| From
the Oct 13, 2005, edition of 'Northwest News' Newsletter.
by Dana Ternus
Social sororities and fraternities play an
important and positive role in campus life. They provide students
with opportunities for entertainment, community service, philanthropy
and peer interaction.
Although this is a given today, it was not
always the case in Northwest’s early years.
In 1907, Sigma Delta Chi was installed at
the Fifth District Normal School with Mary Armstrong as president.
The sorority met until 1914, when the Board of Regents passed
a resolution effectively banning secret societies. The measure
pointedly forbade the existence of fraternities or sororities
on campus, stating that such societies were “detrimental.”
Because so many Northwest students were in
training to become public school teachers, the board felt Greek
organizations – largely associated at the time with wealth,
influence, social status and the Ivy League – had no place
in the Fifth District. Sigma Delta Chi was forced to dissolve.
Students, however, continued to lobby for
the privilege of going Greek, and in 1920, the regents revisited
the matter. They did not, however, change their minds.
Though social fraternities and sororities
were still not permitted, the board did decide to allow non-secret,
honorary academic societies if they were organized and regulated
by the faculty and administration.
But national Greek organizations, Northwest
students – and even some faculty members – would not
let the issue rest. In 1925, Floyd Cook and Temple Allen presented
requests from several parties asking the board once again to rescind
the ban.
Though the Board took no immediate action,
the prohibition finally ended the following year, though authority
over all student organizations was given to the president.
Sigma Sigma Sigma, still very active on
campus, owns the distinction of being the first national sorority
to hold official standing at Northwest. The society’s local
chapter was founded in March 1927. The old Sigma Delta Chi chapter,
which had continued to meet off campus, was quickly absorbed by
the Tri-Sigs.
Sigma Tau Gamma became Northwest’s
first social fraternity in April 1927.
Over the following decades, the Greek community
at Northwest continued to grow. By the 1980s, the University had
seven fraternities and four sororities.
Once barred for being effete and exclusionary,
today’s Greek community is a vital, valued and democratic
part of student life that will doubtless continue to serve the
University for many years to come.
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