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Eta Psi chapter of Alpha Delta Pi began life as Delta Chi Epsilon sorority at Valparaiso University on October 14, 1944. It was the fourth of Valpo's sororities, with Gamma Phi (now GPhiB), Alpha Xi Epsilon (now Pi Phi), Chi Sigma Xi (now Chi Omega) and Alpha Phi Delta (now Tri-Delt) having been founded around 1916-1918. (Sorry I can't remember the exact years, ladies!). We were joined by Phi Beta Chi in 1948 or 1956 (now KKG), Kappa Tau Zeta/Delta Phi Kappa in 1956 or 1948 (was AST, now defunct), and Kappa Psi Omega in 1961 or so (now Kappa Delta).
In 1965 we changed from DXE to Phi Omega, kind of rebuilding the sorority. They peaked around the 1970's to 1982 or so, but got smaller in the late 1980's. In 1991 there were only 9 members left, so they took a block class (women who joined instead of going through formal rush), and changed the name back to Delta Chi Epsilon. (I was part of the block class in January of 1992; I graduated in May 1995).
In 1996-1997 the sororities finally agreed that they were all interested in the system going national; in 1997 I believe Chi Omega was one of the first to go national, with most following quickly. We were installed as the Eta Psi chapter of Alpha Delta Pi in May 1998 (during which I went through Alpha, Delta, and Pi ceremonies in about the space of 4 hours! Yikes!). I believe DPK/AST was the last to go national in Fall of 1998.
It's interesting when locals with such rich history all go national; it's mostly been all or nothing at Valpo, and it's nice to see that the remaining seven are all doing relatively well.
(Fun Fact: there's now a local DXE fraternity out in New York somewhere, apparently formed in 1998...)
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