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Yes, Sigma Delta Tau was founded as Jewish sorority as were several other sororities. The various Jewish national fraternities & sororities were founded to meet the needs of Jewish students, and also to offset the restrictions then in place among the "general" fraternities & sororities. Today, the "general" GLOs have Jewish members, Black members, Hispanic members, but GLOs still exist to accomodate those who want a special emphasis in their social circle. Some Jewish fraternities, like Pi Lambda Phi, became "general". Zeta Beta Tau became "general" and then made the decision to revert back to Jewish emphasis. In the 1970s, one of their former chapters became a chapter of SAE.
Phi Kappa Theta was founded as a Catholic fraternity; Beta Sigma Psi was founded for Lutheran students. Some "social" GLOs emphasize agriculture or other academic disciplines.
There seems to be not a thing wrong with having "general" fraternities & sororities alongside ones that offer special emphasis. The whole, relatively new series of "Multicultural" GLOs offer largely Hispanic emphasis.
What all this means is that Greek life remains hugely popular, and in strong demand despite what all the left wing anti-fraternity types would have you believe.
On most campusses, the Jewish fraternities & sororities are members of IFC and PanHel, as opposed to having their own governing umbrellas like the Black GLOs and Hispanic GLOs. In the end, though, it means that the Greek system is a powerful attraction for college students of all backgrounds.
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