Independent Women

In her essay "Women at Dickinson College," Josephine Brunyate Meredith has a section in which she discussed "Women's Fraternities" (now referred to as sororities) at Dickinson College. Meredith explained that "We have never had such good spirit existing between the Fraternities as exists at present. Pan-Hellenic rules and rushing methods, the result of years of hard work and experiment are now fairly satisfactory to everybody." Pleased with the women's work, Meredith argued that the college must provide better housing for the female fraternities as they do for the male fraternities.

Independent Women was a group of women unaffiliated with any women's social fraternity. Included in the 1948 student handbook is a description of the organization as well as a their location on campus.  Patricia Beetlestone served as President; Estelle Bernard as Vice-president; June Lovell as secretary and Jennie Baner as Treasurer. 50 women were affiliated with Independent Women during the 1948-49 academic year.

According to "Inside Information" a guidebook for women published by the Dean of Women's office, there were four national sororities on campus, Phi Mu, Pi Beta Phi, Chi Omega, and Zeta Tau Alpha as well as a group known as the Independent Women. The Independent Women was a social group of women that chose not to participate in the greek system.