| Greek Life |
| Overview |
| In 1934 another basic element of college life came to the school when seven male students organized the XXX club to "bring about closer fellowship among the fellow men of State Teachers College." In February of the following year, the club became K. A. T. (Kappa Alpha Tau), the college's first social fraternity. Kappa Phi Sigma appeared in 1937, changing to Zeta Sigma four years later to become the first affiliate of a national fraternity on campus. By that time, the college had five sororities, two of them with national affiliation. Sigma Theta Kappa was the first local group, organized in November 1935, followed by Mu Omega two years later. The third local group, Gamma Delta Tau, petitioned to join Sigma Sigma Sigma, and in May 1937, became STC's first national sorority. Alpha Sigma Alpha followed shortly thereafter, accepting another local sorority into its national organization. The fifth women's group was a local sorority, Delta Sigma, founded in 1938. |
| During his presidency, Dr. R.C. Cook was committed to making Mississippi Southern College "socially acceptable." In the 1950s, Cook made the expansion of Greek life at MSC a major objective. Cook's secretary, Jane McInnis, had been a member of Chi Omega during her college days at the University of Alabama, and with her help, he lured this prestigious national social sorority to Mississippi Southern in 1949. Kappa Delta came the same year and Phi Mu in 1950. A year later, former Mississippi first lady Corinne Johnson helped organize a Delta Delta Delta chapter, giving the school seven national sororities. Attracting Greekletter organizations for men to Mississippi Southern proved more difficult, according to Cook, because "the national fraternities took a more standoffish look at schools which had formerly been teachers colleges." Several did come, however: Phi Kappa Tau, Kappa Alpha Order and Kappa Sigma in 1948; Alpha Tau Omega and Pi Kappa Alpha the following year; and Sigma Phi Epsilon in 1953. |
| An Interfraternity Council appeared in 1948, and Delta Sigma Epsilon merged with Delta Zeta in 1956. A new sorority, Pi Beta Phi, appeared in 1961, as did another fraternity, Acacia. The pulse of campus life during the sixties also reflected the dynamism of a developing university as the Greek community continued to thrive. Acacia disappeared early in the decade, but two new fraternities emerged: Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1965 and Sigma Nu three years later. In 1971 another sorority, Delta Gamma, appeared, and over the next two decades Sigma Chi (1981), Alpha Delta Pi (1985), Delta Tau Delta (1987), Kappa Alpha Theta (1998) and Pi Kappa Phi (1998) would all be established on campus. |
| Greek social organizations for African-Americans appeared in 1975: two sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta, and one fraternity, Omega Psi Phi. In 1976-77, the arrival of Phi Beta Sigma and two new black fraternities, Kappa Alpha Psi and Alpha Phi Alpha, attested to both the continued vitality and growing diversity of campus Greek life. Within the next eight years, two additional sororities would be added, Sigma Gamma Rho (1978) and Zeta Phi Beta (1984). In 1993, the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) was founded to unify all historically African-American Greek-letter organizations. |
