Why was your org started?

[Sisterplum]

Our founding mother was a pledge with another local sorority on campus and felt that she didn't connect with the sisters, so she recruited a few friends and started her own local sorority in 1996!

6 years (wow, it's been 6 years!), Iota Beta Chi is 45 sisters strong and looking for expansion!

[Peaches-n-Cream]

On March 17, 1917, five women at New York University Law School took a pledge of sisterhood and loyalty and so founded the Alpha Chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon, the first non-sectarian, social sorority and the only one founded at a professional school. Five years later on March 17, 1922, Delta Phi Epsilon was formally incorporated under laws of the State of New York. On December 5, 1922, stretching out to international boundaries, the first Canadian chapter was installed at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Growth has been steady, but expansion in numbers has never been favored over strengthening within. From this small group making up the first chapter, there are now more than 25,000 members with chapters throughout the United States and Canada. Our chapters, both undergraduate and alumnae, enjoy a distinguished reputation for scholarship, service, and leadership.

Delta Phi Epsilon has worked to develop a social conscience and a willingness to think in terms of the common good in order to assure for its members continuous development and achievement in the collegiate and fraternity world. With a continuing philosphy of faith in the inherent good judgement of the undergraduate membership, Delta Phi Epsilon has remained steadfast throughout its history, forward to the continued growth of a sisterhood which keeps pace with the ever changing nature of the collegiate world.

Each year on March 17, undergraduates and alumnae celebrate Founders Day, honoring the women to whom each chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon is directly indebted for the establishment of our sisterhood. We honor them for the fine ideals and purposes which inspired them. Over three quarters of a century after Delta Phi Epsilon began, there are women who still embrace the beliefs of our founders by sharing sisterhood in their hearts and lives.

Minna Goldsmith Mahler*, Eva Effron Robin*, Ida Bienstock Landau*, Sylvia Steireman Cohn* and Dorothy Cohen Schwartzman*, five young law students saw Delta Phi Epsilon as a society to "promote good fellowship among the women students among the various colleges in the country...to create a secret society composed of these women based upon their good moral character, regardless of nationality or creed...to have distinct chapters at various colleges..." with the motto Esse Quam Videri: to be rather than to seem to be. (* deceased)

[ONElove]

OH yeah and I almost frgot to mention.....this past April we celebrated our 5th Birthday!......We are currently....10 chapters strong.....with 2 colonies ....

[ZTAngel]

I don't feel like typing so I'm just going to copy and paste from our National website.

Zeta Tau Alpha was founded October 15, 1898, by nine women at the State Female Normal School in Farmville, Virginia. Only 14-15 years of age, these young women desired permanence to their friendships and hoped to perpetuate their sisterhood long after college. Though dedicated to the formation of a Greek-letter group, the band of nine delayed selecting a formal name. A temporary name of "???" was taken when, as legend has it, a member of another group met with the Founders. Raising her eyebrows and forming her fingers in the shape of a question mark, she asked "Who are you?" In unison, the group answered "Yes, Who? Who? Who?" Thus, the group came to be known as "???" while they sought an appropriate Greek name and symbols. During this time, the group received valuable assistance from two of the members' brothers - Maud's brother, Plummer Jones, and Frances Yancey Smith's brother Giles Mebane Smith. Both were students at the college of William and Mary, members of men's Greek-letter organizations and knowledgeable of Greek lore. After a year of careful contemplation, the group chose the formal name, the patron goddess and the badge.

[KappaTarzan]

my sorority was started because of a fraternity, actually called Kappa Delta Phi.. we are not, however, a co-ed GLO.. we do have the same ideals and mottos, and as far as i know, a similar affiliation program, but if you ever notice a girl wearing Kappa Delta Phi letters we will always make them say:

KDF nas

the nas stands for National Affiliate Sorority

[AOIIalum]

It's so interesting to read everyone's founding stories, especially the local GLOs! My chapter of AOII started as a local, and I love that story as much the story of AOIIs founding

Alpha Omicron Pi International Fraternity was founded on January 2, 1897 at Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City. It is true that one of our Founders was not allowed to pledge any of Barnard's existing women's fraternities due to her faith, so the four friends decided to begin their own fraternity. Quoted from the www.alphaomicronpi.org site:

"Barnard College, in the late 1890’s, was the first separate college for women to be affiliated with a great men’s university such as Columbia University. AOII’s four founders’ were in the class of 1898, young , unlike most of the women who had entered Barnard in previous years. They were friendly, adventurous, frank and merry, and enthusiastically devoted to each other and to the class of ‘98.

