Iota Alpha Pi () was a North American Jewish college sorority. It was founded in 1903 at the Normal College of the City of New York, now Hunter College, and spread to 28 campuses in the United States and Candada before going inactive in 1971. It was reestablished at Hunter College in 2023, but was suspended by the college a year later.
Iota Alpha Pi was the first national sorority for Jewish women. On March 3, 1903, on the campus of New York City, Normal College (now Hunter College), seven young women created a new sorority which they called the J.A.P. club, or "Jay-ay-peez", focused on religious education and settlement house work. The founders were Hannah (Finkelstein) Swick, Olga (Edelstein) Ecker, Sadie (April) Glotzer, Rose (Posner) Bernstein, Rose (Delson) Hirschman, May (Finkelstein) Spielgel, and Frances (Zellermayer) Delson. Zellermayer was a sister to Zeta Beta Tau founder Maurice Zellermayer.
In 1913, with the new name Iota Alpha Pi, the members began the traditional sorority expansion process. The original organizers grouped themselves as the Alpha chapter, and the succeeding group became the Beta chapter. Early expansion was at other schools in the New York Area, Gamma at the Brooklyn Law School, Delta at NYU Washington Square and Epsilon at the New Jersey Law School The sorority became international in 1929 with the founding of Kappa chapter at University of Toronto, University of Manitoba had a particularly prosperous chapter.
In 1924, a Rotation Scholarship Fund was created, allowing money to be loaned to worthy students by the sorority on the expectation of it being repaid. In 1925, the sorority began creating its own semi-annual bulletin. Iota joined the National Panhellenic Conference as an associate member in November 1953 and became a full member on November 4, 1957. Although many chapters were planned, Iota Alpha Pi could not keep up with its rapidly growing competitors.
Historian Marianne Sanua notes, that Iota Alpha Pi "not for the especially popular, affluent, or snobbish, but just a group of good friends". The American Jewish Yearbook 5692 describes the sorority as Jewish in a positive way".
By 1966, Iota Alpha Pi had granted a total of 23 charters. A report by Wilson Heller indicates that the sorority was strong until 1968. Its national philanthropy was muscular dystrophy. Heller posits that the sorority saw dramatic declines in membership, particularly with the cessation of the "Christians only" clause in non-Jewish organizations. As of June 1, 1967, a National Panhellenic Conference report indicated that Iota Alpha Pi had eleven chapters, eight alumnae groups, and 5,802 sisters and thirteen chapters, eight alumnae groups, and 6,204 members as of June 1, 1969.
In 1969, Iota Alpha Pi established new chapters at the University of Maryland College Park and Hunter College Park Avenue. In July 1971, the international headquarters voted to disband Iota Alpha Pi. Two chapters went on to affiliate with other national sororities. The Beta Alpha chapter at Penn State joined Alpha Epsilon Phi, while the Upsilon chapter at Rider University eventually affiliated with Delta Phi Epsilon.
As of 2008, some alumnae continue to hold reunions and other events. However, no formal organization exists to coordinate these gatherings. In October 2023, Barbara Cardarelli and Cheyanne Weiner re-established Iota Alpha Pi's Alpha chapter at Hunter College with the support of alumnae from multiple chapters.
The original name of the sorority was J.A.P. Their bi-annual publication was The J.A.P. Bulletin. With the name change to Iota Alpha Pi, the magazine was renamed The Heights.
The first official badge was a scarlet horizontal diamond surrounded by seed pearls, with the Greek letters "" in gold. Above the "", in gold, was a skull and crossbones. Later versions of the badge included two full-blown roses at the points of the diamond.
Iota Alpha Pi's colors were red and black. As of 1931, the sorority used in " a diamond of scarlet surrounded by jewels" where a crest would otherwise be used. Its flower was a red rose; each new member is given a rose at the end of the installation ceremony.
Chapters of Iota Alpha Pi include the following, with active chapters indicated in bold and inactive chapters and institutions are in italics.
Conventions include: