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Sigma Chi

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Sigma Chi (ΣΧ) is one of the largest international all-male college social fraternities, with chapters at universities in Canada and the United States. Sigma Chi was founded in 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon. Sigma Chi had seven founding members: Benjamin Piatt Runkle, Thomas Cowan Bell, William Lewis Lockwood, Isaac M. Jordan, Daniel William Cooper, Franklin Howard Scobey, and James Parks Caldwell. Sigma Chi is a part of the Miami Triad, along with Beta Theta Pi and Phi Delta Theta.

The fraternity's official colors are blue and old gold, and its symbol is a white cross with emblems on its arms: Crossed keys on the upper arm, an eagle's head on the right arm, seven gold stars and a pair of clasped hands on the lower arm, and a scroll on the left arm. In the center of the cross, on a black background, are the gold symbols for the Greek letters sigma and chi. The left and right arms are connected to the upper arm by linked gold chains.

Membership in Sigma Chi involves both service-oriented activities as well as social bonding for its members. Sigma Chi's suggested beneficiary for chapter community service projects is the Children's Miracle Network. Since 1992 Sigma Chi chapters have raised nearly $3,000,000 for area CMN hospitals and devoted thousands of hours of service to CMN affiliates.

The fundamental purpose of this fraternity to promote the concepts of Friendship, Justice and Learning within its membership.

As of 2005, Sigma Chi Fraternity consists of 213,535 living brothers in 218 chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada, and 145 alumni groups and alumni brothers around the world. Every two years, delegates from all undergraduate chapters and alumni chapters meet for the Grand Chapter- in which Grand Officers, the International Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, and the International Balfour Award winner are elected, and revisions to the General Fraternity's Governing Laws and Ritual are proposed and debated.

Most recently Sigma Chi was honored by the United States Congress on its 150th anniversary on June 13th, 2005, becoming the only Greek letter society so honored. [link].

Contents

Founding

The founding of Sigma Chi came as the result of a disagreement over who would be named Poet in the Erodelphian Literary Society of old Miami University in Ohio.

Several members of Miami University's Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter (of which all but one of Sigma Chi's Founders were members) were also members of the Erodelphian Literary Society. In the fall of 1854 this society was to pick its Poet, and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (a "Deke") wanted the position. He was supported by five of his brothers, but four others (Caldwell, Jordan, Runkle, and Scobey) felt that he lacked poetic talent. These men instead chose to give their support to another man who was not a Deke. Bell and Cooper were not members of Erodelphian, but their support for the dissenting four was unequivocal.

In 1854 Delta Kappa Epsilon at Miami University had 12 members, so the disagreement over who to support as Poet evenly divided the chapter. Other differences might have been forgotten, but both sides saw this conflict as a matter of principle and over the next few months there came a distancing of their friendship.

The matter finally came to a head in February of 1855, when, in an attempt to seal the rift, Runkle and his companions planned a dinner for their brothers. The feast was prepared, and the table was set, but only one of the men who supported the Deke as poet arrived, Whitelaw Reid. With him Reid brought a stranger. The six learned that the stranger was an alumnus of DKE from a nearby town.

Founders of Sigma Chi
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Founders of Sigma Chi

"My name is Minor Millikin; I live in Hamilton," said the man. "I am a man of few words." Reid had told Millikin his side of the dispute, and the two were present to lay down punishment on Runkle, Scobey, and the rest. The leaders of the rebellion (Runkle and Scobey) were to be expelled from the fraternity. The other four, after being properly chastised, would be allowed to stay a part of the group.

At the announcement of the punishment Runkle stepped forward. He pulled off his Deke pin, tossed it to the table, and said, "I didn't join this fraternity to be anyone's tool! And that, sir," addressing Millikin, "is my answer!" Runkle stalked from the room and his five brothers followed. One final chapter meeting was held, at which the chapter was six-to-six divided on the issue of expulsion. The parent chapter at Yale University was contacted, and all six men were formally excommunicated.

The six men soon associated themselves with William Lewis Lockwood, a student from New York who had not joined a fraternity. Lockwood's natural business acumen helped to organize the fraternity in its early years. On June 28th, 1855 (Commencement at Old Miami), the Sigma Phi Fraternity was founded.

In 1857, Greek-letter rival Beta Theta Pi stole the ritual and records of Sigma Phi, resulting in a change of the Ritual as well as the last Greek letter.

Literature of Sigma Chi

Purpose

The purpose of this fraternity shall be to cultivate and maintain the high ideals of friendship, justice and learning upon which Sigma Chi was founded.

Creed

I believe in fairness, decency and good manners. I will endeavor to retain the spirit of youth. I will try to make my college, the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and my own chapter more honored by all men and women and more beloved and honestly respected by our own brothers. I say these words in all sincerity; That Sigma Chi has given me favor and distinction; that the bond of our fellowship is reciprocal, that I will endeavor to so build myself and so conduct myself that I will ever be a credit to our Fraternity.

-George Ade, Purdue University, Class of 1887

Jordan Standard

''The confidence of the founders of Sigma Chi was based on a belief that the principles in which they professed and the ideal of the Fraternity in which they sought where but imperfectly realized in the organizations by which they were surrounded.

