women's colleges

Cluey · #1 01-20-2003, 02:20 AM

I've been sick the past week, so I've been reading a book on the history of my alma mater. It's been an easy read and very enlightening. I always knew that there had been national sororities on campus at one time, but I never knew the specifics of it all.

Well, as it turns out, there were actually 4 sororities that were on campus at the turn of the century until 1919 (Kappa Delta, Zeta Tau Alpha, Alpha Delta Pi and Delta Delta Delta). It seems as though they were closed based on the opinion of the adminstration, which replaced them with student government . I know what you are thinking and I don't get the logical connection there, either.

So, I've been doing some research tonight and have come up with a question: why is it that a lot of the older women's colleges do not have national sororities? They all started out with chapters, but one-by-one closed them down. Am I missing something? Judson College, Wesleyan College, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Salem College and Hollins University all have had national sororities at one time or another, but, to my knowledge, now have none.

Any insight into this would be most appeciated.

tinydancer · #2 01-20-2003, 01:45 PM

I attended grad. school at Texas Woman's University in the mid 70's, and at the time they had no NPC sororities. Now they have AGD and AOTT. There may be a third one, but I am not 100% sure about that. Maybe someone else knows.

Lisa Fishman · #3 01-20-2003, 04:48 PM

Cluey, Not all old women's colleges have defunct Panhellenics. Brenau University- The Women's College in Gainesville, GA (near Atlanta) has seven NPC groups. I attended there for two years. The seven are: Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Phi Mu, Alpha Chi Omega, Zeta Tau Alpha, Alpha Delta Pi and Chi Omega. Delta Zeta and Alpha Xi Delta were there a long while back, but are'nt there now. Brenau has been around for 125 years and counting. There are about 500 undergrads. and most pledge somewhere. Greek life there is thriving! Most, if not all the chapters there were organized in the 1910's or so. My chapter of Alpha Gam was 1913 for instance (Mu).Other chapters ther are Omicron, Lambda and Mu, they are all fairly old designations. I understand that now there is a chapter of AKA there as well. Lisa

Munchkin03 · #4 01-20-2003, 04:54 PM

I've been doing a lot of research on that subject, too. My university had a coordinate women's college until 1970, at which point they just merged. From what I was reading, during the war, they felt sororities were "anti-democratic" and replaced them with student government associations. I thought that was weird, but I see where it happened a lot of places now. At one point, they had Theta (early Alphas), the Beta Chapter of AOPi, and an early chapter of Sigma Kappa, and a few locals. Now, it's us and Theta.

Cluey · #5 01-20-2003, 07:57 PM

Lisa,

While I was reseaching, the only women's college that I could come up with that still had a thriving greek system was Brenau.

I came across several that never had sororities, though. For example: Agnes Scott, Mississippi University for Women, Sweet Briar and a lot of the northern women's colleges.

Munchkin,

It is funny that you mentioned the "anti-democratic" sentiment. It actually says in a footnote in the history book that, "The attitude of the administration was that social sororities were undemocratic..."

The college had always had it's own traditions, so they just decided to make the big/little sister relationship part of the collegiate experience. I guess they felt like they could make sure every girl who wanted to have a big sister, would have one.

By the way, I am an alumna of Judson College. Never heard of it? You are not alone; most people have not. Without going into too much history, we were founded in 1838 in Marion, Alabama. We are the former sister school to Howard College, which became Samford College (later University) when it moved from Marion to Birmingham, Alabama. There have been several attempts to merge Judson with Samford, but so far we have maintained our independance.

I am not even sure why this topic popped in my head, but I was just wondering. Anyone know where I should look for more information?

Sistermadly · #6 01-20-2003, 08:12 PM

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.

Lisa Fishman · #7 01-20-2003, 10:15 PM

Sororities at Brenau are unique for another reason too. They are the only independent women's college in the southeast that has houses.

Also, I am familiar with both Judson and Samford. I'm a native Alabamian and currently live in Birmingham.

