Sigma Kappa | Kappa Beta | About Sigma Kappa

Purpose of Sigma Kappa
The purpose of Sigma Kappa is to provide women lifelong opportunities and support for social, intellectual, and spiritual development by bringing women together to positively impact our communities.

Four Values of Sigma Kappa
Personal Growth, Friendship, Service, and Loyalty

Facts
National Website: www.sigmakappa.org
Founded: 1874, at Colby College, Waterville, Maine
Open Motto: One Heart, One Way
Colors: Maroon and Lavender
Jewel: Pearl
Symbols: Heart and Dove
Flower: Violet
Collegiate Chapters: 107 in 36 states
Alumnae Chapters: 126 in 40 states
Members: 148,592 worldwide
Philanthropies: Gerontology (the study of aging), with a focus on Alzheimer's disease research and programs directed at improving the lives of older citizens; Inherit the Earth; Maine Seacoast Mission.
Scholarships: The Sigma Kappa Foundation provides scholarships to collegiate and alumnae members each year, including scholarships for leadership, continuing education, and gerontology.

History

The American fraternity system is the outgrowth of the human desire to band together. The fraternity system has worked in conjunction with higher education for over two hundred years and is uniquely American.

Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary as a social and literary society, was the first college fraternity. Thirty years later, during the Anti-Mason movement, it was forced to reveal its ritual and became a scholastic honorary. The objectives and philosophy of purpose of Phi Beta Kappa became the model for future fraternities. Other characteristics adopted by fraternities and sororities were a degree of secrecy, an initiation ceremony, oath of allegiance, a motto, a badge, a seal, passwords, a tradition of high idealism, and strong bonds of friendship. Since the founding of the first Greek-letter organization, the American college fraternity system has proven to be one of the most durable institutions in association with higher education.

Early women students were reluctantly admitted to colleges and were looked down upon by professors and male students alike. During this period of change for women, they were insulted, boycotted, and denied a share of the more prized college rights. They were courageous and determined to make a place for women in the collegiate world. This feeling inspired the formation of sororities on the basis of scholarship, friendship, mutual interests, and ideals.

Colby College in Waterville, Maine, was the first college in New England to admit women on an equal basis with men students. The first woman student was admitted in 1871, and for two years Mary Caffrey Low was the only woman student at Colby College.

In 1873, four more young women from Maine, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Fuller, Frances Mann, and Louise Helen Coburn were admitted to Colby and the five young women found themselves frequently together. During the school year of 1873-74, the five young women decided to form a literary and social society. They were told by the college administration that they needed to present a constitution and bylaws with a petition requesting permission to form Sigma Kappa Sorority. They began work during that year with an eager glow of enthusiasm. Their purpose at the outset was that the sorority should become what it is now, a national organization of college women. On November 9, 1874, the five young women received a letter from the faculty approving their petition. Thus, this date has since been considered our Founders' Day.

In our first constitution, chapter membership was limited to 25. The original group was known as Alpha chapter and as our sorority grew, Beta chapter and Gamma chapter were also established at Colby College. Early records indicate that the groups met together; but in 1893, the Sigma Kappa members decided intramural expansion was not desirable. They voted to fill Alpha chapter to the limit of 25 and to initiate no more into Beta and Gamma chapters. Eventually, the second and third chapters would vanish from Colby campus. Finally Sigma Kappas realized if the organization was going to continue to grow, it had to expand beyond the walls of Colby College.

In 1904, Delta chapter was installed at Boston University. Elydia Foss of Alpha chapter had transferred to Boston and met a group of women who refused to join any of the other groups on campus. When asked if Sigma Kappa was a national organization, Elydia replied, "No, but it is founded on a national basis." Elydia then took the necessary steps to make Sigma Kappa a national sorority and it was incorporated in the state of Maine on April 19, 1904. The new status as a national sorority made Sigma Kappa eligible to join what was then called the Interfraternity Conference, now known as the National Panhellenic Conference.

The Kappa Beta Chapters History

The Kappa Beta chapter of Sigma Kappa was first known as Kappa Phi; a local sorority at GVSU. Kappa Phi was founded on October 22, 1993 by six women for the betterment of women at Grand Valley. Those six women; Karole Koos, Liz Kluck, Danielle Riffle, Amy Warwashana, Denise Cleary, and Kathy Kozler knew from the beginning that they eventually wanted to affiliate with a national organization.

The women of Kappa Phi were granted membership to Panhellenic Council in January of 1995, and on September 1, 1995, officially affiliated with Sigma Kappa National Sorority.

On a very snowy January 27 in 1996 the Kappa Beta chapter of Grand Valley State University became the 116th chapter of Sigma Kappa National Sorority. The women of the Kappa Beta chapter still honor the founding members of Kappa Phi by continuing the philanthropy they started, American Heart Association, in combination with our National Philanthropies.