The Beta Eta Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has an interesting history which I wrote about in my Master’s thesis. The chapter can trace its its lineage to 1923. It was in that year that a local organization, Epsilon Beta, was founded. In 1926, Epsilon Beta gave SIU a stone bench in front of Wheeler Library. It is still in the same spot, although Wheeler Hall has long ceased housing the University’s library.
Epsilon Beta became the Alpha Delta chapter of Delta Sigma Epsilon on May 11, 1928. It was the first national sorority on campus. “With this action comes a distinction to the college here in that it will have the only national sorority in a Normal school or Teacher’s college in Illinois,” boasted the May 11, 1928 issue of the Carbondale Free Press. A tea, the initiation of members and patronesses, and “the presence of guests which numbered students, faculty members and those from town were the major features of the program”
During World War II, the chapter did its part selling defense stamps and bonds and its national service project was the Seeing Eye Fund. The chapter also adopted a therapy wing of O’Reilly General Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. After the war, SIUC entered into a period of rapid growth. The returning servicemen attempted to nationalize the local men’s fraternities. The men’s and women’s fraternities provided the members with a healthy social life. Delta Sigma Epsilon seemed to be in the thick of things, enjoying its opportunity to shine as the oldest women’s fraternity on campus.
In August of 1956, four Delta Sigma Epsilon members, collegians Billie Sue Norris and Sheila Pflanz, and alumnae, Betty Mitchell and Hilda Stein, attended the national convention in New Orleans. At the convention, Delta Sigma Epsilon accepted an invitation to merge with Delta Zeta. Both organizations had been founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Nationally, Delta Zeta was the older of the two having been founded in 1902, 12 years before Delta Sigma Epsilon’s founding. Delta Zeta had, early in its life, joined the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) rather than the Association of Education Sororities (AES).
At the time of the merger, Delta Sigma Epsilon had 44 active chapters. There were ten campuses where both Delta Sigma Epsilon and Delta Zeta had chapters; SIUC was one of these campuses. The women of Delta Sigma Epsilon were very upset with the implications of the merger. The group was the oldest on campus and the Delta Zeta chapter had been installed in 1953, shortly after the merger of AES groups into NPC.
The collegians and alumnae of the Delta Sigma Epsilon chapter felt betrayed by the national Delta Sigma Epsilon organization, according to a conversation I had with Betty Lou Mitchell, who was in the thick of things during this time and for decades afterwards. Mitchell was an icon on the SIUC campus and her influence is still felt among generations of Alpha Gamma Delta alumnae.
The former Delta Sigma Epsilon chapter became a local organization, Nu Delta Sigma. On April 17, 1957, it signed an agreement with Alpha Gamma Delta stating that it desired to become one of its chapters. Rosita Nordwall, Secretary of the National Panhellenic Conference, wrote Lulu Good Vogelsang, Alpha Gamma Delta National President, outlining NPC’s major concern “that the matter be settled as quickly and harmoniously as possible, for the good of the whole fraternity system as well as those immediately involved”.
The bone of contention between Delta Zeta’s National President, Evelyn Costello, and the former Delta Sigma Epsilon chapter at SIU was the ability of previously initiated Delta Sigma Epsilon members to affiliate with another NPC group. On September 21, 1957, after much effort and with President Delyte W. Morris’ intervention and talk of SIUC Board of Trustee action, Nu Delta Sigma became the Beta Eta chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta. Both Costello and Vogelsang made trips to SIUC to discuss the situation. I remember Mitchell telling me that Vogelsang paid many visits to the campus, stopping by during her travels to and from places. Although other NPC groups had made overtures to the Nu Delta Sigmas, Mitchell told me it was Vogelsang’s personal touches that made Alpha Gamma Delta the desired choice.
Costello wrote Morris on June 19, 1957, and in closing said, “We cannot change the past however and the only thing to do is to proceed in the future being wiser and we hope not sadder.” The alumnae were released from their obligation to Delta Zeta.
Beta Eta was the 67th chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta. Ninety-seven alumnae and 43 undergraduates were initiated. A presentation tea at the Elks Club and a banquet at Woody Hall were part of the festivities.
