Sigma Nu

Greenfield Quarles

James McIlvaine Riley

The founders of Sigma Nu

Sigma Nu chapter house in Eugene, Oregon, 1906

University of Colorado chapter house, 2002

Stanford University chapter house

University of Nebraska-Lincoln chapter house

The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlvaine Riley shortly after Hopkins witnessed what he considered a hazing ritual by upperclassmen at the Virginia Military Institute.

James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles, and James McIlvaine Riley enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute in 1866. Hopkins entered the institute at the age of 21 and was, at the time, one of the oldest cadets entering the institute. Both Hopkins and Quarles had served in the American Civil War as Confederate soldiers.[3][4][5]

At this time, many secret societies were being formed on the VMI campus. In Hopkins' third year at VMI, he joined the Masonic Lodge in Lexington. The masons inspired him to create a similar organization at VMI.[6] Hopkins shared his ideas with Quarles and Riley, and in October 1868, the three came together on a limestone rock on the edge of the VMI parade ground to form the Legion of Honor.[7] The three founders would go on to bring others into the Legion of Honor over the rest of the year. On January 1, 1869, the founders, along with the rest of the members of the Legion of Honor, held their first official meeting as Sigma Nu.[7][8] The fraternity's existence remained secret until the founders publicly announced their new society on January 1, 1869.[9]

Hopkins designed the fraternity's badge, which stands mostly unchanged from its original form. The badge was introduced in the spring of 1869.[10] Early members, Edward Arthur and Linton Buck, both wrote the original Constitution and Law, respectively. Some conflict arose because Arthur had been a member of the Honduras Emigrant Society and had included some influences from that organization in the constitution. Buck felt these influences should be removed. His revision became the first Law of Sigma Nu.[10][11] This first chapter of Sigma Nu chose as its motto nulli secundus, a Latin phrase meaning "second to none."[10]

There were many efforts in the beginning years to establish chapters at other schools. By 1883, Alpha chapter chartered eleven additional chapters, of which only three survived.[12] One of the many factors was the anti-fraternity sentiment during this time.[13][14] Kappa chapter was established in 1881 at North Georgia College & State University, giving the fraternity an important member, John Alexander Howard. Howard suggested that the fraternity drop the use of Roman numerals for chapter designation in favor of using a Greek letter designation.[12] He is also responsible for the creation of The Delta, Sigma Nu's fraternity magazine which was first published in April 1883.[15] The name The Delta originated from the location of the three active chapters of Sigma Nu forming a Delta.[12]

Howard's editorials in The Delta inspired Isaac P. Robison, founder of Lambda chapter, to propose a convention for the national fraternity. On July 10, 1884, Sigma Nu's first convention was held in the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.[16][17] The first national headquarters for the fraternity was established in Indianapolis in 1915. It relocated to Lexington, Virginia in 1958.[4] Additional wings were added to the headquarters building in 1969 and 1994 for Sigma Nu's 100th and 125th anniversaries.

In 1909, Sigma Nu was a founding member of the North American Interfraternity Conference.[18]

Sigma Nu's colors are black, white, and gold.[15] Its flower is the white rose, specifically the wild English 'Floribunda.[15] Its song is "The White Star of Sigma Nu".[15]

Its gold badge was designed by Hopkins, one of the fraternity's founders.[15] It has a round center with a golden coiled serpent on a black enamel background.[15] From the center are five arms that feature a pair of crossed swords and a single letter on a background of white enamel; the letters collectively spell the Greek letters ΣΝΕΤΤ.[15] Its pledge pin looks like the center of the member's badge.[15]

Sigma Nu has some 160 active chapters in colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada.[1]

Since the founding of Sigma Nu, it has initiated over 235,000 members.[1]

The fraternity sponsors various programming including ethical leadership development through its LEAD program[19] and philanthropic events through its Helping Hand Initiative.[20] It recruits new members using its Values Based Recruitment method.[21]

In 1945, William Yates (University of Pennsylvania) inspired the formation of the "Sigma Nu Inc., Educational Foundation". Its name was changed to the "Sigma Nu Educational Foundation, Inc." The foundation assists collegiate members with financial aid supplements, and the fraternity in the development of a leadership program.[29]

• The fraternity began debating allowing non-white and Jewish members shortly after the Supreme Court of the United States desegregated schools in 1954.[32] In 1964, following a failed civil rights amendment to the Sigma Nu's constitution, the Dartmouth College chapter seceded from the fraternity in protest. The organization did not allow non-white members until the late 1960s.[33][34] The Dartmouth chapter rejoined in 1983.[35]
• Actor Jon Hamm, a member of the Upsilon chapter, was arrested for participating in a violent hazing in November 1990 during which pledge Mark Sanders was beaten with a paddle and a broom, led by Hamm around the fraternity house with the claw of a hammer beneath his genitals, and had his clothes set on fire. The chapter closed and Hamm completed the terms of a deferred adjudication; his charges were dismissed in 1995.[36][37]
• In 2004, nine members at Fresno State University were arrested for kidnapping after playing a prank on their vice president. Other students witnessed the prank and called the police because they thought it was a real abduction.[38][39]
• In 2010, a fraternity member at Arizona State University stabbed a fellow member when he tried to throw him into a pool.[40]
• Sigma Nu suspended all chapter events at University of North Carolina Wilmington after a fight broke out at a party it hosted in February 2014, resulting in an East Carolina University student driving with a US Marine on his hood. The driver hit a tree, killing the Marine, and was arrested for DWI and felony death by vehicle.[41]
• In October 2015, during a party held at the Sigma Nu fraternity house at Penn State University, a 19-year-old college student from New York City (later identified as John Mateer) was assaulted by another party-goer after revealing that he was gay.[42] Photographs of the incident were posted on Twitter and gained widespread media attention. Mateer’s assailant was later identified by State College Police as 18-year-old Matthew Chandlee who was not a member of the fraternity. The case was most notable for starting a national conversation surrounding hate crime legislation, as Pennsylvania does not protect members of the LGBT community under their hate crime laws.[43][44]In 2015, Sigma Nu suspended its chapter at Old Dominion University pending an investigation after they placed banners with slogans like "Rowdy and Fun, Hope Your Baby Girl is Ready for a Good Time..." and the story went viral.[45][46]
• In August 2016, a Sigma Nu member at Texas A&M University died of an illegal drug overdose in the fraternity house. Six members were arrested for possession and distribution of illegal drugs on campus such as cocaine, meth, LSD, MDMA, marijuana, heroin, and ecstasy.[47] In October 2017, the deceased member's father, Eugene Gridnev, instituted a wrongful death suit against the fraternity itself, as well as several of the members present during his son's death.[48]
• In October 2016, Sigma Nu suspended its chapter at University of Nevada, Reno when a freshman pledge fell down the stairs and died after a night of excessive drinking in the fraternity house.[49]
• In October 2021, the fraternity at University of Southern California was suspended following allegations of sexual assault against at least seven women.[50]

Media related to Sigma Nu at Wikimedia Commons

• Sigma Nu National Website
• The Digital Delta