History
The sorority originally formed as Achoth (a Hebrew word signifying one's blood sister or a female relative), created on the campus of the University of Nebraska on March 15, 1910. The fifteen founding sisters were all members in good standing of the Order of the Eastern Star. In a letter to the fraternity, Jessie Downing explained to Sigma Phi Epsilon that Achoth "is similar to that of the Acacia Fraternity, but in no way are the two connected". In 1911, it was officially recognized by the Order of the Eastern Star organization and only Earstern Star members were permitted to join. Chapters were named in Hebrew alphabetic order, The first chapter was Aleph (Nebraska), the second Beth (Iowa), etc.
Published materials from various fraternal organization demonstrate that Achoth was functioning as a typical collegiate sorority. The Trident of Delta Delta Delta (1920) recorded Achoth's petition for admission to the National Panhellenic Congress, but was denied (The Adelphean, 1921).
Achoth may have changed their official name as early as 1922. Kappa Sigma's Caduceus (1922) reported that the "Supreme Governing Council of Achoth announces the change of name 'Achoth' to 'Phi Omega Pi' fraternity." Other contemporary publications refer to Achoth as Achoth, e.g. "A chapter of Achoth, the organization of Eastern Star members, was installed last March" (IU Alumni Quarterly, 1922). The chapters were renamed according to the Greek alphabet and the sorority's periodical was renamed Kochev to The Pentagon (Miner, p. 146).
In 1933, Phi Omega Pi dropped the Masonic requirement and was thus given full membership into the National Panhellenic Conference.
That same year, the sorority absorbed two other organizations. Sigma Phi Beta was a national group with ten chapters. It was founded on November 1, 1920 at New York University, as Sigma Sigma Omicron. In July 1927, the name was changed to Sigma Phi Beta (Miner, p. 148).
Phi Alpha Chi, from the University of California at Berkeley, was founded as The Tewanah in 1919. In 1926, the group chartered as the Alpha chapter of Phi Alpha Chi. Then, they joined Sigma Phi Beta (Miner, p. 148).
Miner (p. 146) explained that "after 1933, Achoth, Tanewah, Phi Alpha Chi, and Sigma Phi Beta members were all sisters in Phi Omega Pi. In the 1937 Pentagon, sixteen collegiate and 39 alumnae chapters and clubs were listed."
In 1946, the members of ΦΩΠ were accepted into Delta Zeta sorority.
Read more about this topic: Phi Omega Pi
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“I believe that in the history of art and of thought there has always been at every living moment of culture a “will to renewal.” This is not the prerogative of the last decade only. All history is nothing but a succession of “crises”Mof rupture, repudiation and resistance.... When there is no “crisis,” there is stagnation, petrification and death. All thought, all art is aggressive.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)