Institutions with national sororities

[oldu]

By my count there are now a total of approximately 765 institutions of higher learning that have functioning systems of national sororities on campus. I find that pretty amazing! I have done a decade by decade list which pretty much tells the history of sororities. The losses during the early years represents a tightening up of the rules, eliminating chapters at institutions not fully at college level. In later years it is surprising that many of the losses were the institutions closing, not the removal of a Greek system. The gains during the 1920s show how popular sorority life became at that time. The frenzied pace during the latter part of the twentieth century reflects a repositioning of sorority administrator attitudes, and the need to find chapters to replace the many lost at the older Greek systems.

The first column of numbers represents the number of institutions in which national sororities were introduced (or re-introduced from previous closures). The second column reflects the number of schools where national sororities ceased to exist.

1868-1880 35 added, 8 lost, net gain of 27
1881-1890 35 added, 21 lost, net gain of 14
1891-1900 24 added, 3 lost, net gain of 21
1901-1910 60 added, 25 lost, net gain of 35
1911-1920 45 added, 6 lost, net gain of 39
1921-1930 75 added, 5 lost, net gain of 70
1931-1940 48 added, 3 lost, net gain of 45
1941-1950 65 added, 7 lost, net gain of 58
1951-1960 63 added, 10 lost, net gain of 53
1961-1970 120 added, 6 lost, net gain of 114
1971-1980 124 added, 18 lost, net gain of 106
1981-1990 122 added, 18 lost, net gain of 104
1991-2000 74 added, 12 lost, net gain of 62
2001-2008 26 added, 8 lost, net gain of 18

In addition to the above there are several institutions where there is a minor Greek presence via multi-school chapters of NPHC or multi-cultural groups, but not representative or recognized enough to be called a functioning Greek system. Plus, there are additional schools on which there are local groups functioning as sororities, societies or social clubs.

I am going to do an accompanying thread which lists the national sororities that were the first group organized on the above campuses.

[ladygreek]

Interesting. DST's growth spurt occured in the 60s-70s, which seems to correspond to the the gowth spurt in the list.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

Interesting. DST's growth spurt occured in the 60s-70s, which seems to correspond to the the gowth spurt in the list.

Yep but does that contrast with the reported "worst of times for GLOs?"

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Yep but does that contrast with the reported "worst of times for GLOs?"

The whole era was one of contrast. On one hand it was the peak of campus unrest--civil rights movement, Vietnam war, Black power movement, etc. By the same token PWIs were offering more opportunities for Blacks to attend, which in turn increased the pool of young women (and men) who wanted to join a NPHC organization--thus the number of charterings.

During that time existing chapters on PWIs also grew in membership, which I think was a reaction to the need to form solidarity groups. In my own case, the presence of DST at SIU Carbondale with from 1 to 50 within two years.

Then spurred by radical groups the anti-BGLO movement kicked in (the whole "Our Kind of People" resentment phase,) and in the 80s the numbers dwindled. I don't know, but WGLOS may have had the same thing happen, because of the whole "Woodstock" movement.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

The whole era was one of contrast. On one hand it was the peak of campus unrest--civil rights movement, Vietnam war, Black power movement, etc. By the same token PWIs were offering more opportunities for Blacks to attend, which in turn increased the pool of young women (and men) who wanted to join a NPHC organization--thus the number of charterings.

During that time existing chapters on PWIs also grew in membership, which I think was a reaction to the need to form solidarity groups. In my own case, the presence of DST at SIU Carbondale with from 1 to 50 within two years.

Then spurred by radical groups the anti-BGLO movement kicked in (the whole "Our Kind of People" resentment phase,) and in the 80s the numbers dwindled. I don't know, but WGLOS may have had the same thing happen, because of the whole "Woodstock" movement.

So as we said in that other thread the "worst of times" varies by type of organization.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

So as we said in that other thread the "worst of times" varies by type of organization.

