In recent years, Dartmouth has repeatedly seen debates over social space at the College, as students have advocated for increased social spaces outside of the Greek system, or for equality between so-called "female-dominated" and "male-dominated" spaces at Dartmouth.
In 1972, however, when women were first admitted to the College, the lay of Dartmouth's social land and the resulting debates were a bit different.
In the years following coeducation, several unofficial female groups cropped up around campus, some of which referred to themselves as "sororities." One such group, XX Delta, was first formed in 1976. XX Delta consisted of five members, and did not possess a charter or a house of their own. The organization's women did, however, develop a handshake and even a football cheer unique to their group, and frequently made road trips to other nearby colleges and universities.
In an article in The Dartmouth on October 21, 1976, member Kate Augenblick '79 was quoted describing XX Delta's trip to Amherst: "We went running around, looking for a party, but unfortunately there was no one around," she said.
Augenblick told The Dartmouth then that XX Delta would accept new members if its members could find other women on campus "as crazy as we are!"
Yet the arbitrary female group did not satisfy the desires of some Dartmouth women who sought a more structured organization, according to Leslie Gordon '79, founder and first president of Dartmouth's Sigma Kappa chapter, which is now the local sorority Sigma Delta.
"Whenever we wanted to socialize, we were really a guest at somebody else's party," Gordon said. "Some people didn't care about participating in Greek life, you know, it wasn't for everybody. But if you were [interested], you were a guest. And if you're a guest you can also be excluded."
In 1976, there were 26 fraternities on campus, and the lack of female social spaces frustrated many of Dartmouth's women, Gordon said.
"[Dartmouth] made the decision to go coed before it was really ready," Katie Laud '76, a charter member of Sigma Kappa, said. "They pretty much admitted women and tried to see the result of what would happen."
Gordon contacted the national sorority Sigma Kappa and brought a representative to the College in early 1977. The Sigma Kappa chapter at the College was officially formed in early April 1977.
Gordon was considered the "organizer and the liaison between the national offices and the College administration," by the College administration and her peers, according to the April 4, 1977 issue of The Dartmouth.
The College administration itself chose not to financially support the sorority.
"The College has neither taken a stand for or against the establishment of a sorority," Greg Hakanen, then-assistant Dean of the College, said at the time. "Financially, the sorority is entirely independent, as it would not receive any funds from the College.
The reaction to this new era of Greek life varied across campus, according to news and opinion articles published in The Dartmouth soon after Sigma Kappa's arrival.
Although a member of the Inter-Fraternity Council expressed excitement at the possibility of new social events with Sigma Kappa in an interview with The Dartmouth, Gordon said she frequently felt targeted by her male peers, though she declined to refer to specific incidents.
"Not everybody, but there was a fraction of the male population that was threatened, or they didn't like change, or who knows why they were very personally hostile towards me." she said.
On today's campus, Gordon said, women in similar situations would likely file a lawsuit against the College for sexual harassment.
The first women's rush process, which occurred in the spring of the following year, included interviews, bids mailed to Hinman boxes, an informal p1edge party, formal pledge initiation and the distribution of sorority pins.
"We had a huge interest," Gordon said of the original pledge class. "We had a huge first class, and it got bigger and bigger."
Sigma Kappa accepted all potential new members, Laud said.
"I don't know anyone who wanted to join who wasn't offered a bid," Laud said. "There seemed to be a mutual appreciation."
Following the success of Sigma Kappa, the College invited additional Panhellenic representatives to establish new sorority chapters at the College. In the fall of 1979 alone, 15 national sororities visited Dartmouth with hopes of becoming the newest members to campus Greek life.
In 1978, Dartmouth officially recognized Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, which was followed in quick succession by Alpha Chi Omega sorority in 1980.
None of the three sororities, however, had physical plants. In May 1983, the Panhellenic council issued a moratorium on the addition of new sororities at the College until space was available to provide the organization with their own houses.
Later that year, space was allocated for the construction of sorority houses, and between 1983 and 1984, four additional national sororities arrived on campus: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Phi Epsilon and Alpha Beta, according Dartmouth's Coed, Fraternity and Sorority web site.
And as more Greek options became available for women, the rushing process evolved. Instead of choosing between Sigma Kappa and Kappa Kappa Gamma or the "scrappy, risk-taker" sorority versus the "lady-like" sorority, according to Laud there was now a variety of options for women to choose from.
The late 1980s and early 1990s brought a re-examination of national sororities by many of those organization's members, Carney said.
"The women said to me that they felt they wanted to have more freedom around alcohol distribution than national would want at that time," Carney said. "There was more conversation about ritual; what that meant to them. They would ask, were they a national chapter or a Dartmouth chapter?"
The issue of male dominance in the social scene also led some members to question their affiliation with national chapters, Carney said.
"There weren't many sororities, so how did they fit into this Dartmouth climate when most of the social organizations were fraternities?" she said.
These conversations, in addition to concerns among some of the sororities about the nationals' rituals some of which were heavily steeped in religion led Sigma Kappa, Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Chi Omega to disaffiliate from their national organizations and become local sororities. The sororities changed their names to Sigma Delta, Epsilon Kappa Theta and Xi Kappa Chi, respectively, according to the Dartmouth Coed Fraternity and Sorority administration web site. Xi Kappa Chi eventually dissolved in 1993, leading some former members to start the local Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority later that year to replace it.
With eleven total sororities at the College today, female Greek organizations have become an influential presence on campus.
"We can't change history, but we can change the present and give more opportunities to the women who seek the sorority experience," Carney said.
