Founding Date

Feb 1st, 1981

Los Angeles College was founded by members of the Society of Jesus. By 1917, due to rapid growth, the Jesuits sought a new campus, and incorporated as Loyola College of Los Angeles in 1918. The school again relocated to Westchester in 1929 and achieved university status the final year. Religious of Sacred Heart of Mary, a school for young women, relocated from its previous campus to Loyola College’s Westchester campus in 1968. Five years later, the two schools merged and formed Loyola Marymount University in 1973. Sigma Sigma Sigma and Alpha Phi were the first NPC groups on campus. A local sorority, Gamma Delta, began with 17 women looking for a national organization with which they could affiliate. When they decided to petition Delta Gamma, they were told to contact Executive Offices. In October 1980, NPC Delegate Barbara Griswold Laederach, Lambda-Minnesota, and Director of Chapter Development Martha Lee Riggs Davis, Beta Iota-Purdue visited the campus to meet with the group and administration and present an extension presentation. Epsilon Zeta new chapter was established on November 16, 1980 with 25 women of Gamma Delta as charter members. The pledging ceremony took place at the Alpha Sigma-UCLA chapter house. Marty Martin and Martha Lee Davis worked with the chapter through its colony period along with Rush Consultant, Marie Curry Allen. A reception followed at Loyola Marymount’s campus. The first president of the new chapter was Terry Hewitt. The new chapter met every Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Loyola Apartment #3 or a classroom in the Fine Arts Building on campus. Epsilon Zeta was installed at Loyola Marymount University on February 1, 1981. The Installation banquet was held at the Bel Air Bay Club in Pacific Palisades, California. Betty Beach Norris, Beta Kappa-Kansas, Fraternity President, presented the charter. Three short years later, Epsilon Zeta was recognized by campus Panhellenic for having the highest-grade point average of all sorority and fraternities on campus. In 1987, the chapter was recognized as the Most Outstanding Organization on Campus in addition to having the highest GPA on campus. Epsilon Zeta volunteered much of their time working with the Los Angeles Blind Childrens Center, and often donated their fundraising totals to the center. For the first few years Epsilon Zeta was housed in a “borrowed apartment” (Tendrich Apartment #10).