Determined to make a democratic, unostantatious society, the four women, Stella George Stern, Helen St. Clair, Elizabeth Heywood, and Jesse Wallace climbed a little winding stair into the stackroom of the old Columbia Library. This little room was rarely used and stored Anglo-Saxon tomes and ancient vellum manuscripts. While the four sat in a deep window seat, pigeons outside and snow lightly falling, they pledged one another at the beginning of the year 1897.

Barnard College welcomed the new fraternity and it was not long before the first chapter, Alpha, was flourishing. The fraternity became national with the installation of Pi Chapter at Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, New Orleans, on September 8, 1898.

Over the next 100 years, AOII has added to the ranks 175 collegiate chapters and initiated over 120,000 members. Omicron Chapter (U of Tennessee), chartered on April 14, 1902 as our 4th chapter is the oldest active chapter.

AOII has thrived and continued to grow throughout the changing 20th century. Despite several wars, the Great Depression, the women’s suffrage movement and the social unrest of the 1960’s, AOII has continued to hold true to its ideals. Founder Stella Perry once wrote, “that which makes our bond is promise certain of success. Let us follow our ensign devotedly, utterly and bravely. For our purpose cannot fail.”

Unfortunately, the room where we were founded no longer exists but I was able to see the building and the general area when in New York for our Centennial a few years ago.

Christin

[gamma_girl52]

Here's our Story:

The organization of the groups which formed Gamma Sigma Sigma as a National Service Sorority is attributed to the women of Drexel Institute of Technology, a local service sorority known as Gamma Sigma Sigma. After searching for other groups having similar ideals and purposes, the Drexel group discovered the Omega Service Sorority at Boston University and the Women's Service Organization at New York University. After periodic informal contacts and information exchanges about their local organizations, the three groups determined they had nearly identical ideas, service programs and ideals. A Constitutional Convention was scheduled to establish formal ties and form a National Service Sorority.

The Constitutional Convention was held at Beekman Towers in New York City, October 10-12, 1952. Representatives attended the meeting from Boston University, Brooklyn College, Drexel Institute of Technology, Los Angeles City College, New York University, Queens College, University of Houston and Miami University of Ohio. During these three days, a national constitution was drafted and adopted, officers were elected (Barbara Van Sciver Ferraro from Drexel was the first National President) and a name was selected for the new National Service Sorority. The date commemorating the Constitutional Convention, October 12, is designated as Founder's Day for our sorority.
Our National Constitution went into effect on January 1, 1953.



The purpose of our sorority, "To assemble college and university students in the spirit of service to humanity, and to create friendships among students of all races and creeds" still holds true as we celebrate our Golden Anniversary this coming October 2002!

Our Zeta chapter at Drexel is our oldest chapter, as it is the only founding school still active.

[aephi alum]

Copied and pasted from the AEPhi web site:

AEPhi was founded by seven Jewish women at Barnard College on October 24, 1909. Only one of the founders, Helen Phillips, lived in the dormitory on campus and it was her longing for companionship that proved to be the impetus.

"It was her idea and her persistence more than anything else that brought Alpha Epsilon Phi into existence," one founder wrote. "I sometimes think that some of those ties were more necessary to Helen than to the others in this group because Helen had no mother and no sisters or brothers, and to her a group of adopted sisters was more of a need and had more significance." The seven founders were Phillips, Ida Beck, Rose Gerstein, Augustina "Tina" Hess, Lee Reiss, Rose Salmowitz and Stella Strauss.

From AGD Online:

Alpha Gamma Delta was founded at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York on May 30, 1904.

