Phi Sigma Sigma History

Founding

The founders of Phi Sigma Sigma attended Hunter High School together and went on to Hunter College. The year was 1913 and several of the current NPC sororities were in existence. The HUnter College Panhellenic was established in 1912, just one year before Phi SIgma Sigma was founded.

While in college, Lillian Gordon did not get into the sorority of her choice. She and her older sister Ethel and their friends decided to start their own sorority; one committed to strength in friendship and the act of giving and one that would promote open membership to all women of character regardless of background.

Under the leadership of Fay Chertkoff, the first Archon of Alpha Chapter, the Founders obtained permission and Phi Sigma Sigma ws born November 26, 1913. Phi Sigma Sigma was the first non-sectarian sorority and the only open to diverse membership from its inception.

Expansion

In 1918 a friend of Rose Sher Seidman who attended Tufts College contacted her with an interest in the sorority. Expansion not only became an idea, but a reality. In that year, the Founders installed Beta Chapter at Tufts College in Boston and Gamma Chapter at New York University.

Expansin continued into the 1920's and Phi Sigma Sigma truly became a national sorority when Zeta chapter was installed in 1921 at UCLA. Phi Sigma Sigma's ideals were introduced to the mid-west with the founding of Eta chapter at University of Michigan and Theta chapter at the University of Illinois.

In 1930, Phi sigma Sigma became an international sorority with the founding of Upsilon chapter at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB.

The forties concluded with the installation of three southern chapters in 1946 - Beta Theta at the University of Miami, Beta Iota at Southern Methodist University and Beta Kappa at Florida Southern University.

The Founders of Phi Sigma Sigma

Lillian Gordern Alpern	Josephine Ellison Breakstone	Fay Chertkoff	Estelle Melnick Cole	Jeannette Lipka Furst
Ethel Gordon Kraus	Shirley Cohen Laufer	Claire Wunder McArdle	Rose Sher Seidman	Gwen Zaliels Snyder