The Founding of Gamma Phi Beta
Gamma Phi Beta was founded on November 11, 1874, at Syracuse University
in Syracuse, New York. Our four founders are Helen M. Dodge,
Frances E. Haven, E. Adeline Curtis, and Mary A. Bingham. They were imaginative and courageous women who cooperated unselfishly as they worked to achieve the same ideals Gamma Phi Beta emphasizes today.
Colleges and universities admitted few women students in the 1870's. In fact, administrators and faculty members gave women a rather reluctant welcome. They argued that women had inferior minds and could not master mathematics and the classics. In this controversy, Dr. E. O. 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. He enrolled his daughter, Frances, at Syracuse, which in 1874 had approximately 200 students and 10 faculty members.
Instead of joining the two year-old Alpha Phi, Frances asked three friends to assist her in organizing a women's society. They sought the advice and help of Dr. Haven, their brothers, faculty, and members of two existing fraternities. The minutes of their first meeting on November 11, 1874, state: "Miss Dodge was appointed to draft a Constitution." Frances Haven and Helen Dodge agreed to ask Dr. Haven for a suitable name and motto.
The founders met again on November 16th for further decisions as recorded in the minutes: "The merits of the six mottos suggested by Chancellor Haven were discussed, and the motto Gamma Phi Beta was unanimously accepted." They agreed on a badge design for which they had sought the help of Charles M. Cobb and Charles M. Moss, Frances' future husband. Helen's brother, a divinity student, suggested that the Hebrew word for "four" should be part of the badge. This word would represent the four founders.
After the installation of Beta Chapter at the University of Michigan in 1882, Syracuse faculty member Dr. Frank Smalley coined the word "sorority" especially for Gamma Phi Beta. It has been used ever since.
