Our Sisterhood
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, one of the first non-sectarian, social sororities and the only one founded at a professional school. Five years later on March 17, 1922, Delta Phi Epsilon was formally incorporated under laws of the State of New York.
Minna Goldsmith Mahler, Eva Effron Robin, Ida Bienstock Landau, Sylvia Steierman Cohn and Dorothy Cohen Schwartzman, five young law students saw Delta Phi Epsilon as a society to "Promote good fellowship among the women students among the various colleges in the country…to create a secret society composed of these women based upon their good moral character, regardless of nationality or creed…to have distinct chapters at various colleges..." with the motto Esse Quam Videri: “To be, rather than to seem to be.”
On May 15th, 1995, the 26 Royal Ladies became the Founding Sisters of the Beta Upsilon Chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon, located in Rochester, New York as apart of Rochester Institute of Technology. For almost 30 years the Beta Upsilon has raised sisters of strong character, bringing the ideals of Sisterhood, Justice, and Love to RIT’s campus and fostering a sisterhood of over 500 members and alumnae.