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Iota Phi Chapter History

The original Iota Phi chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota was installed on November 15, 1945 at Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee.  However, shortly before Peabody merged with Vanderbilt University in 1979, the chapter became inactive. In 1981, the Blair School of Music joined Vanderbilt, and in 1999, nearly twenty years after its dissolution from Peabody, the Iota Phi chapter was reinstalled at Blair.

The rigorous process leading to chapter installation at Blair was initiated by Donna Cottrell and Kate Janssen, transfer students from Austin Peay University and Drake University, respectively, where both students had been involved in SAI (the Delta Pi and Pi chapters).  Both sisters had enjoyed their experiences with the fraternity and decided to look into forming a chapter at Blair.  They approached Amy Jarman, a voice professor and SAI legacy, who was eager to join the group as well, having missed the opportunity to pledge during her college years. She agreed to be faculty advisor. In the spring of 1999, an interest meeting was held attracting many enthusiastic women, and thus, the Blair Belles were born.  

In meetings to follow, a charter was organized.  The first musicale was held in April 1998 and another the following October, both which collected canned goods for the Second Harvest Food bank.  Other projects included performing at a local nursing home, participating in the Nashville AIDS walk, and fostering faculty appreciation weeks.  Fund-raisers were held including several bake sales and a car wash.  Finally, the whirlwind pledge period began in late October and before long the Iota Phi chapter was resurrected at Vanderbilt.

Chapter installation was held on December 4, 1999 when 19 women were initiated in a beautiful ceremony led by Shelby McFarlane, National Vice President of Extension and  Fraternity Development.  SAI members from the Iota Beta chapter of Murray State, the Delta Pi chapter of Austin Peay, and the Zeta Omicron chapter of David Lipsomb University assisted in the ceremony and helped throughout the day. Among those in attendance were SAI alumnae, several of which had been members of the original Iota Phi chapter (among them, associate Dean of the Blair School of Music, Jane Kirchner).