The National Panhellenic Conference began in 1902 with seven founding members. In its first ten years, additional groups joined quickly . At the 1951 meeting, the six Association of Education Sororities (AES) and five other groups received full membership. In 1957, NPC reached an all-time high of 32 members but by the next meeting in 1959, the number was reduced to 29 due to the union of several of the groups. NPC currently has 26 members. That number has been constant since 1971 when Iota Alpha Pi disbanded.
Iota Alpha Pi, the first college sorority for Jewish women, was founded on March 3, 1903, at the New York Normal College (now Hunter College). The founders were Hannah Finkelstein (Swick), Olga Edelstein (Ecker), Sadie April (Glotzer), Rose Posner (Bernstein), Rose Delson (Hirschman), May Finklestein (Spiegel), and Frances Zellermayer (Delson). Zellermayer’s brother Maurice was a founder of Zeta Tau Beta; she married Rose Delson’s brother.
It began as a local organization, J.A.P., pronounced “Jay-ay-peez.” According to a 1942 initiate interviewed by Marianne R. Sanua for her book Going Greek: Jewish College Fraternities in the United States 1895-1945, J.A.P. stood for “Just a Plain” Sorority. Sanua does not believe the name is in any way connected with the current meaning of those letters. It took on Greek letters when a second chapter was founded in 1913. The first six chapters were all in the metro New York area. These campuses were Hunter College, Brooklyn Law School, New York University, New Jersey Law School, and Adelphi College. The Eta chapter was founded in 1925 at the University of Denver. The organization went international in 1929 with the installation of the Kappa Chapter at the University of Toronto. Mu Chapter was installed at the University of Manitoba in 1932.
The Pi Chapter was installed at Syracuse University (my alma mater – Go ‘Cuse!) in 1942. The group purchased a home at 403 Comstock Avenue, near the corner of East Adams. It had been the home Syracuse architect Albert L. Brockway designed and built for himself in 1912. It was Alpha Iota’s Pi’s home until 1972 when the organization disbanded. Syracuse University purchased it and it became Whitman Cottage, a small group residence for women.
Its flower was the red rose and its colors were red and black. The estimated total membership in May 31, 1967 was 6,300. The badge is below. It is a badge from the years after Iota Alpha Pi joined NPC because it has the roses on the horizontal points. They were added because the original badge looked too much like Alpha Delta Pi’s badge.
© Fran Becque www.fraternityhistory.com
