Every fall as students head to college and GLOs recruit new members, I hold my breath each time I look at my alerts in the morning. Will there be a story about hazing? Will the current collegiate members of GLOs heed the efforts of many, including those who have lost the most to hazing, to eliminate hazing from all GLO activities? I hope and pray they do. It is an effort that has no end, for the way our organizations work, hazing prevention education is a constant as members join and others graduate and leave.
HazingPrevention.Org has been educating, advocating and engaging about hazing prevention since 2007. This year’s Hank Nuwer Anti Hazing Hero Award winners have been named. They are Rae Ann and Stephen Gruver and Dave Westol. The Gruvers, along with last year’s Heros Jim and Evelyn Piazza, lost precious sons to fraternity hazing. The Gruvers’ son Max died while pledging a fraternity at Louisiana State. The Piazzas’ son Timothy was at Penn State. The two families have spoken to countless GLO audiences and at GLO conventions around the country. Dave Westol has been a tireless advocate for all the good things that GLOs do and he is a crusader to make GLOs the best organization they can be. Previous winners also include collegiate members of GLOs who tackled hazing issues, athletes and professionals working with GLOs. We are grateful for the efforts of those who have been honored with this award.
A Four Diamonds Child Enrolls “At Home”
Penn State’s THON began in 1973 as an overnight Dance Marathon. Forty-six years later it is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Funds are raised for Four Diamonds at Penn State Children’s Hospital. This year, Tucker Haas, who has attended THON as a Four Diamonds child will be on the other side of the THON effort as a Penn State student.
The GLO Members Who Perished on September 11, 2001
We are about a week away from the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This year’s crop of out of high school freshmen have no real memory of the terror of that day. I think it is important for us to remember those of our number who perished on that September morning, so I will post this again.
Last week included a day drive to and from Kansas in rain storms to rescue a garage full of items that did not fit in our daughter’s moving truck and a trip to Florida that turned into a very quick trip due to Hurricane Dorian. We were in Florida for 14 hours and for some of those we were asleep. In good traffic, it’s a 16 hour drive each way. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of the Bahamas who have been dealing with Dorian’s wrath and those who will be dealing with it this coming week.
In between the two drives, I spent a few days at Pi Phi HQ in St. Louis. There I found this treasure in the pile of things waiting for me in the archives. It’s a composite of the NPC Chairmen in rotation. Note that the “official rotation” did not begin until 1908 with Anna Lytle (Tannahill Brannon), Pi Beta Phi’s delegate. She’s sixth from left in the top row. I suspect this composite was indeed a very big project, having to gather digital images of the women who served. Two women served twice. Amy Olgen Parmelee, Tri Delta, and L. Pearle Green, Kappa Alpha Theta. Parmelee’s first go-round as Chairman in 1905 occurred before the official rotation took place. She served in rotation during the 1914-15 year. Green’s tenure was twice in the official rotation, 1909 and 1947-49!
Kudos to NPC for creating this wonderful homage to the women who served the organization since 1902.
A New to Me Book
When I arrived home from Florida, a book was in the mail in our box. A Pi Phi friend in Monmouth, Illinois, found it in an antique store for $5 and messaged me with a picture, asking if I would like it. It’s a fun addition to my collection of fraternity and sorority histories and publications. While prices on online book sites can be astronomical, things can still be had for reasonable prices. Many items are also available in digital format, too.
The book has a 1936 publication date. I suspect it spent decades on a Sigma Nu’s bookshelf.
Miss National Sweetheart
Congratulations to the 2019 Miss National Sweetheart, Jane Kennedy, a Delta Gamma from University of California, Santa Barbara. She was First Runner Up in the 2019 Miss California competition. The Miss National Sweetheart contest takes place in Hoopeston, Illinois over Labor Day. The Hoopeston Jaycees coordinate the contest.
Jane Kennedy, the 2019 Miss National Sweetheart
Sorority Women Competing in Miss USA 2020
The state competitions for Miss USA 2020 are underway. Currently, the state winners include an Alpha Chi Omega and a Kappa Alpha Theta. Names will be added to the list as state winners and affiliation are identified.
