Phi Gamma Nu, 1985-1988

Phi Gamma Nu (PGN) was founded as a business sorority on February 17, 1924, at Northwestern University. Since its founding, and since Notre Dame’s involvement with it, PGN has broadened its scope and now describes itself as “a professional development organization that is made up of driven individuals from all majors and backgrounds.” It is not, and never has been, an honor society.

The Delta Eta chapter of PGN at Notre Dame was established in 1985 as an attempt to revive interest in the college’s Business Club. On April 25, 1985, Columns reported that “the 26 members of the newly formed Business Club will be inducted into Phi Gamma Nu, a national business fraternity, on May 4….Admission into [PGN] is open to all business majors completing at least six semester hours of business study” with a GPA of 3.0 in those courses and an overall GPA of 2.5.

By 1988, it had become clear that being a part of PGN’s leadership was more work than students were willing to take on, and the organization had become dysfunctional. As a result, Professor Paal requested that Notre Dame’s chapter be placed on “inactive” status. Columns reported on November 4, 1988, that PGN had become “temporarily inactive” due to “lack of time required to maintain such an organization,” a later article (April 14, 1989) described PGN as having been “disbanded” and announced the formation of a Business and Economics Club that would serve as a replacement organization for students in these disciplines.