National History
CONTENTS
Introduction
The Founders
Sigma Nu Announced
Sigma Nu Expands
First National Convention
The Move West
Headquarters Established
Founders Join Chapter Eternal
The Educational Foundation
Return to Lexington
Sigma Nu Centennial
Sigma Nu Celebrates its 125th Year
INTRODUCTION
Sigma Nu's past is a proud and colorful one. Founded by three cadets at
the Virginia Military Institute in a period of civil strife known as the
Reconstruction, Sigma Nu represented a radical departure from the times.
The system of physical abuse and hazing of underclassmen at VMI led to
James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles, and James McIlvaine Riley to
form the "Legion of Honor" which soon became Sigma Nu
Fraternity. So, amidst a backdrop of turmoil, North America's first
"Honor" fraternity was established.
THE FOUNDERS
The story of Sigma Nu began during the period following the Civil War,
when a Confederate veteran from Arkansas enrolled at the Virginia
Military Institute in Lexington Virginia. That cadet was James Frank
Hopkins, and it is to him and two of his classmates that Sigma Nu owes
its existence. When Hopkins enrolled at VMI, the south was in a state of
turmoil and just beginning to recover from the devastating military
defeat it had suffered. The Virginia Military Institute was highly
recognized for its civil engineering program and the South badly needed
to repair its bridges and railroads. At the Institute cadets suffered,
not only of the ravages of war and a disrupted homelife, but because of
the system of physical harassment imposed on lower classmen by their
fellow students in the upper classes.
Hopkins had experienced military subservience during the war, and was
willing to tolerate a reasonable amount of constraint intended to induce
discipline. However, Hopkins was unwilling to accept any amount of
hazing then being allowed at VMI. Not one ounce of hazing was he willing
to suffer and he was doggedly adamant about eliminating it.
Hopkins soon was joined by two classmates and close friends who were
also equally unhappy with the hazing situation. They were Greenfield
Quarles, from Arkansas, a Kentuckian by birth, and James McIlvaine Riley
from St. Louis, Missouri. These three men began a movement to completely
abolish the hazing system at VMI. Their efforts climaxed on a moonlit
October night in 1868, presumably following Bible study at the
superintendent's home, when the three met at a limestone outcropping on
the edge of the VMI parade ground. Hopkins, Quarles and Riley clasped
hands on the Bible and gave their solemn pledge to form a brotherhood of
a new society they called the Legion of Honor.
The vows taken by these three Founders bound them together to oppose
hazing at VMI and encouraged the application of the Principle of Honor
in all their relationships. That the founders should adopt Honor as a
guiding principle was a natural move since a rigid code of Honor was
already an established tradition of the VMI Corps of Cadets. The Honor
system at VMI required each cadet to conform to the duty imposed by his
conscience that each act be governed by a high sense of Honor.
SIGMA NU ANNOUNCED
Although Sigma Nu Fraternity began in October 1868 as the Legion of
Honor, its existence was kept secret until the founders publicly
announced their new society on the first day of January 1869, the
accepted birthdate of Sigma Nu. What a New Year's celebration it must
have been for cadets who could not go home for the holidays! In those
days the Institute did not close for "breaks" as we know them.
It suspended classes only for the day on such occasions as Christmas and
New Year's.
The Fraternity's spiritual birth, however, actually occurred in 1866,
the year the Founders entered VMI, when Frank Hopkins first rebelled
against hazing at the Institute. Still, the Founders did not create
Sigma Nu with any feeling of animosity toward others; rather they were
prompted by the impulses of sympathy and affection for all people which
underlie abiding peace and contentment. They had experienced enough hate
and destruction all during and after the War. They wanted to end all
abuses, and they knew it would not come easily. It was never an issue of
who won or lost the War. It was only an issue of winning the peace.
The Legion of Honor society in its first year assumed the outward
aspects of a college Greek-letter organization. The organization kept
its original name secret but was recognized publicly as Sigma Nu
Fraternity. It was soon to win the respect of all.
The new Fraternity needed an identifying symbol, and Founder Hopkins
designed a Badge for the members to wear on their uniforms. That Badge
was patterned after the White Cross of the French Legion of Honor, which
was worn on the uniform of a favorite professor of Hopkins. The Badge
was first introduced in the spring of 1869. Keeping with the Founders'
decree, the Badge has remained unchanged ever since, except in size and
the raised center. Even today, the collegiate Commander's Badge, and the
Badge of the Grand Officers remain identical to Hopkins' original Badge.
