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Breaking Down Our Past

On this page, you will find answers to your questions and additional resources related to the spring 2023 cover story of The Crescent, "Breaking Down Our Past". 

Our Commitment to BEDI 

Gamma Phi Beta is committed to creating a more just, equitable and loving sisterhood through our belonging, equity, diversity and inclusion (BEDI) framework. Learn more about about how Gamma Phi Beta is working to be an organization where all members feel welcome and equally valued at all stages of their membership.

About BEDI

BEDI Resources

Priorities and Action Plan

Breaking Down Our Past Discussion Guide

Breaking Down Our Past Discussion Guide

Your Questions Answered

Gamma Phi Beta hired Historical Research Associates, Inc. (HRA) to assist us with completing this research and producing the subsequent article. As one of the oldest history and archaeology consulting firms in the United States, HRA is committed to delivering high-quality research, reports and consultation services and honoring the professional ethics of their disciplines.

Historians visited our former International Headquarters (IH) in Centennial, Colorado, and conducted research in the archives and museum collections held there. They reviewed Gamma Phi Beta published materials, such as “The Gift from Syracuse” and issues of The Crescent, and secondary scholarship, news articles and materials from archival collections of universities. Although The Crescent and other published reports offer some insight into chapter-level activities, the sources reviewed are primarily from the international level and do not include substantial research in collegiate chapter records or alumnae records. The report authors are not initiated members of Gamma Phi Beta. In all research, great care was taken to avoid viewing materials reserved for initiated members only or discussing ritual-related information.

One of our Gamma Phi Beta guiding principles is, “We advocate ethical behavior, respect, authenticity, accountability and integrity.” We believe this project and subsequent article uphold that guiding principle. And while it is easy to wish that these things were absent from our story, they are not. And ignoring these elements of our history would be harmful to those who were impacted or continue to be impacted. This is an important step on our road to belonging, equity, diversity and inclusion. We can begin rebuilding trust with our sisters and other community members who may have been impacted by these events and/or practices and create a more welcoming and supportive environment for our current and future sisters. When we take time to acknowledge and learn from our mistakes, we are less likely to repeat them in the future.

While we now have many ways of connecting with our members, The Crescent is the most treasured, as it provides readers with a lifelong connection to Gamma Phi Beta. In many ways, The Crescent is a historical record of our sisterhood. Printing this article in our magazine will ensure it will live in perpetuity, allowing future generations of Gamma Phi Betas to continue to learn and grow in the areas of belonging, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Gamma Phi Beta’s origin story is one of pioneering women who faced discrimination and exclusion, even with their own privileged identities. Our founding sisters created a safe space for fellowship and support; for Love, Labor, Learning and Loyalty. It is also true that Gamma Phi Beta was initially a place for white, heterosexual, cisgendered women who were economically able to access higher education. And we were not immune from making mistakes along the way that continued to serve this population. One way that Gamma Phi Beta advocates for ethical behavior and integrity is to create a culture of transparency, and embracing mistakes is a necessary part of learning and personal growth.

We are not the first organization to explore our history in this way, nor are we the first National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organization either. This historical examination has become a practice for many corporations, institutions of higher education and even governments, as they also work to further their belonging and inclusion work. Examples of our NPC peers who have done similar work in this area include Alpha Delta Pi, Sigma Kappa and Delta Gamma.

This project is just one of many that we are working on in relation to Gamma Phi Beta’s history. We are currently underway with our Oral History Project, which is currently collecting stories from thousands of our living alumnae. Some of those stories will be published in an Oral History Book and others will be used in a multitude of ways, including in our marketing and communications for our 150th Celebration. We are also working on a Traveling Exhibit to celebrate our past at our 150th Celebration events. Finally, we are working on a historical digitization project, where we will digitize 400 of our historical artifacts that will, at its completion, be shared with all Gamma Phi Betas in perpetuity.

In early 2019, the 2018-20 International Council (IC) established the Belonging and Inclusion Task Force (BITF). The BITF’s charge was to recommend a strategy to increase members' competency and Sorority practices related to BEDI. In October 2019, the BITF submitted recommendations to IC based on their experiences and professional learning, listening tour results, individual appointments made to discuss the topic as well as their general knowledge of current sorority culture, practices, policies and relationships. The full report can be viewed after login at GammaPhiBeta.org > Member > Collegians/Alumnae/Volunteers > Additional Resources. International Council accepted the report and as a result established the Belonging and Inclusion Committee to carry out the work of the BITF. The Belonging and Inclusion Committee prioritized Gamma Phi Beta’s action plan based on the recommendations in the BITF report. You can review the action plan on our website, organized by fiscal year. This list will continue to grow and change with our organization.

