women's colleges

[Eclipse]

Originally posted by Sistermadly
One of the oldest (and most prestigious) women's colleges in the US - Spelman College - has no NPC sororities on campus, but has chapters from all 4 NPHC sororities on campus. I think they also have a NALFO member sorority on campus, but I'll have to ask my friend who's a Spelman alumna about that one.

The greek system there is thriving, but in a different way.

Thank you for bring up my alma mater. Just to add to what you have said....Spelman did not have on campus sororities until the 70s. Before that time Spelman's presidents felt that sororities caused division on campus and distracted from the Spelman Sisterhood. Some students did join sororities before Spelman officially recognized them, but they had to do it through other chapters in the Atlanta University Center.

BTW Sistermadly, I agree with your assessment of Spelman!

[MSKKG]

I hadn't heard about the name-change possibility, but if it's changed to Welty Univ. then it can still be called the "W"!

[Sistermadly]

Originally posted by greekalumna
Slightly OT, the W's name may be changed sometime soon -- hopefully if it is (and I'm against them changing it), it will change to Welty University.

As in Eudora Welty? That would so rock!

[Lisa Fishman]

There is also Stephens College in Columbia, MO. They have two NPC groups- Kappa Delta and Sigma Sigma Sigma.

[MoxieGrrl]

Here's a question....maybe someone more PHC-savvy than me could answer it.

I remember reading somewhere that Chatham College (in Pittsburgh) used to have a Kappa Delta chapter. It was more than likely closed because a lot of women's colleges wanted alums to be more loyal to the school than to their Greek organization.

So.......could KD ever go back on that campus? I've been reading some threads over the past couple months where the GLO (not necessarily KD) is recognized by National Headquarters, but not the school itself.

[33girl]

Originally posted by MoxieGrrl
So.......could KD ever go back on that campus? I've been reading some threads over the past couple months where the GLO (not necessarily KD) is recognized by National Headquarters, but not the school itself.

As long as the school is a fully accredited 4 year college, I wouldn't see why not. Whether KD would want to do it w/out school support is another story.

[kddani]

Originally posted by MoxieGrrl
Here's a question....maybe someone more PHC-savvy than me could answer it.

I remember reading somewhere that Chatham College (in Pittsburgh) used to have a Kappa Delta chapter. It was more than likely closed because a lot of women's colleges wanted alums to be more loyal to the school than to their Greek organization.

So.......could KD ever go back on that campus? I've been reading some threads over the past couple months where the GLO (not necessarily KD) is recognized by National Headquarters, but not the school itself.

This seems to be happening a lot more with fraternities- not being recognized by a school, but this HQ recognizing and supporting them. Pi Lambda Phi at Pitt is like this- Pitt does not recognize them b/c of major problems that happened with them several years ago, but their HQ does.

I think it's more rare for this situation to occur with sororities. I've NEVER heard of it happening with KD. Chatham doesn't have any sororities at all, so I highly doubt that KD would ever go back there. I'd love it if they did though! It's only a couple blocks from my apartment and there's a ton of support in the area!

[IvySpice]

Wellesley College, one of the most prominent women's colleges in the country, doesn't have sororities, but it does have selective "societies" which have a great deal in common with the early literary societies that grew into sororities. I believe that one or more of them actually have Greek-letter names.

>I've been reading some threads over the past couple months where the GLO (not necessarily KD) is recognized by National Headquarters, but not the school itself.

This is the case right now with both Harvard (which has chapters of DG and Theta) and the University of Chicago (which has AOII, DG, and Theta). UC basically tolerates the groups; they can poster on campus, their web pages are linked as "other groups" on the student organizations site, etc., even though they are officially unrecognized. Harvard, on the other hand, is extremely hostile to Greek groups and won't allow them to use school resources in any way (they can't meet in the dorms, etc.).

It was my understanding that these national orgs generally do not allow chapters on campuses without university support, but that they made exceptions for these campuses because of their academic reputations.

Ivy

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by IvySpice
Wellesley College, one of the most prominent women's colleges in the country, doesn't have sororities, but it does have selective "societies" which have a great deal in common with the early literary societies that grew into sororities. I believe that one or more of them actually have Greek-letter names.

Wellesley has three Greek letter "societies." I believe one is a literary society, one is a lecture society, and one is an art & music society. I'm not sure if there are other societies without Greek letters or not. From what I've seen of the webpages, they function much like sororities. Their recruitment process is called "teaing."

Princeton and Yale are two more schools with non-recognition of their NPC sororities. I believe Princeton has Tri Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Pi Phi. Yale has Kappa, Pi Phi and Theta. However, I think the NPC headquarters of most sororities would be reluctant to establish any chapter on a campus without university consent unless the school was one with such undeniable national prestige as the Ivies or UChicago have.

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
However, I think the NPC headquarters of most sororities would be reluctant to establish any chapter on a campus without university consent unless the school was one with such undeniable national prestige as the Ivies or UChicago have.

It's been my experience that national headquarters will do anything to keep their Ivy chapters open, or to establish new ones, or to reopen inactive ones. Harvard doesn't recognize fraternities either, and I don't know what the deal is with Dartmouth. But, I guess a lot of national groups like having chapters at Ivies/MIT/Chicago/Stanford etc.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally posted by Munchkin03


It's been my experience that national headquarters will do anything to keep their Ivy chapters open, or to establish new ones, or to reopen inactive ones. Harvard doesn't recognize fraternities either, and I don't know what the deal is with Dartmouth. But, I guess a lot of national groups like having chapters at Ivies/MIT/Chicago/Stanford etc.

On Dartmouth's Student Life website, there is a link to "other organizations" which leads you to the social organizations. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~orl/cfsc.html

My impression has been that Greek life is strong at Dartmouth??

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by breathesgelatin
My impression has been that Greek life is strong at Dartmouth??

It's pretty strong (they're in the middle of New Hampshire, for crying out loud!), but there's been a move to reduce the power of Greeks there, including making all groups co-ed. We've discussed it a lot on these boards so I won't bore you with the details. But, the national groups DO NOT want to lose these chapters, for what ever reason.

[breathesgelatin]

OK, I'm reviving this really old thread because I'd like to make a list of

-women's colleges that had Greek life and banned it
-why they banned it
-the times the chapters were initially founded
-when they banned it
-which chapters where there
-which women's colleges still have GLOs or social clubs

I know I can steal a lot of this information from that huge thread in the recruitment forum... but are there campuses that haven't been mentioned?

[alum]

Sweet Briar doesn't have women's GLOs but it does have selective social societies called "Tap Clubs".

[ZTABullwinkle]

Originally Posted by alum

Sweet Briar doesn't have women's GLOs but it does have selective social societies called "Tap Clubs".

Alum,

I was just going to come in here and mention Sweet Briar College in Virginia. I went there for a semester, and from what I know of the "tap"clubs, they are very much like sororities. It is a rather small college that is full of lots of traditions.