History of Greek Life at Longwood
Since fraternities are inseparably linked to education it would not be possible to convey our Greek history without first talking about our institutions history. Longwood’s history started when a newspaper, three silver coins, a copy of the New Testament and a Masonic emblem were placed in the cornerstone of the first building, in 1839. Today that rebuilt building is called the Rotunda. Unfortunately outbreak of hostilities between the northern and southern states resulted in war which hindered both development plans and hopes. Prior to the civil war, very few colleges were open to women and the classes they were allowed to take were English literature, French, drama, music and art.
After some years of altercations a few miles west of Farmville, in Appomattox, the peace negotiations began, which ended the conflict when General Robert. E Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, giving Farmville a significant historical meaning.
With the Civil War coming to an end, universities started becoming tolerant of women being on their campuses. Nevertheless, in the late 1800’s higher education for women was still a debatable subject. Few were brave enough to bare the social stigma associated with becoming a teacher. Even if they decided to attend a university, the curriculums offered to them were restricted. In addition to this, very little thought, if any, was given to the girls social or physical welfare, it was a man’s world. Hence female fraternities were born, in the beginning these organizations were the only means where a social program for women could be established. In fact, they were founded to satisfy all those needs of the women enrolled, which the young growing universities and colleges had very little concern about.
The State Female Normal School was the exception to the rule. In March 1884, Dr. Curry drafted a revolutionary bill for its time providing for a Normal School expressly for the training of white female teachers for public schools; the first session enrolled 110 students.
As a result of the Civil War there was a lack of male teachers that could provide education for the upcoming generations. With this, a new type of woman began to emerge; products of the post-Civil war economic hardships they were not content to be mere observers of the rebuilding of the South. They reached out to become contributors, most of them as dedicated teachers. This necessity for educated women in addition to having a tailored environment for strong willed entrepreneur females was the perfect environment to result in four national Greek organizations to be founded and successfully expand throughout the United States.
Our Greek history started on October 23, 1887 with the founding of Kappa Delta, then came Sigma Sigma Sigma April 20, 1898, Zeta Tau Alpha followed on October 15, 1898, and last was Alpha Sigma Alpha November 15, 1901.
The faculty and staff of the university welcomed the new organizations by immediately recognizing them, and giving them permission to utilize university grounds to conduct secret meetings and rituals. The way in which they publicly announced themselves to the university and community was always though the Virginia Normal State year book. A page was devoted to each organization where the name, founding date, current members’ names and pictures, song, motto, badge and coat of arms were presented.
Today Longwood University has three different governing councils: College Panhellenic Council (CPC), Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC), and the Longwood National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) which all together house twenty Greek organizations. The goal of social fraternities and sororities is to promote scholarship, philanthropy, brother/sisterhood and social activities. Each of the Inter/National fraternity/sorority organizations provides opportunities for their members to receive scholarship and grants. These are based on academic merit and chapter leadership. In addition each organization has a national or local philanthropy they sponsor, ranging from Breast Cancer to Play Therapy for Terminally Ill Children. There are many events that our governing councils schedule to socialize in proactive non-alcoholic ways such as intramural sports, movie nights, and co-sponsoring activities on campus with other student organizations.