Eta Tau
Georgetown University Founded: 1789
Chapter installed: October 26, 2013
Number of colonizing new members: 24 Number of charter members: 24
146 initiates as of (June 2016)
Some of Eta Tau’s Outstanding Members: Fraternity Officers:
Fraternity Loyalty Award:
Fraternity Alumnae Achievement Award Recipients:
Contents
History of the University
Georgetown University is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning in the United States. John Carroll’s founding of Georgetown College coincides with the birth of the U.S. In 1789, Carroll secured the deed to 60 acres of land on a hilltop overlooking the village of Georgetown. Classes began in 1792. Within the first year, attendance grew to more than 40 students from as far away as the West Indies. In 1817, the school awarded its first two bachelor’s degrees.
The Civil War (1861-1865) nearly closed Georgetown, as the student body dropped from 313 to 17 between 1859 and 1861. A total of 1,141 students and alumni enlisted in the war, serving in both the Union and Confederate forces. After the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in 1862, several campus buildings were turned into a temporary hospital. To celebrate the end of the Civil War, Georgetown students selected the colors blue (Union) and gray (Confederate) as the school’s official colors in 1876.
Georgetown established the School of Medicine in 1851 and the Law School in 1870. Patrick F. Healy, S.J., the university’s president between 1873 and 1882, was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. and the first to head a major U.S. university. The university’s expansion continued into the 20th century with the opening of the School of Dentistry in 1901, School of Nursing in 1903 and the School of Foreign Service in 1919.
By 1930, enrollment reached 2,600. However, the Great Depression was a period of great consolidation for Georgetown as enrollment fell to fewer than 2,000 students. During World War II, the U.S. War Department designated Georgetown as one of a select number of universities to house the Army Specialized Training Program. More than 75 percent of students enrolled in the 1943-44 academic year were military servicemen. During the 1944-45 academic year, women were allowed to enroll in the School of Foreign Service. The years after World War II saw another increase in enrollment and expansion of the university. Georgetown created the School of Business Administration and the School for Summer and Continuing Education in the 1950s. Across the nation, the 1960s were shaped by the emergence of revolutionary ideas and social upheaval. Georgetown students were on campus when the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy took place. The women’s movement began to take hold, and women were accepted to the College for the first time in 1969.
Students demonstrated against the Vietnam War in the 1970s, causing some disruptions to classes and campus life. By the end of the decade, most of the anger and discontent had been redirected into positive social action. The 1980s were a time of tremendous growth on campus. During the university’s bicentennial year (1988-89), U.S. President Ronald Reagan provided the opening address to kick off the yearlong celebration, the culmination of which included a reunion ball with more than 3,500 guests at D.C.’s Union Station. The 1980s also began a golden age in two traditional sports at Georgetown. Under coaches John Thompson, Jr., and Frank Gagliano, basketball and track, respectively, enjoyed unprecedented periods of success from the early 1980s well into the 1990s.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Georgetown saw significant increases in the diversity of its students and faculty as it grew from a regional school to one of national prominence. Women also greatly increased their numbers within the faculty during the nineties, making up nearly 40 percent by 2001. In 2001, John J. DeGioia, Ph.D., became Georgetown’s 48th, and first lay, president.
Georgetown has grown to be a major international research university with eight schools, an affiliated hospital and many highly ranked academic programs. Today the university has more than 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students who take classes at five locations: Main Campus, Medical Center, Law Center, GU-Northern Virginia and the university’s School of Foreign Service-Qatar. Georgetown has a large and diverse workforce that employs more than 5,000 faculty and staff members.
Kappa Presentation
Presentation: Kappa Kappa Gamma is the first NPC group to install and have a chapter at Georgetown. Fraternity President Julie Marine Leshay, Colorado College, received email communication on May 3, 2013, from Georgetown students Carrie Cosgrove, Katherine Steininger and Bayla Pidgeon stating an interested group of women were vested in bringing a chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma to Georgetown. Prior to the Fraternity learning of this interest group’s intent, these women had reached out to the proper authority from National Panhellenic Conference and the Georgetown Student Affairs Office and received permission to contact Kappa Kappa Gamma.