Specifically, some of our most recent work in this area includes removing preferential treatment for Gamma Phi Beta legacies in recruitment (2020), reinventing our new member introduction form (2021) and updating our membership eligibility statement (2017).

The length of this article cannot capture the multiple ways Gamma Phi Beta has used its membership selection policies to discriminate in our 150-year existence. It does not grapple with discrimination based on sexuality. It does not address how different communities of color experience discrimination differently or how regional differences and change over time have changed the targets of racial discrimination. It does not address economic prejudice or barriers facing individuals with disabilities. It particularly fails to address how identities can intersect to compound discrimination. There are other certainly other experiences that need to be acknowledged. Our sisterhood is still continuing to learn and grow, and we will continue to further our BEDI work with a focus in these areas as well.

There have certainly been positive contributions to BEDI throughout our 150-year history. Many of our sisters throughout our history fought against systems of discrimination. Our collegiate women specifically were and still are at the forefront of these conversations, advocating for change. But before we can authentically celebrate all the incredible accomplishments of Gamma Phi Beta and her members, we must first take accountability, a necessary and critical step, for all elements of our history.

Bibliography and ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The article authors are not initiated members of Gamma Phi Beta. In all research, including archival research and oral histories, great care was taken to avoid viewing materials reserved for initiated members only, or discussing ritual related information.

Books

  • Burroughs, Bryan. Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence. New York: Penguin Press, 2015.
  • Freeman, Margaret L. Women of Discriminating Taste: White Sororities and the Making of American Ladyhood. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2020.
  • Gunter, Cheryl. The Legacy of Gamma Phi Beta. Englewood, CO: Gamma Phi Beta, n.d.
  • Harris, Adam. The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal – And How to Set Them Right. New York: HarperCollins, 2021.
  • Kohn, Shira. “A Gentlewoman’s Agreement: Jewish Sororities in Postwar America, 1947–1964.” PhD diss., New York University, 2013.
  • Mason, Charlotte Hamilton. The Gift from Syracuse: The History of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority. n.p.: Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, circa 1985
  • Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.
  • Ross, Lawrence. Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015.
  • The Divine Nine: The History of Africa American Fraternities and Sororities. New York: Dafina Books, 2000.
  • Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. New York: Liveright Publishing Co., 2017.
  • Sanua, Marianne. Going Greek: Jewish College Fraternities in the United States, 1895-1945. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2003.
  • Theoharis, Jeanne. “The Long Movement Outside the South: Fighting for School Desegregation in the ‘Liberal’ North.” In A More Beautiful And Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History, pp. 31–60. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2018.
  • Torbenson, Craig L. “The Origin and Evolution of College Fraternities and Sororities.” In African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision, Ed. Tamara Brown, pp.37–66. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2005.
  • Turk, Diana B. Bound by a Mighty Vow: Sisterhood and Women’s Fraternities, 1870-1920. New York: New York University Press, 2004.

Articles

  • “Suspended Beloit Sorority to Initiate Miss Hamilton,” Wisconsin State Journal, July 12, 1962.
  • Aikerson, Skyler. “Northwestern Greek Life is Imploding.” Chicago Magazine, September 22, 2020. https://www.chicagomag.com/news/september-2020/northwestern-greek-life-is-imploding/.
  • Arce, Debbie and Dana Simmons. “The Vagrancy of Race Suicide Through the Early Twentieth Century: Reimagining Fear.” Undergraduate Research Journal (2018). https://doi.org/10.5070/RJ5121039157.
  • Hechinger, John. True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America’s Fraternities. (New York: Public Affairs, 2017).
  • Lautrup, Joey. “Abolish Greek Life? See How a Campus Debate Reflects the Nationwide Racial Justice Reckoning,” Time Magazine, December 16, 2020.
  • Mascolo, Holly. “Current and Former Sorority Members Reflect on Experiences.” Colgate Maroon-News, March 23, 2017. https://thecolgatemaroonnews.com/3295/news/current-and-former-sorority-members-reflect-on-experiences/.
  • Marcus, Ezra. “The War on Frats: Groups of Fraternity Brothers and Sorority Sisters are Working to Kick their Organizations Off Campus,” New York Times, August 1, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/style/abolish-greek-life-college-frat-racism.html
  • Pauly, Madison. “Nationwide Anti-Rape Protests Demand Consequences for College Frats.” Mother Jones, October 5, 2021. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/10/nationwide-anti-rape-protests-frats-fraternities-red-zone/.
  • Sarraf, Isabelle. “Northwestern Chapter of Gamma Phi Beta Votes to Relinquish Charter Amid Calls to Abolish Greek Life.” Daily Northwestern, September 2, 2020.