When Alpha Gamma Delta was founded at Syracuse there were many professors of great reputation, but none more widely known than Dr. Wellesley Perry Coddington, head of the department of philosophy and psychology. Dr. Coddington graduated from Wesleyan University in 1860 and was a member of Eclectic Fraternity, Phi Nu Theta and Phi Beta Kappa. He taught Greek, Latin and German at old Genesee College and became one of the first five members of Syracuse University's faculty when Genesee became a part of Syracuse in 1871.

"Fraternity life must have meant much to him in his undergraduate days," wrote Georgia Dickover, Founder. "Over a half a century in a college community as student and professor, he remained as enthusiastic as a recent initiate."

From 1900-1905, however, enrollment at Syracuse doubled. This is what led Dr. Coddington to discuss the need for more organizations with Marguerite Shepard, class of 1905.

Because Marguerite was ending her junior year and would soon be graduating, she shared Dr. Coddington's idea with her younger sister, Estelle, a member of the class of 1908. Estelle saw the chance to make college friendships deeper and more permanent and discussed the possibility with her close friend, Georgia Dickover. These three women embraced the idea and made a list of other women to consider for membership. With Marguerite, Estelle and Georgia's approval, Dr. Coddington spoke with Jennie Titus, a member of his ethics class about the opportunity. She joined the group at their second meeting and became an energetic and eager worker.

On May 30th, 1904, 11 pioneering women came together to form Alpha Gamma Delta. Today Alpha Gamma Delta has grown to be an international organization with 179 collegiate chapters and 250 alumnae chapters, clubs and Junior Circles.

I've heard somewhere that some of the Founding women were invited to join an existing women's organization on campus, but they declined when they felt the need to have one more since female enrollment was increasing. Gamma Phi Beta and Alpha Phi were already on campus...so I wonder which one offered the invitation???

[josh8o]

phi kappa psi was founded on the great joy of serving others...

150 years ago William H. Letterman and Charles P.T. Moore were nursing and watching their stricken friends during an epidemic of typhoid fever at Jefferson college. Through the long night vigils, an appreciation of the great joy of serving others came into their lives. Calling a number of others to join them, a Brotherhood was founded on February 19, 1852.

At the time of our founding, Jefferson College was considered one of the "Big Three" in what was known as the "Jeffersonian Cradle." The other two institutions comprising this group, Harvard and Princeton, were of very nearly equal size and equal high esteem.

[Tom Earp]

Lambda Chi Alpha was founded by Warren A. Cole, while a student at Boston University, on November 9, 1909; with the expressed objective purpose of bringing about the association together of college students of good moral character in the various collegiate institutions within the United States and Canada; to foster a high Christian standard of life and ideals, to promote honorable friendship, to cultivate intellectual excellence, to secure for members the greatest advantages in college life, to establish brotherly love, mutual aid, close personal connection between alumni, undergraduates and college, and to bind them together for mutual pleasure and interest in college as well as after life by testing each with courage, self-control, obedience, democracy and courtesy toward all with whom the may come in contact.


At the time, if you as a group wanted to start or had a group started, it was very hard to affiliate with a National Fraternity. It sometimes took 5 years as there was at the time very little expansion! Union and Miami Triad were considered some of the Old Line Fratgernitys.

LXA was kind of a uniqe thing starting from scratch and flying on a wing and a prayer, or as is sometimes said very loosely run!

As the old line Fraternitys were not into expansion, there was an open door for new Fraternitys!

In 1939 TKN which was set up to go to smaller schools merged with LXA, it is still the largest merger in Greek Dom!

There had been talks with TKE and another National but they both fell through! Sorry ZEKE you could have been a Brother LXA! Or vice versa!

I started my Local after being Booted out of a Fraternity that was a local when I joined and went to a well known Natrional.

I feel very much like Brother Warren Cole as for what I did!

I admire anyone who starts a Local Organization as I know what goes into it!

Sit back and think of what these people did in an age where it was hard to get around and to communicate!

That was tough!

Today, it is not impossable to start a group, but even harder to start a group and expand in this time of life with all of the things going on!

Hats Off To One And All!