On July 1, 2013, Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity was in receipt of a petition that a charter be granted to an interest group of unaffiliated students at Georgetown. On July 11, 2013, the Fraternity Council, Region 2 directors and Lambda Province directors unanimously voted in favor to approve the petition that a charter be granted to the interest group of unaffiliated students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Date the invitation to colonize was received: July 1, 2013 (First email contact was May 3, 2013.) Date of the Fraternity Council vote to accept the invitation and proceed to colonize and establish a chapter: July 11, 2013
Colonization:
The chapter was colonized from a petition received from an interest group of unaffiliated Georgetown women students. Individual prospective member “Kappa Conversations” or interviews took place on August 31. This team was led by Extension Chairman Barb Adams Goettelman, Syracuse, with the help of Chapter Consultant Rebecca Shaw, Virginia Tech; Coordinator of Chapter Development Cori Egnew Woods, Richmond; Washington, D.C. - Suburban Maryland Alumnae Association President ViVi Tran, Central Florida; Gamma Chi Chapter Council Adviser Lee Bobbitt, Texas Tech; Diana Gale, North Carolina; Jen Stolp, UC Davis; Lambda East Province Director Libby Weith, Furman; Lambda Province Director of Alumnae Hilda Crucett Garrett, William & Mary; Lambda Coordinator of Chapter Support Adrienne Taylor Magnuson, West Virginia; members of Gamma Chi Chapter at George Washington University and Headquarters staff implemented this colonization plan specific to the needs of the first NPC sorority at Georgetown. Invitations to membership were extended and returned by 3 p.m. on August 31. Formal Pledging took place the afternoon of September 1 on the Georgetown campus led by Barb Goettelman. Bid Day activities, games and fun followed by a reception with desserts from Georgetown Cupcake planned by Cori Woods and Rebecca Shaw.
The sponsor chapter for Eta Tau is Gamma Chi at George Washington University. Gamma Chi members attended both Formal Pledging and interview day on August 31 and played an instrumental and important an important part in Installation Weekend which took place October 25 and 26.
Installation:
The Fireside Service and Installation Service were held at the Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center with members of Gamma Chi serving as the sponsoring chapter. The weekend was led by Fraternity President Julie Leshay; Director of Membership Susan Pile, Miami (Ohio); Fraternity Ritual Chairman Susanne Wolff Vander Heyden, Washington State; Barb Goettelman; Installation Chairman Vicki Tallman Egnew, Ohio State; Region 2 Director of Chapters Lesley Dillon Lage, Akron; Region 2 Director of Alumnae Selena Staley Myers, Akron; Hilda Garrett; Libby Weith; Rebecca Shaw; and Cori Woods.
A beautiful installation brunch was held at the Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center. Barb Goettelman was the toastmistress. Fraternity President Julie Leshay welcomed Kappa to the campus and spoke about how the Fraternity fits into Georgetown’s campus life.
ViVi Tran presented the President’s badge to Eta Tau president Jessica Michael at the brunch. The model chapter meeting followed at the Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center with Fraternity President Julie Leshay presiding. Following her installation as Eta Tau’s president, Jessica Michael presided and closed the meeting.
Alumna’s thoughts about being a part of the new Eta Tau Chapter: Rebecca Shaw knew how special the weekend was for the charter members of Eta Tau. “I could see how each of the 24 women was hanging on to every word. It was a proud moment to see how much they wanted this membership in Kappa and just how appreciative they were.” Charter members’ thoughts about becoming Kappas: On June 21, 2013, Carrie Cosgrove shared: Our first vision is creating an opportunity unique to Georgetown’s campus which is bringing together girls with different interests and views. Georgetown’s student life is group-centric in the sense that students tend to meet and befriend only those classmates who share a common interest or view, e.g. soccer, international relations, political parties and so on. This can be a wonderful opportunity to meet others who share a particular interest as you, but we have few-to-no options for girls to be brought together from all different branches of interests. We see Kappa as a way to bring together the women’s community of Georgetown in a way that doesn’t exist currently.
Secondly, we want to make sisterhood the most integral part of our future chapter. We want our sisters to be there for one another in every way possible, so we hope to implement academic and social support. The stress of Georgetown can bear down on anyone at any moment, and there is nothing better than having someone right there willing to help. Whether it would be tutoring in a specific subject, designated Kappa quiet study space during midterms and finals or emotional support from another sister, we see all of these possibilities and necessities in such a rigorous university. Also falling under our sisterhood importance, we would like Kappa to help younger students in their transition to Georgetown and college life. There are innumerable times that freshman and sophomores seek guidance from an older student, and we hope that our Kappa girls have the smoothest transition possible due to the advice and support of the older sisters and, in the future, Kappa alumnae. We desire to create true, loving bonds of friendship in Kappa.
Highlights of 2013
This past year has been full of new experiences as the charter class at Georgetown University. Our instillation date on October 26th officially brought us together as sisters with the help of fraternity president Julie Leshay, our chapter adviser Rebecca Shaw, and our sisters from George Washington University. Our class spent many hours laughing over painting crafts and monthly dinners in our dining hall during our new member period. For Thanksgiving, we had a potluck dinner, which we hope can become a tradition. In celebration of a great first semester as Kappas; we enjoyed an off-campus holiday dinner together. At the year-end dinner we exchanged “Secret Sister” gifts, which we hope, will become an Eta Tau tradition. We are excited to see what this new year will bring.
As the first sorority on Georgetown’s campus, we are excited to be setting a new precedence. We spent the last few months getting to know each other and getting to know Kappa. We are excited to continue to learn about Kappa Kappa Gamma’s values and are so thankful for the support we have received from our many sisters working in the greater Washington D.C. area. We are a loyal, committed, and enthusiastic founding chapter, and we are excited to welcome a new group of women this spring.