Gamma Phi Beta Archival Collections
Arranged chronologically.

The Crescent articles
  • “Editorials,” The Crescent, October 1910, 233.
  • “Freshman Responsibilities,” The Crescent, March 1911, 111.
  • Florence A. Armstrong, “The Century Magazine’s Caricature of Women’s Fraternities,” The Crescent, March 1913, 160.
  • Lillian Thompson, “Report of the National Panhellenic Delegate,” The Crescent, October 1924, 596.
  • Lillian Thompson, “Delegate to National Panhellenic Congress,” The Crescent, December 1927, 22
  • Penelope Murdoch Simonson, “President’s Page,” The Crescent, February 1948, 31.
  • Elizabeth Fee Arnold, “Our Heritage of Freedom, Part III: Current Intrusions on the Rights of Voluntary Associations,” The Crescent, December 1962, vii.
  • John C. Trussell, “Higher Education Act of 1965,” The Crescent, December 1965, 3.
  • Orra Spencer Reid, “Message of the Grand President,” The Crescent, September 1966, 2.
  • Gail D. Harlor, “Honors – Colorado College,” The Crescent Magazine, Fall 1978, 26.
  • Betty Ragenovich, “Diversity: A Greek Issue,” The Crescent, Winter 1989–1990, 7.
  • “Through the Years,” The Crescent, Summer 2010, 18.
Other Gamma Phi Beta Publications
  • Constitution of the Gamma Phi Beta Society of Syracuse University, November 11, 1874.
  • Constitution of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority,” 1903.
  • Constitution of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority,” 1920.
  • “General Information for the Installation Officer of Gamma Phi Beta,” 1926.
  • “President’s Book 100 Section,” 1931.
  • “Alumnae Recommendations Committee Manual,” 1942.
  • “ARC Manual: Alumnae Advisory Committee Outline,” 1947.
  • “[Grand] Council Manual of Procedure,” 1954.
  • “Alumnae Recommendations Committee Manual,” Revised 1957.
  • “Gamma Phi Beta: Membership Vice President’s Manual, Continuous Open Bidding,” c. 1990.
  • “Manual of Procedures for Rush Recommendations,” 1990.
  • “PACE Programming: History, 1910-1930,” 1993.
  • “Gamma Phi Beta General Information,” c. 1995.
  • “Love, Labor, Learning, Loyalty: A Lifetime of Gamma Phi Beta,” new member manual, 2008.
  • Gamma Phi Beta, “Gamma Phi Beta’s Commitment to Anti-Racism,” June 5, 2020.
Meeting Minutes

  • “Report of National Panhellenic Conference Delegate,” Spring Council Meeting of Grand Council, March 20 to 28, 1966, Washington D.C.
  • Edgewater Conference, “Digest of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Session,” Arlington, TX, January 19–21, 1978.
  • Gamma Phi Beta, International Council Meeting Minutes, February 8–9, 2019.
  • Gamma Phi Beta, International Council Meeting Minutes, July 9, 2020.

Social Media Posts
  • Gamma Phi Beta, Instagram Post, March 27, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/CM7wR2XAPi7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link.
  • Gamma Phi Beta, Instagram Post, March 28, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/CM_BmCggxL2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
  • Gamma Phi Beta, Instagram Post, April 4, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/CNQE5zFA7oQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link.
  • Gamma Phi Beta, Instagram Post, April 13, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/CNnNKOmAT9F/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link.
  • Gamma Phi Beta, Instagram Post, May 12, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/COyY0C5gMUi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link.