Iota

 

Iota
I
Founded	November 13, 1875 (1875-11-13)
College	DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury University
Location	Greencastle, IN
Homepage	Iota Website
Media related to Iota Chapter

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DePauw University established in 1837, Greencastle, Indiana

Founded March 13, 1875

2,960 initiates (as of June 2013)

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Charter Members: Ida Anderson, Ada Oliver, Amy Puett, Margaret Purviance, Finetta Victorine Wiggs, and Lillian Wiggs

Some of Chapter’s Outstanding Alumnae:

Fraternity Officers: Margaret Noble Lee, Grand Secretary 1881-1882; Minnetta Theodora Taylor, Editor of the Key 1882-1886; Harriet Moore Thomas, Grand Secretary 1898-1900; Eliza Jean Nelson Penfield, Grand President 1900-1902; Mary Sidelia Starr Donner, Delta Province President 1917-1921; Ann Watts Hostetler, Beta Province Vice President 1925-1929, Beta Province President 1929-1931, Lambda Province President 1929-1931; Jane Ramey Knox, Lambda Province President 1929-1933; Hannah Hunt Stokes, Lambda Province Vice President 1931-1935; Mary Ann Scholl Elliot, Delta Province Vice President 1941-1945; Josephine Torr Kuttler, Zeta Province Vice President 1943-1945; Mary Singleton Wamsley, Theta Province President 1943-1947; Alice Anne Longley Roberts, Field Secretary 1943-1945; Mary Elizabeth Davis Wampler, Graduate Counselor 1946-1947; Frances Shahan Ulen, Delta Province President 1945-1947; Frances Fatout Alexander, Mu Province President 1947-1953, Director of Chapters 1954-1956, Vice President 1958-1962, President 1964-1968; Bernice Read Mayes, Mu Province Vice President 1947-1949; Elizabeth Zimmermann Howard, Epsilon Province Vice President 1951-1953; Rebecca Rhue Dooley, Gamma Province Director of Alumnae 1955-1957; Mary Louise Williams Rapp, Epsilon Province Director of Alumnae 1957-1959; Margaret Haun Groetsch, Zeta Province Director of Chapters 1963-1965; Caryl Gernandes Wilhoite, Graduate Counselor 1965-1966; Jean Wilcox Morris, Alpha Province Director of Alumnae 1965-1967; Linda Buell Corrigan, Graduate Counselor 1974-1975; Sally Milbourne, Graduate Counselor 1975-1976; Carolyn Steele, Zeta Province Director of Chapters 1975-1977

Fraternity Loyalty Award Recipients:

Frances Fatout Alexander, 1970. She was a Mu Province Director of Chapters from 1949-1953. Next, she served as Fraternity chairman of pledge training and then as Director of Chapters from 1954-1958. She became the Fraternity’s Vice President in 1959 and served two terms. She went off Council in 1962 to become Kappa’s National Panhellenic Conference delegate from 1962-1964. She was Fraternity President from 1964-1968. She became the chairman of Fraternity research and Panhellenic alternate delegate in 1968.

Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:

Eliza Jean Nelson Penfield, 1950- Grand President of Kappa. Outstanding record as a platform speaker, parliamentarian, lawyer, and leader in the cause of voting rights for women. She had toured the west with the late Carrie Chapman Catt to work for ratification of the woman’s suffrage amendment. She helped to found the League of Women Voters.

Bertha Fain Tucker, 1954. She has been elected judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in 1953, the first woman elected to judgeship in Cook County since 1923. She had built a reputation for fearlessness and fairness among the legal profession.

Anne Elder, 1976. She was a talented script writer and received an Emmy Award. She acted at “Second City” in Chicago, was a regular on television’s “Laugh-In.” She produced two Billy Jean King Specials, “Women In Sports”; “Bill Daleys’ Hocus-Pocus”; and an ABC special filmed at Sea World, Cleveland. Anne co-authored the Mitzi Gaynor specials for TV, and was a guest on many TV game shows.

Additional Outstanding Iota Alumnae:

Minnie Royse Walker, deputy to three Fraternity Presidents, was prominent as an antiques collector and authority on old English silver, pewter, and furniture. A silver tankard from her collection is awarded on a rotating basis at biennial conventions as the Fraternity’s Scholarship Award for Chapters on campuses where there are more than ten Panhellenic groups competing for the top position. The diamond fleur-de-lis designed for her is worn now officially by presidents of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Mrs. Walker also wrote the first Fraternity history in 1903, Kappa’s Record.