Highlights of 2014
We began the year welcoming 47 new members into the Beta pledge class. Bid Day occurred on Feb. 2nd and was an exciting afternoon filled with laughter, smiles, and picture taking. Then we had big little reveal on Feb 27th, which was one of the most fun evenings of last year! Next, we had our philanthropy event for the semester. We went to a local elementary school in DC where we read to kids and donated books to their school. It was inspiring to see so many Kappas passionate about helping Reading is Fundamental. Then we had our spring formal, which was a blast! Next was initiation, a special time for everyone as the Beta class officially joined the family. Over the summer, we sent five girls to represent Eta Tau and the Kappa Convention in Houston, Texas. The girls learned so much about their respective positions and how to benefit the chapter as a whole. Beginning the next semester, we went to the Founders Day event that the local DC Kappa Alumni group hosted. It was so amazing to see how ladies are so passionate about Kappa even beyond their college years. Then we had our winter formal in December and it was a wonderful evening full of sisterhood and friends.
Now for our chapter goals. We first off wanted to improve knowledge of ritual across the entire chapter. We worked on this goal by our Marshal having office hours where she let people learn more about it and answered any questions members might have had. We also wanted to improve sisterhood within the chapter. We worked on this goal by increasing the number of sisterhood events per month and thinking of creative of fun activities to do as a whole chapter. For example, our VPS scheduled a Kappa Halloween pumpkin carving activity one night in October that all of our sisters loved!
We recently gained more rights as a non recognized student group on campus. For instance, we now have the ability to table at more places on campus and rent out rooms. We owe this progress to the student government here at Georgetown. Another change that occurred this past year was a big one: the addition of another Panhellinc sorority here on campus, Kappa Alpha Theta. With this addition we expanded greek life and welcomed new friends into our lives. This makes two Panhellenic sororities here at Georgetown now. The establishment of Theta also led to the beginnings of the formation of a Panhellenic Council later in the year. We elected two members from our Chapter to represent Kappa on the council. Our chapter consists of over a 100 passionate girls that form a powerful presence of campus by having high standards of academic excellence and crazy, fun sisterhood events that bring us closer to our sisters each day. I know that each and everyone of my sisters would say that joining Kappa has been one of there best choices of their college life.
We hold chapter meetings in a University classroom on campus that we reserve each week. We do not have a house.
Highlights of 2015
2015 has been huge for Eta Tau! In this past year we saw the addition of two new pledge classes, the Gammas and the Deltas, adding lovely new sisters to our growing chapter. We were so excited to expand our chapter and its crazy to see how much we have grown in just two short years. We now have over 130 members.
We started out 2015 with recruitment in January, which went great! We especially enjoyed the help of our LC SE. She went own to visit us multiple times including initiation to help us set up a perfect welcome to our new members. In February we hosted a casino night philanthropy event that was a huge success, thanks to our philanthropy chair of the time, Tiana Chan! Now it was time for initiation, which went was a wonderful time filled with kappa ritual and sisterhood bonding, all thanks to our marshal, Charlotte Kirks.
Next we had our spring formal in April where Cara and Nina worked extremely hard to put on a fun night for everyone! When we came back to school in late august we went straight into recruitment workshops and then recruitment itself. It was a huge success as we came out with 30 new delta class members. Hannah Smith did a wonderful job with recruitment and Jaclyn successfully led the new members into the new member period by planning an awesome bid day and big little reveal. We then had semi formal for the first time in October, which not surprising was another fun night full of sisterhood and dancing! Then came initiation again, and then the nominating committee began the elections process. We are so excited for our new officers and know that they will do amazing things for this chapter! We ended the year by having our winter formal in December at a nightclub in Dupont Circle, which was amazing as always. Now finals are coming up as 2015 comes to a close, we cant wait to see how our chapter grows in 2016!
Georgetown Panhellenic changed the times of recruitment from Spring to Fall. So this year was our first fall recruitment cycle and it went perfectly! We gained a wonderful new delta pledge class of about 30 girls. We also received a Kappa transfer from Wake Forest, Emily Cahill. We are so excited to welcome her into our chapter and have her join our sisterhood.
What organization(s) has your chapter historically/traditionally raised money for, or donated hours to, in your community? We organized our first annual Kappa Karnival last spring to benefit the DC Women’s Rape Crisis Center where we raised more than 1000 dollars for them. We decided to make this our signature philanthropy event and will be doing it every spring.
Why did your chapter choose this organization(s) to support? We believe that it represents an important cause to benefit given the current political and social climate in colleges across the nation. Also our philanthropy chair sent out a poll asking which place chapter members wanted to benefit and the most people said the DC Women’s Rape Crisis Center.
Note to Chapter Registrar: • Please refer to your chapter archives including chapter meeting minutes and back issues of The Key to fill in any gaps in the above historical highlights. • If your chapter archives are not complete, please research your university library, campus newspaper and yearbook archives for newsworthy information about your chapter. • Please double check your work for accuracy. Contact chapter Advisory or House Board members, local Alumnae Association members, or your Province Director of Chapters for assistance. Your efforts will ensure a complete and accurate history of your chapter for future generations to enjoy!
