History of my chapter
To make a long story short:
In the spring of 1993, a group of 7 Jewish women approached Panhel about starting a chapter of AEPhi at MIT. Panhel was not prepared to open the campus for expansion at the time (Theta had just colonized a couple of years earlier), but they invited the group to form a local sorority and perhaps petition again at some future date. (I rather suspect the Panhel powers-that-be were hoping they would give up and go away. They didn't know my sisters very well.
)
The 7 women proceeded to form a local sorority, Sigma Iota Phi. They held their first recruitment just after formal fall recruitment in 1993; I was a member of that first pledge class.
In 1994 we again petitioned Panhel to become a chapter of an NPC sorority, and this time they allowed us to proceed. We re-approached AEPhi and a match was made. My chapter was chartered in November of 1995.
My chapter filled, and still fills, something of a niche market as an attractive option for female Jewish students - although we are, of course, open to members of all faiths.