Currently there are five women running for the presidency of the United States. They are Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobucher, Elizabeth Warren, and Marianne Williamson. Two of them are sorority women. The other three attended colleges where that was not an option. Kirsten Gillibrand, who dropped out hours after this post was published, is a Kappa Kapoa Gamma, initiated at Dartmouth College.
In 1964, Margaret Chase Smith, an alumna initiate of Sigma Kappa, became the first woman to be placed in nomination for presidency at a convention of a major party. A little more than 30 years ago, Patricia Schroeder, a Chi Omega, dipped her toe in the 1988 presidential race. And Elizabeth Dole, a Tri Delta, entered the race in 2000. Shirley Chisholm, and Carol Mosley Braun, Democratic contenders in 1972 and 2004, respectively, shared a Delta Sigma Theta bond.
The sorority women in contention for the nomination are Kamala Harris, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Howard University (Alpha Chapter) and Elizabeth Warren, Kappa Alpha Theta, George Washington University.
Kamala Harris
Several articles have been written about the efforts being mobilized by her Alpha Kappa Alpha sisters to assist Harris in securing the nomination and I encourage you to google them.
Elizabeth Warren, Kappa Alpha Theta
This is at least the second time Warren has tweeted this photo of her as a George Washington student. Note the Kappa Alpha Theta kite to the left of the GW pennant. An astute person asked me about the Delta Gamma anchor visible at the right of the picture. How sure was I that she is a Theta. Perhaps she is a DG? Luckily, I was confident because I confirmed the Theta connection before I included Warren in the list of sorority women who are senators, shortly after Warren posted the picture for the first time.
She’s a Theta, but I think I might have an explanation for the DG anchor on the bulletin board. If that bulletin board was her’s, and it might have been, then that could be one of the many invitations and courtesy notes that were part of recruitment in those days. Also note the White House photo in the bottom right of the bulletin board.
And here is the proof that she indeed a Theta. It is a listing of 1966-67 Theta initiates.
1966-67 initiates by state and city from the Kappa Alpha Theta, Vol. 82, No. 1. Warren’s maiden name is Herring.
She was Miss Class of 1970, from the Kappa Alpha Theta, Vol. 81, No. 4.
Liz Herring is in the second row on the left page, second from left. Photo from 1968 Cherry Tree, courtesy of GW Library.
It’s that time of year. Sorority recruitment is taking place on many campuses. Along with the majority of excitement and giddyness of Bid Day, the day when the Prospective New Members (PNMs) find out which organization will be theirs, there can also be a bit of heartache. Most of the time that heartache is felt keenest by the family members of the woman going through recruitment.
A woman going through NPC sorority recruitment who has a mother, grandmother, or sister initiated into a particular sorority is considered a legacy of that organization. Some groups also include other relatives and step-relatives in the definition of legacy. It is possible for a woman to be a legacy to several chapters.
Several of the 26 NPC organizations each have a pair of real sisters among their founders. Alpha Gamma Delta has Marguerite and Estelle Shepard. Helene and Adriance Rice founded Alpha Sigma Tau. Frances and Almira Cheney belong to Alpha Xi Delta and Clara and Emma Brownlee founded Pi Beta Phi. Phi Sigma Sigma’s founders include Ethel and Lillian Gordon. Only one organization, Theta Phi Alpha, has two sets of sisters among the founders – May and Camilla Ryan, and Katrina and Dorothy Caughey.
The sad fact is that not everyone’s daughter, granddaughter, or sister is going to end up wearing the pin of her legacy organization. Perhaps the number of legacies going through is too large to invite everyone back for more than one day. Or maybe, it isn’t a good match. The PNM might want to follow her own heart.
Whatever the reason, dreams sometimes die when a PNM opens a bid card and on it is an organization other than the one to which her mother, grandmother, or sister belong. And the dream that dies is usually the one belonging to the relative(s) of the new member.
To the ones who suffer hurt on Bid Day, my advice is to change the dream. The experience your daughter, granddaughter, or sister will have in any of the 26 NPC groups is essentially the same. And chances are very good that if she dedicates herself to the organization, she will leave it with the same feelings and love for her organization that you have for yours. In the end, isn’t that what you want for her?
Enjoy giving her things with her letters or symbols. Send her flowers after initiation. Revel in your time with her and the chapter at Parent’s Weekend, Homecoming, and Mom’s Weekend, or anytime you visit her. Become involved if the chapter has a Mom’s Club.
