Our History
National
History Of Omega Phi Alpha
In
1953, a group of men in Zeta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega National
Service Fraternity, decided they needed another organization to help them
with projects on campus and in the city of Bowling Green, Ohio. These men
met with the deans of the various departments of the university to decide
whether there should be another service fraternity at Bowling Green State
University. A meeting was held to see if any interest existed, and many
women attended. Realizing a change was needed for more varied projects,
plans were made to organize a women's service sorority.
Since
the objectives of the two organizations were to be the same -- service,
leadership and friendship -- a similar name was chosen: Omega Phi Alpha.
Membership was open to university women who had been Girl Scouts or Camp
Fire Girls. This rule changed in 1958.
At
First, many people were interested in the sorority's activities. In 1958,
Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti wrote to Bowling Green State
University about how to form an Omega Phi Alpha chapter. The material was
sent to Michigan, and that group held its first meeting on April 22, 1958
at 4 P.M. in McKenny Hall on the EMU campus. The women of Eastern
Michigan's new OPA chapter conducted several service and fund-raising
activities. They took their first pledge class the following fall.
Communication began between the two groups about the possibility of
becoming a national organization, but the concept did not yet materialize.
In
late 1962, a group of women at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut
communicated with the group in Ypsilanti about becoming an Omega Phi Alpha
chapter. The Bridgeport and Ypsilanti groups continued communication, with
the women in Ypsilanti acting as big sisters to the women in Bridgeport
for an induction ceremony. The new group was designated Beta Chapter of
Omega Phi Alpha. The Ypsilanti group called itself Alpha Chapter.
At
Bowling Green, a lack of common ground in the requested projects and
background of the members led to a great decline in the chapter. But in
September 1964, a few remaining members, Carole Close, Bonnie Widder,
Maureen Weldon, Joan DeMuth, and others decided there was still a need for
OPA at Bowling Green State University. They met with Dr. Jacqueline E.
Timm, the original advisor, to see what could be done to reorganize. In
order to obtain active membership, they decided to pledge any interested
women in good standing with the university.
The
response was tremendous. The fall 1964 pledge class had 105 women.
Sixty-seven gained active status. Officers from the prior group remained
in office to give the new members an opportunity to become acquainted with
the organization.
In
Spring 1966, Bowling Green State University's dean of women, Fayetta
Paulsen, notified the chapter that a letter was received from the Omega
Phi Alpha chapter at Ypsilanti. The letter said the Michigan chapter had
combined with the Connectitcut chapter and were now a national sorority.
They wanted Bowling Green to affiliate with them. Bowling Green's chapter
president, Pam Gabalac, immediately contacted the chapter's legal advisor
and discovered that the chapters in Ypsilanti and Bridgeport were not
legally registered as a national sorority. As a result, Omega Phi Alpha in
Bowling Green registered its information first. Bowling Green asked the
other chapters to affiliate.
Thirteen months of hard work and organization began. A national organizing
convention was scheduled at Bowling Green in June 1967. At the convention,
the three groups discussed ideas and found the compromises that led to the
formation of Omegea Phi Alpha National Service Sorority. They decided that
the Bowling Green group would be Alpha Chapter, since it had been in
existence the longest and had first filed the proper papers to register
the Omega Phi Alpha name nationally. Bridgeport retained the name of Beta
Chapter. Ypsilanti became Gamma Chapter.
The
consolidation of the three groups was finalized on June 15, 1967, and the
dream of many years became a reality.
Alpha, Beta, and Gamma chapters continued for
several years as a national service sorority until women at Texas A&M
University formed Delta Chapter in 1970. A concerted expansion effort was
made and since 1973.
