Founded in 1897, the sisterhood of Alpha Omicron Pi was created on true bonds of genuine and resilient friendships. One of AOII’s founders, Stella George Stern Perry, wrote, “We wanted a fraternity that should carry on the delightful fellowships and cooperation of college days into the workaday years ahead and to do so magnanimously. Above all, we wanted a high and active special purpose to justify existence and a simple devotion to some worthy end.”

Alpha Omicron Pi was founded at Barnard College--the first separate college for women to be affiliated with a men’s university. AOII’s four founders’ graduated with the class of 1898 and were described as being friendly, adventurous, and enthusiastically devoted to each other.

Determined to make a democratic, unostentatious society, the four women, Stella George Stern Perry, Helen St. Clair, Elizabeth Heywood Wyman, and Jessie Wallace Hughan wanted to create a genuine sisterhood that they knew they wouldn’t find in any other existing sorority.

The friends were true AOII women through and through; they were completely accepting of each other’s differences and created a sisterhood that strived upon empathy, academics, and service. Of the founders, Stella was Jewish, Helen was Episcopalian, Elizabeth was Protestant, and Jessie was Quaker, making it an unprecedented, unbiased and diverse sisterhood, especially for its time.

A large part of the founding of AOII was due to the fact that the already existing women’s fraternities would not accept Stella into their sisterhood, simply because she was Jewish. Therefore, in their faithfulness to Stella, the friends decided to go against societal expectation, and create their very own society that would not discriminate, and would exceed every expectation. Membership would be offered regardless of ethnicity, religion, or socio-economic backgrounds. Because of this, any woman could feel welcomed and loved within the sisterhood.

The four steadfast friends climbed the stairs in a small gallery of the old Columbia College Library, which led to an old, seldom used room. Amid Gothic windows with sunlight streaming through the windows and snow lightly drifting outside, the four pledged to each other, forever keeping the promises of love and faithfulness in mind.

Barnard College welcomed the new fraternity and it was not long before the first chapter, Alpha, was flourishing.

“May you have the joy in it all, dear children, that we (founders) have had all the way! May you love one another as happily always as we four have done in a life-long fellowship without a break! And may your descendants in Alpha Omicron Pi bring to you the glory that you yourselves are to us today!”

Over the next 100 plus years, AOII has added to hundreds of chapters to its international presence, become one of the most prominent Panhellenic organizations not only around the country but around the world.

AOII has thrived and continued to grow throughout the changing 20th century by basing itself on this commitment to the sisterhood; a commitment that our founders made to one another back in 1897 to love one another and stand up for their differences. Despite several wars, economic recessions, the women’s suffrage movement and the ever changing social aspects of our society, AOII has continued to hold true to these ideals. Today, Alpha Omicron Pi is the main sponsor of its philanthropy, The Arthritis Foundation, responsible for 80% of the foundation's funding and donations- making it the premier catalyst for arthritis research.

Stella once wrote, “That which makes our bond is a promise certain of success. Let us follow our ensign devotedly, utterly and bravely. For our purpose cannot fail.”

It is through our past that Alpha Omicron Pi is able to swiftly move into the present, further implementing our founder’s principles, traditions, and values in order to create a more perfect world and an exceptional society of distinguished and timeless women.” With these words, AOII women strive to use their great talents and passions to meet the world's great need, forever memorializing the wishes of our founders so long ago.