Fraternity History & More

#WHM – Gladys Gilpatrick, AΔΠ, and the Pillar in Memorial Stadium

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

March is Women’s History Month (#WHM and #WHM2016), and it is my goal to highlight an outstanding sorority woman each day in March. Please check back every day to see who is in the spotlight for that particular day.

I just wrapped up writing the history of the Illinois Delta chapter of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Illinois. I have written three fraternity and two sorority histories for the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing. World War I took its toll on the Illinois campus and that came through in each of those histories.

After the war’s end it was decided to build a stadium in honor of the students who left campus and perished in the war effort. Memorial Stadium was dedicated on October 18, 1924; it was the University’s 15th Homecoming. On the east and west sides of the stadium there are 200 columns; 183 of those columns display the name of a University of Illinois student or graduate who lost their life in World War I. All but one of those names belong to males. The sole woman who lost her life and who is memorialized with a pillar in the stadium is a 1917 graduate, Gladys Gilpatrick, who was an initiate of Sigma Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi.

Gladys Gilpatrick is in the top right hand corner in this 1917 photo of the Sigma Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi at the University of Illinois taken from the 1917 Illio.

Gladys Gilpatrick is in the top right hand corner in this photo of the Sigma Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi at the University of Illinois taken from the 1917 Illio.

Remember that in 1917 women could not yet vote in a federal election. Women could not serve in the Armed Forces except in peripheral roles such as nurse, ambulance driver, telephone operator, etc.

Gilpatrick, who was from Plano, Illinois, began her post college career as a teacher. Wanting to help in the war effort, she attended a summer training for nurses at Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was in nurse’s training at Philadelphia General Hospital. There she came down with influenza. It developed into pneumonia. She died on October 12, 1918.

In the June 1919 Adelphean, Margaret Hill Pletcher, the Sigma chapter’s correspondent wrote, “We feel that Gladys was a war heroine, in spite of the fact that she didn’t go across. When taken ill she was studying nursing, preparatory to going ‘over there.’ Permission had been granted to the student nurses who so desired to return to their homes until after the epidemic, but Glad, characteristic of herself, stayed to give what help she could. Although we think of her death with the greatest sorrow, we are, nevertheless, very proud of her.

When Memorial Stadium was dedicated, 35 alumnae returned from towns outside of Champaign and Urbana, and a good many local Alpha Delta Pi alumnae attended. According to an account in the January 1925 Adelphean, Gilpatrick’s mother, father, and sister attended dinner at the chapter house and returned for a short visit after the dedication.

October 16, 1918 Daily Illini

***

On March 1, 1868, Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity was founded at the University of Virginia. According to the Pi Kappa Alpha website:

It all started in Room 47 West Range when Frederick Southgate Taylor turned to Littleton Waller Tazewell, his cousin and roommate, for help in starting a new fraternity. Also present were James Benjamin Sclater, Jr., a schoolmate of Tazewell, and Sclater’s roommate, Robertson Howard. Those four men voted to add a fifth to their group and chose Julian Edward Wood. In addition, William Alexander, probably a friend of Sclater, was proposed for membership and admitted as a founder.

Senator Everett Dirksen, whose name is on the plaques in many buildings in Illinois, was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha. Dirksen is buried in Pekin, Illinois. We passed the cemetery many times as we drove the scenic back roads to Knox College to watch our sons play football.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2016. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates through the comments section below. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

Posted in Alpha Delta Pi, Fran Favorite, Pi Kappa Alpha, University of Illinois, University of Virginia | Tagged Alpha Delta Pi, Gladys Gilpatrick, Memorial Stadium, Pi Kappa Alpha, University of Illinois, World War I | Comments Off

To Sigma Pi, Happy Founders’ Day!

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

In looking at the history of women’s fraternities/sororities, it is not uncommon to find that the founders had help from a man in forming the organization. Dr. Charles Richardson, a Kappa Sigma, is one of the founders of Chi Omega. Dr. Guy Potter Benton, Phi Delta Theta, was instrumental in the founding of Delta Zeta. Father (later Bishop) Edward D. Kelly, a Catholic priest, was the force behind the founding of Theta Phi Alpha.