When the first slate of Officers was chosen, Riley, the most popular,
was elected Commander and Hopkins the Lieutenant Commander. Typically,
Hopkins, the epitome of humbleness, was delighted that "Mac"
Riley was chosen leader. It gave Hopkins "the doer," thinker,
planner, along with Quarles who had similar talent, more of an
opportunity to concentrate on solidifying ol' Alpha before he graduated
in 1870. By the 1869 commencement, the group had grown to fifty-one
members.
SIGMA NU EXPANDS
Expansion began for Sigma Nu in 1870 after the graduation of the
Founders, when the mother chapter at VMI, then known as Chapter I,
approved the establishment of a chapter at the University of Virginia.
Later, a permanent numbering system established a Greek-letter
designation for chapters. Thus, Chapter I became Alpha and the
University of Virginia chapter became Beta.
Sigma Nu established a chapter at North Georgia Agricultural College in
1881. One of the men instrumental in the chartering of the North Georgia
chapter was John Alexander Howard. He was blessed with rare intellect
and considerable talent for writing. That talent led him naturally to
newspaper work. Howard read widely and in his reading discovered Baird's
Manual of American College Fraternities. He read that book until he was
familiar with all national fraternities. His study of other fraternities
prompted him to examine shortcomings of his own fledgling Fraternity. At
this time Sigma Nu was still using the Roman numeral designation for
chapters. Howard felt that the Fraternity should adopt a Greek-letter
designation according to the founding date of the chapter. Thus, his own
chapter at North Georgia became Kappa. Howard's main contribution was
the founding of The Delta, the Fraternity's renowned magazine. He
selected The Delta for the magazine's title to symbolize the geographic
relationship of the three existing chapters of the Fraternity at that
time, Alpha, Lambda and Kappa. The first edition of The Delta was
published in April 1883 and contained sixteen pages.
FIRST NATIONAL CONVENTION
The year following the publication of The Delta witnessed another
important milestone for Sigma Nu. That event was the First National
Convention, which met at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville,
Tennessee, July 9-10, 1884. The person responsible for the First
National Convention was Isaac P. Robinson (Lambda, Washington and Lee).
Robinson felt that a meeting of alumni and collegiate representatives
was imperative because of a need to update the constitution, revise
procedures and coordinate efforts. The Sigma Nu convention later became
known as Grand Chapter. It is held every two years and serves as the
legislative body of the General Fraternity.
Another event in 1884 which had a major impact upon the Fraternity was
the establishment of Nu Chapter at the University of Kansas. During the
first fifteen years of its existence, Sigma Nu was primarily a southern
fraternity, and the decision to establish Nu Chapter was to be the first
step in a radical expansion program. Nu chapter was to open the West and
North for Sigma Nu. Eugene L. Alford of Lambda was instrumental in the
founding of Nu Chapter.
Two charter initiates of Nu who became very influential in Sigma Nu in
later years were Perlee Rawson Bennett and Grant Woodbury Harrington.
Bennett served the Fraternity as Grand Recorder for many years and in
1890 was elected Regent. He presided over the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth,
and Tenth Grand Chapters. Harrington became editor of The Delta and
Grand Recorder. For eight years (1886-1894) he had almost total
responsibility for the administration of the Fraternity. Other early
members of Nu Chapter were the Sears brothers, William H. Sears,
Clarence H. Sears and Walter James Sears, who also became influential in
Sigma Nu affairs. Their brother, Lorin Beecher Sears, attended Ohio
State University where no chapter of Sigma Nu existed at the time.
Walter was so interested in having Lorin initiated into the Fraternity
that he entered Ohio State University, founded Beta Nu and became its
first initiate; Lorin became its second. Walter Sears devoted much of
his lifetime to Sigma Nu, but his name will be remembered best for his
beautiful prose work, "The Creed of Sigma Nu."
THE MOVE WEST
Leland Stanford University opened in 1891. Among its first students was
Carl Lane Clemans, who had founded Chi Chapter at Cornell College in
Iowa. Clemans was determined to open a chapter on the West Coast, and he
recruited enough men to charter Beta Chi Chapter at Stanford in November
1891. Beta Chi's fame soon spread to Berkeley, and Clemans went there to
help organize Beta Psi in February 1892.
