Why was your org founded?

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

The Founders met again on November 16 for further decisions as recorded in the minutes: "The merits of the six mottoes suggested by Chancellor Haven were discussed, and the motto of Gamma Phi Beta unanimously accepted."

...Tiffany's sent back several designs, one which was adopted.

Your whole post is interesting, Peppy, thanks for sharing! I'm especially interested in the quoted part.

Out of curiosity, are the five rejected mottoes and the unselected badge designs from Tiffany's known to Gamma Phis? If that's secret, of course, I understand. But when I read that I thought, if I were a GPhiB, I'd really like to know what other mottoes were considered, as well as badge designs!

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Your whole post is interesting, Peppy, thanks for sharing! I'm especially interested in the quoted part.

Out of curiosity, are the five rejected mottoes and the unselected badge designs from Tiffany's known to Gamma Phis? If that's secret, of course, I understand. But when I read that I thought, if I were a GPhiB, I'd really like to know what other mottoes were considered, as well as badge designs!

I don't recall ever hearing them, but I wonder if it's something that would be on display at IH (the Tiffany designs, anyway)? Any Gamma Phis who've been to IH know?

[DSTRen13]

From www.deltasigmatheta.org:

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University. These students wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence and to provide assistance to persons in need. The first public act performed by the Delta Founders involved their participation in the Women's Suffrage March in Washington D.C., March 1913. Delta Sigma Theta was incorporated in 1930.

From www.omegaphialpha.org:

In 1953, a group of men in Zeta Kappa chapter, Alpha Phi Omega, a National Service Fraternity, decided they were in need of another organization to help them with service projects on campus and in the city of Bowling Green, Ohio. These men met with the deans of the various departments of the University to decide whether or not another service fraternity would be advisable for Bowling Green State University. Then, an inquiry was made to see if any interest existed on campus. Many women attended this inquiry. Realizing the need for more varied projects, plans were made to reorganize a women's service sorority.

Since the objectives of the two organizations were to be the same - Friendship, Leadership, and Service - a similar name was chosen: Omega Phi Alpha. Membership was open to University women who had been Girl Scouts or Camp Fire Girls (This ruling changes in 1958).

At first, many people were interested in the sorority and what it was doing. In 1958, Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti wrote to Bowling Green State University and obtained information on how to form their own Omega Phi Alpha Chapter. The material was sent to Michigan, and the group held their first meeting on April 22, 1958. The women of Eastern Michigan's new OPhiA chapter conducted several service and fundraising activities. They took their first pledge class the following fall. Communication began between the two groups about the possibility of becoming a national organization, but the formation of a national sorority did not materialize. [...] ... a national organizing convention was scheduled to be held in Bowling Green in June, 1967. At the convention, the three groups discussed ideas and compromises that led to the formations of Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority. [...] The consolidation of the three groups was finalized on June 15, 1967, and the dream of many years became a reality.

[Wolfman]

http://www.oppf.org/about.asp

Omega Psi Phi, the first national fraternity founded at an HBCU, was born of the idealism and persistance of its four founders:three stellar undergraduates and the faculty advisor they chose to shepherd them in their quest to form a brotherhood which would inspire student leaders bound by bonds of "religion, culture and tradition." The three three Juniors of the class of 1913 at Howard University in Washington D.C., Edgar A. Love (an honor student, member of the varsity debating team, football team, and president of the KA Debating Society who later became a bishop of the United Methodist Church), Oscar J. Cooper (a lab assistant to Assoc. professor Ernest E. Just who served as a noted physician in Philadephia for 50 years) and Frank Coleman (an honor student in physics who graduated with highest honors and later served as professor and chair of Howard's Dept. of Physics for many years), were known on Howard's campus as the "Three Musketeers" because of their inseparable friendship. Bishop Love once stated that the first time he met Prof. Coleman they became friends and he nominated him for president of the freshman class.

They wanted to form an inclusive brotherhood based on the intrinsic characterists of the man as brother and scholar, and not on class,caste or any other extrinsic human category, which they saw in the other social fraternity on campus at the time, Alpha Phi Alpha. In an interview in the early '70s before he died, Bishop Love recounts that then President Wilbur Thirkield of Howard asked the three founders in his office why didn't they want to join to join the fraternity already on campus, he stated that it was a social club, not a fraternity.

