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