Cluey · #8 01-20-2003, 11:24 PM

Sistermadly,

I do apologize for being NPC-centric. I was just using my memory for college campuses I visited when I was a prospective student. Spelman is a wonderful college and I am very glad that the NPHC sororities are doing well on their campus.

Lisa,

Yay! I am so excited that someone has actually heard of Judson! Most of my friends are from Birmingham, including my roommate and one of my little sisters. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Alabama

MSKKG · #9 01-20-2003, 11:43 PM

Three of my blood sisters went to the "W" (Miss. Univ. for Women, but it was called "MSCW" for the Miss. State College for Women when they were there). They were all in the social club Silhouettes. They had rush, big/little sisters, and other activities but were not Greek. Since it was an all-girls school, they did a lot of social things with the guys from Miss. State (one of my sisters was a little sister for Sigma Chi there).

I don't know if those social clubs would ever consider affiliating with national GLOs, but I guess that's how it all starts!

aopirose · #10 01-20-2003, 11:59 PM

The “W” has NPHC sororities as well as Mu Rho Sigma, which is a sorority for married women. The MRS web site says that it is a national organization. However, I have done countless searches and this is the only chapter that comes up.

The majority of the organizations, Corettas, Dixie Belles (D’Belles), Highlanders, Lockhearts, Mam’selles, Revelers, Rogues, Silhouettes and Troubadours, are social clubs. The 4-year clubs do act similarly to sororities with mutual selection recruitment, a pledge period, sisterhoods, philanthropy projects, etc like MSKKG said. However, the 2-year clubs, Blacklist, Jester, and Masker, are like honor societies for juniors and seniors.

FWIW, the “W” has admitted men since 1982 but they never changed the name to reflect it.

Cluey · #11 01-21-2003, 12:21 AM

MSKKG,

One of the Dean's at Judson was an alumna of Mississippi University for Women (and Smart Men, as some people have started calling it). She was in a social club, though I cannot remember for the life of me which one right now. She shared stories of her time in college with us. It was a lot alike, but kind of different from what Judson actually did.

We have families, each of which is represented by an animal. Some of the families were really old, while some of them (like mine) were started recently. Within each family you had big and little sister connections. Everyone who chose to participate in the families, participated in the college traditions which date way back.

I know this sounds like an off the wall thread topic, so I'll try to explain how it came to me.

My roommate went to college with me. She has a biological little sister, who is now at Judson, who is in my family. She called a little while ago and was telling me about how much has changed. They keep changing things to keep the school out of liability issues (supposedly), so I was brainstorming a way to get the traditions issues out of the hands of the school. (I know that sounds kind of odd and I am not sure if it came out right.) Then, I started to wonder if there had ever been sororities at Judson, so I started doing research. It was at that time that I noticed that my college was not the only women's college that was closing chapters down.

Where better to ask about this than on GreekChat?

MSKKG · #12 01-21-2003, 12:58 AM

Cluey, the "W" is a fine univ., so I'm sure the dean is an outstanding lady.

I'm amazed at all the different ways there are to experience sisterhood/brotherhood and am so glad I'm part of the system! College life would have been a lot harder to adjust to without a "family away from family" that being part of a GLO/NPHC/local/social club, etc. provides.

aopirose, I did know that the "W" had admitted men. Do you know if they are just day students or if they live on campus? Columbia College in Columbia (SC) is an all-girls college that has male day students.

aopirose · #13 01-21-2003, 01:06 AM

The men have one residence hall, Frazer Hall.

Quote:

Originally posted by MSKKG
aopirose, I did know that the "W" had admitted men. Do you know if they are just day students or if they live on campus? Columbia College in Columbia (SC) is an all-girls college that has male day students.

Sistermadly · #14 01-21-2003, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cluey
Sistermadly,

I do apologize for being NPC-centric. I was just using my memory for college campuses I visited when I was a prospective student. Spelman is a wonderful college and I am very glad that the NPHC sororities are doing well on their campus.

No apology necessary, Cluey, I was just offering it as a different perspective.

greekalumna · #15 01-21-2003, 05:24 AM

The W does have a small percentage of its enrolled me living on campus (they even have a fraternity but I can't remember if it is national or local).

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.