Yes, feeling sadness when a dream dies is normal. If your legacy was raised with your sorority songs being sung to her when she was a baby, to helping with alumnae club or chapter advising, to touring your organization’s chapter house on campus visits, then the hurt will sting a little more. Don’t let your hurt affect your legacy’s experience. Let her enjoy it just as you enjoyed yours. Genuinely support her. Help her leave her chapter on graduation day feeling the same love for her organization as you do for yours. That is one of the greatest joys you can give her during her time at college.
Mothers and daughters at the 1923 Pi Beta Phi Convention
The excitement of fraternity and sorority recruitment is in the air. I am not quite sure how it became August 9 so quickly, and I don’t think I will ever catch up with the to-do list before me. Delta Gamma’s #IAmASororityWoman campaign began on August 1 and as par for the course this year, I am late in acknowledging it.
However, I love this campaign! I share the stories of all Greek-letter organizations connecting the past to the present and the future. There are more than 1,400 posts on this blog and the search bar can help readers know more about their own and other GLOs. My #NotableSororityWomen posts for #WomensHistoryMonth highlight the amazing women who claim sorority membership. I hope to have links by organization soon, but if you want to see the profiles of women in your organization, search your organization’s name and add #NotableSororityWomen to the search and you will see those I’ve featured in the past.
I feel we all love our organization the most, and yet, we are all family. The more success our organizations have, the better for all of us. And when one of the chapters fails and falls short of living up to their values, we all suffer. The world at large does not know the difference in our letters. We are all painted by the same brush when things go awry. It is incumbent upon all of us to make sure that we live up to the ideals we espouse and recite with conviction. Kudos to Delta Gamma for their #IAmASororityWoman campaign.
The North-American Interfraternity Conference’s #myFraternity campaign is also a harbinger of fall recruitment.
The core of any of the fraternities and sororities is friendship – a brotherhood or sisterhood – with the promise that one can be connected to the organization throughout their lifetime. A well done fraternity/sorority experience is a gift to all involved. Hearing alums say, “I am a…” rather than “I was a…” is an indicator of a great experience as a collegian. Staying involved past graduation, mentoring young members, helping plan for the future of the organization and supporting it financially with donations are a way of paying forward what one receives as a collegian.
Membership should really be for a lifetime and not just something one does as a freshman or sophomore.
On August 8, 1839, eight young men established Beta Theta Pi, the first men’s fraternity founded west of the Allegheny Mountains. The men, “of ever honored memory” were John Reily Knox, Michael Clarkson Ryan, David Linton, Samuel Taylor Marshall, James George Smith, Charles Henry Hardin, John Holt Duncan, and Thomas Boston Gordon.
I became acquainted with the Knox College chapter of Beta Theta Pi years ago when I visited the Pi Beta Phi chapter at Knox. The men’s chapter house is on campus. Later, my sons would become members of Xi Chapter.
The Xi Chapter house on the Knox College campus
Another member of that Xi Chapter has his name on one of Beta’s top awards, honoring his service as Beta Theta Pi’s President. Coincidentally that man, Francis Hinckley Sisson, married Grace Lass during her tenure as Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President. They were married in Galesburg, Illinois, on June 16, 1897. She served as Pi Phi’s Grand President from 1895-99 and he was President of Beta from 1912-18.
Grace Lass Sisson
At the time of their marriage, Mr. Sisson, who had done post-graduate work at Harvard University, was the Editor of the Galesburg Daily Mail. In 1903, the couple moved to New York City, where he was hired by McClure’s Magazine. A year later, he became Advertising Manager for the American Real Estate Company and later was its Secretary from 1908-14. He then took a job with the H.E. Lesan Advertising Agency. From there he became the Assistant Chairman of the Railways Executive’s Advisory Association. In 1917, he was employed as the Vice President of the Guaranty Trust Company. He was still with the company when he passed away in 1933. In addition, he served as President of the American Bankers Association
When the Sissons moved to New York City, they lived in several homes. The 1906 Pi Beta Phi Directory lists the Sissons at 839 West End Avenue. In 1917, their address was 70 Undercliff in the Park Hill section of Yonkers. The 1931 Westchester City Social Record lists the Sissons as still living at the 70 Undercliff address with a winter residence of 480 Park Avenue. In the 1936 Pi Beta Phi Directory, the Sissons were living at 170 Shonnard Terrace in Yonkers.
