A. H. L.

A. H. L. was a local sorority established at Dickinson College in 1893. The only information about the group appears in the 1894 Microcosm, shown at left, though no explanation or description of its functions is given. The group is not mentioned in any subsequent yearbooks.

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Alpha Delta Epsilon

Alpha Delta Epsilon, a local sorority, was founded at Dickinson College in 1967. Members of the Gamma Chapter of the Phi Mu sorority formed the nucleus of this new group, which remained active until 1980.

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Alpha Gamma

Alpha Gamma, a local recognition fraternity, was founded at Dickinson College in 1928. It promoted cooperation among journalistic organizations. In 1948, the national honorary society Pi Delta Epsilon succeeded both Alpha Gamma and the College's second journalism fraternity, Alpha Sigma Gamma.

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Alpha Gamma Psi

Alpha Gamma Psi was a local sorority founded at Dickinson College in 1917. The organization was the forerunner of the Gamma Chapter of the Phi Mu sorority founded in 1919.

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Alpha Phi Omega

The Alpha Gamma Alpha Chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega international service fraternity was established at Dickinson College in April 1989. The group promotes "leadership, friendship, and service" among its members and within the community.

Alpha Psi Omega

A chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, a national honorary society recognizing the talents and abilities of men and women in the field of drama, was established at Dickinson College in 1949. Alpha Psi Omega replaced Tau Delta Pi, a local honorary society that had been founded in 1922. The society remained active at Dickinson for nearly forty years before phasing out of existence in 1987.

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Alpha Sigma Gamma

A local honorary society recognizing outstanding work in publications and journalism, Alpha Sigma Gamma was founded at Dickinson College in 1932. In 1948, the national honorary society Pi Delta Epsilon succeeded both Alpha Sigma Gamma and Alpha Gamma, a local journalism fraternity established in 1928.

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Alpha Zeta Phi

Alpha Zeta Phi was a local fraternity established at Dickinson College in 1890. The chapter itself dissolved in 1895, though the members of the fraternity provided the nucleus of the revival of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity in that same year.

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Buchanan Club

The Buchanan Club, a local fraternity, was founded at Dickinson College in February 1927. Bearing the name of President James Buchanan, Class of 1809, it adopted the Beta Psi designation in 1929, but disbanded two years later.

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Chi Omega

The Delta Chapter of the Chi Omega sorority was established at Dickinson College in 1907. It was organized from Omega Psi, a local sorority that had been founded eight years earlier. The chapter was active until 1971.

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Chi Phi

The Omega Chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity was established at Dickinson College in 1869. It was the first Greek organization in College history to enter the campus in the open, without fear of faculty disturbance. The chapter was active until 1893.

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Commons Club

The Commons Club was founded March 12, 1924 and was intended to provide non-fraternity men at the College social contacts and privileges such as their Greek classmates enjoyed. Forty-three members were enrolled during the first term and quarters were found in the section of Old East that the S.A.E. fraternity had recently vacated for their own house. Professor J. Fred Mohler was the club's first faculty advisor and served till his death in 1930.

Early provisions were made to ensure that the group would never evolve into a Greek fraternity and the stated aims of the new group pointed out some of the unresolved and underlying issues evident on the campus at the time concerning social life. These goals were to promote unity and co-operation with all students and faculty, to vitalize the campus with "a true spirit of democracy," to ensure an equal opportunity for all male undergraduates, and to build loyalty to the College above any other organization. It took as its motto "Dickinson for Aye."

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Contemporary Club

Founded "with the object of keeping its members up to the 'times' in college life for mutual help and advancement," the Contemporary Club was a local fraternity established at Dickinson College in 1907. The club was founded around a debating program, and its members eventually formed the nucleus of the Pi Chapter of the Theta Chi fraternity, which was created in 1916.

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D. A. L.

Organized as a society for independent women, D A L was a local sorority established at Dickinson College in 1924. The group was only active for one year, but was followed by two other groups, Wilohea and Delta Sigma, which had approximately the same membership. Like D A L, the two succeeding organizations each only existed for one year, Wilohea in 1925-26, and Delta Sigma in 1926-27.

Organization Type

Delta Chi

The Dickinson Chapter of the Delta Chi fraternity was founded in 1893. Though the original chapter at Cornell University eventually extended membership to other departments (it had earlier reserved membership exclusively for law students), the Dickinson Chapter remained substantially a law school fraternity until it dissolved in 1933.

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Delta Delta Delta

The Gamma Epsilon Chapter of the Delta Delta Delta sorority was established at Dickinson College in 1986.

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Delta Nu

The local sorority of Delta Nu was established at Dickinson College in the fall of 1972.

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Delta Sigma Phi

The Theta Lambda Chapter of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity was established at Dickinson College in 1996.

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Eta Sigma Phi

Eta Sigma Phi is the national honor society for students of Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies. The society was founded in 1914 at the University of Chicago under the name Phi Sigma, and became a national society in 1924 under its current name.

The Dickinson College chapter was founded in April 1964.

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Gamma Phi Beta

The Delta Rho Chapter of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority was founded at Dickinson College in May 1980. An organization that strove "for the highest type of womanhood," the chapter dissolved in 1986.

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Gamma Zeta

Gamma Zeta, a local sorority, was founded in 1896. The group appears only once in Dickinson College records, with a photograph of its members (as shown) and a list of their names in the 1897 Microcosm.

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Hall of Fame

The Sports Hall of Fame at Dickinson was established in 1969 to recognise those athletes who the College considered to have personified the moral virtue that Dickinson College expected from their students both on the athletic field and in the classroom. The formal committee called to lay down the guidelines for selection and recognition were named on January 10, 1969. They were Athletic Director David B. Eavenson, Professors Joseph G. DuCharme, Donald R. Seibert, and Wilbur J. Gobrecht, together with Mr. Vincent J. Schafmeister, Jr., and Mr. Edward F. Luckenbaugh, Jr.

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Harman Literary Society

The Harman Literary Society was founded on October 21, 1896.  The original fifteen members gathered in the parlor of Lloyd Hall to formulate a constitution and decide upon a name. Someone suggested, perhaps facetiously, that they name their organization after Professor Henry Harman, a member of the Class of 1848 and a staunch opponent of coeducation, particularly at Dickinson. The suggestion met with approval, and several members duly approached the retired professor about naming their society after him. While he might not have approved of women at Dickinson, much less their founding of an intellectual organization, Harman good-naturedly did permit the use of his name for the society. Thus on November 12, 1896, the constitution was adopted and the Harman Literary Society became an official organization on campus.

W. A. Hutchison Literary Society

Established in 1913, this literary society of the Dickinson Preparatory School was named in honor of William Albert Hutchison, class of 1892 and headmaster of the School from 1904 to 1917. The society was active for only one year, and no other information regarding it is available.

Independent Women

Independent Women, a local organization established at Dickinson College in 1946, consisted of female students who wished to remain unaffiliated with Greek-letter sororities.

The group, which some also referred to as the "Indevians," became less active during the 1950s. It finally disbanded in 1955, only to reactivate the next year under the name Sui Generis.

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