Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais

Following the founding of Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Kappa Gamma at Monmouth
College in 1870, several other organizations were founded. In 1874, Alpha Phi and Gamma Phi
Beta were founded at Syracuse University; Sigma Kappa at Colby College in Maine; and Delta
Gamma at a select school later absorbed into the University of Mississippi (Johnson, 1972, p.
59). As the sorority movement began to grow, other national organizations began to develop.
During the later part of the nineteenth century and the early to mid years of the twentieth
century, the enrollment of women in higher education and sororities accelerated rapidly
(Rudolph, 1990). Solomon (1985) states that “old sororities and new boomed in the 1920s (p.
247). National sororities emerged throughout the United States at many different types of
colleges and universities. Even as more women attended college, sororities created an
environment for women to come together and share with one another in an environment that was
still very much a "man's world." As part of this development, sororities promoted environments
where women felt that they were establishing organizations that allowed them to make decisions
that directly affected them. The need for common bonds and shared ideals was of utmost
importance. These were women of vision, willing to work to see their sororities thrive on
campuses where just years before, no women were in attendance.
Following the initial founding of the previously mentioned groups, several others began
to emerge. Alpha Omicron Pi was established at Barnard College in 1897 and several other
groups developed at coeducational institutions; Delta Delta Delta at Boston University, in 1888;
Alpha Xi Delta at Lombard, now Knox College, 1893; Chi Omega at the University of Arkansas,
1895; Delta Zeta, Miami University of Ohio, 1902; and Alpha Gamma Delta, Syracuse
University, 1904. Alpha Chi Omega had been formed in 1885 at DePauw University as a
professional sorority. Alpha Chi Omega was founded where other fraternities did not as a rule
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