Alpha Omicron Pi (, AOII, Alpha O) is an international women's fraternity founded on January 2, 1897, at Barnard College on the campus of Columbia University in New York City. "AOII," and "Alpha O," the familiar names of the fraternity, is open to women regardless of ethnicity, religion or socio-economic background, with 134 active collegiate chapters and 159 active alumnae chapters in Canada and the U.S.A. The fraternity is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, and is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Major symbolism includes the color cardinal, the ruby and the 'Général Jacqueminot' rose. The fraternity publishes a magazine for the benefit of members, named To Dragma. Alpha Omicron Pi was founded on the ideas found in the object of the fraternity—character, dignity, scholarship, and college loyalty. History The fraternity was founded January 2, 1897, at Barnard College by four women: Jessie Wallace Hughan, Helen St. Clair Mullan, Elizabeth Heywood Wyman, and Stella George Stern Perry. They pledged one another in the Columbia Law Library to begin their fraternity. Within one week of its founding, the four founders used their initiation ritual for the first time to initiate Anne Richardson Hall. National expansion began in 1898 with the founding of Pi Chapter at New Orleans' Sophie Newcomb College (now part of Tulane University). Stella George Stern Perry, who was then the president of the fraternity, contacted a New Orleans classmate, Evelyn Reed, who expressed compatible ideas about fraternities. Reed's sister, Katherine Reed, became the first pledge of Pi Chapter. After being initiated by Perry, Katherine Reed found others to initiate. In 1905, Alpha Omicron Pi joined the National Panhellenic Conference. In 1967, the fraternity partnered with the Arthritis Foundation. In 1999, the fraternity's national council voted to establish AOII Properties, a branch which manages individual chapter housing, including safety, finances, and maintenance. The subsidiary was then officially formed in 2001 but did not begin to transfer local housing contracts to national corporation control until 2009. Symbols Alpha Omicron Pi has one official color, cardinal. Its official flower is the 'Général Jacqueminot', or Jacqueminot rose. Alternatively, a deep red rose may be used. The fraternity's official jewel is the ruby, while its mascot is the giant panda, which the fraternity unofficially adopted in 1976 but made official in 2017. Members of the fraternity wear three different pins depending on membership status. New members who have not been initiated wear a