Many male students were not ready for a sorority when the first sorority at Dartmouth, Sigma Kappa, now Sigma Delta, was created in 1976.
In its first years, the sorority was harassed by obnoxious announcements broadcasted on a public address system and many men were unwilling to let the sisters join in Greek activities.
Despite such adverse beginnings, the sorority has endured and celebrated its 20th anniversary last weekend.
Origins of Sigma Delta
The Zeta Lambda chapter of Sigma Kappa had a successful first year with women. More than 60 women are pictured in the sorority's 1977 composite.
There were a variety of reasons women chose to form Sigma Kappa.
"It was founded for sisterhood and to have an equal presence on the social scene for women. The national, Sigma Kappa also has a social service mission," Julie Varga '79, one of the first members of Sigma Kappa, said.
Kathy McGrath '80, also a member of the first group of Sigma Kappa sisters, said, "We wanted to have control of the social life. We were always guests at the men's parties. So, the sorority was a subtle form of insider feminism."
"We wanted to have fun, too," she added.
The ratio of male to female students at the time was still low and the sorority seemed like an outlet for bringing women together, McGrath said.
"You didn't to get to know women well unless you were in an all-woman dorm or women's team," McGrath said.
The group that created the sorority selected a national sorority to help them get their idea off the ground.
"We selected Sigma Kappa because we thought we needed national backing. It also gave us the most independent freedom as to what you could wear and what kind of parties you could have," Varga said.
The 1977 membership was put together by the national charter. Varga said the first group of women was very diverse.
"We had lots of different people. We had Jewish girls from New Jersey. There were a fair amount of athletes and students interested in student government and party girls," Varga said. "We also had a few Southern ladies who were later drawn to [Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority]. They had a nicer girl reputation than we did."
The membership continued to increase over the years. Before the sorority received its house in 1980, the sisters held meetings in the Collis Center, which was then called College Hall.
Rough first years
Although membership was high and many were inspired by the goals of the sorority, Sigma Kappa did not have it easy during its first few years.
"It was quite controversial because it was the first of its kind," Varga said. "Most of my friends did not join. They didn't like the group of women who started it and didn't want to endorse exclusive groups."
The sorority was not widely accepted at first.
Member Jane Rodas '78 said, "In our first year, we were trying to find a place for ourselves in the wider campus community. We wanted to be accepted by the administration and our peers."
She said while part of the campus was supportive, part remained neutral while another vocal faction was anti-sorority.
"We were the third class of women since the College became coed and there was still some animosity towards women being at the College," Rodas said.
Both Rodas and McGrath described an incident which indicated the fraternities' initial dislike for Sigma Kappa.
"My distinct memory is the fraternities were against us at first. Hums were a long standing tradition in which the fraternities would sing in front of Dartmouth Hall during Green Key Weekend. They would sing silly songs and we would watch," Rodas said.
"Our first year, Sigma Kappa decided to participate and it upset the fraternities. They staged a counter-hum because they didn't want women to participate in a male-dominated activity," she continued.
McGrath described, "As we went up the stairs to Dartmouth Hall, the men started singing "Men of Dartmouth" really loudly and drowned us out. We sang along with them because it was our song too. That was a subtle form of harassment."
McGrath said another form of harassment involved a male student using his stereo as a P.A. system.
"His announcements would echo all over Tuck Drive and he would say obnoxious things about Sigma Kappa and the members," she said.
McGrath said while there was harassment, there was also support, especially once Sigma Kappa became "part of the scene."
"There were incredible supportive factions after the first year," she said. "The fraternities became supportive of the women's and coed's components of social life."
Varga said the fraternities liked having Sigma Kappa to share the cost of parties.
The fraternities and sororities became more unified when the College began to restrict the activities of Greek houses.
Minimum standards
McGrath said during the late 1970s, the faculty voted to abolish the sororities and fraternities and Sigma Kappa became involved in saving the Greek system.
"Our house president at the time single-handedly pulled together a special action committee to come up with proposals to make fraternities and sororities more accountable," she said. "These requirements the faculty and administration ended up accepting."
These minimum standards, which were created in the early 1980s, still govern all aspects of the Greek system's existence, allowing the houses to remain accountable and assure the Greek houses live up to administrative expectations.