It is unusual, however, to find a woman involved in the history of a men’s fraternity. Today, February 26, is the date on which Sigma Pi was founded in 1897. It was interesting to read this on the Sigma Pi website, “On January 26, 1897, Miss Charlotte N. Malotte, the professor of Latin and French, spoke to a student group at the chapel hour. She spoke on the subject of ‘College Fraternities’ which sparked the interest of several students. Then, on the afternoon of February 26, a new fraternity had its first meeting. When, after a long session, the meeting adjourned, a literary society had been born, though it was yet unnamed.”

The founders of the organization they first called Tau Phi Delta were all cadets at Vincennes University, a two year institution in southwestern Indiana. There were three seniors – William Raper Kennedy, James Thompson Kingsbury, and George Martin Patterson – and a freshman, Rolin Rosco James.

The Founders of Sigma Pi

Tau Phi Delta was, according to the organization’s website, “a combination of the fraternity idea and the old style literary society, the like of which flourished in almost every college in the United States in the 19th century. However, in all its outward aspects, Tau Phi Delta possessed the characteristics of a fraternity chapter. It was strictly secret and possessed a password and a grip and included an initiation ritual. Its badge was a simple black shield, with a border of gold, upon which were displayed the Greek letters ΤΦΔ. The colors were black and gold, and the red clover was the official flower.”

On February 11, 1907, the members last assembled as Tau Phi Delta and assumed the name of Sigma Pi Fraternity of the United States. In 1984, the Fraternity again changed its name to reflect it first Canadian chapter. It is today known as the Sigma Pi Fraternity, International.

Charlotte Northcraft Malotte, the Latin teacher, was born in Indiana. She studied at Indiana University where she joined the Beta chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. She worked at Vincennes University for three years as a Professor of French and Latin. In 1899, she took a job at Washington A and M College (now Washington State University). Her salary was $1,000 a year. There she met William Carl Kruegel and they were married in 1909. They had two children.

Charlotte Malotte Kruegel was active in the Theta alumnae group in Pullman. She was also present at the establishment of the Theta chapter at Washington State University. She was the reason, it was said by a Theta alumna, that in 1913 a small group of women at Washington State College (now WSU) chose to become the Alpha Sigma chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. This snippet from the article which appeared in the Theta magazine was too good not to use:

Saturday evening, in Van Doren hall, came the crowning event of
our three busy days, the banquet at which fifty-four Thetas gathered around one long table stretched the entire length of the two banquet rooms, a table beautifully decorated with chrysanthemums and exquisite in its appointments. Mrs. Charlotte Mallott Kruegel, to whom Alpha Sigma chapter owes so much, made a charming toast- mistress. The many telegrams and letters of congratulation which she read—messages from practically every chapter, active and alumnae, made us most happily and deeply conscious of our national life and national responsibility and were a fitting background for the inspiring toasts which followed. It is not possible to touch upon the banquet without explaining that it was planned, ordered and cooked by college students. Think of it—a six course, delicious banquet, for fifty-four guests. Could the average college girl boast of such skill and ability? Nor would I slight the splendid serving, for our own twelve Theta pledges did this service, and did it admirably.

My neighbor, Bob Odaniell is a Past Grand Sage of Sigma Pi. He was also a charter member of the Sigma Pi chapter at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and he was a great encouragement when I wrote my Master’s thesis on the history of the fraternity system at SIUC. To Bob and the others of Sigma Pi, I wish you a very happy Founders’ Day.

Photo courtesy of the Winter 1966 issue of the Sigma Pi Emerald.

Photo courtesy of the Winter 1966 issue of The Emerald of Sigma Pi.

Posted in Kappa Alpha Theta, Sigma Pi, Washington State University | Tagged Charlotte Northcraft Malotte Kruegel, Kappa Alpha Theta, Sigma Pi, Vincennes University, Washington State University | Comments Off

Chuck Stenzel, Eileen Stevens, and C.H.U.C.K.

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

I didn’t have a post planned for today. I’ve been running hither and yon and I need to cross about a dozen items off the list for today. When this came across the twitter feed, I knew I had to put that pesky list aside and write something.

‏@Hazing

On this day in 1978, Chuck Stenzel perished in a hazing at Alfred University, inspiring my book “Broken Pledges.”

