Kappa Kappa Gamma

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Kappa Kappa Gamma (ΚΚΓ)
Founded	October 13, 1870 (1870-10-13) (138 years ago) Monmouth College, (Monmouth, Illinois) 39°57′39.10″N 82°59′9.10″W / 39.9608611°N 82.9858611°W / 39.9608611; -82.9858611Coordinates: 39°57′39.10″N 82°59′9.10″W / 39.9608611°N 82.9858611°W / 39.9608611; -82.9858611
Type	Social
Scope	International
Colors	dark blue and light blue
Symbol	Key, Fleur-de-Lis, Owl
Flower	Fleur-de-Lis
Jewel	Sapphire
Publication	The Key
Philanthropy	Reading Is Fundamental
Chapters	136
Members	230,000+ collegiate
Headquarters	530 East Town Street P.O. Box 38 Columbus, Ohio, USA
Homepage	http://www.kappa.org/

Kappa Kappa Gamma (ΚΚΓ) is a college women's fraternity, founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois. Although the groundwork of the organization was developed as early as 1869, the 1876 Convention voted on October 13, 1870 as Founders Day, because no earlier charter date could be determined. This makes Kappa Kappa Gamma one of the older Greek-letter societies still in existence today.

Kappa Kappa Gamma is one of the largest fraternities for women in America. Currently, there are chapters in both the United States and Canada. The most recent chapter brought the total number of Kappa Kappa Gamma chapters at higher learning institutions to 135 with the 136th to be installed in April 2009. There are also 300+ alumnae associations around the world. Since its founding in 1870, more than 230,000 members have been initiated into Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Kappa Kappa Gamma is a women's fraternity, because it was founded before the term 'sorority' came into use. However, because it admits only women, it is usually referred to as a sorority. Kappa Kappa Gamma is also referred to as "KKG" and "Kappa."

Contents 1 History 2 Symbols 3 Mission statement 4 Motto 5 Preamble 6 Controversies 6.1 Hazing 6.2 Bruce Ivins 7 Kappa timeline 8 Notable Kappas 9 References 10 External links

[edit] History

Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded October 13, 1870, at Monmouth College, Illinois. The founding members of Kappa Kappa Gamma were Hannah Jeannette Boyd, Mary Moore Stewart (Nelson, Field), Anna Elizabeth Willits (Pattee), Mary Louise Bennett (Boyd), Martha Louisa Stevenson (Miller), Susan Burley Walker (Vincent). As collegians at Monmouth College, they were determined to form a Greek letter organization for women. Founders Minnie Stewart, Jeannette Boyd, and Louise Bennett first met around 1869-1870 in the Amateurs des Belles Lettres Hall, a literary society of which the women were active members when they first decided to form a new society.^[1] They determined that nothing short of a Greek letter fraternity, equal to men’s fraternities, would satisfy them. Since chapel exercises were required for all students, the founding members announced the formation of the new group by wearing golden keys in their hair to the Chapel service on October, 13, 1870; hanging back so that they would have to sit in front after the other students were seated

Kappa has a total membership of more than 1,230,000 women, with 135 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada and more than 300 alumnae associations worldwide. Kappa promotes, through its standards, a broad college experience. Scholarship or intellectual development is its first priority, and the impressive achievements of the members can attest to this. In Kappa, scholarship programs provide an atmosphere for academic accomplishment emphasizing that each member attain her personal academic best. Kappa Kappa Gamma at its core is friendship, leadership, and scholarship. It is an opportunity and experience for a lifetime.

[edit] Symbols

The membership badge is represented by the Golden Key.

The key was adopted as the sorority's symbol at its founding. The original keys were larger than the modern key. The current badge is a one-inch gold key, sometimes jeweled. On the front of the key are the Greek letters ΚΚΓ (on the stem) and ΑΩΟ (on the ward). The badge is worn strictly as an emblem of membership and only by initiated members.

New Members of Kappa Kappa Gamma wear a different badge, a Sigma within a Delta enameled on silver in the two colors of the Fraternity, dark blue and light blue. The new member pin is only worn during the new member period, after which it is returned to the chapter.

The owl is the official mascot of Kappa Kappa Gamma. As the official flower, the Iris, or fleur-de-lis combines the fraternity's colors of dark blue and light blue.

