Edgewater Sororities?
 

Apologies if this is out of line in any way, but I was at a Panhellenic meeting last week and heard one of the advisors mention that ABC was an "edgewater sorority," which she described as a sort of secret society of the "elite" NPC sororities. I suppose if it really is a secret society, no one is going to be willing to talk about it, but I was just curious if anyone else had heard of this or if its just some urban legend/distortion.

The only thing I could find relating to this is that one of the ladies who founded that "Recovering Sorority Girls" thing lives in a town called Edgewater.

Yeah, I couldn't pull anything up on google besides one of the Panhellenic conferences held at the Edgewater hotel in Chicago. I was just surprised since I'd never even heard of such a thing before, but this advisor was quite certain it existed... Although I can't for the life of me figure out the advantages of creating a panhellenic society within NPC.

Maybe it's just a case of somebody deciding that "certain" NPCs were elite and the rest weren't.

The same is also said of NPHC organizations, that some are more elite than others.

I'm assuming this is sort of like the Tier system. Nothing official, just sort of there for those who give a damn.

It couldn't have been specific to this campus, since the sorority in question doesn't have a chapter here, but it might be possible that it's something she picked up from her old college campus and thought applied nationally.

I think its refering to the early NPC organizations who did not have chapters at teacher's colleges, and probably has something to do with the Edgewater Beach Hotel where the NPC met in 1909.

Who was at the 1909 convention?

So looking a little further, a google search turned up a reference in the job description of the Pi Beta Phi Grand President

http://www.pibetaphi.org/aboutus/Off...ons_pdf/GP.pdf

Under "Travel" it lists:
"NPC meetings (NPC, Edgewater) – 3 per year, 3-4 days each"

Although that could be about something completely different.

1909 Convention
 

Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Sigma Kappa, and Alpha Omicron Pi joined NPC prior to 1909. Zeta Tau Alpha, Alpha Gamma Delta, and Alpha Delta Pi joined in 1909.

Not sure who was actually at the convention!

Wilson Heller used to write about the Edgewater sororities (and this was 40 years ago), and I think they were the "elite of the elite" in the NPC world.

Maybe Eric knows more?

Re: Edgewater Sororities?
 

It was the first 7 NPC groups as someone else said. Rumor has it that they still meet to discuss issues that are inherent to being them - that size, that old, owning that many greek houses, that whatever. So, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, I mean a tiered system!!!

Funny thing is that there were other groups in existence in 1909. Not sure exactly of the history, but at that time were they still having a disregard for teacher's colleges?

That's what took KD so long to join the NPC, despite being founded before 1900. We had chapters at teachers colleges. Eventually the two of those chapters that were left voted to relinquish their charters so that KD could join the NPC.

it was the same with us danielle(of course it would be, having been founded at the same college as kappa delta). i can't imagine how hard it must have been to have to give up(at that time) our alpha chapters in order to join the npc.

frankly, i think snob appeal is in the eye of the beholder. what is the hot sorority at carnegie mellon, might not even have a chapter at florida state. popularity(or hotness) is not only a regional thing, but more definately a campus thing.we all have strong and not so strong chapters, beauty queens and plain girls with shining personalities, einsteins and sub average students.
despite what some profess, no ONE sorority is better than the others. if that were the case, the other 25 would cease to exist.

good luck to all three of the wonderful sororities who will be presenting at gwu.

And now that we have teh intraweb, that's very evident.

Edgewater
 

Edgewater--it's at the national level, and (supposedly) no one other than the members knows for sure which organizations are involved. Not sure but I believe there are men's fraternities involved as well.

And that's all I am going to say about that..... :)

The point is, it doesn't matter. Maybe back in the day it did.

Everyone's such a conspiracy theorist.

So then if your not a member, you've probably never heard of it, and if you are a member, you can't say anything about it. I thought the point of exclusivity is the "I'm better because I belong and you don't" mentality. You can't feel superior if no one knows you're a member. I'm really confused on the whole point of this...:p :p :rolleyes: :confused:

Well can someone at least tell us if it is like a group who meets or what they do? Anything?

This sounds like they are breaking antitrust laws. Smite!

Don Rickles or maybe Grocho Marx said "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have people like me."

