On March 17, 1917, five women at New York University Law School took a pledge of sisterhood and loyalty and so founded the Alpha Chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon, the first non-sectarian, social sorority and the only one founded at a professional school.

Five years later on March 17, 1922, Delta Phi Epsilon was formally incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. On December 5, 1922, stretching out to international boundaries, the first Canadian chapter was installed at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

Each year on March 17, members and alumnae celebrate Founder's Day, honoring our five founders:

Dorothy Cohen Schwartzman

Ida Bienstock Landau

Minna Goldsmith Mahler

Eve Effron Robin

Sylvia Steirman Cohn

as the women to whom each chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon is directly indebted for the establishment of our sisterhood. We honor them for the fine ideals and purposed which inspired them. Over three quarters of a cenury after Delta Phi Epsilon began, there are women who still embrace the beliefs of our founders by sharing sisterhood in their hearts and lives.

"Esse Quam Videri"
To Be Rather Than To Seem To Be

Before the Beta Rho Chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon was invited to be a colony, it was known as the local sorority Sigma Phi Alpha.

Sigma Phi Alpha Sorority was founded in 1967 with twenty-three founding sisters. It is the oldest sorority at the University of Illinois at Chicago. As of June 1992, when Sigma Phi Alpha was invited to become a colony of Delta Phi Epsilon International Sorority, there have been a total of 255 women to successfully pledge Sigma Phi Alpha, making the offical roster 278 sisters.

Sigma Phi Alpha started out as a group of women who hung out with a group of men. The men formed the fraternity called Sigma Phi Omega, and the women started the sorority Sigma Phi Alpha. The fraternity eventually became the national fraternity, Zeta Psi, and of course, Sigma Phi Alpha became Delta Phi Epsilon.

Sigma Phi Alpha's colors were pink and gray, and the mascot was the pink panther. The officers of the sorority were President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Co-corresponging Secretaries, and the Recording Secretary. The Chairwomen were Pledge mothers, Traditions, Social, Athletics, Scholastic, Constitution, Alumni and Initiation.

The sorority advisor was Patricia Adkins Barrett.

The Founding Sisters of the Delta Phi Epsilon, Beta Rho Colony are: