"Southern" Sororities?
 

I was reading some old posts abour rush in the south and large southern sororities. Some sororities that were listed I don't consider southern (I'm not saying they aren't good, I'm just saying that I'm not very familiar with them even though I'm born and raised in a southern college town) and sororities that I would say have a strong southern base were left of of these lists. So I got curious and want to know what y'all consider traditionally southern sororites and why.

I'll start with my list.
Phi Mu
Chi-O
Kappa
Theta
ADPi

I chose these sororities because it seems like a lot of girls at my high school end up in one of these houses, a lot of mom's are from these sororities, and they seem to be at a lot of traditionally southern schools.

Anyways, I'm curious to see what y'all think

Oh, I wanted to add that I know these sororities aren't necassarily the most "popular" sororities on every campus. I'm not even saying these sororities are the most popular sorority any where, I'm just curious to see what different sororities y'all think have a strong sourthern back growned

I'd add TriDelt, KD, DG, ZTA, and Pi Phi. Maybe some others too. The best thing that you can do is to drop preconceptions, and be open minded when you go through rush.

What Russ said!

While some are known as "Old South", check out Web sites and see where some were actually Founded. Try greekpages.com for one.

Most if not all GLOs are located and strongest in certain areas.

But, each Chapter and School or unto themselves.

Some of the preconeptions can be very misleading. :)

Chi-O I consider southern because they were founded in the south, as well as ZTA. I don't consider Tri Delta southern because we were founded in Boston, but we do have a lot of chapters in the south.

Delta Gamma was founded in Mississippi, which is pretty Southern! :)

The reason why I listed TriDelt (and Pi Phi) is because even though it was not founded there, TriDelt is wide spread in the South, and every single chapter, of which I'm aware, is very, very strong in that region.

Mini hijack, sidebar....
 

In the Southern Belle Primer Book, the sorority chapter is a relatively short read, but the sororities that are mentioned by name in the book are:

Chi Omega
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Alpha Theta
Pi Beta Phi
Delta Delta Delta
Phi Mu

I was kind of surprised that Alpha Delta Pi and Delta Gamma aren't mentioned by name in the book, given that they were both founded in Southern locales.

Just chiming in to reinforce what PhiPsiRuss and Tom Earp said about preconceptions. And to add:

Founded in the South:

Alpha Delta Pi - GA
Alpha Sigma Alpha - VA
Chi Omega - Arkansas
Delta Gamma - Mississippi
Kappa Delta -VA
Phi Mu - GA
Sigma Sigma Sigma -VA
Zeta Tau Alpha - VA

Some NPC sororities accepted certain chapters of small regional southern sororities (Alpha Kappa Psi and Phi Mu Gamma, for example) in the early part of the 20th century (roughly, in the 1900's and 19-teens) AND some southern chapters of Alpha Sigma Alpha and Sigma Sigma Sigma were released to other sororities when ASA and SSS restricted themselves to "teachers' colleges." Two sororities especially were able to gain a southern presence relatively early in those ways:

Delta Delta Delta
Pi Beta Phi

In contrast, Delta Gamma's most prominent and successful early expansion tended to be in the Midwest (Akron, Northwestern, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska,etc. and in other regions -- Cornell, Colorado, Stanford), not really in the South.

Having said that, my personal impression is that today the more "Southern" sororities are Alpha Delta Pi, Kappa Delta, Phi Mu, and Zeta Tau Alpha, with Alpha Omicron Pi also strongly in the running. Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Delta Delta Delta, Kapa Alpha Theta, and Pi Beta Phi certainly have successful chapters in the South (as do other NPC sororities!), but they seem to me to have a more nationally-distributed assorment of chapters and a "presence," if you will, that's more national than southern.

Even in the South, sororities' presence can differ dramatically from state to state, not to mention school to school.

But the really important thing is to find a chapter on your campus where you feel comfortable.

Thank you. That's the very point I was hoping to make in this thread:

"Chi Omega--'National' from the start"

Ditto NutBrnHair.
Tri Delta has always had a plan to be national and the have geographical balence of chapters.