The former home of Francis and Grace Sisson in Yonkers, New York
The Sissons called the home at 170 Shonnard Terrace “Chateau Fleur de Lys,” the name given to it by Dr. H. deB. Seebold of New Orleans who built it in 1890. The Gothic Renaissance chateau was designed by Seebold and he spent 20 years collecting old world treasures to use in it.
The gray stone home was said to be only one of four French chateaus on the Hudson River. An article about a charity bridge event that Mrs. Sisson hosted for the Charity Organization Society in the early 1930s, described the home’s interior:
Through this foyer one reaches the beautifully proportioned Robin Hood room in which the bridge will be held. The handsome, carved oak ceiling, from which the room derives its name, came originally from the Earl of Nottingham’s manor house and is made from black oaks which grew in Sherwood Forest.
Here also are the huge windows, reaching from floor to ceiling, brought from a French chateau. Of leaded opaque stained glass, with a pattern of rippling gold, they flood the room with a honey-colored light.
There is a room for every mood in this fascinating house. There is the quiet sanctity of the Chapel, lighted with the jewel colors of stained glass that lends to its dimness a beauty which changes with every shifting light and the gayety and brightness of the frivolous Marie Antoinette room, with its painted woodwork and garlands of flowers.
Each room has its share of treasures, from the library with its exquisitely carved Italian door to the kitchen with its simple Norman fireplace, all showing the artistic design and careful workmanship which the artisan of that brought to his task….And in this house, Mrs. Sisson has created a gracious background and a fit setting for this unique collection, through her understanding of its enduring perfection.
Mrs. Sisson died on August 16, 1939 at the age of 71. In 1941, dancer Michel Fokine and his wife Vera purchased the home. The home stood empty from 1958-63 when it was the target of vandals and souvenir hunters. It was purchased by Thelma Stovel. A article in a 1966 Herald Statesman, told the story of “one of Yonker’s oldest and most historic homes” and the effort Stovel was putting into the chateau’s renovation.
In 2001, Kohle Yohannan purchased the home from a Haitian woman in her eighties who was then living there. Windows were broken, squirrels roamed freely, the roof leaked, and the list of repairs that needed to be done was very long. Although it took 10 years and much effort, he did a phenomenal job of restoring the home. It has been rented for photo shoots (Neiman Marcus, Victoria’s Secret, Vogue magazine), music videos (Beyonce’s Irreplaceable) and film/television (Mona Lisa Smile, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire). He changed the name to Greystone Court. The home sold recently.
Take a look at the castle in which the Presidents of Pi Beta Phi and Beta Theta Pi once lived.
This Associated Press photo of Grace and Calvin Coolidge just after they became President and First Lady following the death of Warren G. Harding showed up in my email box this morning. It was taken in their apartment at the Willard Hotel on August 6, 1923. The President is wearing a mourning armband and the First Lady’s eyes, those eyes, speak volumes.
Although Lucy and Rutherford B. Hayes are the first President and First Lady to be affiliated with GLOs, they were Honorary Members. Delta Kappa Epsilon and Kappa Kappa Gamma honored them with membership privileges.
Grace and Calvin Coolidge, were the first First Couple to have been initiated into GLOs as college students. She was a charter of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at the University of Vermont and he was a Phi Gamma Delta at Amherst College.
Laura and George W. Bush are the second First Couple to follow in the Coolidge’s footsteps. She is a Kappa Alpha Theta and he is a Delta Kappa Epsilon, as was his father, George Herbert Walker Bush.
George W. Bush’s mother, Barbara Bush, attended Smith College, one of the Seven Sister colleges, before she married George H.W. Bush. In her post White House years, she was invited to become an Alumna Initiate of Pi Beta Phi. She accepted the invitation and she was initiated by then Grand President Sarah Ruth “Sis” Mullis at the home of a Houston Pi Phi, who was a very close friend of the Bushes.