As one who believes ardently in the fraternity and sorority experience when it is done correctly, I have a horrible reaction to hazing. Chuck Stenzel’s death touched me deeply. He was from Long Island and he went to college in upstate New York. I was at Syracuse when this happened and I remember my mother saving the Newsday coverage for me. My mother’s frame of reference on Greek-letter organizations was only was she saw on television and read in the newspaper. She asked if things like this went on at Syracuse. Her concern is the same concern I had when my sons pledged a fraternity. Was fraternity being done right or would I have to worry constantly?

Chuck Stenzel’s mother, Eileen Stevens, was dumbfounded when she received a phone call in the middle of the night telling her that her 20-year-old son had died of alcohol poisoning. He was a pledge of Klan Alpine, a local fraternity at Alfred University in western New York.

A headline in the February 12, 1979 issue of People magazine read, “Her Son’s Pointless Death Spurs An Angry Mother’s War Against Fraternity Hazing.” Eileen Stevens founded a non-profit organization in her son’s memory, C.H.U.C.K. (Committee to Halt Useless College Killings). She led the battle cry to make hazing illegal; at the time of her son’s death it was illegal in only three states.

She spoke to college students, year after year, until she retired from the speaking circuit. After all, her message was one that needed to be told year after year as the membership changed and a new crop of members came into the chapters. She spoke at fraternity and sorority conventions.

Alpha Phi asked her to become a special (alumna) initiate and she accepted the invitation. In 1994, Alpha Phi honored her with its Ivy Vine Award. She was honored with many fraternal awards.

None of those awards, none of the accolades she received for telling her story again and again, would bring her son back. She could only hope that in barring her intense pain she could save another mother from the same fate. I am in awe of her steadfastness of purpose. I believe that she did indeed save some mothers from travelling the road she had walked down. I am sorry for your loss, Mrs. Stevens, and I thank you for your service to the fraternity and sorority world.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2016. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

Posted in Fran Favorite | Tagged Alfred University, C.H.U.C.K., Chuck Stenzel, Eileen Stevens, hazing | 1 Comment

Beta at Kansas, THON at Penn State, and a Phi Mu from Syracuse

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

I’ve been away for a week on a research project, my mind is swimming with places, dates, and the faces of those long gone. One of the most interesting tidbits I picked up last week was that Emma Patton Noble, a charter member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, and a P.E.O. Past President of the Oklahoma State Chapter was called “Em Pat” by her friends. I find that endearing.

I also know that the subscribers to this blog will likely not get a notification that it has been posted. I am not sure what is going on, but I will continue to research the problem. Today’s post contains the highlights of my social media feeds.

The first appeared on my facebook feed from the Beta Theta Pi facebook page”

Beta Theta Pi . February 20

(Grab a Kleenex) So, what happens when a freshman pledge like Tommy Babb, Kansas ’19, suffers a near-fatal bodysurfing accident over Christmas break – one that leaves him paralyzed and stripped of basic motor skills like talking? The Alpha Nu Chapter alumni charter a bus so 50 undergraduate brothers can travel 600 miles and eight hours away to initiate Tommy in his hometown of Denver. With his Beta Dad Steve, Illinois ’87, on hand to witness today’s surprise, one thing’s for sure: Tommy’s survival is a miracle…but the loyalty of his Beta brothers most certainly is not. Welcome to the brotherhood, Tommy Babb, roll #2257. (And well done, Alpha Nu. Your actions today leave lumps in throats across North America. Man it feels good to be a Beta.)

***

This past weekend, the 39th THON, Penn State University’s IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, raised $9.77 million to help fight childhood cancers. This brings the event’s 39 year total of contributions to the Four Diamonds Fund to $137 million.

The event was dedicated to the memory of Vitalya “Tally” Sepot, an Alpha Chi Omega who was killed in a one-car accident as she and six others were returning to University Park from the first scheduled canning weekend.

***

One of my favorite instagram feeds is that of @syracusehistory.

