Exhibit
The Founding of Sigma Kappa
For two years, Mary Caffrey Low remained the only woman in attendance at Colby College. Then, in the fall of 1873, four more young women—Elizabeth Hoag, Ida Fuller, Frances Mann, and Louise Coburn—joined the student body.
The five young women were naturally drawn together by circumstance, if not by temperament. Being the only women on a campus dominated by men, they faced insults, boycotts, and were often denied a share of the most prized college rights. Faced with these challenges, the young women frequently found themselves together and decided to form a literary and social society. After being informed by college administrators that they needed to present a constitution, bylaws, and formal petition to form a group, the women began working on these documents with enthusiasm.
The first name suggested for the new organization was the combination of their surnames to form “Hokolophuman,” but the women decided that a Greek letter name would be more dignified and would draw on the existing tradition of men’s Greek letter societies at the College. From the beginning, the Founders envisioned Sigma Kappa becoming what it is today - a national organization of college women. On November 9, 1874, the women officially received a letter from the faculty approving their petition to form Sigma Kappa.
