About Sigma Phi Epsilon

Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love are the cardinal principles of Sigma Phi Epsilon and represent the Fraternity’s core values. Pursuit of the Balanced Man Ideal of Sound Mind and Sound Body is the Fraternity’s practice. Sigma Phi Epsilon is uniquely positioned among American college fraternities to build the lives of not only its proud brothers, but also the communities in which they live and work. By helping to build balanced leaders of character and clear values, SigEp will positively impact our world.

• Founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College.
• Over the past two decades, SigEp has recruited more men than any other collegiate fraternity. Currently, over 14,000 undergraduates are members, making SigEp the largest national fraternity.
• Maintains the highest first-year member retention rate, over 90%, of any national fraternity.
• More than 280,000 lifetime members rank SigEp in the top four among national fraternities.
• Governed by the Grand Chapter, which is composed of undergraduate delegates from each chapter, District Governors, and the National Board of Directors.
• Maintains a full-time professional staff of over 35 people.
• Publishes a magazine, The Journal of Sigma Phi Epsilon, which is distributed to all members for life.

Carter Ashton Jenkens, the 18-year-old son of a minister, had been a student at Rutgers University, New Jersey, where he joined Chi Phi Fraternity. When he transferred to Richmond College in the Fall of 1900, he sought companions to take the place of the Chi Phi brothers he had left behind. He found five men who had already been drawn into a bond of friendship and urged them to join him in applying for a charter of Chi Phi at Richmond College. The request for a charter was forwarded to Chi Phi only to meet with refusal. Chi Phi felt that Richmond College was too small for the establishment of a Chi Phi chapter.

Wanting to maintain their fellowship, Carter Ashton Jenkens, Benjamin Gaw, William Carter, William Wallace, Thomas Wright, and William Phillips decided to form their own local fraternity.

The six original members found six others also searching for a campus fellowship neither the college campus nor the existing fraternity system could offer. The six new members were Lucian Cox, Richard Owens, Edgar Allen, Robert McFarland, Franklin Kerfoot, and Thomas McCaul.

The 12 met in October, 1901, in Gaw and Wallace’s room on the third floor of Ryland Hall. They discussed the organization of a fraternity they would call “Sigma Phi.” The exact date of this meeting is not known. However, the meeting was probably held before the middle of the month, because the 12 Founders are named as members on November 1, 1901, in the first printed roster of the Fraternity. Jenkens is listed as the first member.

A committee of Jenkens, Gaw, and Phillips was appointed to discuss plans for recognition with the faculty at the college. These men met with a faculty committee, where they were requested to present their case. The faculty committee requested that the new group explain:

• The need for a new fraternity since chapters of five national fraternities were on the campus and the enrollment at Richmond College was less than 300.
• The wisdom of this attempt to organize a new fraternity, with 12 members, seven of whom were seniors.
• The right to name the new fraternity Sigma Phi, the name of an already established national fraternity.

Jenkens, Gaw, and Phillips answered:

“This fraternity will be different, it will be based on the love of God and the principle of peace through brotherhood. The number of members will be increased from the undergraduate classes. We will change the name to Sigma Phi Epsilon.”

Though the discussion lasted some time, permission was granted for the organization of the new fraternity to proceed.  Immediately at the close of the meeting with the faculty committee, the fraternity committee rushed to Jenkens’ room to borrow William Hugh Carter’s Greek-English Lexicon.  They conceived themselves that Epsilon had a desirable meaning, and then telegraphed jeweler Eaton in Goldsboro, NC, to add an E at the point of each of the 12 badges.  Eight other students were invited to join SigEp.  The original badges were of yellow gold, with alternation rubies and garnets around the edge of the heart, with the Greek letter and the skull and crossbones.

Founder Lucian Cox reflected on the “brotherhood that had inspired him and his brothers” when he wrote in the Sigma Phi Epsilon Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1, March, 1904:

“As a member of an ideal fraternity, the resources of every member of that body are my resources, the product of their lives is my daily life. The fraternity is a common storehouse for experience, moral rectitude, and spirituality; the larger and purer the contribution of the individual, the greater the resources of each member.”

Five men were invited to join before Christmas and became members in January, 1902. Three more of the first group of 21 joined February 1, 1902.