That being said, I never heard before that Tri Delt absorbed chapters of another sorority; from what I've heard, we've only affiliated with locals.


eta: I never thought of Tri Delta as a"Southern Sorority" until I visited Atlanta this summer. The number of random people who commented on my Tri Delt tote bag amazed me...not because they knew of Tri Delta, but they said things like you must be an amazing women to belong to such a strong organization and the look of almost admiration because of letters on my sweatshirt/bag on some of their faces. It honestly almost frightened me.
eta: again, cause russ yelled at me for spelling:p

LOL DolphinChica -- now that's a new one -- almost being scared of other people's admiration of your sorority. :)
More seriously, for info on Tri Delta's acquisition of chapters / "released chapters" of Alpha Sigma Alpha, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and the old regionals Alpha Kappa Psi and Phi Mu Gamma, see pages 33 and 34 of "History of Delta Delta Delta, 1888-1988," that centennial history bound in pine green. If your chapter doesn't have one . . . uh, well, put it on a "wish list" to pass around to alumnae or parents, or hunt on eBay or various used booksellers on the Internet. Some examples:
Southwestern U (TX) -- from Sigma Sigma Sigma
Stetson (FL) -- from Alpha Kappa Psi
Breneau (GA) -- from Alpha Sigma Alpha
Florida State -- from Alpha Kappa Psi
You'll see a few other, non-Southern examples listed. too. And you can check the last paragraph on page 20 of the history listed above, which continues on to the top of page 22.

Just to add, Mabel Lee Walton and Sarah Ida Shaw were great friends and influenced each other a lot. I think that Tri-Delta absorbed the Tri Sigma chapter of Randolph Macon too.

Re: Mini hijack, sidebar....
 

I think I've posted this before, but Alpha Delta Pi has a very strict policy about its name being in any publications without permission, which explains their omission. It's probably a remnant of the "a lady's name never appears in the paper except when she's bred, wed, or dead" concept. :rolleyes:

Founded in Georgia in 1851 as the first secret society for college women would certainly qualify ADPi as a Southern sorority - especially if you're counting Phi Mu!!

Oh, I'd count Alpha Omicron Pi, too. It may have been founded in the North, but most of their chapters seem to be in the South.




edited for grammar

ASA had three chapters that we released in 1912.

Pi Phi got Iota (Randolph Macon)
Tri Delt got Kappa Phi (Mt Union) and Sigma Phi Epsilon (Brenau)

I noticed that DZ is seriously "representing" in the South

Re: Re: Mini hijack, sidebar....
 

You are right AOII was founded in the North, but the 2nd and 3rd chapters were at Tulane and Tennessee respectively. I'd say they are very Southern Schools.

Re: Re: Mini hijack, sidebar....
 

Trust me, Chi Omega's name appeared in that book (and regretably many other publications) without permission.

Marilyn Schwartz, author of The Southern Belle Primer, is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. Her book was fun & lighthearted -- but certainly a SUBJECTIVE view on sororities in the South.

Chi Omega had her speak at our Panhellenic Luncheon at the 1994 National Chi Omega Convention, held in Houston. She was well-received.

authors/journalists don't really need permission to use a GLO's name, as long as what they're printing isn't incredibly false and/or disparaging.

I'll be the first to admit that you know the law better than I :) yet I know that one of the very first things we learned as New Members was that we were NEVER to use the name Alpha Delta Pi in any form of publication without vetting it first. That included the greek newsletter!

But that's a totally different situation. I learned the same thing as a new member. The reason for that is that they don't want you giving statements as representing ADPi.

They can't do anything to stop a journalist from using it.

Re: Re: Mini hijack, sidebar....
 

Hijack: I have not heard that quote in quite a while. Thank you, honeychile, for the stroll down memory lane.

Re: Re: Re: Mini hijack, sidebar....
 

Always happy to oblige! :)

When I think of the term "southern sorority", I think of organizations where their strength is primarily in the South. I would include KD, ADPi, AOPi, Phi Mu, and Zeta in these. Of course, I know there are places outside the south where these organizations have good chapters. But if we are generalizing, then I would say those 5.

I would say Chi O, Tri Delta, DG, Kappa, Theta, and Pi Beta Phi are the six organizations that have more of a national strength.

Of course, this is just my opinion after learning about the organizations (including my own) over the years.

Silly question, but...
 

What sororities are considered northern if so many are considered southern??? :confused:

Re: Silly question, but...
 