Iota authors include Grace Ruthenberg, Mary Montgomery Galliland, Annie Payne Ader, 1883, and Cora Bennett Burlingame, 1891; Mildred Trares Schaefer, 1950, actress; Marjorie Call, concert harpist; Dr. Martha Travell,compiled the National Guide to Sunday School Lessons; Cora Effinghouse Wilson, 1888, received the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen Award; Dr. Alice Watts Hostetler, 1919, 1929 recipient of the DePauw Citation, journalist, business woman, speaker, politician, and clubwoman.

Members active in education and public life were Mary Jorzick, Betty Lupton Fairchild Wood, Carolyn Costin Tucker, 1946.

Iota initiated three honorary members, One of which was Mary Ashton Livermore, 1879. She was an internationally known author, editor, and lecturer. She was a very prominent worker in the cause of women’s suffrage and temperance reform.

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The Early Years

Soon after the Civil War, the movement for higher education of women began. Depauw was one of the first colleges in the United States to heed this demand. In the fall of 1867, the first women entered the freshman class. Fraternities came into DePauw early in its history. A year or two after women were admitted to all educational privileges of the college, they began to notice the great pleasure in which their brothers derived from their fraternities.

Eager to experience the joys of such an organization, they put in some months of hard work and as a result, Kappa Alpha Theta became the first Greek letter fraternity for women on the campus on January 27, 1870. For five years, Theta flourished on campus. Kappa Alpha Theta became the pride of both the city and the college. Theta had, of course, heard that over in Monmouth, Illinois, another fraternity for women had appeared, but it was scarcely probable that any group would have the courage to come into Theta’s own territory.

Then came the spring of 1875. The date of the “Sophomore Performance” was March 25, which was an annual event where each member of the class was required to give an original oration. The entire college and town attended these exercises. Such was the occasion chose by Ida Anderson, Ada Oliver, Amy Puett, Finetta Wiggs, Lillian Wiggs, and Margaret Purviance for their first appearance wearing little golden keys. Not a hint of the new chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma had reached the college world until that evening. It is recorded that the sensation created by their badges was in every way as great as they had anticipated.

Investigation revealed that on March 13th, these women had slipped away to Bloomington, Indiana, and had been initiated in the home of Anna Buskirk as charter members of Iota Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Kappa Kappa Gamma was a very secret organization during the first few years. Even the place of meeting was kept a profound secret from all but the members. The college year was divided into three terms, and officers were elected at the end of each term. New members were initiated just as soon after pledging as it was possible to arrange for it; therefore, time was required at practically every meeting for either initiation or installation or both.

When the Chapter was organized, the girls lived at home or boarded and roomed in the homes of the town. The meetings were held at the homes of the members. Refreshments were served, games played, confidences and gossip exchanged, and the girls grew to know each other as only comrades can. The men’s fraternities had halls in the second and third floors of business blocks. The Kappas were progressive when they decided that there was no reason why the girls, too, should not have halls. After much discussion and argument, they hired one which was dedicated formally on February 14, 1885. The Kappa mothers looked on the plan with disapproval, and after a term, the girls themselves realized that it was an impractical undertaking for women. They went back to the old custom of meeting in the homes, but the desire for a chapter house grew. It was not until the second term of 1894 that the first Chapter house was rented. The first meeting was held there on February 11, 1894. Thus began thirty years of wandering about from one house to another. In those thirty years, Iota moved twelve times. The houses, having always been built for family use, were always over-crowded and inadequate for Fraternity requirements.

In the early days, there were taffy-pullings, picnics, and Valentine frolics. Iota never failed to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Kappa. The picnics sometimes lasted from dawn until almost dawn. These picnic parties always traveled in carriages. Sunday afternoon calling was a favorite social function. The girls gathered in groups of three or more at some home. Then the fraternity men, in groups, made the rounds of the various homes.

Iota Chapter always had musicians, and the singing of Kappa songs was one of the features of any Iota crowd. For more than twenty years, the entertainment for the annual formal party was a minstrel. An invitation to the Kappa minstrel was a much coveted bit of cardboard. During WWI, the Kappas were allowed to use Meharry Hall and gave their minstrel performance for the entire S.A.T.C. For several years, the women repeated their program for the benefit of a needy church of other organizations.

Iota has had her great days and her outstanding achievements to which she “points with pride.” Iota entertained the first Convention in 1876. Iota is also proud of the fact that one of her members, Minnetta Taylor, was the first editor of The Golden Key.

