| From
the archives of “Northwest This Week.”
by Dana Ternus
Social sororities and fraternities
play an important and positive role at Northwest by providing
hundreds of students with opportunities for recreation, community
service, philanthropy and peer interaction.
Although the large role of Greek organizations on campus is a
given today, such was not the case in the school’s early
years.
In 1907 a local chapter of Sigma Delta Chi was founded at the
Fifth District Normal School, and its members elected Mary Armstrong
to serve 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, stating that such groups were “detrimental.”
Because so many Northwest students were in training to become
public school teachers, the board felt Greek organizations –
associated at the time with wealth, privilege and social status
– had no place in the Fifth District. Sigma Delta Chi was
forced to dissolve.
Students, however, continued to lobby for the right to go Greek,
and in 1920 the regents revisited the matter. The board members
did not, however, change their minds.
Though social fraternities and sororities were still beyond the
pale, the regents did decide to permit honorary academic societies
if they were organized and regulated by faculty members and the
administration.
But national Greek organizations, Northwest students and even
some faculty would not let the issue rest. In 1925, Floyd Cook
and Temple Allen presented requests seconded by several parties
asking the board, once again, to rescind the ban.
The regents took no immediate action, but the prohibition finally
ended the following year – with the caveat that final authority
over all student organizations would rest with 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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