Founding Date

May 15th, 1954

Indiana State University was established by the Indiana General Assembly on December 20, 1865, as the Indiana State Normal School in Terre Haute. As the State Normal School, its core mission was to educate elementary and high school teachers. In 1929, the Indiana State Normal School was renamed the Indiana State Teachers College, and in 1961, was renamed Indiana State College due to an expanding mission. In 1965, the Indiana General Assembly renamed the college as Indiana State University in recognition of continued growth. Gamma Gamma, founded in 1902, was the second oldest local sorority on campus. A group of nine women chose the triangle as their symbol to represent the proper development of body, mind, and spirit. Gamma Gamma wished to affiliate with Delta Gamma. As early as 1950, local groups at Indiana State began procedures for affiliation with national organizations. Gamma Gamma approached Delta Gamma on several occasions. Each time the expansion chairman wrote the nearby Delta Gamma groups, and each time the replies were divided as to the desirability of a chapter at this college. Many Delta Gammas felt they wouldn’t be able to adequately assist the chapter with other four chapters already established in Indiana. After several letters of correspondence and the persistence of Gamma Gamma, Council agreed to make a courtesy visit. In March 1953, two collegiate members from Gamma Iota-DePauw, the outgoing president of the Indianapolis alumnae, and the expansion chairman, traveled by train to Terre Haute. They agreed that Gamma Gamma was one of the top groups on campus, but recommended the college not be considered an expansion site because of the probability of a negative vote by the area alumnae and collegiate chapters. Council considered this report at their April meeting and decided to make a second visit to the campus. Fraternity President Dorothy Wildasin Knight, Alpha Omicron-Miami (Ohio), and Fraternity Treasurer Helen Bradford Anderson, Mu-Missouri, stayed with the Gamma Gamma women in May and presented them with a petition to sign in order to receive a charter from the Fraternity. Council launched a campaign to educate the collegiate and alumnae chapters about opportunities for expansion at teacher's colleges. The information noted that at one time, Delta Gamma was reluctant to enter land grant or agricultural colleges such as Oregon, Washington, and Michigan State. By early January 1954, the final vote of chapters in a 500-mile area was favorable and Gamma Omicron was established. The chapter was installed May 15, 1954, and at the time was Delta Gamma’s 95th chapter since the Fraternity’s founding. Gamma Iota-DePauw chapter members conducted two Initiations on May 15, 1954: one for the 39 collegians, and one for 63 Gamma Gamma alumnae and 3 patronesses. Gamma Omicron held its first Anchor Splash® in 1977. The chapter has been recognized by the Fraternity several times: the chapter has earned the Patricia Peterson Danielson Award for excellence in operations four times, has been a runner up for and won the Founders Award – Division I, and received the Outstanding House Corporation – Without a House award at Convention in 2010. In 1973, Gamma Omicron occupied a chapter room in the Lincoln Quadrangle on campus. The chapter currently occupies a suite in Reeve Hall on campus.