Highlights of the 1920s:

It was believed that the high cost of after-the-war building would make a new house for Iota Chapter impossible. But after looking the ground over, it was decided it would be poor economy to remodel and that they must build. As soon as possible, a lot was secured on campus. An architect was employed and a plan was selected during the summer of 1921. Affairs progressed so successfully that in the spring of 1923, the cornerstone of the Kappa house was laid. The cornerstone laying was an inspiring service. A large crowd of alumnae and friends was present, in addition to the entire active Chapter. The girls sang Kappa songs as the crowd gathered. The house was finished in the spring of 1924 and the Chapter moved in in April. It was dedicated on the afternoon of Monday, June 2, 1924. There were over two hundred people present. Iota was the first of the sororities on campus to build. The ritual for the house dedication was written by Sidelia Starr Donner. It was soon adopted for national use.

Highlights of the 1940s:

Over the years, many traditions have come and gone as interests changed: the skit given before Christmas by new members; the Dad’s Day football game with Delta Gammas, played during the 1940s and 1950s; publication of the Keyhole; and the Kappa Pickers.

Several outstanding women helped to mold the maturing chapter. Sidelia Starr (Donner) graduate from DePauw in 1891 and was instructor at the academy and Depauw University before her 1897 marriage. Financially organized by her husband and aided by loyal alumnae, she organized the Iota Chapter House Board, found a location, and secured funds for building a permanent Chapter House. She became the mentor and guardian angel of the Chapter. In 1941, she retired as House Board president against unanimous protest. After her death in 1950, it was written in the Keyhole, “To every freshman, she was the prototype of the ideal Kappa. To the senior, the goal to be emulated. To the alumnae, the unchanging heart of KKG.”

Highlights of the 1960s:

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Most of the previous information was excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 1870-1930 and The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 1870-1976. The information that follows has been gleaned from available resources including Chapter History Reports, chapter meeting minutes, letters and comments from chapter members and alumnae, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Archives, and The Key. Each chapter is expected to update its history record annually. Contact Fraternity Headquarters at kkghq@kkg.org with questions.

Highlights of the 1970s:

Housing:

Philanthropy:

Chapter Convention Awards:

Highlights of the 1980s:

Housing:

Philanthropy:

Chapter Convention Awards:

Highlights of the 1990s:

Housing:

Philanthropy:

Chapter Convention Awards:

Highlights of 2000-2010

Housing:

Philanthropy:

Chapter Convention Awards:

2002: Recruitment Honorable Mention

2006: Signature Event Honorable Mention, Gracious Living Honorable Mention

Highlights of 2011-2020

From chapter’s History Report: Scholarship, group honors/awards, traditions, special events, changes on campus or within chapter, overall nature of the chapter, chapter goals, challenges and how they were overcome, etc.:

Highlights of 2011==

This past spring, Iota held a philanthropy for Reading is Fundamental. We hosted a tea party and invited some younger grade school students to join us for a day of crafts, food and of course reading. We started the fall semester with a bang by getting the chapter involved in Greek Week events (trivia, a greek god and goddess dance and more) Alpha Chi Omega's Ring Sing fundraiser events (such as their monon bell dance).

Throughout the course of the year, Iota has improved getting involved with events held by other chapters on campus as well as campus wide events. In December, KKG won the Taste of Depauw competition with a delicious Oreo ball dessert, beating out other houses on campus. Our annual Kappa Fashion show for Dress for Success was extremely successful this year--having paired with Rent the Runway and filling every single seat. In the fall, our Vice President of Academic threw a scholarship dinner that gave our professors as well as hardworking Kappas the chance to acknowledge their accomplishment.

Iota also welcomed a brand new chapter council and held a chapter council retreat so the officers could get to know each other better as well as discuss ways we can improve the chapter. KKG Iota went pumpkin picking for our informal in October and went to the Sapphire Ball that the event chair organized and planned for the members.

Campus: Some recent changes on campus this year occurred when there weere issues of bullying, hazing and homophobic remarks. While this created a stir around campus, the women of Iota's chapter used these incidents as an opportunity to get more involved on campus and support the LGBT community on campus by attending rallies, a debate with our college president, Brian Casey, and students on campus and participate in discussions that brought awareness to the issue. Not only did our chapter came together during these events but we also supported other organizations as well, proving that we are leaders in the Greek community.

