Pi Alpha Tau sorority was established for Jewish women at Hunter College, a unit of the City University of New York.

[2] The exact founding date of the sorority is uncertain: The Oracle of Adelphi College (1937) gave the date as 1917, while the 1929 edition of The Oracle gives it as October 1918; Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 14th Ed., (1940), claimed 1918; a handwritten summary of the sorority, written by national president Harriet Brown, stated formation was in 1919.

[a] According to Harriet Brown, "[The] Sorority conforms with the set rushing rules of the college but deviates in the initiation ceremonies."

First, there was an informal pledge ceremony, where the "new girls" attended a party and were "allowed to submit their sorors [~sisters] to all sorts of tests."

Then came the formal pledge ceremony, which lasted for six weeks "during which time the new members must submit to the wishes of the older sorors.