Thank you, oldu, for another fascinating bit of history!! I had always wondered why we weren't at U of Maryland anymore.

Many thanks, especially, for more information about our beloved sister, Mary Love Collins--she was one heck of a woman (not to mention one heck of a Chi Omega!!). :)

Now, in some ways I agree with you, but remember that many of the NPC sororities were formed by very young women who were looking for equality but weren't capable of leading the campaign. Also, many people in the Women's suffrage movement disagreed on the appropriate path to obtain equality. While a few women were militant in their attempts to push change, many women believed that the race for equality was best won through education. This is the path chosen by the NPC sororities founded before 1920. Of course, some NPC groups were founded for other reasons including religious inclusion. NPC sororities, therefore, did participate actively in women's suffrage by encouraging women to get an education and become well rounded women who were interested in working in the community rather than just wives and mothers with no more than a grade school education.
NPHC groups however had a different mindset from the beginning. I think they should be commended for their activism, but downplaying the NPCs involvement in the equality movement is not fair.

Of course, since the "word" Ms. wasn't coined until the 1960s or 70s, she might have been confused to see herself called Ms. Collins. (On the other hand, if she was Southern, she probably wouldn't be confused to hear it, since "Mrs." is typically pronounced "Miz" in the South. :D)

Really? Hmmmm.

A few? :(

Yes, that was an approach taken by many women, in general. So was this part of a larger sorority initiative or did the women who ended up in college just so happen to found or join sororities? There's a difference.

Some of you are acting shortsighted and dense.

Once again, there were NPC, NPHC and nonaffiliated women involved in the equality movement in various ways at the local and national levels. Including and beyond their campuses. If that acknowledgement is "downplaying the NPC's involvement" rather than challenging us to acknowledge and discuss the NPC's (NPHC's and sororities', in general) involvement then you all are really special.

I hope a nice Alpha Phi will chime in here on the contributions of Frances Willard and how she influenced Alpha Phi.

The women's movement for equality had the support of important and influential men as well. Of note to Gamma Phis is Dr. Erastus O. Haven, father of our founder Frances E. Haven. He was a senator from Massachusetts, a pastor, and educator who became the president of the Univ of Michigan. He left Michigan to become the president of Northwestern Univ, where Frances Willard was the Dean of the separate women's college. Dr Haven accepted the position of president at Northwestern on the condition that Northwestern become a co-educational institution, which it did, under the collaboration of Dr Haven and Frances Willard. In 1872 Dr Haven became the Secretary for the Board of Education for the Methodist-Episcopal Church and he fought for women to be allowed to enroll at the Methodist colleges. In 1874 he became the Chancellor of Syracuse University and enrolled his daughter Frances, who founded Gamma Phi Beta with three friends that fall.

The very earliest Alpha Phis and Gamma Phis at Syracuse must have been keenly aware of the activities of Susan B Anthony, who was tried and convicted in 1873 in New York for illegally voting in the 1872 presidential election.

From what I've seen so far, DSTchaos or ladygreek (or the other NPHC greeks) have not put down the NPCs involvement in anything.

When you have a thread that states "the first sorority to demand equal rights" and then goes on to talk about one person in one sorority (and an NPC sorority), it is very misleading.

When I first saw this thread I thought it would be about an NPHC sorority... but of course I didn't notice that oldu was the creator.

Ahhh ok thanks! I have to admit that I never quite knew the proper use. Also, I think it's really cool that her friends called her "Mary Love" :)

LOL. You crack me up, MC.

Pi Beta Phi had a famous early feminist, Carrie Chapman Catt, who founded the League of Women's Voters. I know that she was quite well known at the University of Iowa; I believe that there is a building named after her. I did a paper on her a few years ago, I should remember more because it impressed my fem theory prof. I was just excited to know that there was a Pi Phi involved in the movement.

I've brought her up before and I'll bring her up again, Emily Helen Butterfield, an Alpha Gamma Delta Founder, was all about breaking down boundaries. She was just a super cool lady. Excerpts from wikipedia (I know there are other sources, this one's quickest): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Helen_Butterfield

Emily Helen Butterfield (b. 1884, Algonac, Michigan - d. March 22, 1958, Neebish Island) was a pioneer in the Michiganwomen's movement.

Butterfield had a big impact on her fraternity and Greek life, as noted in the 2004 Alpha Gamma Delta Centennial Keynote Address:
"In the United States in 1900, three-quarters of the states forbade married women to own property in their name. In 1909, the members of Alpha Gamma Delta overlooked the statistic and planned ahead by starting a house fund in hopes of purchasing their own home. In 1928, they challenged the societal constraints once again by not only purchasingbut building the first house — and we all know the name of the architect — Emily Helen Butterfield."[4]

I would say the proper use is more that one uses Miss, Mrs. or Ms. depending on the preference of the woman in question. Using Ms. is usually a safe bet if one doesn't know whether the woman in question is married, and Ms. is almost universal in business situations now, but I know plenty of women -- married and unmarried -- who do not like being addressed as Ms. (As I said earlier, though, in many parts of the South, it's not really much of a difference when spoken, since Mrs. is usually pronounced miz.)

I do, though, think it is very odd to use Ms. for someone who lived before the word was even coined. I was wrong, though, when I said that it was coined in the 1960s or 70s. I checked, and apparently it dates back to the early 1950s, although it was not popularized until the 70s.

Who is downplaying the NPC's involvement in the equality movement? If anything the OP did that by the title and substance of the post.

Psst - Carrie Chapman Catt was a member of Iowa Gamma (chartered as Mu chapter of IC Sorosis/Pi Beta Phi) at Iowa State Agricultural College, now known as Iowa State University. Catt hall is a lovely old building that houses Liberal Arts and Sciences and has a beautiful engraved brick "Plaza of Heroines."

Definitely *not* the University of Iowa, as any good Iowa State grad will tell you. ;) :p

There has never been agreement on "the appropriate path to obtain equality" in any movement, but this is not a barrier to action. Improving the lives of women through education and community involvement applied to NPHC sororities as well, but they were not limited to it. And as critical as it may be, this kind of progress alone does not change unjust laws. It is not unfair to acknowledge the reality that NPHC sororities as organizations have focused more on equal rights.

I agree with you in theory, but this thread had gotten a little dismissive of the NPC.
This quote in particular was offensive, "On an organizational level, it isn't enough to just exist. It isn't even enough to just be able to boast that one of your chapters was able to get equal ironing and smoking rights on campus."

While stronger activism got women the right to vote, it did not automatically give us the respect of men as peers. Education, however, has proven to men that women are equal to them academically. NPC organizations were founded by women bent on getting an education. Many were in teacher's colleges because this was the only "appropriate" profession for women at the time. Later founders were the first to break into the male only facilities of higher education. They founded our groups to empower the women looking for equality to stand up for themselves against the all male faculty who often were not receptive to their appearance on the scene. Just because as groups we worked at the level of the individual woman does not mean that we were not activists in the equality movement. Marching and signing up for initiatives doesn't do the enitre job and you know it. There are many people in the women's rights and civil rights movements that worked for equality at home on the local level without marching in washington (for civil rights) or boycotting the White House (for women's rights.)