Founding Date

Mar 21st, 1981

IUP was conceived as Indiana Normal School, first chartered in 1871 by Indiana County investors. The school was created under the Normal School Act, which passed the Pennsylvania General Assembly on May 20, 1875. Normal schools established under the act were to be private corporations in no way dependent upon the state treasury. They were to be "state" normal schools only in the sense of being officially recognized by the commonwealth. The school opened its doors in 1875 following the mold of the French Ecole Normale. It enrolled just 225 students. All normal school events were held within a single building which also contained a laboratory school for model teaching. Control and ownership of the institution passed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1920. In 1927, by authority of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, it became State Teachers College at Indiana, with the right to grant degrees. As its mission expanded, the name was changed again in 1959 to Indiana State College. In 1965, the institution achieved university status and became Indiana University of Pennsylvania, or IUP. Delta Gamma was chosen to colonize at IUP’s campus to bring a more positive reputation to the Greek system on campus and to rid the campus of hazing. Colonization took place the week of October 25-30, 1980. A pledging ceremony took place October 31, 1980 with 65 women. Installation and initiation occurred over the weekend of March 20-21, 1981. On March 20, Alpha Chi- Pennsylvania State presented at the colony’s inspiration night. Initiation of 59 women and the installation of the colony took place the next morning on March 21, and Epsilon Eta became the 100th initiated chapter of Delta Gamma. A banquet and reception followed at the Holiday Inn. The fall of 1981 successfully pledged 11 women, and the first pledge class was initiated January 30, 1982. On July 17, 1982, a reunion weekend at Conneaut Lake turned tragic when a ferry was struck by a cruiser boat, killing Epsilon Eta sisters Carol Aiken and Carol Psak. They were laid to rest on July 21, 1982. In Fall 2003, Epsilon Eta had a revamped suite.