"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