Even for NPCs, you wouldn't pick up the fact that the 1960s were the "worst of times" because this is number of schools with a Greek Community instead of number of chapters. In the 60s, 120 schools added Greeks, with only 6 closures. Or does this include NPHCs too?

[Benzgirl]

Just out of curiosity, have you looked at gains/losses specifically during times of war? Specifically, WW1, WW2, Korean War, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, and the Invasion of Iraq.

[SWTXBelle]

Thank you, pbear. You stated what I wanted to better than I did! For what it's worth, my mother was in a local in college, and in fact I was named for her Theta Psi Delta sister.

As an aside - it seems like everyone and their dog lately has been being "offended". How about we all try and be a little more forgiving, and assume that most people aren't trying to offend, and that it might be a simple matter of miscommunication or misinterpretation?

eta - I think one of the problems when discussing locals is that, by their very nature, they are all very different and so it is hard to make general statements about them. I would imagine they would be very reflective of their campus, and thus more individualistic.

[alum]

CMU has had NPCs since the mid 40s. The male fraternities have been around longer than that. Panhel GLOs used to have sections in one of the nicer dorms and in the late 70s, the university built townhouses for the 5 women's groups. The men got duplexes across campus. Neither are gorgeous but they are functional.

More importantly, it put the respective groups on an even playing field since all the Panhel GLOs had 16 beds, the same square footage, etc. It was up to each House Board to decorate the homes.

The University of Richmond does not have Greek Housing yet Greek Life there is fairly strong. The male fraternities have lodges on the outskirts of the campus. The Panhel groups meet in various locations on campus. Although the students don't have parietal hours, all UR housing is single-sex.

[oldu]

Sorry, I did not mean to infer that some local sororities are different than their national counterparts. The "functioning like" was in the plural to describe all three kinds of groups. However, I have found that there were campuses where groups were called sororities but their memberships were assigned instead of selected--a big difference. I guess I need an editor to clean up some of my phrases!

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by oldu

Sorry, I did not mean to infer that some local sororities are different than their national counterparts. The "functioning like" was in the plural to describe all three kinds of groups. However, I have found that there were campuses where groups were called sororities but their memberships were assigned instead of selected--a big difference. I guess I need an editor to clean up some of my phrases!

yeah you imply, the reader infers.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

yeah you imply, the reader infers.

You corrected me on that years ago.

Originally Posted by ClioGirl06

I find it quite offensive that you put "local groups functioning like sororities". Locals are sororities, they are just not members of NPC. My local (and many others) have been in existence longer than any NPC group, and at my school the biggest, strongest sororities happen to be local.

You might want to re-check your facts:

NPC founding years:
Alpha Delta Pi (1851)
Phi Mu (1852)
Pi Beta Phi (1867)
Kappa Alpha Theta (1870)
Kappa Kappa Gamma (1870)
Alpha Phi (1872)

Your local: 1872

Just sayin'.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by ClioGirl06

I find it quite offensive that you put "local groups functioning like sororities". Locals are sororities, they are just not members of NPC. My local (and many others) have been in existence longer than any NPC group, and at my school the biggest, strongest sororities happen to be local.

Just to piggyback on other GC'ers comments ... a lot of the locals at your school were at some point NPC chapters (and IFC) that chose to severe their ties with the National because they didn't want to adhere to the strict rules that the National office had. There are also some that were National at some point but went local when the school banned Nationals and just never reaffiliated.

So chill out.

[SWTXBelle]

Locals are not in the league of any NPC in terms of active members, alumnae, resources, programming, housing, networking, etc. That's a simple fact. NPC members are rightly proud of what their groups have achieved.

That doesn't mean that a local group cannot have a strong sisterhood, traditions, or campus presence. It doesn't mean a local is just a "clique" - but some are indeed more like clubs than sororities. As oldu pointed out, some of them are run radically differently than NPC sororities. There's really no need to be so defensive. It makes you look like you have a chip on your shoulder. Many locals, after all, eventually become NPC sororities, which would not be the case if the women weren't of the same "caliber" as their brethren in the NPC. Heck, we all started out as "locals".