We Never Croak!
Theta Pi Gamma's founding members, not in order: Molly Sumner, class of 1898; Mary Campbell Nye, class of 1899; Genevieve Reitler, class of 1899; Lillian Wherry, class of 1899; Elizabeth Whitney, class of 1899; Martha Shopwell, class of 1899; Helen Bell Edwards, class of 1899.
Theta Pi Gamma was established in 1896, one year after coeducation at Beloit began. After they gained faculty attention, President Eaton interviewed the group and ordered them to dissolve. To meet Eaton’s demands, Theta would disband at the end of each meeting. They admitted no new members in the 1896-1897 school year, but continued to meet in secret.
A cartoon of President Eaton conducting an interview with the members of Theta to determine whether or not they should be allowed to meet.
In 1898, they petitioned for a national charter, but were told that they could not have one without the permission of their school. They tried for a local charter in 1901 and wrote a letter to the faculty and administration of Beloit College to plead their case:
“To the President and faculty of Beloit College-
Feeling convinced that there is need among the young women of Beloit College of an organization different in purpose from any at present existing; we would ask your consideration of the following statements, which express some of the reasons for you conviction.
The advantages of such a society are various. It fosters among its members a sense of responsibility toward one another, toward the society and toward the general college life, which would otherwise be lacking. It makes possibilities stronger and more helpful friendships that could otherwise be possible especially between the young women of the lower and the upper classes, and it gives the younger girls a contact with older and more experienced ones which often proves invaluable to them. It draws the attention of its members away from themselves and fixes it upon a group, thus arousing natures which tend to be self-centered, to a broader, more altruistic interest, not merely in one another’s welfare, but ultimately in that of all the girls of the college.
It is urged that the spirit of such a society is narrow and undemocratic, but as long as young women are gathered together in a student body, congenial spirits will naturally and inevitably group together, whether organized into a society or not. We hold that an organized group is preferable to one which is unorganized, that it is more altruistic and more perfectly adapted to consciously attempt the suppression of strong distractions and feeling among classes and cliques.
We feel very sincerely, therefore, that we are asking for something which to better exists conditions among the young women of Beloit College when we ask you for permission to form a local sorority.”