Pictured is 603 Oakwood Avenue, former home of Dorothy and Robert Swift. Robert was born in Syracuse in 1904 and was employed as a manufacturer’s agent for a leather products company. He was a member of the American Red Cross during World War II and passed away in 1967. His wife Dorothy was born in England in 1907, she immigrated to the area where she attended Syracuse University and was a member of Phi Mu. In 1937, she was elected president of the Phi Mu Alumnae Association. Dorothy worked as a consulting dietitian and was a member of the Onondaga County Health Department and Community-General Hospital auxiliaries. She passed away in 2000 and was buried with her husband in Oakwood Cemetery. #SyracuseHistory

syracusehistory Pictured is 603 Oakwood Avenue, former home of Dorothy and Robert Swift. Robert was born in Syracuse in 1904 and was employed as a manufacturer’s agent for a leather products company. He was a member of the American Red Cross during World War II and passed away in 1967. His wife Dorothy was born in England in 1907, she immigrated to the area where she attended Syracuse University and was a member of Phi Mu. In 1937, she was elected president of the Phi Mu Alumnae Association. Dorothy worked as a consulting dietitian and was a member of the Onondaga County Health Department and Community-General Hospital auxiliaries. She passed away in 2000 and was buried with her husband in Oakwood Cemetery. #SyracuseHistory

Dorothy Carruthers became a member of the Beta Zeta chapter of Phi Mu. She was a junior in this chapter photo from the 1929 Onondogan yearbook. There is nothing special about Dorothy Carruthers Swift. She pledged herself to Phi Mu as a college student, served Phi Mu in a local capacity, and passed on. All of our organization contain thousands of men and women who have done the same thing. They may not have awards or monuments named for them, but their efforts have helped in keeping the organization moving along through to the future.

1933-34 Beta Zeta chapter of Phi Mu

Posted in Beta Theta Pi, Fran Favorite, P.E.O., Phi Mu, Pi Beta Phi, Simpson College, University of Illinois, University of Kansas | Tagged Beta Theta Pi, Emma Patton Noble, P.E.O., Penn State, Phi Mu, Simpson College, Syracuse University, THON, University of Illinois, University of Kansas | Comments Off

On Phi Psi’s Founders’ Day, the Third Williams Brother

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Phi Kappa Psi was founded on February 19, 1852 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania). Phi Kappa Psi’s founders are William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore.

For the last few months, I have been writing a history of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter at the University of Illinois. It’s always fun to discover interesting facts about an organization. The quest to establish a Phi Psi chapter at the University of Illinois was led by Dan G. Swannell. The son of a Champaign businessman, Swannell spent a year at the University of Illinois before heading off to Ann Arbor, Michigan. There he became a member of the Michigan Alpha chapter of Phi Kappa Psi. When his father became ill and he returned to Champaign he was keenly interested in having Phi Psi establish a chapter on campus. Swannell’s efforts and steadfastness of purpose not only saw the Illinois Delta chapter of Phi Kappa Psi receive a charter in 1904 , but he helped the chapter build its own home less than five years after it was established. That home at 911 S. 4th Street at the corner of Chalmers is still the fraternity’s home. The chapter has remained in that home since it was built by A.W. Stoolman, except for the years the war department took over the house as a residence for soldiers in training and a year it was rented out as a boarding house for women before the men returned from war service (the few Phi Psis who were on campus then lived with other fraternity men in the Phi Kappa Tau house). Swannell was known as the “Father of Illinois Delta.” He went on to serve as Phi Psi’s National President and he was instrumental in establishing the fraternity’s Endowment Fund.

However, it’s the Williams brothers I want to showcase. Most Phi Psis have heard of two of the brothers, Howard Chandler “Army” Williams and Clarence Foss “Dab” Williams. “Army” started his Phi Psi life as a member of the New Hampshire Alpha chapter at Dartmouth. He became a charter member of Illinois Delta. “Dab” was the next Williams brother to sign the chapter roll. “Army” went on to serve as National President of Phi Kappa Psi, the first of three to come from the chapter. As a student in 1910, “Dab” along with an Acacia buddy, W. Elmer Ekblaw, co-founded the tradition of Homecoming; it was an idea which spread like wildfire throughout the college landscape, helped along, I believe, by the Greek-letter press. “Dab” would later go on to be “Mr. Phi Psi,” as Shield Editor and Phi Psi’s Executive Secretary/Director.