"I'm very proud because women had leadership roles in the [Interfraternity Council] after Sigma Kappa was only a year or so old," McGrath said.
The minimum standards have evolved to hold different meanings for Sigma Kappa.
"My sense in '84 and '85 was because of the minimum standards, charity work and faculty teas had the feeling of filling requirements," Jane Lonnquist '88 said.
Lonnquist said Sigma Delta now views the requirements differently.
"Now, people genuinely want to do the activities. There is a wider breadth of opportunities between social roles," she said.
After Sigma Kappa had established itself and had leadership roles in the Greek system, the sorority no longer needed the backing of a national charter.
Deciding to go local
The sisters of Sigma Kappa decided they wanted to be a local sorority very early on.
"Every year we talked about whether we should be national or local. In my era, we wanted to stay connected with the national charter," Sue Finegan '85 said. "They did a lot for us initially, but they weren't doing much later."
Lonnquist said sisters wanted to be local right away but needed to have national ties in order to be funded and obtain a house.
One of the reasons women objected to national ties was that the national charter had a Christian emphasis but many of the members of Sigma Kappa were Jewish.
"There were certain rites of passage we used in initiations and we modified them to not offend anyone, but it seemed hypocritical," Lonnquin said.
She said the sisters also disagreed with some of the national charter's policies.
"The national organization's rules on having parties and alcohol in the house were outdated and didn't fit with our view of college women," Lonnquist said.
She said the regulations interfered with the sorority's tradition of being a "social turf for women."
"We got sick of having to air out the house on a Sunday morning after we had a party the night before because someone from the national was coming," Lonnquist said. "It was a relief and a joy when we went local."
Sigma Kappa became Sigma Delta in 1989.
"One of the ways Sigma Delt is different from the other sororities who went local, [Epsilon Kappa Theta and Kappa Delta Epsilon], is we maintained our membership throughout and didn't dissolve," Cindy Bellefeuille '97, vice president of Sigma Delta said. "That's why we can say we're celebrating 20 years."
Traditions of sisterhood
Despite the changes which occurred within the sorority during the evolution of coeducation at the College and the changing from national to local, many aspects of Sigma Delt have remained unchanged.
"We are constantly evolving. Sigma Delta still has a strong commitment to programming and philanthropy, which we've been repeatedly recognized for," Bellefeuille said. "This has been true since the beginning."
"I get the sense now that there's even more sense of serving the community," McGrath said. "We were all struggling too find our own place at the time, but we did have a similar mix of sister-only and open events and community service."
Alumnae of Sigma Delt reflected on sisterhood and friendship.
"Looking back, it was very powerful because of the woman that were there," Lonnquist said.
"My favorite female friends were made through the sorority," McGrath said.
But, McGrath said it took a while before the sisterhood aspect of Sigma Delt was established.
"For members of the charter class, there were some bittersweet memories. We didn't stop to think if the sorority was what we wanted," she said. "We thought a beer pong table and Wednesday night meetings would give us those intangibles of sisterhood and friendship. Now Sigma Delta has those intangibles."
McGrath added that she still doubts if the sorority was the answer to equality for women of Dartmouth.
"I'm still not sure if the sorority was the right structure, but it was all we could think of at the time," she said.
Alumnae said the membership of Sigma Delt has remained virtually the same.
"The type of women in Sigma Delta are very similar to the members my years. We had a pretty diverse group with a lot of outspoken, social and pretty involved individuals," McGrath said. "Maybe you have more athletes now because many of the women athletes in the 1970s felt they already had a strong circle of women friends."
20th birthday
Bellefeuille said about 60 alumnae came to the celebration, which included a reception Friday night and meals on Saturday and Sunday.
"Everyone had a wonderful time-- the alums and the sisters. A lot of alums were very excited to be back in the house and meeting other Sigma Delts," she said. "It was nice to come together and explore our common bond and learn about each other."
Bellefueille said many of the alumnae were from the Classes of 1996 and 1992, although there were some from earlier classes.
"There were at least five of us from the charter class-- starter members of Sigma Kappa," said McGrath, who was the featured speaker at a brunch last weekend held to mark the sororities 20th anniversary.
"It was really fun-- very reaffirming. It made me feel good," she said. "It is reassuring that Sigma Delta has addressed issues which were tough for us-- issues which are non-issues now."
