The Delta Sigma Chapter of the national Delta Delta Delta sorority came to UT in 1923 when the members of the local sorority Alpha Lambda successfully petitioned for a charter. The charter was granted July 13, and Tennessee’s Delta Sigma chapter was installed in October. Tri Delta was founded at Boston University on Thanksgiving Eve in 1888 by four members of the class of 1889. The badge of initiated members, both collegiate and alumnae, consists of three stars, crown set with pearls within a plain gold Roman crescent of 300 degrees, and bearing three deltas in black enamel. The jewel is the pearl; the flower is the pansy; the colors of the fraternity are silver, gold and cerulean blue, with green also being significant since it represents the union of the three colors. Other important symbols are the pine tree and the dolphin. The motto of Tri Delta (expressed in Greek) is “Let us steadfastly love one another.” The patron Greek divinity of Tri Delta is Poseidon.
In 1984 Tri Delta initiated the annual Trideltathon as a fundraiser for Camp Eagles’ Nest, a summer camp for children with cancer and blood disorders sponsored by the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. In 1999 Tri Delta joined with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital to form a partnership through which St. Jude assists Tri Delta chapters to plan and host successful philanthropy events that benefit the children and research at St. Jude. Tri Delta annually sponsors a golf tournament to raise funds for St. Jude’s Hospital.
Tri Delta initiated the building of individual sorority houses when the Panhellenic Building became entirely inadequate by formally requesting that UT provide land for a residential chapter house. The end result was Sorority Village. The architectural firm for the $5,085,000 Tri Delta house in Sorority Village was Barber McMurry, and the contractor was Johnson and Galyon.
Among distinguished alumnae of the national organization are Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; Dixie Carter; Anne Rivers Siddons; USAF Brigadier General Maria Cribbs Owens; Katie Couric; and Lee Phillips Bell, cocreator of the soap operas The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.