Some of our chapter's challenges included adjusting to our new house director and readjusting to living in the house and the responsibilities that follow (keeping the rooms clean, keeping noise levels down during study hours and times when girls were sleeping. Our house manager and president worked closely together to accommodate the changes that came with the new house director gracefully.While there were some major conflicting opinions-- the members of chapter council tried as best they could to keep the lines of communication open with the new house director and worked extremely hard to meet her halfway to attain a smoother transition.

Highlights of 2012

The 2012 spring and fall semesters provided challenges to overcome as Iota chapter. During the spring semester, Iota chapter was put on a refocus letter that made us take a deeper look upon ourselves. As a chapter we had lost track and began to experience many respect issues within and to the house, and because of this, changes needed to be made. To confine to our new expectations, as a chapter, we were no longer allowed to participate in 'flower ins'--a serenading tradition between DePauw fraternity and soroity new member classes. Through this challenge though, we collectively came up with a new plan of action and created a new tradition called "serenades" that emulates the original purpose of the tradition. The University was pleased with our new outlook and the GLC even funded money to Iota chapter to make the upcoming events a success--and if all goes well, the univeristy is planning on implementing these new events for the new member classes at DePauw in the near future.

In Spring of 2013, Iota also held a Social Media Policy discussion, and planned a section of our by-laws regarding online social media expectations for the chapter. These bylaws are likely to be modeled by other Kappa Kappa Gamma chapters. Iota chapter has also become very involed in sustainability and is becoming a model for other greek houses on campus. Along with this, Iota chapter has had a successful year of philanthropy, once again putting on the Kappa Fashion show for Dress for Success, supporting Kappa's national philanthropy Reading is Fundamental, participating in Arts Fest for local children of Greencastle, as well as supporting other philanthropies across campus. Our new chapter coucil, elected in the fall, is dedicated to working through our refocus letter and we will be a stronger chapter because of it.

Fall 2012 brought exciting changes to DePauw's campus. The location change of our school bookstore, which moved from the Union Building on campus to downtown Greencastle, was a novel change for the campus. In addition to the amazing new bookstore, now named Eli's Books, a Starbucks was also established and connects to the bookstore. By providing a great coffee shop and bookstore downtown, it has encouraged students to visit the community of Greencastle more frequently. Along with this, the Anderson Street Project construction was completed, providing a striking new gated entrance to DePauw's campus.

The university has also adopted a new tiger logo. During the fall semester, which was also a celebration of DePauw's 175th anniversary, DePauw President Brian Casey announced many incredible future renovations to the campus, including the Lilly Fitness center, Roy O. West Library, Olin Biological Sciences building and the construction of a new dining hall. In terms of our chapter, the challenges brought upon us have seemed to bring us closer together. We are a chapter filled with incredible, involved, and inspiring women, and together we have been working through hurdles together.

Highlights of 2013

This year we hosted the Provence Meeting, which was held at the Butler Mu chapter. We got to showcase Iota history as well as historical pictures. We were awarded the Most Improved chapter overall. The event went very well and visiting the Butler Chapter was fun as we got to meet new sisters from all over the Midwest.

This year during recruitment, we got 37 news members! This was a bigger pledge class than the previous year, which we were very happy about. It has been very fun getting to know all our wonderful new members. Every year we participate in Derby Days, which is Sigma Chi’s philanthropy. Our new members competed in the dance competition and we took first place for the second year in a row.

We also made changes to some very old traditions. Instead of having Flower-ins, we know how mixers. We are working with the university to formulate the process and we have been successful thus far. We meet with each fraternity and participate in an activity such as cookie decorating or swing dancing. It has been a different but wonderful experience!

We also had a very fun formal. We went to the Indianapolis Dolphin Dome! It was a wonderful event! In chapter council, we changed a few of our bylaws regarding attendance to insure members of chapter council and all members were held accountable for coming to meetings and chapter events. So far, these laws have been very successful.

Our campus received a $20 million grant from the state of Indiana to revamp and renew the campus. They have started more construction this year on various buildings and landmarks on campus. Specifically, all sport fields and stadium and the campus gym (Lilly Center) are being renovated. Rector Village as well as the Senior sidewalk also had construction. The administration has added signs to the campus to give it more of a campus-feel. Our school is really looking great and we are very excited to see what else they will be doing!

Our Chapter Council is doing a lot to remove us from the focus letter. The overall atmosphere of our house has changed as we are all focusing on sisterhood and the pursuit of what is womanly and true. We have taken great strides to improve our chapter as well as our image. We have definitely taken strides in the right direction and will be continuing to do so in this upcoming year.