Quote:
Originally posted by DGMarie
Without meaning to stir a hornets nest, what is the difference between a fraternity (composed of only women) and a society (composed of only women)?
|
Many secret organizations of the time were formed as literary societies, as a way for students to escape the stranglehold the university faculty had on them, especially on what they could read. In days of old many private colleges (this was well before the public land-grant state colleges) were religious in nature
The word 'sorority' was not coined until 1882, when Professor Frank Smalley of Syracuse University mentioned it to the founding members of Gamma Phi Beta.