Theta Phi Alpha was founded on August 30, 1912, at the University of Michigan.
The Founders of Theta Phi Alpha
In the early 1900s, Catholics were not always accepted in the other fraternal organizations. Theta Phi Alpha’s roots can be traced to the 1909 establishment of a local organization, Omega Upsilon, at the University of Michigan. Father Edward D. Kelly, a Catholic priest and the pastor of the student chapel at Michigan, felt that there should be an organization that could provide the Catholic women at Michigan with an environment that “resembled the Catholic homes from which they came.” This was in a time and place when Catholics were not always welcome in the other fraternal organizations on campus. Interestingly, Theta Phi Alpha birthplace was a state institution that was co-founded by a Catholic priest, Father Gabriel Richard.
I came across this article in the October 1952 issue of The Fraternity Month. That summer, at the Theta Phi Alpha convention at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, Pi Lambda Sigma, another Catholic sorority, merged with Theta Phi Alpha.
Pi Lambda Sigma was founded at Boston University on June 24, 1921. Delta Delta Delta founder (Sarah) Ida Shaw Martin with support from the Chancellery Office in Boston and the approval of Boston’s Archbishop O’Connell helped create the sorority. Theta Phi Alpha’s Eta chapter was founded at Boston University in 1921 and the two Catholic sororities were rivals on the campus.
Pi Lambda Sigma’s purpose was “to stimulate the social, intellectual, ethical and spiritual life of its members; and to count as a world force through services rendered to others.” In 1927, a second chapter was established at Boston University’s School of Education. Additional chapters were chartered at Temple University, University of Illinois, University of New Hampshire, University of Cincinnati, Quincy University, and Creighton University. Pi Lambda Sigma never attained membership in the National Panhellenic Conference.
In the early 1950s, it became evident to the Pi Lambda Sigma governing council and active members that the existence of the organization was tenuous. Ruth Thompson, a Pi Lambda Sigma, is quoted in the Living Our History Centennial History of Theta Phi Alpha:
Pi Lambda Sigma was faced with several alternatives: a.) merger; b.) dissolution with assets set up in scholarship funds; and c.) each collegiate chapter would make its own decision whether to merge, go local, etc. The final vote was for the merger. I visited the Dean of Women at the University of Cincinnati and asked for advice. The administration was in favor of the merger and was helpful. We checked all NPC groups and sent questionnaires to four sororities. We received two responses besides Theta Phi’s. It took two years to finalize our merger with Theta Phi Alpha. The decision was made because the ideals of both sororities were similar and we hoped that together we would become strong.
The Pi Lambda Sigmas met in convention in May 1952 in Boston. A merger with Theta Phi Alpha was approved. When the Theta Phi Alpha convention convened in Chicago in late June the merger was ratified. There, Alison Hume Lotter, National President of Pi Lambda Sigma, was initiated into Theta Phi Alpha.
At the time of the merger only four of Pi Lambda Sigma’s chapters were active. The chapters at Boston University and the University of Cincinnati combined under Theta Phi Alpha’s letters. The chapter at Creighton University became the Chi Chapter of Theta Phi Alpha in the fall of 1952 and the Quincy College chapter became the Psi Chapter of Theta Phi Alpha in 1954.
Today, just as other organizations have accepted Catholic women, Theta Phi Alpha is open to women of all religions.