The day 1,100 Pi Phis visited the White House to dedicate the portrait of Grace Coolidge which still graces the China Room. Carrie Chapman Catt is on the right in the front row. Two of Pi Phi’s Founders are in the photo. The gentleman is the artist Howard Chandler Christy. To the right of Grace Coolidge is Pi Phi’s Grand Vice President, Anna Robinson Nickerson. She and Grace Coolidge first met as collegiate delegates to the 1901 Pi Beta Phi Convention in Syracuse, New York.
Here’s the full list of Presidents and First Ladies who have been fraternity and sorority members as well as a similar list of Vice Presidents.
Hemmerle, “H.B.” Williams was a Chicago businessman. His wife, Lucinda Laura “Lulu” Corkhill, was one of the first initiates of the P.E.O. chapter at Iowa Wesleyan University after it was founded on January, 1869. She was 14 at the time and was enrolled in IWU’s preparatory department. Lulu went on to play a major role in the establishment of the Illinois State Chapter of P.E.O., but H.B. has a place in P.E.O.’s history, too.
H.B. is the original “B.I.L.”* and he gave that title to the husbands of the women who wore the P.E.O. star. The meaning he gave to the term was “Brothers-in-law,” since their wives are P.E.O. “sisters.” Some chapters like to think it means “Boy I love” or “Brothers in love.” It is pronounced B-I-L, not “bill.” H.B. shared the story of B.I.L.s in written form and was an amusing and amiable speaker at many a P.E.O. function talking about the history of B.I.L.s.
Only one U.S. President can claim the B.I.L. title. He is Harry Truman, husband of Bess Truman, a charter member of Chapter S, District of Columbia. The Trumans entertained Chapter S at Blair House, on the Presidential yacht, and in the White House.
May 1948 P.E.O. Record
Vice President Dick Cheney, B.I.L. of Lynn Cheney, Chapter AC, Wyoming is the only Vice President I know of who is a B.I.L. If there are others, please let me know.
The P.E.O. Sisters facebook group has this list of other notable B.I.L.s. Although some of the wives may not be current members of a chapter, “once a P.E.O., always a P.E.O.” comes into play.
Other B.I.L.s in government:
Montana Governor Tim Babcock (1962-69), B.I.L. of Betty Babcock
Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., United States Navy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and ambassador to the UK; B.I.L. of Shirley Crowe, Chapter J, Virginia
Senator Everett Dirksen (1959-69), B.I.L. of Louella Dirksen, Chapter AS, Illinois
Senator Jon Kyl (1995-2013 and 2018)
Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili, United States Army; B.I.L. of Joan Shalikashvili, Chapter EM, Washington
Chief Justice Earl Warren; B.I.L. of Nina Elisabeth Warren, Chapter EQ, California
Nina and Earl Warren with Dorothy and Frank Weller at the 1947 Convention of Supreme Chapter of P.E.O. (now International Chapter). Dorothy presided at this convention.
B.I.L.s in space (NASA Astronauts, etc )
Francis “Bud” Coenen, director of NASA”s Apollo 11 that first put men on the moon. He was a part of every Apollo mission.
Tony England, B.I.L. of Susan Stretchberry England, Chapter DL, Michigan
Alan Shepard, B.I.L. of Louise Brewer Shepard, Chapter AY, Texas
Loren Shriver, B.I.L. of Diane Shriver, Chapter GJ, Colorado
Other B.I.L.s of wide renown:
Brad Anderson, cartoonist, creator of Marmaduke comic strip, B.I.L. of Barbara Anderson, Chapter IZ, Texas
Tom Brokaw, B.I.L. of Meredith Brokaw of Chapter K, South Dakota. Meredith also attended Cottey College.
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, B.I.L. of Ruth Stafford Peale, Chapter G, New York
Sam Walton of WalMart, B.I.L. of Helen Walton, Chapter V, Arkansas
*Somewhere along the line, the periods came out of B.I.L., and now the P.E.O. Style Guide has it as BIL.
I am caught in a perpetual game of catch-up, about 10 days in on a two-week stint digging deep into history. My brain is fried with facts and figures and hints of personality about people I’ve never met. In my spare time, I am on deadline for an article in the winter edition of my organization’s magazine. Although it is to be only 500 words, those words are slow in hitting the target.
Searching for some inspiration and a quote or two from a voice from the past, I stumbled upon this editorial. It could have been written ten minutes ago. Only a handful of women who read this in a fresh-from-the-mailbox edition of this magazine are still around and they are hitting the century mark. But how timely and appropriate it is to all our organizations!
