Founding Date

May 7th, 1908

“We Omicrons are willing to wager that there is no other chapter of Delta Gamma with as many chapter houses as it has members. We make that claim because Adelphi, our alma mater, is primarily a commuting college, and since college regulations have prohibited sorority houses, Omicrons for forty-two years have been visiting each other’s homes – for supper meetings, parties, pledging and initiation – and more often just to talk and to laugh and to sing “Hannah.” The history of Omicron chapter of Delta Gamma is so bound up with the history of Adelphi College itself that it would seem impossible to separate them. Since May in 1908, just twelve years after Adelphi came into being; Omicron has contributed continuously and successfully to the life of the college. With the initiation of ten girls, Delta Gamma followed Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta to Adelphi, becoming the college’s third national fraternity. The charter members initiated at the home of Florence S. Murphy were: Florence Murphy, Florence Chinnock Foster, Corrine Wendel Warfield, Eugenie O’Brien Buchanan, Katherine Harding Lathan, Grace Johnson Moult, Margaret Levermore Bosworth, Edna Harris, Marguerite Dawson Winant, and Ida Lentilhon Rutledge. The same spirit and determination that had won and continued to win the school’s outstanding student offices for these girls was responsible, along with the inestimable help of three Delta Gamma alumnae (Esther Davis and Ina Genung, Chi; and Mrs. Linnie Leitz, Omega), for the interest of the New York alumnae in the Adelphi girls, who were organized then as the local society, Phi Delta Phi. It was difficult for a small eastern women’s college, bravely founded in 1896 with fewer than thirty students, and having no chapter of Phi Beta Kappa nor sizeable endowment, to interest and already powerful and far-reaching Delta Gamma, but the leadership and rushing success shown by Phi Delta Phi in competition with two national fraternities, led to the granting of the charter. During the years which followed it became even more apparent that Delta Gamma had been wise in chartering an Adelphi group. Not only did Omicron continue its success in rushing and its active participation in student affairs (as evidenced by the amazing list of student offices held by the Delta Gammas) but in 1911 the contributed $225 to Adelphi’s first endowment fund drive. Omicron was very fortunate during that period to have been offered by Dr. Levermore, founder and president of Adelphi, the college’s “Tower Room” for a meeting place. Here Delta Gamma had its “home” until 1914 when Anna S. Knoff, then vice-president, wrote, “…it is with great regret that…we learn that on account of fire laws we shall have to abandon our attractive Tower Room.” Luckily, however, the Adelphi Women’s Auxiliary in 1914 procured for the school a long-needed College House, which became the center of student activities. Delta Gamma, after renting a room on Washington Avenue for a year, moved to a room on the second floor of the new student building. For the third consecutive time an Omicron girl, in 1914, was elected to the most important student office- the presidency of Student Association. In 1924, Adelphi was added to the approved list of the American Association of University Women (coeducation had been discontinued in 1912). A successful Million-Dollar Endowment Drive during the last part of the 1920s enabled Adelphi to make plans for new college buildings. Originally the plan was to build in Brooklyn, but as no site large enough could be found the college began to consider Long Island as Adelphi’s future home. The cornerstone of the new Adelphi was laid in its present Garden City location in October of 1928, and classes started the following year. The change was a great one for the school – Long Island’s first institution of higher learning – and Omicron of Delta Gamma was affected, too, by it. It was comparatively easy for the students, most of who lived in the metropolitan area, to travel to the college in Brooklyn, but the acquisition of a spacious campus and beautiful new buildings in suburban Garden City also brought the problem of transportation to many of Adelphi’s women. Now, instead of a chapter room, each fraternity was given a table in Students’ Hall. Supper meetings and parties were still held at the home of actives and alumnae, but the Omicron girls were forced to use classrooms for their regular meetings. Up to an attic corner of the Administration Building went the records and many other possessions of Omicron which had formally been in evidence in the old chapter room. The depression had little effect upon Adelphi until 1932, and by 1935 enrollment had dropped from over six hundred students to over four hundred. Scholastically, however, the college was growing stronger. Adelphi was now on the approved lists of the Association of American Universities and the Association of American Colleges, among others. “The Crow’s Nest,” a room on Roxbury Road in Garden City, became the home of Omicron during 1935. Although, the Delta Gammas, because of college regulations, were unable to lease the room after the initial year was over, they did enjoy for a while some of the privileges that came with a “home” of their own. Now the “S.S. Omicron, Pride of the Delta Gamma Fleet” could invite freshmen to “inspect” the Crow’s Nest during rushing. Here, also, was a wonderful place for chapter meetings- there is no doubt but that the Crow’s Nest contributed to the remarkable unite and activity of Adelphi’s Delta Gammas during this period. In 1935, forty members of Omicron, as well as four national officers of Delta Gamma, and several members of the Goucher chapter, went to Washington to install Beta Epsilon at American University. It must have been especially exciting for the Adelphians because an alumna of Omicron, Marguerite Dawson Winant, was the national president of the Fraternity. The annual Founders Day Banquet, one of the oldest Omicron traditions, was held for many years at the Beekman Tower Hotel. The formal banquet was replaced during the war years by a Reunion Day Tea. During the last few years the affair has been held on Long Island, near the college, and it seems that this plan will continue. The banquets in New York must have been memorable occasions, however. Marguerite Winant, as national president, helped to make the affairs impressive and enjoyable. At these banquets not only were Omicron’s Phi Alphas initiated into Delta Gamma, but officers of the several alumnae chapters in the metropolitan vicinity were installed. In 1943 the Adelphi School of Nursing was established, attracting even more students to the college. It was in December 1946, that the board of trustees voted to make coeducation permanent at Adelphi, and once again the college admitted men, as well as women. Naturally this decision changed the whole tenor of college life; two residence halls and a dining hall had been added to the original buildings, and by September of 1947 three temporary buildings were erected on campus. The east wing of the new Student Activities Building is being paid for by the sororities. The summer houseparty, a function almost traditional with Adelphi’s Delta Gammas, had its beginning about the time that the college moved to Garden City. In 1952, the Omicron meeting took place in the H-Lounge, a temporary building in the Student Center. In 1958, DG celebrated its golden anniversary of Omicron. By 1962, the chapter had its meetings in the East Hall Panhellenic Suite which was located directly above mack bar. What better place for DG’s who love to eat! Boys were not allowed in the suite much to the disappointment of the boy crazy DG’s. During the years of 1970-1973 the number of members in Omicron remained constant at about 50-60 and the meetings were held in Panhel Suite. 1980-1984 has been a successful for Omicron as the past 75 yrs. There have been many changes in the years but Delta Gamma is still an important part of Adelphi’s Organizations as the day it first started in 1908. The Omicron chapter has brought many memories to hundreds of girls as it will continue to do in the years to come.” From a 1981 chapter history: Omicron chapter of Delta Gamma was established at Adelphi in May 1908. In that year the Council traveled east with a threefold purpose: to hold its annual meeting with Rho chapter in Syracuse, to visit Chi chapter at Cornell, and to install Omicron chapter at Adelphi University, then located in Brooklyn. Delta Gamma’s high standards and ultraconservative expansion policies had appealed to a group at Adelphi which in 1905 was collecting material about various nationals. With Chi Upsilon’s aid, they petitioned and campaigned and eventually achieved a charter.