The first sorority to demand equal rights
 

In the early days the founding of a fraternity on campus where Greeks were not welcomed often caused political turmoil, and fortunately more often than not the fraternity won. Rarely was a sorority so bold -- until University of Maryland met Mary Love-Collins of Chi Omega.

The two local sororities refused bids to a group of co-eds who had the audacity to challenge University rules that they felt unfair and biased toward women. They became very vocal in challenging the system (no smoking, ironing after hours, etc.) until the president of the University suspended two of them. Baltimore and Washington newspapers got wind of the story and it suddenly developed into a "cause."

Chi Omega was run by a very strong-willed executive who also happened to be an attorney and a strong feminist. Ms. Collins took up the women's cause, and to rub salt into the president's wounds she installed them as a chapter of Chi Omega in 1923. the first national sorority on campus. To make a long story short, accusations amped up on both sides, resulting in the state legislature to actually question closing the institution, causing the president to lose his job by 1926, and Chi Omega so angry at the institution that it closed the chapter shortly thereafter.

The incident was the first widely publicized case of women openly challenging the double standards placed upon them by public institutions. Unfortunately it took another half century before women truly had equal rights on campus. Vivian Simpson, the ring-leader of the challengers, became a prominent lawyer. Many have wondered why a sorority as strong as Chi Omega has no chapter at University of Maryland. Now you know.

Thanks, oldu for sharing that! Where did you find this information? I was looking for that last year! Last year, when I was a member of Maryland's extension-exploration committee (we presented to Panhellenic and the vote was no), one of my jobs was to make a timeline of all the NPCs ever at Maryland. This KD lady, who has been working with Maryland since 1970 had a list of all the NPCs at Maryland with dates for me, but Chi Omega was not on that list. I remember doing some search and seeing that there was a Delta Beta chapter of Chi Omega at Maryland, founded in 1923, and she didn't know anything about it. I even emailed someone from Chi Omega's HQ asking them when the 1923 chapter had closed, but she didn't know, she only said it must have closed "shortly thereafter", which made me wonder if it was even installed.

I had the following on my timeline (the beginning of it):

1916: Women admitted to UMD
1920: Sigma Delta, a local, is established
1924: Alpha Omicron Pi chartered
1929: Kappa Kappa Gamma absorbs Sigma Delta
Kappa Delta chartered

When I was pledging Sigma Kappa, we were taught that Alpha Omicron Pi was the "first sorority" on campus, but that is not quite right. So I imagine that of the two locals in the early 20s, one was Sigma Delta turned KKG, and the other was a local absorbed by AOII or KD? I found the Sigma Delta bit in some archive on the umd.edu site.

In the 1980s, membership was on the rise, with the highest number of PNMs registered in 1987. So, Maryland looked to extension. They ended up inviting Chi Omega, Phi Mu, and Zeta Tau Alpha to present for extension. Zeta Tau Alpha was chosen, colonization began in 1989, and they were chartered in 1990.

Although we lost 4 chapters in the early 90s, membership was on the rise and we offered Chi Omega an opportunity to colonize in 1996, (we didn't have presentations, we chose them since they presented a few years before) which they accepted. However, they failed to meet their own goals (an oversimplification of a lot of drama and choice words) and pulled out of colonization.

Maryland is actually the largest Panhellenic community with no Chi Omega chapter. It seems like Maryland and Chi Omega have had two spats. Could the third time be the charm?

Your thread title is misleading, i.e. should have said equal rights in campus life. Some sororities had bigger fish to fry other than the demand to be able to smoke or iron after hours--like the right of women to vote. Why don't you research that?

ETA: to some of us equal rights has a much deeper connotation.

How interesting! Thanks so much for posting!

The information came from A History of University of Maryland by George H. Callcott in 1966. Several pages is devoted to the story. By the way, the sequence of the sororities was Sigma Delta, founded 2/20/20, and Lambda Tau a few months later. Chi Omega installed in February 23. Kappa Xi was founded in spring 1924, and on October 25 of that year Lambda Tau became Alpha Omicron Pi. Alpha Chi Upsilon was founded in 1926. On 6/7/29 Sigma Delta became Kappa Kappa Gamma and on 11/16/29 Kappa Xi became Kappa Delta. Delta Beta Xi was organized in 1931. On 2/3/33 Alpha Chi Upsilon became Delta Delta Delta, and on 3/3/34 Delta Beta Xi became Alpha Xi Delta. I am glad you enjoyed the information as I found it fascinating history to uncover.

interesting read.

Yes.

It took me a couple of times to get the point of the thread. So this thread is only about the "public" struggle at the University of Maryland in the early 1900s.

