ABOUT US
Brief history of Gamma Lambda chapter
at Kent State University.
It was in 1926 that a group of girls at Kent State became a chapter of a national educational sorority, Delta Sigma Upsilon. As the years past, the group felt that it would like to affiliate with a national social fraternity, and in 1939 the chapter withdrew from the national organization in preparation for that step The new local sorority took the name Beta Gamma. It was not until 1947 that the Kent State University campus was open to national fraternities, however, and soon after Beta Gamma began to inquire concerning standards and to prepare to petition for membership in Alpha Chi Omega.
After the 1949 National Convention, Alpha Chi Omega sent word that Delight Stevens Dodds (Mrs. Paul D.), National Secretary and Extension Chairman, would visit the chapter in October. Great were the preparations and plans for "D" day. When Mrs. Dodds visit was over, the Beta Gamma girls were certain about one thing. The Alpha Chis might refuse the Beta Gamma petition but one Alpha Chi had won the entire sorority. On Monday, November 6 the news came, Beta Gamma would become Gamma Lambda chapter.
On April 1, 1950 forty active and alumnae received the lyre in an initiation carried out with beauty and dignity by actives and alumnae from Alpha Eta, Alpha Omicron and Alpha Sigma chapters.
By the early 1950s the chapter had purchased a small house at 213 University Drive. The chapter grew and prospered. Many sisters received individual awards and recognition for campus leadership and scholastic achievement. Gamma Lambda chapter was also recognized for its achievements on campus.
In 1958 the Gamma Lambda House Corporation purchased a large house at 167 N. Prospect Ave. Thirty members lived in the house and the chapter contined to be successful. However the location of our home, more than a mile from campus and getting further away each year as the campus expanded in the opposite direction, was becoming a problem. Consequently Lot #14 On Fraternity Row was purchased in 1963. By 1967 plans to build a Alpha Chi house on our lot large enough to house 65 women were well underway.
The 1970s brought unrest to the campus and a substantial decrease in the number of young women interested in joining a sorority and the planned house was never built. By 1972 the chapter was very small and the charter was surrended to our National Council in that same year. The Prospect Ave. house and its contents were sold at auction and Gamma Lambda chapter was gone.
In 1973 the Fraternity Row lot was transferred to National Housing and in 1982 the lot was sold by Alpha Chi Omega to Rosenberg Realty. In 1998 the lot was sold to Kent State University and today the building houses the KSU Office of Fund Development. Today all other lots on Fraternity Row are occupied by sororities, Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, and Sigma Sigma Sigma. Sororities located at places other than Fraternity Row include Chi Omega and Alpha Xi Delta.