Rebecca Shapiro Thesis (11 May 2011).pdf - Brandeis Institutional ...

C. Moskowitz, played basketball for NYU, and when he officially enrolled, he received abid from at least one fraternity. Before he accepted his bid, he asked if his friends wouldbe extended bids as well. When his friends were denied bids, he and his friends decidedto start their own fraternity whose prime purpose was to provide "mutual assistance inour intellectual and social life- to strengthen the democratic character of student life." 80The fraternity grew slowly, but originally suffered from the lack of funds, recognition,house or permanent meeting place. Though the fraternity never stated membershiprestrictions, it was intended as a Jewish fraternity. The fraternity incorporated Jewishvalues into its every fiber, and had Hyman Shulman, the fraternity's Hebraic Scholar drafta ritual that emphasized Jews 'traditions and ideals'. 81 Similarly, a clause was adopted inits constitution stating that all Pledges must read Paul Goodman's History of the Jewsprior to initiation. 82During this time, the Greek system also saw the founding of the first Jewishsororities. The first Jewish sorority was founded in 1903 at New York City's NormalCollege, later known as Hunter College, which served as a teacher training institution. 83Founders Francine Zellermayer, Hannah Finkelstein Swick, Olga Edelstein Ecker, SadieApril Glotzer, Rose Posner Bernstein, Rose Delson Hirschman, and May FinkelsteinSpielgel named their sorority J.A.P pronounced Jay-Ay-Peez. 84 It is hypothesized thatthe derogatory term for Jewish women found its origins in this sorority's name. This islikely incorrect however, as J.A.P stood for "Just a Plain" sorority, and its members were80 George S. Toll, Alpha Epsilon Pi: the First Sixty-five Years, 1913-1978 ([s.l.]: Alpha Epsilon PiFoundation, 1980), 42.81 Toll, 5082 Toll, 7483 Sanua, 8084 Sanua, 8020