Lloyd Garrison Williams was initiated in 1908. He and his brothers grew up in Elgin, Illinois, where their father was a probate judge. After graduation, he went back to Elgin and began practicing law. In 1914, he was appointed the city’s attorney. In May 1917, he entered the U.S. Army. The Shield of Phi Kappa Psi gives this account of his service:

He entered the service in May 1917 in the first officers’ training camp at Fort Sheridan, receiving his commission as second lieutenant the following August. Almost immediately he received orders to embark, and arrived in France late in September. He was assigned to English and French sectors at different times for further training, specializing in trench mortar work. He then served with the 116th U. S. infantry in the Toul sector and later in the motor transport service. Early in October, at his own urgent request, he was transferred to the first division of regulars, being assigned to company K, 28th infantry. He saw ten straight days of the most severe fighting in the Argonne forest. It was after these engagements that Lieutenant Williams received his citation for bravery and recommendation for promotion.

Lieutenant Lloyd G. Williams died at Base Hospital 34 in Nantes, France on November 26, 1917. His family in Illinois received a letter dated November 24, 1917, written by an Army nurse; in it she wrote that Lloyd was in the hospital. According to The Shield article, “The family exhausted every means to get further information, but with no success until the receipt of the message, on January 22d, announcing his death nearly two months previously.” The cause of death was bronchial pneumonia and cerebral meningitis.

***

February 19 is also Founders’ Day for La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Incorporated, a fraternity for Latino students. It was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York on February 19, 1982, by 11 undergraduate men, a faculty advisor, and a Cornell administrator. The majority of the founding members were in pre-med and engineering majors and they had little free time to devote to creating a fraternity of their own. But create it they did; in the ensuing 32 years, the fraternity has grown to more than 55 undergraduate chapters and more than a dozen alumni chapters. Happy Founders’ Day!

Posted in Phi Kappa Psi, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, Washington and Jefferson College | Tagged Clarence F. Williams, Clarence Williams, Dan G. Swannell, Homecoming, Howard Chandler Williams, Jefferson College, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Lloyd G. Williams, Phi Kappa Psi, University of Illinois, Washington and Jefferson College | Comments Off

On Phi Psi’s Founders’ Day, the Third Williams Brother

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

***

Posted in Fran Favorite, Phi Kappa Psi, University of Illinois, Washington and Jefferson College | Tagged Clarence F. Williams, Dan G. Swannell, Homecoming, Howard Chandler Williams, Jefferson College, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Lloyd G. Williams, Phi Kappa Psi, University of Illinois, Washington and Jefferson College | Comments Off

Happy Learn More About the History of GLOs Day!

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

I hereby declare today as Learn More About the History of Greek-Letter Organizations Day!

There are more than 700 posts on this blog. Some are much more interesting than others, and I will be the first to admit that. However, there really is something for everyone on here, or so I’ve been told.

If you are looking for posts about a specific organization (or person, place, or thing), use the search box putting the name of the organization in quotes. That will bring up a list of posts where that organization is mentioned. The category drop-down menu will also bring up the posts about a specific GLO.

If you’d like to be notified when a new post appears, use the little subscribe box on the right hand side.

I love it when readers tell friends (and foes, too) about this blog. It is not disloyal to read about GLOs other than you own. We have many things in common and those of us in the GLO world are truly family.

And now some fun facts about me (written for something else, but I am very short of time today and want to post something).

I have played 12 days worth of solitaire (the every third card version) on my ipad. Luckily, it’s in five or ten minute segments a few times a week.

I had three children in 18 months (and that’s why I no longer speak in complete sentences!). Our daughter is 18 months older than her identical twin brothers. They lived their childhood via consensus and compromise. After they were of college age and home at different times, they had the opportunity to experience being an “only child.” All attention was focused on the sole offspring in our midst and all choices were differed to their whim. They all insist they dislike the experience.

I met my husband in the kitchen of the Pi Beta Phi chapter house at Syracuse University. I initiated his sister. When I first learned how she spelled her last name, I commented that it was a ridiculous (and I know I used “ridiculous” rather than say, “odd,” or “unique”) to spell a name which was pronounced “Beck.” About a year later, I married her brother and have been spelling it, “B as in boy, E, C, Q, U, E,” ever since!

I collect the histories of other Greek-letter organizations. My very favorite is a 1930s History of Kappa Kappa Gamma and every time I open it I am amazed at the amount of work it must have been to collect and publish such a tome in a time before spreadsheets and computer programs.

Carnations have always been my favorite flower.

Thanks for reading my blog!