In these days of whirling events and changing values, we who have been granted the privilege of fraternity membership must assume a responsibility proportionate to the benefits received. Ours is the task of so using our influence that fine things such as our rituals declare may not perish from an unhappy world. Ours is a double moral obligation; first, so to live with the world at large that it is a better place even in some small sense because of our existence, whatever may be our special interests, whether they be political campaigns (as now when we write), civic affairs, home management, business, or family relations; and second, so to live within XXX that we realize to the utmost the possibilities for good of the Fraternity. In the activities of our chapters and our alumnae clubs we share in something different from the agenda of ordinary social clubs or political organizations.
Through our more than seventy-three years of life we have developed a type of organization that has always been outstanding in charity and fairness of view, far removed from taint of ruthless politics or unworthy methods. Seldom indeed in our history have we seen any play of politics; seldom have the ruthless and ugly methods such as have sometimes disgraced our national political scene shown themselves in the gatherings of our own or any other college fraternity. And this is right; a fraternity should differ from other organizations in the controlling, lasting quality of its bond, in its common ground of friendship between members, in its basis of spiritual interest and enlightened thinking.
More than ever in such troubled times as these must that strong tie be respected. These are days for clear thinking, unswayed by unfair tricks or methods aimed at the overthrow of existing strength. In all such organizations as ours, changes will come, and rightly so, when needed, or when demanded by a majority of the membership; such changes will be without value unless they are gained through a continuance of the fair play and honorable conduct of her members for which XXX has been known since her founding, ‘with malice towards none, with charity for all.’
On Saturday night, Kappa Sigma celebrated 150 years at a banquet during the organization’s 72nd Bienneial Grand Conclave. The festivities took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the fraternity was founded in 1869.
The room where Kappa Sigma was founded on the lawn at the University of Virginia.
Chi Omega and Kappa Sigma share a very special connection. Dr. Charles Richardson helped found Chi Omega in 1895. He was a Kappa Sigma and a Chi Omega. He was a dentist in Fayetteville, Arkansas and he was affectionately known as “Sis Doc.”
Dr. Charles Richardson, aka “Sis Doc”
Lyn Harris and Shelley Potter, Chi Omega’s Archivist and National President respectively, were guests at the banquet. One of the evening’s highlights was Dr. Charles Richardson’s posthumous induction into Kappa Sigma’s Hall of Honor, a distinct honor given to only 22 men thus far.
Banquet at John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia
Shellly Potter speaking at the presentation of Chi Omega’s gift
Chi Omega presented this framed photo of Doc Sis with members of Psi Chapter, Chi Omega’s founding chapter at the University of Arkansas
Lyn Harris is a woman of many talents and she is a good detective. Earlier this year she was researching Richardson’s family tree. She discovered a great-grand-nephew, Guy Adamson, who is an alumnus of Kappa Sigma from the Wofford College. She said he had no idea about his famous relative. Adamson and his wife attended the festivities and Adamson accepted Richardson’s award.
Kappa Sigma’s Executive Director Mic Wilson, Dr. Richardson’s great-grand-nephew Guy Adamson, and Chi Omega’s Archivist Lyn Harris
There are many posts on this blog. Use the search button to find the posts about your organization.
Welcome!
Welcome! Chances are good you found this blog by searching for something about fraternities or sororities.
I was the last person anyone would have suspected of joining a sorority in college. I am sure I would have agreed with them, too.
When I made my way to Syracuse University, I saw the houses with the Greek letters that edged Walnut Park, and wished I could tour them. My roommate suggested I sign up for rush (as it was then called, today it’s known as recruitment) and go through the house tour round and then drop out of rush. It sounded like a plan. I didn’t realize that I would end up feeling at home at one of the chapters. And that I would become a member.
In this blog I will share the history of GLOs and other topics. I wrote a dissertation on “Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902.″ It chronicles the growth of the system and the birth of the National Panhellenic Conference.
My Master’s thesis details the history of the fraternity system at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1948-1960. The dates are significant ones and the thesis is available on the top menu.
I have done research at the Student Life Archives and have written several histories of University of Illinois fraternity chapters for the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing.