The fraternity jewel is the sapphire. The colors of the Fraternity are light blue and dark blue. The sapphire is recognized as a symbol of truth, sincerity and constancy. The fraternity Coat-of-Arms combines all the elements of Kappa Kappa Gamma: the key, the Greek letters, the new-member pin, the fleur-de-lis, the owl and the two blues.

[edit] Mission statement

Kappa Kappa Gamma is an organization of women which seeks for every member throughout her life bonds of friendship, mutual support, opportunities for self growth, respect for intellectual development, and an understanding of and allegiance to positive ethical principles.

[edit] Motto

Kappa Kappa Gamma does not have a formal open motto. However, the fraternity uses "Tradition of Leadership" as a tagline on and in many fraternity publications.

[edit] Preamble

We, believing a closer union in the bonds of friendship to be for our mutual benefit, appreciating the advantages to be derived from a secret fraternity, and feeling that in union there is strength, hereby form ourselves into an association for the development of nobler qualities of the mind and finer feelings of the heart, and for mutual helpfulness in the attainment of individual and social excellence. (The Preamble remains much as it was written in 1892.)

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Hazing

In 1997 the television show 20/20 featured an expose on hazing in the sorority system^[2] that included a hazing by three members of Kappa Kappa Gamma at DePauw University, as well as an incident of hazing at Delta Sigma Theta and a local sorority Lambda Delta Sigma at Concordia College. The three members of Kappa Kappa Gamma, on November 6, 1997, were accused of branding 3 pledges^[3] with cigarettes in a family ritual after a night of heavy drinking. After being burned the pledges were encouraged to streak across campus and to grovel for cigarettes at a fraternity house.^[4] The result was severe enough to send one of the pledges to the hospital with minor burn injuries.^[5]

The discovery of the incident caused investigations by the sorority and campus to be launched. The members who were involved with the ritual were not charged by the state of Indiana with criminal recklessness under the hazing statute, as had been reported.^[4] They did however face a possible trial for alcohol possession but due to difficulty proving who provided the alcohol the members were given community service instead.^[4] DePauw's reaction to the hazing for the chapter was to put the chapter on social probation until Fall 1999 and cut its pledge class in half for two years. The thirteen members who had been either been involved with the ritual or had known about it were given one-semester suspensions and social probation for their participation, and were voted by their chapter to retain membership within the chapter.^[4] In early 2009, Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, placed the local chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma on probation for a reported hazing incident. They are on probation until Fall Semester. Hazing is officially prohibited by Kappa Kappa Gamma.

[edit] Bruce Ivins

Bruce Ivins, the senior bio-defense researcher at United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) who is widely recognized as the "sole perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax attacks,"^[6] reportedly had a "long and strange obsession" with Kappa Kappa Gamma, as well as with other fraternities such as Chi Omega.^[7][8] The letters containing anthrax spores (which eventually killed 5 people and injured dozens more) were mailed from a drop box approximately 300 feet from a KKG storage facility at Princeton University,^[9] and only 60 feet from the KKG office.^[10]

Additionally, Ivins was noted for repeated editing of Kappa Kappa Gamma's Wikipedia article, unsuccessfully attempting to include derogatory information (under the Wikipedia username Jimmyflathead). (It deserves mention that on several occasions, he also contributed verifiable information and clarity to this article.) ^{[8][11][12][13]}

[edit] Kappa timeline

• In 1881 Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first women's fraternity to publish a quarterly magazine – The Key.
• In 1891 Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first to call a meeting of all the other women's fraternities – thus the precursor to the National Panhellenic Conference.
• In 1942 Kappa was the first women’s fraternity to set up Service Women’s Centers during World War II.
• In 1952 Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first to purchase a Headquarters building, and base their operations permanently in Columbus, Ohio.
• In 1965, University of Pittsburgh Kappas were the first to share a house with another sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta.
• In 1980 The Heritage Museum was established, and Kappa became the first fraternity to own a Museum.
• In 1989 The Minnie Stewart Foundation purchased the Stewart family home, which was then merged into the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation in 2000.
• Kappa is the only women’s Fraternity to own the home of a Founder AND operate two historic house museums.
• In 2000 Kappa Kappa Gamma launched Pathways – Kappa’s Continuous Education Experience, leading men’s and women’s fraternities into new frontiers of education and training.
• In 2002 Kappa Kappa Gamma released The Voyage of Discovery, a virtual tour through women’s history.
• In 2004 The Leadership Academy began offering undergraduate and alumna members intensive leadership development in a beautiful outdoor setting. Programming for the Leadership Academy has been developed in partnership with The Tompeters! Company and Bradford Woods, an outdoor education facility in Indiana.