PiPhiFlowersblog

Posted in Fran Favorite | Comments Off

Lost in the Kappa Key

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Yesterday, an email from my Kappa Kappa Gamma friend, Kylie Smith, had me lost in an 1895 edition of The Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

kappa lucy allen smart

What had me intrigued?

Never has an opening year brought greater occasion for rejoicing to Delta than has this. Her dream of years has been realized; at last she has her ‘golden milestone’ whence already she

‘Measures every distance

Through the gateways of the world around.’

Our plans for a chapter house were not mentioned in our last letter, for it was so difficult to secure a suitable house, that we scarcely dared hope that they could be carried out. However, before Commencement we put the matter into the hands of a local committee of arrangements with full power to decide. Who could chronicle the tribulations of those devoted girls! But thanks to their indefatigable efforts, coupled with the enthusiastic support of our resident Kappas, we returned to find a beautiful home ready for us. What that means to Delta, only ye who for twenty-two years have led the life of a homeless fraternity, can know! The house is well arranged for entertaining, as it has three parlors and a large hall. Seven of the girls room in the house, and there are also apartments for the matron. The parlors are most tastefully furnished and full of beautiful things, either given or loaned by Kappas and their friends. We owe especial thanks to Ida Fulwider (Hottel), for loaning us her fine piano.

Our house-warming was an open meeting, and on Hallowe’en a party was given, at which the girls dressed as babies and masked. One girl was an especial puzzle both to the men and to her Kappa sisters. At the unmasking she proved to be Maud Wilson, who had arrived in town that evening and had slipped in among the maskers without being discovered. The refreshments, fortune telling and games were all in keeping with Hallowe’en.

The Delta chapter at Indiana University is Kappa’s longest continuous chapter. It was founded on October 12, 1872. In 1881, the chapter entertained the fourth National Convention, which was held in nearby French Lick. The chapter selected and proposed Kappa’s colors, the light blue and the dark blue, “they were accepted nationally. These colors are typical of the ‘true blue’ character and noble womanhood of Kappa. Delta’s design for the Fraternity official seal was also accepted.”

For 22 years, the chapter had no home to call its own, and now it has one of the most beautiful homes of all Kappa Kappa Gamma chapters. The house the committee found for the chapter in 1894 is not the home in which the chapter resides currently. The chapter’s home at 1018 East Third Street opened in 1925. Three years earlier, the chapter, backed by a “loyal body of alumnae, Delta set out to build a new castle.” The new home was occupied in the fall of 1925. The home was described as being “of English Gothic architecture in light brick and stone. Standing on a hill, one hundred feet back from the street, it makes an imposing appearance. The house was built, furnished, and landscaped at the cost of eighty thousand dollars.” (In 2015 buying power that $80,000 equates to more than $1,000,000, an amazing amount when you consider that women did not typically have discretionary funds of their own.)

kappa house

Posted in Indiana University, Kappa Kappa Gamma | Tagged Indiana University, Kappa Kappa Gamma | Comments Off

Sorority Bashing Video Goes Viral – Who’da Thunk It?

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Last week, a former sorority member, a public relations major in the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, released a video. In it she bashed the entire women’s fraternity/sorority system for an “overwhelming lack of compassion for other women.” Her video went viral and she had her few minutes of fame on the Today show.

She did not enjoy her time as a member of a National Panhellenic Conference organization. In her own words, she “went to parties” and “did the costume thing for a while.” I am not really what she meant by the “costume thing,” but it really doesn’t matter.

Are each of the 3,000+ NPC organization chapters perfect? No, and I can say that confidently. Every chapter of every GLO, be it a men’s or women’s organization, from every council and umbrella group, is made up of college students, some of whom are juggling multiple roles. There are many variables which play into the day-to-day life of a GLO. A chapter that runs like a well-oiled machine one year can be on the skids the next. However, when done well, membership in a GLO can be one of the best learning experiences a college student can have. And many times the best lessons come from adversity and how a situation is handled. None of us learns very well when we don’t have to expend much energy or effort.

She joined as a freshman and resigned her membership as a senior. If the disgruntled former sorority member did not like what was going on in her organization why didn’t she try to do something to change the culture? Did she ever speak up? Did she ever run for an office? Did she ever volunteer to chair a committee? Did she ever make her views known to the alumnae advisors and headquarter’s staff?

