A few weeks ago I was asked about Sandra Day O’Connor and her sorority affiliation. Someone remembered her speaking at the 1979 Pi Beta Phi convention in Phoenix, Arizona. When that “someone” is Sis Mullis, Pi Phi extraordinaire, I knew I had to do some research. I checked the convention coverage in the fall 1979 Arrow. Not a word. But Sandra Day O’Connor was not appointed to the Supreme Court until 1981, so that might have had some bearing on the Arrow coverage.
I then went to the convention file and looked at the program. Sis was correct (of course she was, Sis is rarely, if ever, wrong!). O’Connor, who at the time was a Superior Court Judge, was part of a panel. (Do not ask me about Ed Sullivan moderating the discussion. I tend to think it was not the variety show host.)
The funny thing is that the rumor that she is a sorority woman has been going around for more than half a century. Some think she is a Chi O; others say she’s a Theta, or maybe a Kappa. Some swear she is a Pi Phi. She was at Stanford University when there was not a women’s fraternity system there and she is not a member of any NPC group.
There is one NPC woman on the court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an initiate of the Cornell University Alpha Epsilon Phi chapter. (Edited 10/27/2020 – Amy Coney Barrett is an initiate of the Kappa Delta chapter at Rhodes College. In June 2023, Ketanji Brown Jackson became an honorary initiate of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She became the third sorority woman to be a U.S. Supreme Court Justice..)
A 1951 Moot Court competition at Stanford University. Law student Sandra Day is in the photo which appeared in the Stanford Quad.
