 10 chapters in favor 51 against (Conflict, Challange and Change The one Hundred Fifty Year History of Delta Upsilon,1984).
The University of Chicago Chapter proposed coed membership and may have sub rosa initiated one or two females.
The Alpha Delta Phi Society is Coed.

Opie25, thanks for mentioning this. I'd like to add a little to it. Dr. Benton assisted our founders in writing our ritual. However, he was never initiated into Delta Zeta. We hold him in high esteem for his support of our organization in its earliest stages, and he holds a permanent spot in our history book because of that. :)

There are 236 female Sinfonians, all alumnae. This results from Phi Mu Alpha's history as a social, then a professional, and then a social fraternity. The short version of the story is like this.

In the 1970's, Phi Mu Alpha called itself a professional fraternity. As a result of Title IX (passed in 1972, and which prohibited, upon risk of losing federal funds, educational institutions from sheltering single-sex organizations, except for social groups like social GLO's), many chapters of Phi Mu Alpha found themselves under pressure from their sheltering instututions to admit women or lose affiliation. At the 1976 National Assembly, after a great deal of passionate debate, the Fraternity amended its governing documents to allow individual chapters to amend their by-laws so as to initiate women, while at the same time affirming that Phi Mu Alpha would continue to operate as a body oriented toward a male membership.

The three main music sororities took different routes. Mu Phi Epsilon and Delta Omicron decided to go co-ed nationally. Sigma Alpha Iota, on the other hand, appealed the federal Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare's determination that it had to go co-ed, and ultimately received from HEW an exemption from Title IX.

In 1977, Phi Mu Alpha declared a moratorium on further female initiations until the Fraternity could seek an exemption similar to the one granted SAI. For a variety of reasons, that exemption was not received until 1983. At the next National Assembly in 1985, the Fraternity voted both to officially return to single-sex status and to officially return the Fraternity to status as a social fraternity.

Between 19776 and 1985, 22 chapters -- usually chapters in true danger of being kicked-off their campuses -- initiated 236 women. All of these women were "legally" initiated and are considered true Sinfonian alums.

After 1985, one chapter sought exemption from the Fraternity's single-sex status because of state laws (South Dakota); by the time the situation could be worked out (an exemption from the co-ed requirement under state law), the conflict had already done in the chapter. One other chapter (and all of its active members) were expelled from the Fraternity in 1986 when the chapter initiated women after explicitly being told it could not do so.

Okay, that was a longer version of the story than I intended. :)

Just a little more info. The Alpha Delta Phi Society is a literary society and is an off-shoot of Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity -- a number of ADF chapters were allowed to divide from the fraternity in 1992 and form a parallel organization that would have the local option of initiating women. Together, the fraternity and the society form Alpha Delta Phi International, Inc.

I thought that Mu Phi Epsilon & Delta Omicron were single-sex (women). Did they eventually receive the same or a similar expemtion as SAI & Sinfonia?

Just curious since Phi Beta is a fellow NIMC member & I think I should know these things. ;) (Although we're not restricted to music).

Incidentally, Title IX is the reason that we went coed (originally women only). I can't imagine not having the guys be part of my fraternity experience!

No. I don't think MFE or DO even sought an exemption; they simply went co-ed nationally. There may be some chapters that have no male members, but they are both co-ed fraternities.

I can't speak for SAI, but Phi Mu Alpha's situation helped in obtaining the exemption: we were founded as a social fraternity and Title IX (among other things) prompted a return to those roots; our principles and activities have never focused on professional development or support, and perhaps most importantly we have never restricted membership to music majors/minors, nor do we require that members even take a music class. There are chapters of Sinfonia with no music majors/minors. Ours is simply a fraternity where one of the strong, foundational ties that binds us together is our love of music and belief in the power of music as a uniting force.

As for the co-ed experience, to each his or her own. I'm glad we rejected designation as a professional fraternity (and rejected being a co-ed fraternity) and have returned to our roots. While a co-ed, professional Sinfonia might have been a great organization in its own right, it would not have been the fraternity that our founders envisioned, nor would it have provided the fraternity experience that means so much to my brothers and me.

Just my $0.02.

Thanks for the info, Mystic Cat! And just to clarify, I didn't mean to imply that coed GLOs are better than single-sex. Only that I can't imagine my GLO without the men in it, even thought that's how it used to be!

Hello, this thread was brought to my attention today. I am a 1990 graduate of the university mentioned in this comment and I would like to correct the factual inaccuracies concerning the end of the Phi Gamma Delta chapter and the beginning of the Yuai Community. Contrary to the account above, the local chapter collectively deactivated and ended their fraternity charter in response to actions by the national organization and other Fiji chapters in the country at the time. The former Fijis reorganized the house as a co-ed community. The deactivation was a decision made by the local members, not by nationals. I was one of the first women to become a member and move into the house for that year (1987-88). The student government and the university president made it impossible for the Yuais to remain in their house at the end of the year, and the group moved on to become a campus organization that promoted community, diversity, and tolerance. The Yuais also worked to found a co-op house which opened some years later and became independent of the Yuais in order to have an open membership. The Yuais in the late 80s rejected fraternity rituals, initiations, and hazing. None of our organized events resembled orgies, although perhaps that would have improved attendance at our meetings. I personally did not engage in the activities described above. Many of my friends who are Yuais, past and present, have never engaged in those activities. I do not intend to take part in a debate about this here as this will be my only post, but felt the record needed to be set straight.

In case you would like to see a contemporary version my account or read a true story about a fraternity going co-ed, you can read some the reporting of these events at the time by the student newspaper, linked to this site.

Like any student newspaper, this newspaper is also available to anyone who takes the time to look in the periodicals section of the university library. Please check your sources next time. Good bye and good luck.

I don't know about the rest of Psi Upsilon, but I can say that their Georgia Tech chapter is co-ed. (link)

Psi U is not co-ed nationwide.

There used to be one on GC who said chapters were given quite a bit of autonomy.

-Rudey

I thought the Sinfonians at WIU, Kappa Psi, used to require that everyone took at least 1 music class a semester, whether it be Theory or marching band, whatever, just as long as it was music. Although, it could have been a local by-law.