[nyapbp]

There were no men or other organizations involved in Pi Beta Phi's founding in 1867. The 12 young women wanted an organization like that of the men. They called the organization, I.C. Sorosis. Pi Beta Phi was the secret motto. By the fall of 1868, a second chapter had been formed at Iowa Wesleyan College and a third quickly followed. Although the name change officially took place in 1888, many chapters used the Greek letters prior to that. In fact, the first issue of the magazine, published in 1885, stated that the magazine was "an organ of Pi Beta Phi".

I am always interested to read what the other organization's history say about our history. I remember one that stated that it was founded as a literary society (which it wasn't). The last time I was in Monmouth, I did some searching in the school newspaper from the 1860s and 1870s. There was a column for the literary societies and I.C. was not in that column, but news about it did appear in the fraternity section.

I loved reading the article about the Alpha Xis and Sigma Nu that was linked to in a previous post. I chuckled when the chapter at Lombard was referred to as a local. The Pi Phi chapter at Lombard was our fifth chapter, founded in 1872. By the time Alpha Xi was founded in 1893, Pi Phi had established more than 30 chapters.

Some of the alumnae from the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s were quite upset when the organization changed its name. Luckily, since the Greek letters had been a part of our founding, there was no discussion as to what the name ought to be. However, there was a movement, albeit small, to have the nickname be "Beta Pi" instead of "Pi Phi."