I think that SDT could possibly be considered Northern since we were founded at Cornell, but then again, there are some sororities that were founded that are strong in the south...hmm...

the ones i really consider s outhern are:
Pi Phi
Phi Mu
ADPI
Chi O
AOII
Zeta
KD
KKG


At Arkansas we have:

Chi O ( well because Arkansas w as the founding school for Chi O)

Pi Phi
zeta
ADPI
Zeta
KD
KKG
Tri Delts


We had Phi Mu up until 1995/96 school yr til they closed

Re: Silly question, but...
 

Re: Silly question, but...
 

In my humble opinion:) "Northern Sororities" would include:

Delta Phi Epsilon
Sigma Delta Tau
Tri Sigma
Alpha Gamma Delta
Theta Phi Alpha
Phi Sigma Sigma
Sigma Kappa
Delta Zeta
Gamma Phi Beta

Only cause before we started the colonization process, they were the only sororites I had heard of (save Zeta, and thats because they were on my campus). Honestly, I was never into the Greek thing and not many people around me were either. So my limited experience with Greek Life came from when I visited colleges for track, friends who went Greek immediatly at other schools, and good ol' Beverly Hills 90210.

I hear that AXiD is more of Mid-Western/Northeastern sorority. The funny thing is, our southern region has more chapters than any other, including the one that's from literally the middle of the country to the west coast. Most of our chapters down here though are at smaller schools; the only SEC schools with chapters are us and UT-Knoxville.

OK, I feeling kinda candid & frank tonight -- I'm glad Chi Omega is strong nationally, but darn it, I'm also glad we're really strong in the South, because frankly -- that's where the strong Greek systems are, right?

Particularly strong "northern" sororities, to me, would be Alpha Phi and Gamma Phi. I also see them as being strong on the west coast.

AXO and Theta, while they do have strong chapters at some Southern schools, don't really make me think "Southern" the way a lot of the other sororities on those lists do. Ditto DG to a slightly lesser extent.

I think of "Southern" sororities as those that have a strong presense at the SEC and ACC schools plus Texas. When I see the number of chapters each sorority has at those schools, I think of AXO, ADPi, AOII, ChiO, TriDelta, DG, DZ, Theta, KD, KKG, Phi Mu, Pi Phi, and ZTA as having the strongest presense. But, everyone has a different opinion of which sororities are more "Southern".

ASA's biggest strength is in the Midwest, definitely. You can say someone like PSS or D Phi E is "Northern" but then PSS has lots of chapters in Cali and DPE has huge chapters in Florida...honestly, I don't think there is such a thing as a "Northern" sorority.

While I agree that there are a lot of strong greek systems steeped in tradition and with high quotas in the south I don't think you can so easily dismiss the rest of the country.

The question is how do you define strong? Look at Indiana, Penn State & Miami, all with many groups represented on campus. If you define strong by historical GLO presence you can also look at DePauw, Northwestern, Syracuse and many others which are not southern.

I can think of a lot of other ways to define strong too (this assumes we are stepping outside the recruitment arena)... number of alumnae who hold public office or are prominent members of their communities; number of alumnae who pay alumnae dues, volunteer or donate to the organization or its foundation; percentage of the student body that is greek; or number of community service hours or amount of money raised for philanthropic causes.

Honestly, I had no idea we weren't considered strong in the South until I found GC. We have such a presence here in NC, and all of our NC chapters are great chapters, so I got used to that mentality. One of my best friends is a member at the Theta Sigma chapter (UCF), and I've met several of them, so I know that's a strong chapter as well.

I guess it just depends on your perspective!

I do agree w/ S&S that I don't think of AXO & Theta as being Southern sororities.

I'll admit it's a purely subjective comment and had it not been 1:15 a.m., I probably wouldn't have posted it. It's my opinion. I don't dismiss the rest of the country. As I said, I'm extremely proud that Chi Omega is strong nationally. I'm just of the opinion that the strongest Greek systems are in the South.

Well Greek Life is strong in the south...so really there are lots that could be considered "Southern"

I would say Phi Sig is a "North eastern" sorority we have chapters ALL over PA, NY, and NJ and were founded in NY, lots of chapters here in Cali too... Humm...come to think about it I guess you could say we're a "blue state" sorority....

Well, if I wasn't in a sorority already, that would seriously make me consider Phi Sig ;)