A Different Retro Rush Thread
 

My retro rush thread is a lot different from what has been posted here, but I think you’ll find it interesting. I attended a large southern school back in the mid-1960’s. At that time, there was an issue about Jewish girls pledging “non-Jewish” sororities. I wanted to go through rush but was discouraged from doing so because there were no “Jewish” sororities on campus.

I had recently moved to the city so I didn’t really know many people before school began. I ran into the boyfriend of a relative on campus who happened to be a member of a Jewish fraternity and he introduced me to his fraternity brothers. Through them, I met more and more young women.

Our days were all the same, going to class, meeting in the “Den” for a Coke and going home. Boring. I was approached by two of the women I recently had met who said they wanted to start a sorority. Several weeks later, we had a number of women who were interested and we made an appointment with the Dean of Women to discuss getting the green light. She approached Panhellenic and they approved our starting a local sorority. Before long, we had a viable organization for Jewish women entrenched on campus. It was exciting choosing our name, motto, colors and symbols and developing a ritual.

As we grew, we eventually discussed affiliating with a national sorority. Everyone seemed positive at the idea. Panhellenic enthusiastically approved bringing another national to the campus, mainly because we would not be in competition with the other sororities for members. We would have a separate rush with only Jewish girls attending.

We were told by the Dean of Women that we would not be allowed to contact any of four known historically Jewish sororities ourselves but that she would contact each sorority to determine their interest level and to set up interviews.

I have named the four sororities:

Exodus
Leviticus
Deuteronomy
Genesis

This is interesting! I'm intrigued. I don't remember ever reading any local --> NPC threads before.

I'm not familiar at all with Jewish customs, so, while this may be obvious to others, it isn't to me: Do you mind if I ask why you started with Exodus instead of Genesis?

A Different Retro Thread
 

When you read to the part where I reveal which sorority we joined, the last one we rushed, I wanted to name it Genesis because it was the beginning for us. I didn't want to give any hints so I just listed randomly rather than in biblical order. In fact, I took out the beautiful bible I was given at my initiation by our national to choose which of the Five Books of Moses I would use as names.

Paula M.

Oooops... I completely misread the four groups! I saw Exodus, and noticed that the rest were biblical names as well, and must not have read carefully. I completely missed Genesis being on the list at all; I thought it was Numbers instead. (And I even thought, "how ideal would it be for this group to be Genesis, since it would be their beginning!") Anyway, I'm sorry.

Regardless of my code name mistake, I'm really looking forward to this thread. :)

This sounds VERY good. I'm looking forward to it

Me, too!

Way to ruin the surprise! I'll still be reading this one anyway:)

A Different Retro Thread
 

Our first interview would be with Exodus. We had agreed not to make any decisions until we had completed “rush” with all four sororities

The Exodus alum was a charming lady who was very proud of her sorority and she spent several hours with us describing the sorority and what they had in mind for a chapter. There was an Exodus chapter at a large state school about 180 miles away but they wanted more presence in the state.

We were very interested in Leviticus whose representative also spent quite a bit of time explaining what Leviticus was about and what plans they had for a chapter on our campus. They had no chapters anywhere near the area at the time so this was an important step for them.

By now, we were starting to realize how difficult it was going to be choosing an affiliation. We were very impressed by both Exodus and Leviticus. But we still had two more sororities to rush.

A few weeks later, the Dean called to say we had an appointment with the representatives from Deuteronomy. There were two of them, one of whom was a national officer who lived in our area and the other was a local alumna. There was a small unrecognized group of Jewish girls on our campus which was interested in bringing Deuteronomy to our school. These were not girls we particularly liked and we had no desire to bring them into our chapter. The sister of one of these girls was a member of Deuteronomy. We had been told we could not contact any of the four sororities ourselves but since the other group was not a recognized organization, there had been nothing to stop them from doing so. The Dean and Panhellenic had agreed that only one new NPC sorority would be allowed on campus.

The first thing the Deuteronomy national officer mentioned was the other group. She talked about bringing them into the organization which did not sit well with us at all. She and the other alum did not seem to be interested in us without the other group. It only took a few minutes for us to realize we were not a good fit with Deuteronomy. We felt none of the interest we felt from the Exodus or Leviticus representatives and the meeting ended much more quickly than the previous two. I think we all knew as we said our goodbyes that this was not the group for us.

Paula M.

Paula, I have a question - do all the groups in your story still exist?

A Different Retro Thread
 

All four groups are still in existence. They will be revealed!