Sigma Nu opened the Northwest to Greek letter organizations when Gamma
Chi was chartered at the University of Washington in 1895, earning the
Fraternity kudos throughout the Greek community for its "Northwest
conquest." For almost four years Sigma Nu was the only college
fraternity in the Northwest, having been the first to establish a
chapter not only in the State of Washington, but also Montana and
Oregon.
Beta Iota at Mount Union was chartered by Walter James Sears in 1892.
Three years later Beta Iota initiated Albert Hughes Wilson, to whom
Sigma Nu owes a great debt. "Bert" Wilson served as Regent,
but his most noteworthy achievement was in expansion. Wilson established
more chapters than any other member of the Fraternity, thirty-two in
all, and he is generally credited with helping develop Sigma Nu into a
geographically representative organization. Brother Wilson was the
exemplar of interfraternity spirit as well, being chiefly responsible
for the founding of Alpha Sigma Phi men's fraternity. As an aside, it
should be noted that Brother Wilson C. Morris (Beta Iota, Mt. Union) is
given credit by Sigma Tau Gamma men's fraternity as being the driving
force behind its founding while the collegiate Brothers of Delta Theta
Chapter, Lombard (Knox) College assisted greatly with the founding of
Alpha Xi Delta women's fraternity.
HEADQUARTERS ESTABLISHED
Having active chapters in each section of the country, Sigma Nu was now
in every sense a national fraternity. Expansion proceeded at an orderly
rate, and by 1915 there was a need for centrally located administrative
offices with full-time officers. Heretofore, the various Sigma Nu
officers maintained their files and records at their own homes or places
of business. Fire had once destroyed many of the Fraternity's records,
and there was a lack of coordination in general.
Following the Denver Grand Chapter in 1915, the High Council approved
the establishment of the central administrative system first proposed by
Regent Francis V. Keesling (Beta Chi, Stanford). The plan, adapted by
Walter J. Sears, converted the High Council into a board of directors
elected by the Grand Chapter; all executive and administrative duties
previously exercised by members of the High Council and committees were
lodged in a single official - the General Secretary (now Executive
Director) - appointed by the High Council and subordinate to its
direction.
Indianapolis was selected as the location of the Fraternity's
headquarters, and on November 1, 1915 the General Offices were opened
there temporarily in the Lemcke Annex before moving into the main
building. Bixby Willis (Lambda, Washington and Lee), a past Grand
Treasurer of Sigma Nu, was employed as the first General Secretary. In
1926 the central office was moved to the Illinois Building in
Indianapolis.
Indianapolis served as the Fraternity's headquarters for forty-two
years, during which time fifty-five new chapters were added to the
roster of the Legion of Honor.
FOUNDERS JOIN CHAPTER ETERNAL
Founder James Riley, who had served ten years (1869-79) as the
Fraternity's first Regent, entered the Chapter Eternal on May 6, 1911,
in St. Louis, Missouri. Members of the Fraternity carried his remains to
a burial plot purchased in Bellefontaine Cemetery by the St. Louis
Alumni Chapter in fraternal affection for the Founder.
The life of James Frank Hopkins ended on December 15, 1913, and he was
laid to rest in the village cemetery at Mablevale, Arkansas, beside his
sweetheart from cadet days and devoted wife, a native Lexingtonian,
Jennie Barclay Hopkins. In 1920 an impressive memorial was dedicated at
the gravesite. Greenfield Quarles, the only Founder still living,
offered a tribute to Alpha 1:
The love of our Brother for his fellow man was only excelled by his love
of God. His example has instilled into the hearts of us all the
principles which guide us now, and these principles will go down in
future generations for all time. His life has been an inspiration to all
youth. All that was mortal of Brother Hopkins lies buried here; but his
immortal spirit will live forever.
Six months later, the last of the three Founders was taken from living
contact with the Fraternity. Judge Greenfield Quarles entered the
Chapter Eternal at his home in Helena, Arkansas, January 14, 1921. He
had lived a life of noble service.
EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
In 1945, Brother William P. Yates (Beta Rho, Pennsylvania), inspired the
formation of the "Sigma Nu Inc., Educational Foundation" with
a handsome bequest. Its name was changed in recent times to the
"Sigma Nu Educational Foundation, Inc." The foundation has
been instrumental in assisting collegiate members with financial aid
supplements, and the General Fraternity in the development of the LEAD
Program, (LEAD is an acronym for leadership, ethics, achievement,
development). The Foundation continues to support the exclusively
educational programs of the Fraternity.
