On March 17, 1917, Minna Goldsmith (Mahler), Eva Effron (Robin), Ida Bienstock (Landau), Sylvia Steierman (Cohn) and Dorothy Cohen (Schwartzman), students at New York University Law School, founded Delta Phi Epsilon. Five years later, the organization was formally incorporated in the State of New York.
Delta Phi Epsilon became a full member of the National Panhellenic Conference in 1951. Forty years later, in the 1991-93 biennium, Delta Phi Epsilon assumed the chairmanship of the National Panhellenic Conference. Harriet Block Macht, a charter member of the Delta Delta Chapter at Indiana University, represented Delta Phi Epsilon as its first NPC Chairman. Her death about a week before Founders’ Day likely makes it a somewhat bittersweet one.
Macht studied music and opera at Indiana University. A longtime resident of the Miami area, she was a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon’s Greater Miami Alumnae Association. The Harriet Block Macht Outstanding Alumnae Panhellenic of the Biennium Award is given to a top performing Alumnae Panhellenic. Delta Phi Epsilon members can purchase an Edwardian inspired pendant named in her honor.
© Fran Becque www.fraternityhistory.com
