Международное женское студенческое братство Gamma Phi Beta

International college sorority

Gamma Phi Beta (ΓΦΒ, also known as GPhi, GPhiB, or Gamma Phi) is an international college sorority. It was founded in Syracuse University in 1874 and was the first of the Greek organizations to call itself a sorority. The term "sorority" was coined for Gamma Phi Beta by Dr. Frank Smalley, a professor at Syracuse University. The sorority's international headquarters are located in Centennial, Colorado. As of 2023, Gamma Phi Beta listed more than 246,000 initiated members, 137 active collegiate chapters, 190 chartered collegiate chapters and more than 155 alumnae groups in the United States and Canada. The founders had originally selected light blue as the official color but changed it in 1875 to brown and mode (dark and light brown). The society's first initiate, Clara Worden, joined in March 1875. Colleges and universities admitted few women students in the 1870s. Against that tendency, Erastus Otis Haven, Syracuse University chancellor and former president of the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, maintained that women should receive the advantages of higher education and he enrolled his daughter, Frances, at Syracuse. For its first several years, Gamma Phi Beta was simply known as a society; it had never used the term fraternity. It was the first of the national women's organizations to adopt the word "sorority", coined in 1882 on behalf of the Syracuse chapter by one of the Latin professors on the faculty, Dr. Frank Smalley. Alpha Phi was founded first in 1872 by 10 of the original 20 women admitted to Syracuse University. Gamma Phi Beta came along two years later in 1874 and Alpha Gamma Delta completed the triad in 1904. Syracuse Triad ceremonies or events are held on most campuses with chapters of all three groups.

The sorority's second chapter, the Beta chapter at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was placed in 1882 and was followed in 1885 by the Gamma chapter at Wisconsin. Over the next ten years, the sorority expanded into the Midwest and into eastern schools. In 1894, Gamma Phi Beta expanded to the West Coast at the University of California and to Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The open motto of the Gamma Phi Beta is "Founded on a Rock".

The Gamma Phi Beta badge has not significantly changed since its design in 1874. It was designed by Tiffany & Co. It features a black crescent moon cradling the Greek letters Gamma, Phi, and Beta. Badges are currently produced by jeweler Herff Jones, with customization options such as a gold or silver finish or added jewels. The badges worn by International Council members are larger and feature white crescent moons instead of black. The international president's badge is set with diamonds on the Greek letters; other international officers' badges are set with pearls. In 1902, a triangular shaped shield of dark brown on which rests a crescent of gold was approved as the badge for uninitiated new members.

Gamma Phi Beta provided humanitarian supplies during both World War I and World War II. Chapters placed donation containers throughout the United States; the funds collected were directed to the French orphans at the end of World War I.

Every initiated member has a lifelong membership in Gamma Phi Beta and may participate in alumnae activities on the local, regional, and international levels. Women who have never been initiated into a National Panhellenic Conference sorority may be eligible to join Gamma Phi Beta through the alumnae initiate program. Once a woman is initiated into Gamma Phi Beta, she is no longer allowed to join any other National Panhellenic Conference sorority. One standard of membership is paying dues each semester during a member's college years and, once she graduates, paying yearly dues to International Headquarters.