• First national fraternity to establish a housing trust for all chapters and create a National Housing Corporation.
• First national fraternity to establish a traveling staff to assist chapters in effective operations.
• First fraternity to charter a chapter in all 50 states.
• First national fraternity Educational Foundation to build an endowment greater than $11 million.
• First national fraternity to receive a grant from the federal Department of Education to enhance member development programs.
• First national fraternity to provide financial assistance to brothers for graduate school through the Resident Scholar program.
• First national fraternity to partner with the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Richmond College in the early 20th Century was attended by less than 300 students. Almost half this number belonged to five fraternities previously chartered on the campus. The little Baptist college, founded in 1830, became home to Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded because 12 young collegians hungered for a campus fellowship based on Judeo/Christian ideals that neither the college community nor the fraternity system at that time could offer. The desire for brotherhood was in the young men’s souls. Sigma Phi Epsilon was needed.

• Devotes 11 full-time field representatives, Regional Directors, to assist chapters in effective operations. These representatives conduct nearly 700 three- to four-day consulting visits per year.
• Offers recruitment, membership development, financial, and leadership consultation to all chapters.
• Maintains online resource centers for members on a variety of topics, including Sound Mind and Sound Body programming, recruitment, membership development, substance abuse education, housing, financial management, and leadership.

I believe in the American college fraternity. I believe in Sigma Phi Epsilon. I believe in this Fraternity because it would have me strive in every way to live up to the high principles for which it stands. These are VIRTUE, DILIGENCE, AND BROTHERLY LOVE.

I believe that the word Virtue is an inclusive term; that it is not enough that I be merely passively virtuous: I must be positive on virtue’s behalf. Therefore, I will stand aggressively for honesty in all walks of life, and I will speak cleanly, play cleanly, and live cleanly. Whenever I can, I will oppose lawlessness and vice.

I believe that unless I succeed in being Diligent, I cannot be a good fraternity member. Believing that my fraternity can be no greater than any of its members, I shall strive to make it so high and so worthy that men will consider it an honor and privilege to belong to it and will strive to be admitted to it. I will not offer concessions to an individual to secure his affiliation, for thus making the man more note worthy then the Fraternity and hence only succeeds in lowering it in his estimation as well as mine.

I believe that Brotherly Love must be given in order to be received, and that it cannot exist without triumph of the principles of Virtue and Diligence, for these are essential parts of it.

I believe that a man will be made better for having been a member of my Fraternity. I know that I cannot expect the neophyte to be a finished product. Rather I will try to discover whether or not the environment and contact with men of high ideals will make of him a good fraternity man.

I believe that as a good fraternity member I must share a rich kinship of spirit with my brothers. Yet I realize that the members must be men of diversified abilities and talents. Among them are to be found the scholar, the athlete, the builder and craftsman. The good fraternity member must be par excellent in manhood.

I believe that to be a good member I must be loyal to my Fraternity. In order to be loyal to it, I must love it. In order to love it, I must strive constantly to make it worthy of my love. To be loyal to my Fraternity, I must gain a knowledge of it so that I may understand it. I have an obligation to understand what brotherhood means.

I believe that in any organized society group rights and privileges are based on individual rights and privileges; that in my fraternity I possess the same rights and privileges and have the same duties as my fellow members. Therefore, I shall at all times respect duly the rights of others.

I believe that obedience to the laws of my community and my country is essential to good citizenship; that the laws and rules of my Fraternity and my chapter are intended to regulate the actions of its members, one with another, and that without fidelity to those laws and rules I cannot be a good citizen and a worthy member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

I believe I should be generous with the faults of a brother, as I should wish him to be with mine.

Oscar E. Draper Grand President, 1928-1929

• Implements award-winning leadership development programs to live the Balanced Man Ideal, impacting 4,000+ members annually.
• Offers 26 development programs for new members focusing on personal development and lifetime achievement.
• Organizes nine regional leadership academies to develop key management and leadership skills for chapter officers.
• Provides elite skills training program for 120 undergraduates annually at the Ruck Leadership Institute to build lifetime members, pursue the Balanced Man Ideal, and mentor future SigEps.
• Recognizes 14 brothers who participate in the Balanced Man Quest to Greece, a full scholarship exploration to the source of Western philosophy, guided by classic scholars, and addressing the genesis of Sound Mind and Sound Body.
• Hosts the largest biennial, convention in the fraternity world: the Grand Chapter Conclave.