In order to realize their dreams, they knew they needed guidance. They chose then Assoc. Professor Ernest E. Just, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth who the only person to graduate Magna Cum Laude from his class at Dartmouth and who excelled in the Classics(Greek), English and Biology. He once spent a large portion of one of his terms working on a concordance for the work of Demosthenes, only only to be crushed to discover that a German scholar had already accomplished this task. He would become the first recipient of the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP, widely considered to be the highest award an African American can be bestowed, for his research in biology. Dr. Just encourgaged the develpment of student life at Howard, encouraging the development of theatre on campus, and he mentored students and played tennis with them, etc. He was was centrally responsible for helping develop the ritualistic and constititional foundations of the Fraternity. Dr. Just was a seminal thinker in embryology and he was lauded by European scholars.

With this foundation, Omega Psi Phi has flourshed for almost a century.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

They wanted to form an inclusive brotherhood based on the intrinsic characterists of the man as brother and scholar, and not on class,caste or any other extrinsic human category, which they saw in the other social fraternity on campus at the time, Alpha Phi Alpha. In an interview in the early '70s before he died, Bishop Love recounts that then President Wilbur Thirkield of Howard asked the three founders in his office why didn't they want to join to join the fraternity already on campus, he stated that it was a social club, not a fraternity.

You're welcome, Bishop Love.

[AlwaysSAI]

I just knew you were going to quote that paragraph and say something!

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

I just knew you were going to quote that paragraph and say something!

LOL..... I mean, it's just really interesting to me.

Alpha Phi Alpha sent a letter of congratulations to Omega Psi Phi when they were founded. My history book does not quote my founders as saying anything negative about any other organization.

If the Omega founders didn't find what they were looking for, so be it. But don't say there was no brotherhood. If there wasn't, we certainly wouldn't have lasted for a century.

[bejazd]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Your whole post is interesting, Peppy, thanks for sharing! I'm especially interested in the quoted part.

Out of curiosity, are the five rejected mottoes and the unselected badge designs from Tiffany's known to Gamma Phis? If that's secret, of course, I understand. But when I read that I thought, if I were a GPhiB, I'd really like to know what other mottoes were considered, as well as badge designs!

I don't think I've ever heard the rejected names/mottos either but I might have a guess at a few of them!

Tiffany's in New York has archives of all the jewelry they ever manufactured. The original design is probably there. You have to pay for the research service, so I wonder if IHQ ever asked them to donate whatever they have! Headquarters does have an amazing collection of historical badges and other items but I can't remember seeing badge designs when I was there.

Interesting that originally, the member did not have to have a black enamel crescent. Some were white, and turquoise chips were popular as jewels on the badge. Sometime later, they made the black crescent uniform. Today our International officers have white enamel crescents. Their badges are larger than the standard badge, and they are really stunning!

[stalecheetoz]

Sigma Chi's founding - significantly generalized.

There was a disagreement in the DKE house at Miami of Ohio. Resulted in 6 members being expelled/resigning from the fraternity to begin their own. Joined later by one non-DKE member. The fraternity was founded on three ideals - Friendship, Justice, and Learning.

Our founders are Benjamin Piatt Runkle, Thomas Cowan Bell, William Lewis Lockwwod, Isaac M. Jordan, Daniel William Cooper, Franklin Howard Scobey, and James Parks Caldwell.

Always willing to share more details if anyone's curious. Great thread though. Keep it up.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Schenectady, New York was a tranquil place in the early 1800s. It was originally founded as a settlement at one of the last navigable points on the Mohawk River. The town grew after the Revolution, and finally grew large enough to support a college. The college founded was called Union and was intended to be someplace special. Unlike the colleges founded along the coast, such as Harvard or William and Mary, Union was founded as a non-sectarian institution. Union taught its students classical literature, Greek and Latin, but almost uniquely at the time, Union also offered history, science, modern language and mathematics. It was in this extraordinarily liberal environment that Psi Upsilon was founded. The early days of Union are well described by Dr. Dixon Ryan Fox, the twelfth president of Union College:

Most of the time from 1825 to 1850 Union College was the largest in the United States. Several different years Yale got ahead of it, but Harvard and Princeton were behind and Columbia was much behind. There is no question but that in 1833 Union was the leader. This was not due so much to its location or its fine buildings as to its faculty and particularly its President, Dr. Eliphalet Nott.

