Members of Sigma Gamma Rho L-R, Khalilah A. Shabazz, International Grand Anti-Grammateus (Secretary), Rasheeda S. Liberty, International Grand Basileus (President) and Karin Sarratt,
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Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Celebrates its Centennial Anniversary By Mark Apple Throughout 2022, Butler University is honoring Sigma Gamma Rho (SGRho) sorority on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. The historically Black sorority was founded on Butler’s campus by seven educators on November 12, 1922. Of the nation’s four historically Black sororities, Sigma Gamma Rho is the only one that was founded at a predominantly white institution. Butler honored SGRho February 16, when President James Danko presented the inaugural Ovid Butler Founder’s Award to SGRho. Rasheeda Liberty, Grand Basileus of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., accepted the award on behalf of the sorority. Molly Ford, Vice President of Employee Brand & Recruitment Marketing at Salesforce and a member of SGRho, delivered the Founder’s Celebration Keynote Address during the
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ceremony. The Ovid Butler Founder’s Award—which recognizes and celebrates individuals or organizations who embody Butler University’s values of innovation, excellence, diversity, equity, and inclusion—is named for the University’s founder, a well-known attorney and newspaper publisher of his time, and an active supporter of the antislavery movement. In 1855, Ovid founded North Western Christian University (renamed Butler University in his honor) on the values of diversity, inclusivity, and equality. The University admitted women and people of color on an equal basis with white males, a radical stance for the time. “I imagine that Ovid would have taken great pride in knowing that, nearly 70 years after its founding, Butler University provided the inclusive and nurturing environment that inspired seven incredibly brave Black women to found a sorority,” President Danko said.