RETURN TO LEXINGTON
Even before Sigma Nu's first central office was organized in
Indianapolis, some dreamed of the day when the Fraternity would have an
appropriate shrine at Sigma Nu's birthplace, but it took nearly four
decades before the first step was taken. That step was the appointment
of a Headquarters Committee in 1954. It compared rent with ownership and
ultimately recommended the latter in a college town where a Sigma Nu
chapter thrived. Inevitably Sigma Nu history and tradition pointed to
Lexington.
Regent James W. Bradley (Epsilon Epsilon, Oklahoma State) and his High
Council took the historic step in 1957, purchasing without mortgage or
lien a singularly appropriate property, a large, a large home ideally
suited for conversion and development. The land, conveniently located on
the highest hill in the corporate limits of Lexington, Virginia, and on
a seven-and-one-half-acre tract overlooking VMI and Washington and Lee
University, enjoys the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop to the east
and the Allegheny Mountains to the west. The land was originally owned
by the son of General Frances H. Smith, the first superintendent of VMI,
who inspired Hopkins in the founding of Sigma Nu; the house, built by
the grandson of Superintendent Smith, came to Sigma Nu directly from the
Smith family. Milton L. Grigg, a renowned Virginia architect and
participant in the famous Williamsburg Restoration, was contracted to
restore the building. The Headquarters facility was occupied in 1958 and
officially dedicated June 9, 1960.
SIGMA NU CENTENNIAL
On January 1, 1969, Sigma Nu reached its one-hundred-year milestone. In
the year that followed, it marked that event with a series of Centennial
dinners at 36 locations throughout the country and with pilgrimages to
the gravesites of the three Founders and the first editor of The Delta.
Then on Sunday, June 15, a Centennial Convocation was held in Lexington.
Two beautiful new wings of the Headquarters building were dedicated, one
housing the Sigma Nu Museum and the other the Fraternity's Honor
Library, later to be dedicated in tribute to former Executive Secretary
Richard R. "Dick" Fletcher, who had long since earned the
moniker "Mr. Sigma Nu."
Sigma Nu in its 100th year had come a long way from its founding. At the
century mark it had issued 164 charters of which 143 chapters were alive
and flourishing. Of the nine other truly national fraternities older
than Sigma Nu, only three had more initiates. Sigma Nu owned 110 chapter
houses providing living accommodations for more than 3,500 students. All
this had been accomplished solely through the appeal of its principles -
without false claims or specious promises, without merger, without
honorary members. Every chapter had earned its own way by applying
integrity in both purpose and method.
SIGMA NU CELEBRATES ITS 125TH YEAR
Well into the Fraternity's second century, Sigma Nu continued its
dramatic growth. Today, the number of initiates is nearly 200,000; the
number of chapters approaching 250. Many of the Fraternity's chapters
have initiated more than a 1,000 members, with a large number topping
1,500 and several exceeding 2,000.
Among the many significant achievements during the past decade has been
the addition of adjacent properties in Lexington, Virginia, known as the
Ethical Leadership Center, owned by the Sigma Nu Educational Foundation,
Inc. Particularly noteworthy is Sigma Nu's interfraternity leadership in
risk reduction and risk management matters followed by the introduction
of its unique LEAD Program, one of the most meaningful educational
initiatives ever undertaken by a college fraternity. In addition, the
transfer of ownership of the Fraternity's Headquarters property, known
as the Sigma Nu Headquarters Shrine, to the Sigma Nu Educational
Foundation, Inc. has enabled alumni gifts to assist in its restoration
and preservation, so as to relieve the burden of upkeep on future
generations of collegians.
Finally, in celebration of the Fraternity's 125th anniversary, the
Foundation undertook construction of a third wing to the Headquarters
Shrine as well as a Pathway of Honor of engraved bricks, which provides
an opportunity to celebrate the life of each Sigma Nu. The Pathway of
Honor will meander throughout the Lexington properties. A special
"Pilgrimage to the Rock" was one of the memorable highlights
of the 56th Grand Chapter held in Washington, DC, in August 1994.
For a century and a quarter Sigma Nu chapters have shaped the man of
integrity. Their challenge for the future is to focus efforts and
energies anew to the fuller realization of the great mission set by our
Founders - to build Men of Honor, ethical leaders for society based upon
the concept of the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God.
Indeed, Sigma Nu may be on the threshold of the era of its greatest
achievement as it enters the 21st Century.