Union College’s student body of 232 made it the largest college in the country, and the men lived in boarding houses near the school. It was difficult for them to socialize outside of class, and there were few organized extracurricular activities. Six fraternities were founded at Union, more than any other school.
In the early 1800s, as at other schools, literary societies played an important role in the life of Union College. The faculty encouraged these groups; they presented debates and orations, produced plays and maintained libraries. They also provided forums for discussion and social interaction, which could not be found in the classroom. There was much rivalry for membership, literary supremacy, and political dominance on campus. The oldest of these, the Adelphic Society, was founded in 1792 and lasted into the nineteenth century. The Philomathean Society, which began in 1798, still exists.


Psi U Founders: Robert Barnard '37, Samuel Goodale '36, Sterling G. Hadley '36, George Washington Tuttle '36, Edward Martindale, (no photo for Merwin Henry Stewart '37), and Charles Washington Harvey '37. The Delphian Society was started in 1819 and was known as more secretive and close knit than other societies. In 1833, five sophomore and two freshman members had become close friends. Their names were Samuel Goodale, Sterling Goodale Hadley, Edward Martindale, George Washington Tuttle, Charles Washington Harvey, Merwin Henry Stewart, and Robert Barnard. By the fall of 1833, the group of seven men had begun to meet regularly to read poetry and to exchange essays they had each written. It became a tradition to meet one night each week for these literary exercises. One night, after a particularly enjoyable session, Samuel Goodale said to Sterling Goodale Hadley, “Goodnight thine cordially.” In response, Hadley said, “Goodnight thine always.” This ritualistic farewell was repeated at each session thereafter.
By November, the seven men realized that they had something special: a group of people, with common interests and aspirations, sharing special times. They wanted somehow to capture these moments and make them permanent, not just as a club for themselves, but as a special association that would welcome new members, and that would continue long after they graduated from Union. Following the examples of the organizations founded at Union and Hamilton, they decided to found Psi Upsilon.
But they did not found our fraternity immediately, for they were not sure exactly what form they wanted it to take. On November 24, 1833, these seven men pledged to one another to found a new society as soon as school commenced the next term. In the interim, they would consider the manner in which the society would be organized. The thought that went into the founding of Psi Upsilon has served us well. Their Constitution was written with great care before they held their first meeting. The new society became very well known at Union, and it was admired for the quality of its membership.

[BrainsnBeauty]

The history of Beta Sigma Phi or the "Friendship Organization" is unique in that we have a founding father. Here's some information from our national website that might explain a little about us.

"In 1931, during the Great Depression, there was a need for an organization that could bring women together and expose them to a social, cultural and educational climate that was not available in those difficult times.
Most important, there was a need for friendship and support from other women. Beta Sigma Phi was created out of this need. It did not take long before Beta Sigma Phis were helping others.
Members worked together to raise $22 million in war bonds during World War II. The 1950s brought peace and prosperity to the world, and Beta Sigma Phi membership doubled.
This era was filled with grand balls, elegant teas and the growing strength of sisterhood as thousands of women joined Beta Sigma Phi. As the times have changed, so has Beta Sigma Phi.
The 1960s and 1970s found our organization less formal, but the ideals were the same. Now in the 21st Century, our over 165,000 members find the more we grow, the more valuable we become to our sisters and to our communities. The Beta Sigma Phi woman will continue to face challenges and cherish opportunities as she moves into the future.
Typical chapters enjoy socials that range from informal gatherings to gala affairs that often include friends and family. Fascinating cultural programs offer insight into subjects that range from the arts to gardening to in-home businesses. Membership in our organization provides opportunities to contribute to your community, develop lifelong friendships, and polish leadership skills.
Our members raise more than $3 million for local charities and donate over 200,0000 volunteer hours in an average year. Each chapter determines its own service projects and participation is always voluntary. Chapters have created their own International Funds that donate millions of dollars to health research groups, hunger projects, and other worthwhile causes.
Members and their families can receive assistance through our International Loan, Scholarship and Disaster Funds. What Makes Us Unique? Unlike a college sorority, our organization has members of all ages and educational backgrounds. Our sisterhood constantly redefines itself through the diversity and vitality of its members who share their ideas, talents and enthusiasm."

I am blessed to call more than 200,000 women of different cultures, races, ages, and educational backgrounds across the world my sisters. I hope that snippet gave a little insight on my sorority's founding.

Our website: www.betasigmaphi.org