Paula M.

Terrific thread! I'm also interested in what kind of challenges were felt by the Greek system during the turbulant mid-60s.

A Different Retro Thread
 

A few days later, we were called to a meeting with the representatives from Genesis. They sent a national Vice-President who lived in our city and she in turn invited a local alumna who had been a member of the chapter at the large state school nearby. She had been a campus beauty queen and in addition, she was very sweet and funny. As soon as the Dean had completed the introductions and left the room, the national VP looked around and said, “OK, girls, she’s gone. You can relax now.” We adored her already. She was casual (she didn’t wear a hat and gloves like all the other alums we had met) and the two representatives of Genesis made us feel welcomed and special. We spent hours asking and answering questions and laughing. One of the first issues we covered was that the other group would have no part in our chapter. We were also told that in the future when the university approved housing for sororities, we would have one as well. We spent a lot of time with these two great women and by the time they left, we were all in agreement that we wanted to be a part of Genesis.

We filled out our pref cards and it was a unanimous vote for Genesis. Several weeks later, the Dean called us to her office and announced that we had received a bid from our first choice, Sigma Delta Tau. We were thrilled and couldn’t wait to begin our pledgeship. A national Field Secretary came in and arranged for our pledging and we were now a provisional NPC sorority chapter on campus.

We spent the next 6 months completing our pledgeship and earning our pearls. Back then, this was the standard time for pledging. A date was set for our initiation and chartering and a number of national officers, including our national President attended. After our initiation we were treated to a luncheon at a beautiful club with many local alumnae and the Dean of Women, who called us “her girls”, attending. Panhellenic invited us to a reception on campus later that day where we were welcomed by the other six national sororities, Alpha Chi Omega, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, Phi Mu and Zeta Tau Alpha. We proudly wore our new Torch badges and serenaded our friends in the other sororities with some beautiful Sigma Delta Tau songs.

That Fall, we had a successful rush, separate from the other sororities with only Jewish rushees attending our parties. For the next two years, things continued to run smoothly and we grew to be a successful sorority on campus in terms of grades, philanthropy, social and campus activities. Then everything changed.

The late 60’s was a time of social unrest and racial and religious discrimination were at the forefront. All NPC sororities were informed that a separate rush was no longer allowable. Sigma Delta Tau would now participate in full rush along with the other sororities and each sorority would rush everyone who signed up, regardless of race or religion. We were the smallest chapter on campus and would now be competing with some top tier sororities for pledges. We were fortunate to have great alumnae in the area who helped us plan Fall rush. Since no sorority on our campus had a house, all rush parties were held at the homes of alumnae. Everything was in place until we learned that the pref round was to be held in a specific area of town. Unfortunately, we had no alums living in that particular area. The Dean gave us “dispensation” to have our pref party in the next subdivision over at the home of one of our alums.

We welcomed all of the rushees and did our best to make everyone feel welcome. We offered bids to numerous Jewish and gentile rushees alike. Every gentile turned us down and we ended up with a good-sized Jewish pledge class. Only one Jewish girl received a bid from one of the other sororities, which she declined along with our bid. It seemed it was all for naught, but eventually, all NPC sororities became integrated.

Alas, our chapter closed in the 70’s, like so many others a victim of the times when many students rejected the idea of sorority life, but we had contributed in many ways to our school, our national and our community. I am proud to have been a founder. We recently held our 42nd year reunion and thanks to Clairol, everyone looked fabulous…it was yesterday once more.

BTW, the four historically Jewish sororities were (in alphabetical, not biblical, order) Alpha Epsilon Phi, Delta Phi Epsilon, Sigma Delta Tau and Phi Sigma Sigma. All were always open to everyone but had been founded by Jewish women because they had no other options available at the time.

Now, if everyone will please excuse me, tonight is the first night of Chanukah and I am making my famous potato latkes (pancakes), which are traditional. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

Paula M.
Sigma Delta Tau
ΣΔTPatriae Multi Spes Una One Hope of Many People

Hee hee, if they were in biblical order, AEPhi would have to be Genesis because we were founded first of the four. :p

Glad your group found a match with SDT. And Happy Hanukkah!

Great story! Thanks for sharing, Paula!

A Different Retro Thread
 

I just felt that Genesis was appropriate since it was our beginning but you're right about having been founded first.

Have a Happy Chanukah!

Fraternally,

Paula M.
Sigma Delta Tau
ΣΔTPatriae Multi Spes Una One Hope of Many People