If one expects an experience to be “perfect” on its own and without any effort, that person is quite deluded. In fact, I would argue that there are no “perfect” things or experiences. Despite the industry of television shows, magazines, and websites that try to find people the “perfect” house, the “perfect” bridal gown, the “perfect” job, vacation, spouse, and family, those things really don’t exist. Perfect is a matter of perception. A friend who has been married more than 50 years says that the secret of her happy marriage is that she and her husband have never wanted a divorce at the same time. Being part of a couple, being a member of an organization, being an employee, being a parent, none of that is going to be “perfect” 100% of the time. Nothing might ever be “perfect,” but how one deals with the situation is what matters the most.

The disgruntled sorority woman was part of the problem if she didn’t try to be part of the solution. I don’t think the going to parties and the “costume thing” qualifies as being part of the solution if there was indeed a lack of compassion among the members.

***

An article about the National Panhellenic Conference Executive Director Dani Weatherford appeared in an Indianapolis newspaper over the weekend. She is a member of Delta Gamma. http://www.indystar.com/story/money/2016/02/05/s-not-your-mothers-sorority-anymore/79783668/

npc buttons crop

Posted in Delta Gamma, Fran Favorite, Syracuse University | Tagged Dani Weatherford, National Panhellenic Conference, Syracuse University | Comments Off

#GoRedForWomen With a Splash of Sigma Chi

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Heart disease is a killer. More women die from the complications of heart disease than all cancers combined. Today, February 5, is Wear Red Day. These are some of the posts from my twitter feed.

‏@APhiFoundation

Today’s the day! RT if you’re wearing RED with Alpha Phi! #GoRedWearRed #heartmonth #WearRedDay

CadTvuSWAAEIafo ***

‏@akasorority1908 2h2 hours ago

#PinkGoesRed today to drive awareness & prevention of Heart disease! Post your #GoRed pics! #AKAImpactDay #AKA1908

CadH_VsWcAA302n

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My Pi Phi friend Marci has been working for the National Panhellenic Conference since graduating from Butler University. Today is Marci’s last day with NPC, but I have a strong feeling that she will continue to be involved in fraternity and sorority life. I had the wonderful chance to have breakfast with her last week at Pi Phi’s College Weekend. Best wishes, Marci, on your new adventure!

‏@mercedessue14

Celebrating #GoRedWearRed and my last day at NPC. Red sweaters and pink heart cupcakes. 12547132_1276571722369845_506523461_n

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‏@UNLpanhellenic

Today is National Wear Red Day! Wear red to show support for heart health with #GoRedWearRed & #UNLPanhellenic

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‏@SLG1990

I #GoRedWearRed in honor of the 1 in 3 women affected by heart disease and stroke. #LifeIsWhy

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‏@EIUAlphaPhi

National Wear Red Day is tomorrow! Join AΦ in wearing red to help raise awareness about heart disease #GoRedWearRed

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One hundred years ago today, the Sigma Chi Club of Philadelphia met. Here is the notice of the meeting from the Sigma Chi Quarterly:

The annual meeting of the Sigma Chi Club of Philadelphia was held February 5, 1916 at Phi Phi Chapter House, 3604 Walnut Street. At this meeting the election of the board of trustees resulted as follows: Watkins Benerman, Phi Phi, 1912; John H. Franz, Phi Phi, 1907; Michael J. McCrudden, Phi Phi, 1905; E.R. Wilson, Phi Phi, 1913; Warren C. Graham, Phi Phi, 1903; Ward W. Pierson, Omega, 1902; and W.B. Mcintosh.

….The campaign for the permanent home of the Sigma Chi Club of Philadelphia and Phi Phi Chapter is progressing more satisfactorily than was at first anticipated. As a result of the generous response from the members of the club, it is now thought possible to break ground early next year provided we are as successful with the campaign during the next six months as we have been during a similar period just past.

The University of Pennsylvania chapter of Sigma Chi did not build a new house. In 1920, the chapter moved into a home at 3809 Locust Walk. A Penn website has the chapter moving into the house in 1928, but the chapter was using that address in a 1921 Sigma Chi Quarterly.

An 1891 ad featuring a future Sigma Chi.

Posted in Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Chi, University of Pennsylvania | Tagged Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi, NPC, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Chi | Comments Off

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