Founding Date

Mar 7th, 1959

California State University, Long Beach was established in 1949 by California Governor Earl Warren, to serve the rapidly expanding post-World War II population of Orange and Southern Los Angeles counties. Since then, CSULB has grown to become one of the state's largest universities. The institution was first named as Los Angeles-Orange County State College. In June 1950, the citizens of Long Beach voted overwhelmingly to purchase 322 acres as a permanent campus for the college, then known as Long Beach State College. Student enrollment grew rapidly in this new, permanent location. In 1964, LBSC changed its name to California State College at Long Beach. It changed its name in 1968 to California State College, Long Beach, as part of these changes to the California State College system and began to be much more closely integrated with the other state universities. In 1953, the university was open for establishment by National Panhellenic Conference chapters at the request of the four local sororities. In 1956, the Long Beach area alumnae decided that the campus met the needs of Delta Gamma, and on May 20, 1957 the university invited Delta Gamma to establish. Delta Gamma accepted and became the sixth NPC group to join the campus. Delta Gamma then entered recruitment with the five established sororities in September 1958. The first rush parties were held at the homes of six Long Beach alumnae. The pledging ceremony occurred on September 17, 1958, at the home of Marion Prescott Ritner, Pi-Montana. Alpha Nu-USC members performed the ceremony. Installation ceremonies occurred March 7-8, 1959. An Installation banquet occurred on March 7 and was officiated by members of Alpha Sigma-UCLA. The only man at the banquet, guest speaker Dr. Wallace Moore, professor of education at Long Beach, was the father of a Delta Gamma at Gamma Kappa-UC Santa Barbara. A reception was held March 8 at the Soroptimist House to honor the new chapter. The chapter meetings were first held in the Electronics building, then in the Unitarian Church on Atherton. In 1979, Gamma Chi celebrated its 20th anniversary at a Founders Day luncheon. In 1980, eight Gamma Chis were featured in a Ford Motor Company television ad for their Pinto model that was broadcast nationally. Anchor Splash® has been an annual event, when possible, since the early 1980s. It was cancelled the year of the Los Angeles riots. Despite the hardship that can arise with commuter campuses, Gamma Chi was always very successful during recruitment, consistently recruiting the largest new member class on campus. Gamma Chi began leasing its first chapter house in 1960. In 1969, the chapter purchased a six-unit apartment complex for their new chapter house. The current chapter house is located on Redondo Avenue and was acquired in 1999.