Re: Re: Edgewater Sororities?
 

Well, let's see. Of the current top 7 in terms of initiates, 2 of them were NOT in the first NPC meeting. And in terms of number of chapters (though these change so much), 3 of them were NOT at the first NPC meeting. AND, in terms of oldest, the 2 oldest groups were NOT at the first NPC meeting.

So issues "inherent to them" aren't really inherent to all of them. :rolleyes: It would be pretty pointless to discuss issues of history without ADPi and Phi Mu.

I really doubt the current existence of the "edgewater" group. I've met many women on the national NPC level and they seem to be way too smart to think that the ideas of only 7 of their groups are valid and important.

ROTFL!!!!! I just googled "edgewater sororities" and got this thread!!

Obviously, this means a lot to a few people, and absolutely nothing to everyone else. I tried my best to come up with ideas for calling someone edgewater (Compared to beachfront property? On the cutting edge? Has the password "Edgewood"?) and I'm convinced, based on the web info, and the synopsises (sp?) from y'all, that this is officially a whole lot of nothing.

ETA:
Unless... we've found the Illuminati of the NPC!!! :eek: :eek:

See, and when I first saw this thread title I thought that it was about the sororities at Edgewood College (Madison, WI) - and just realized that the names are closee but a few letters different (its been one of those weeks especially since I spent the entire weekend grading finals. . . . oy!!!)

You do realize that all sororities are elite in that only members know things that others don't. Who cares if there is a group that thinks they are more special?!

Sarah

Call Dan Brown! Maybe he can write a best-selling novel about it!!!!! :p

You don't think Ms. Robbins would be a better choice...since she's such an in-depth investigative reporter.

kinda like the sneeches whose bellies had stars and those other sneeches with none upon thars!

In 1909, most teachers colleges didn't offer bachelors degrees but three-year teaching degrees. It's similar to how NPC organizations today don't colonize at community colleges. It wasn't until teachers colleges starting offering bachelors degrees and dropping "teachers" or "normal" from their name that NPC orgs began to colonize at them.

I guess the "Edgewater Group" has now joined the ranks of "The Machine", "Theta Nu Epsilon", "Skull and Bones" ,etc. as the secret repository of the power of world domination.;)

FYI......
Edgewater basically is nothing more that a group for Fraternity and Sorority Executives / Staff. It amounts to basically the same groups that are in FEA. So, basically, if your GLO is national, you're probably in it.

They meet once a year and discuss educational programming, risk mangement issues, and just general Greek world issues.

So, nothing that mysterious.

I think I better go get a mop!!!!

Edgewater is an existing and active group of older fraternities and sororities. Several of the leaders of their respective national / international organizations meet -- irregularly or regularly, I don't know -- to discuss issues of interest to them. My fraternity not being one of the group, I was not invited to the meetings, but was told by the leaders of several of the involved organizations (and the head of the NIC) that the organization exists and meets. The group was reportedly active in efforts to try to limit the negative effects of alcohol in the Greek world in the past. I cannot say (because I don't know, not because I'm pledged to secrecy) anything about their activities.

I am not sure that the characterization of "elite," as in "better" is apt. "Elite" as in "we're trying to lead" or "aristocratic" may be a more appropriate description of the organization. The members that _I_ knew were not posers, nor were they poorly intentioned. They are, however, often strong teetotalers who believe in their ability to impose that will on others.

Aww not a record. Only two and a half years.

I just got a book about sororities that mentions Edgewater and names names, and no, they're not necessarily the oldest Greek organizations or any sort of "elite." The Edgewater Conference was started in the early '50s to discuss racial desegregation and to lobby for fraternities and sororities to maintain their membership selection practices, and there were 19 groups at the first meeting.

I presume the book is "Women of Discriminating Taste: White Sororities and the Making of American Ladyhood" by Margaret L. Freeman, published in December of 2020.

The Edgewater Conference according to the book appeared to be a group devoted to resisting efforts to force Fraternities and Sororities to remove Racial/Religious/Creed limitations.

Information on the book and preview available at https://www.google.com/books/edition...J?hl=en&gbpv=0

That’s heartbreaking!

Even more heartbreaking. :(