DOL did not always stand for Delta Omicron Lambda. Prior to that, we were Daughters of the Lion, a little sister organization to a fraternity (AEPi). This was great from a social aspect, allowing us to meet new people and make new friends. However, there were a few things missing. Fundraisers were held, with all the proceeds benefiting the fraternity house, buying lawn mowers and ice machines. While we were welcome to help out with campus activities, we were never able to participate or compete on our own. While we did great things for the fraternity, we were always affiliated with them and were never able to impact the university or the community, or be recognized for our accomplishments.

By the fall of 1995, little sister organizations were dying out all over campus. We felt the desire to break out on our own, but there were obstacles. Other little sister organizations had tried to convert to other types of independent organizations and failed. Campus was hesitant to take any chances on these types of organizations. What type of new organization would we become, where would our focus be? There were plenty of sororities and service organizations already, and we were looking for something different, something to reflect our uniqueness. We wanted to form an organization that would not only be accepted and recognized but also respected by both the university and the community. We decided to form a women’s issues organization, something new and different, where we would impact the university and the community, and still maintain what we had before, the social aspect, meeting new people and forging friendships. After multiple meetings and presentations with the campus student affairs committee, they decided to give us a chance.

We liked the name we had, so we didn’t want to change it too much, yet we wanted to reflect that we were a new, independent organization, not affiliated with any other groups. We decided on Delta Omicron Lambda. We went to work making this a name people would recognize.