The standard with which the fraternity started was declared by Issac M. Jordan to be that of admitting no man to membership in Sigma Chi who is not believed to be:

-Founder Isaac M. Jordan addressed the 15th Grand Chapter in 1884, his speech provided the basic 7 points for the current Jordan Standard.

Spirit

The spirit of Sigma Chi, as conceived by the Founders more than 150 years ago yet visible and alive today, is based on the theory that friendship among members, sharing a common belief in an ideal, and possessing different temperaments, talents, and convictions is superior to friendship among members having the same temperaments, talents, and convictions; and that genuine friendship can be maintained without surrendering the principle of individuality or sacrificing one's personal judgment.

-The Spirit of Sigma Chi was written by the Fraternity to honor and pay homage to the beliefs of Franklin Howard Scobey who believed strongly in the ideal that friendship among members of different temperaments, talents and convictions is superior to friendship among those who are all similar.

My Badge

I might be forced to admit that there is some similarity between the ideals of Sigma Chi and those other fraternities but I will not share the beautiful and the symbolic supremacy of the White Cross of Sigma Chi with any other badge in the Greek world. The badge of my fraternity is a cross, a sign and a symbol known to all the world, uplifting HIM of whom our badge reminds us.

It is not a shield of timid defense nor a drawn sword of oppressive aggression nor an arrow swift and sure on its mission of death. It is not a diamond so rich and so rare as to have no part in the common crowd nor a crescent pale and incomplete nor a star shining with a borrowed ray. It is not a lamp whose feeble flame is extinguished by the slightest gust of wind that blows; nor a simple monogram of mysterious Greek letters presuming to reveal some hidden meaning.

But a cross with its base planted in the common clay of earth; its arms outstretched to all the world and its head lifted heavenward. It is a White Cross, suggesting purity. As any pure white surface reflects all the rays of light without the absorption of any, so the White Cross of Sigma Chi reflects its ideals unselfishly to all Mankind.

- W. Henry McLean

The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi

When the world goes wrong as it's bound to do, and you've broken Dan Cupid's bow, and you long for the girl you used to love, the maid of the long ago,why light your pipe, bid sorrow avaunt, blow the smoke from your altar of dreams, and wreathe the face of your dream girl there, the love that is just what it seems,the girl of my dreams is the sweetest girl of all the girls I know, each sweet coed like a rainbow trail fades in the afterglow, the blue of her eyes and the gold of her hair are a blend of the western sky, and the moonlight beams on the girl of my dreams, she's the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.

-Often called the most beloved and popular of college fraternity songs, "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" was written in 1911 by Byron D. Stokes (Albion, Class of 1911) and F. Dudleigh Vernor (Albion, Class of 1913). Stokes had written the words while in class one June day that year, and presented them that afternoon to Vernor, who was practicing the organ in the chapel, and composed the music at that time. The song has since become a favorite among ballroom orchestras and was used in two movie musicals of the same name, in 1933 and 1946. When asked about the song's inspiration, Stokes replied, "The 'Sweetheart' is the symbol for the spiritual ingredient in brotherhood. It was the Sigma Chi Fraternity itself that inspired the song. I wrote the words not long after my initiation, and the magic of our Ritual with its poetic overtones and undertones was, I suppose, the source of my inspiration."

Notable \"Sigs\"

Athletics

Politics and Government

Entertainment and Media

Business, Technology & Medicine

Military

Partial List of Chapters

External links


North-American Interfraternity Conference
Acacia | Alpha Chi Rho | Alpha Delta Gamma | Alpha Delta Phi | Alpha Epsilon Pi | Alpha Gamma Rho | Alpha Gamma Sigma | Alpha Kappa Lambda | Alpha Phi Alpha | Alpha Phi Delta | Alpha Sigma Phi | Alpha Tau Omega | Beta Chi Theta | Beta Sigma Psi | Beta Theta Pi | Chi Phi | Chi Psi | Delta Chi | Delta Phi | Delta Psi | Delta Sigma Phi | Delta Tau Delta | Delta Upsilon | FarmHouse | Iota Phi Theta | Kappa Alpha Order | Kappa Alpha Psi | Kappa Alpha Society | Kappa Delta Phi | Kappa Delta Rho | Lambda Chi Alpha | Lambda Phi Epsilon | Lambda Sigma Upsilon | Lambda Theta Phi | Order of Omega | Phi Gamma Delta | Phi Iota Alpha | Phi Kappa Psi | Phi Kappa Sigma | Phi Kappa Tau | Phi Kappa Theta | Phi Lambda Chi | Phi Mu Delta | Phi Sigma Phi | Pi Kappa Alpha | Pi Kappa Phi | Pi Lambda Phi | Psi Upsilon | Sigma Alpha Mu | Sigma Chi | Sigma Nu | Sigma Phi Delta | Sigma Phi Epsilon | Sigma Phi Society | Sigma Tau Gamma | Tau Delta Phi | Tau Epsilon Phi | Tau Kappa Epsilon | Theta Chi | Theta Delta Chi | Theta Xi | Triangle | Zeta Beta Tau | Zeta Psi

 

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