[edit] Notable Kappas

Notable members are listed by name, and chapter.

Entertainment

• Amaya Brecher (Gamma Xi) - Actress/television personality, radio host (The Real World: Hawaii)^[14]
• Sophia Bush(Delta Tau) - Actress, plays Brooke Davis on One Tree Hill^[15]
• Gretchen Carlson (Beta Eta) (Delta) - Miss America, 1989^[16]
• Dixie Carter (Delta Rho) - President of TNA Entertainment^[17]
• Barbara Feldon (Delta Xi) - Actress, (Get Smart)^[16]
• Jane Froman (Theta) - Singer, subject of the film With a Song in My Heart^[16]
• Kate Jackson (Delta Rho) - Actress, (Charlie's Angels)^[16]
• Ashley Judd (Beta Chi) - Actress, (A Time to Kill, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy)^[18]
• Nancy Olson Livingston (Eta) - Stage and screen star; (Sunset Boulevard)^[16]
• Jo Ann Pflug (Delta Kappa) - Actress, (M*A*S*H)^[16]
• Casey Reinhardt (Eta Beta) - Actress/television personality, model (Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County)^[19]

Government

• Jane Swift (Zeta Theta) - First female governor of Massachusetts^[16]
• Kirsten Gillibrand (Epsilon Chi) - Former U.S. Representative, selected by Governor David Paterson to replace Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate^[20]
• Beverly Perdue (Beta Chi) - First female governor of North Carolina^[16]

Literature

• Ann Bannon (Beta Lambda) - Lesbian pulp fiction author^[21]
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher (Beta Nu) - Author and philanthropist^[16]
• Neta Lohnes Frazier (Gamma Gamma) - Children's author^[16]
• Phyllis McGinley (Delta Eta) - Pulitzer winning poet^[18]
• Alice Duer Miller (Beta Epsilon) - Author & poet; wrote many columns on the Women's suffrage movement for the New York Tribune^[16]

Science

• Edith Clarke (Eta) - First woman to earn electrical engineering degree (M.S., 1919) from MIT; first women elected fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers^[22][23]
• Mareta West (Beta Theta) - First female astrogeologist; determined the crucial site for the first landing on the moon^[16]

Sports

• Patty Berg (Chi) - Golf champion^[24]
• Jane Blalock (Delta Epsilon) - Golf champion^[16]
• Doris Hart (Delta Kappa) - Third Kappa to win U.S. Women's Open Championship Tennis^[16]
• Helen Wills Roarke (Pi)^(Deuteron) - Tennis champion^[16]
• Betty Robinson Schwartz (Upsilon) - Olympic gold medalist, 1928; member of the Track & Field Hall of Fame^[16]
• Hollis Stacy (Delta Epsilon) - Winner of 1978 Women's Open Golf Tournament^[16]
• Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman (Pi)^(Deuteron) - Tennis champion; founder of Wightman Tennis matches^[16]

Media

• Erin Moriarty (Beta Nu) - CBS News; correspondent for 48 Hours^[16]
• Nancy O'Dell (Epsilon Mu) - Co-Anchor of Access Hollywood^[16]
• Jane Pauley (Delta) - Former anchorwoman for "Today Show," NBC^[18]
• Jann Carl Sears (Theta) - Anchor for Entertainment Tonight^[16]

Miscellaneous

• Margaret Hillis (Delta) - Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Choir^[16]
• Lou Henry Hoover (Beta Eta) - First Lady and wife of Herbert Hoover^[25]
• Julia Ward Howe (Phi, Honorary Member) - Lecturer & reformer; author of Battle Hymn of the Republic^[16]
• Kate Shelley (Omicron) - Heroine; saved many lives from near train disaster in 1881^[16]
• Kate Spade (Omega) - Fashion Designer; co-founder of "Kate Spade brands"^[18]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kappa Kappa Gamma Website
• Chapter Websites of Kappa Kappa Gamma
• Association Websites of Kappa Kappa Gamma

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