[AXPAlum]

In short.. AXP was founded at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., June 4, 1895 by the Rev. Paul Ziegler, '72, Herbert T. Sherriff, '97, William A.D. Eardeley, '96, Carl G. Ziegler, '97, and William H. Rouse, '96.


There were approximately 117 students attending Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Most of the students attending Trinity College were from preparatory schools located in New England. The college system of that day was much different than today's system of higher education. Not every man went to college and those who did were expected to help shape the future of our country.

The Reverend Paul Ziegler had attended Trinity College and received his degree in 1872. While a student at Trinity, Rev. Ziegler was a member of the local Beta Beta Society. In today's terms, Beta Beta is a fraternity, but in that era, it was a literary society. In the 1890s, Reverend Ziegler and his family lived in Detroit, Michigan, and he wanted to send his oldest son, Carl, to his alma mater. This made Carl a unique student at Trinity. Instead of an easterner who had attended a prep school in New England, he was a Midwesterner. He was attending an eastern school that associated itself with schools such as Yale and Brown in the state.

Upon entering Trinity, he became friends with William Rouse and former pupil Herbert Sherriff. Both Carl and Herbert were not invited to join Reverend Ziegler's fraternity, Beta Beta, which had now become the Beta Beta chapter of Psi Upsilon Fraternity. As a result, Reverend Ziegler wanted to found a Greek letter society on a basis that was distinct from that of existing societies. Reverend Ziegler wrote his beliefs about what the new brotherhood should stand for and portray in the "Exoteric Manual of Alpha Chi Rho." This document, the first Exoteric manual of Alpha Chi Rho, was a non-secret statement of the principles of the new fraternity. The three men who accepted the first manual were Paul and Carl Ziegler, and Herbert Sherriff. Detroit could be considered the birthplace of Alpha Chi Rho.

When Ziegler and Sherriff returned to school, they interested four other men in joining them in their venture. All four had either refused or been refused membership in the existing fraternities at Trinity. Most all of the fraternities were part of some old and prestigious national organization. There were many doubts that such a new group had any hopes of survival. Two of the four dropped out of the group, which left us with our five Revered Founders. On June 4, 1895, the first formal meeting was held. The four undergraduate men exchanged the vows of brotherhood in Ziegler's room in Northam Towers on the Trinity campus.

A personal letter from Ziegler to Rouse relates to us that the name of the chapter, "PHI PSI", came about because Ziegler thought it was a nice sounding name for a chapter. They needed a chapter name since it was planned from the very beginning that Alpha Chi Rho would spread to other campuses.

At the conclusion of the school year in 1897, Carl Ziegler and Herbert Sherriff finished their studies at from Trinity. The Founders left the brotherhood in the hands of 17 Brothers. They had become one of the largest fraternities on campus, having over one-sixth of the student body. They included the brightest scholars and athletes on the campus. The first chapter hall was a rented room and the chapter had an eating club, which cost $4.50 per week. At that time, the college did not provide meals, and it was left up to the students to form clubs, join fraternities or eat with a private family in town. In addition to our respected membership, Alpha Chi Rho was the first fraternity on the campus to accept local students or "townies" as members.

[Colleenie]

Originally posted by lauren1874
From our national website, of course. Probably couldn't have said it better myself. [/B]

I couldn't have said it better myself either

The sad thing is that a few years ago Colby College dissolved it's greek system. So Sigma Kappa no longer has a chapter there. But the dormitories are named after our founders.

Originally posted by OohTeenyWahine
I've heard somewhere that some of the Founding women were invited to join an existing women's organization on campus, but they declined when they felt the need to have one more since female enrollment was increasing. Gamma Phi Beta and Alpha Phi were already on campus...so I wonder which one offered the invitation???

Sandy... Maria and I have some guesses about who this could be. I wonder if IHQ would know for sure?

[greeklawgirl]

Actually, in the fall of 1904, our 11 Founders declined the invitation to become the Epsilon chapter of another GLO looking to expand onto Syracuse's campus.

I have my suspicions, and 2 GLOs stand out in my mind in particular. But, who knows? I could be totally wrong.

Whoever it was, I'm glad our Founders declined!