Yes, Mary Love Collins was something else. I'm quite sure had she lived several decades later, she would have been President of the United States.

Oh, and oldu, that's Mrs. Collins. Her maiden name was Love -- she married Mr. H.M. Collins, but not sure what happened to him -- they must have divorced at some point soon after they were married, for he was never "in the picture."

Women were granted the right to vote in 1920. This happened in 1923, after women already had the right to vote.

So then let's talk about the sorority that participated in the suffrage movement as their first major act after being founded.

Again, my main point is equal rights has a much bigger connotation to a lot of us other that a college campus. Oh and how many campuses (before you answer think broader than PWIs) had these restrictions? In other words how major was this nationally--serious question. Because while some were fighting for the privilege to smoke and iron at any hour, others of us were fighting for equal rights period.

hmmmm...there are ironing hours?

Right but the ball had have begun rolling at UofM before 1923, right?

Even after the Women's Suffrage Movement, there were (and still are) battles for equal rights that sororities were fighting for on a societal level. And minority groups still were not able to exercise their right to vote in many jurisdictions so there were fraternities and sororities who were fighting for that, as well.

Point being, I expected something different from this thread based on the title. While equal rights on college campuses are important and have an impact on the larger picture, I thought this thread was about something different.

I can't argue with that. The title of the thread is misleading. I would love a thread about sororities either on a local or national level fighting for women's suffrage, as I am sure it was important to all sororities.

ETA: I was more interested in this thread because it is about my alma mater and answered a question I was trying to answer a year ago (regarding Chi Omega).

So . . . male students already had the right to iron (after hours, no less) and female students wanted that right as well? I can't help but wonder if the men were availing themselves of the right to iron. :confused:

And the right to smoke, too, huh. I wonder . . . did that include smoking in letters?

OH NOEESS WHAT WILL YOU EVER DOOO??!!!11shift+1shift+1

Mary Ritter Beard was a Theta from the Alpha chapter at Depauw and she was huge supporter of women's rights and suffrage.

:confused:

That is good. But you are talking about one person and I am talking about one of the premises from which a sorority was founded.

Great info!

Was women's suffrage also a national and local initiative for Theta?

Delta Founders marched in the 1913 Women's Suffrage March in D.C. (during a time where there were huge racial inequalities to compound the huge gender inequalities).

Ha.

Equal rights mean equal rights. If men can pick lint in the cafeteria but women can't, that's a problem. Well...you get the point. :D

<----Believes that every decent human being should be a feminist, however they express it

Hi, Elephant Walk. Yes...yes...we see you and you are somebody.

Why is it inaccurate to use Ms.? I thought that was perfectly acceptable for married and unmarried women alike. Am I mistaken?

In some old papers that I have, it says that the chapter became inactive in 1923. It may not be 100% accurate but it would explain what is in the AOII history book. I was just looking at it and it speaks of absorbing Lambda Tau (formed in 1920) and chartering as the first national sorority on October 25, 1924.

:)

I think you use "Ms." for all if you don't know their marital status. Her friends called her "Mary Love," (as if it was a double name) but formally, she was Mrs. Collins.

Plus, I thought oldu would be interested that Mr. Collins was somewhat of a mystery!

Generally speaking, women's GLOs were founded because women needed to support each other in being a minority among the student population. Think about it, the first women to attend college were no doubt feminists. It comes as no surprise to me that the first college to admit women was also the birthplace of the first women's GLO.

Yet not every sorority was actively involved in national and local equality initiatives.

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.

It's in really poor taste to not think enough of her and her accomplishment to call her Mrs. Collins.

Of course I could completely be attaching a different meaning to your point. Hint. Hint.

Hijack: Every time I see "Mary Love Collins" I read "Martha Layne Collins" who is a former governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and also a (University of Kentucky) Chi Omega.

What you hate are gender feminists. I'm guessing you have no problem w/ equity feminists.

You hate extremists.

Female and male Feminists want equality.

Eh...we aren't showcasing the accomplishments of the NPHC.

There were NPC, NPHC, and nonaffiliated women marching and working alongside one another throughout this country's history. Those who can't relate to fighting for causes larger than themselves at a national level (we aren't critiquing chapter stuff here) were just existing, as far as many of us are concerned. So a thread like this should have more in it than what happened at UofM in 1923. That's an okay starting point but what next? Certainly this isn't incredibly interesting to many people as it stands.

But let's pretend that you are not completely confused right now:
I find it interesting that you and your cyber pals run around GC ranking fraternities and dismissing what other chapters do because they aren't SEC (or whatever). I rarely see you celebrating what your fraternity as a collective has accomplished or even what your and other chapters have accomplished for the local communities and society. Do you see the hypocrisy here?

That much is obvious.

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]