Sigma Chi () is one of the largest North American social fraternities. The fraternity has 244 active undergraduate chapters and 152 alumni chapters in the United States and Canada and has initiated over 350,000 members. It was founded on June 28, 1855, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, by members who split from the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
Sigma Chi is divided into seven operational entities: the Sigma Chi Fraternity, the Sigma Chi Foundation, the Sigma Chi Canadian Foundation, the Risk Management Foundation, Constantine Capital Inc., the Blue and Gold Travel Services, and the newly organized Sigma Chi Leadership Institute. According to the fraternity's constitution, "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."
History Founding
Sigma Chi was founded in 1855 by Benjamin Piatt Runkle, Thomas Cowan Bell, William Lewis Lockwood, Isaac M. Jordan, Daniel William Cooper, Franklin Howard Scobey, and James Parks Caldwell as the result of a disagreement over who would be elected poet in the Erodelphian Literary Society of Miami University in Ohio.The Founding of Sigma Chi
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 Erodelphian. In the fall of 1854, the literary society was to elect its poet, and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon was nominated for the position. He was supported by five of his brothers, but Caldwell, Jordan, Runkle, and Scobey supported another man who was not a member of the fraternity. Although Bell and Cooper were not members of Erodelphian, they had aligned themselves with the four dissenting members. The chapter had twelve members in total and was evenly divided on the issue. Both sides saw this as a matter of principle, and over the next few months, their friendships became distant.
In February 1855, Runkle and his companions planned a dinner for their brothers in an attempt to seal the rift. Whitelaw Reid, one of the other brothers who supported the Delta Kappa Epsilon member as poet, was the only one to arrive. Reid brought a Delta Kappa Epsilon alumnus named Minor Millikin from a nearby town. Reid had told Millikin his side of the dispute, and they had arrived to punish the group for not supporting their Delta Kappa Epsilon brother. The leaders of the rebellion, Runkle and Scobey, were to be expelled from the fraternity. The other four would be allowed to stay in the fraternity. Runkle resigned, and after the parent chapter at Yale University was contacted, all six men were formally expelled.
The six men decided to form their own fraternity along with Lockwood, a student from New York who had not joined a fraternity. On June 28, 1855, the organization was founded under the name Sigma Phi Fraternity.The Birth of Sigma Chi Lockwood used his business training to help organize the fraternity in its early years. The eventual theft of Sigma Phi's constitution, rituals, seals, and other records from Lockwood's room in Oxford in January 1856 prompted them to change the name of the fraternity to Sigma Chi. It is possible this action could have been forced upon the group, as there was already a Sigma Phi Society.
Much of Sigma Chi's heraldry was influenced by the legendary story of the Emperor Constantine from the Battle of Milvian Bridge against Maxentius. Runkle believed that Constantine should be an inspiration for members of the fraternity, and thus the vision of Constantine became the inspiration for the badge and the fraternity's public motto, In hoc signo vinces.
Founders
Benjamin Piatt Runkle (September 3, 1836 – June 28, 1916) was born in West Liberty, Ohio. Runkle helped design the badge of Sigma Chi based on the story of Constantine and the vision of the Cross. Runkle was known for having a fierce pride and was suspended from Miami University when he fought a member of Beta Theta Pi for sneering at his badge. When the Civil War began, Runkle joined the Union Army. He was badly wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and left for dead on the battlefield. Runkle stayed in the army as a career and retired as a major general. After his service in the Union Army, he was ordained an Episcopal priest. He was the only founder to serve as Grand Consul. He died on Sigma Chi's 61st birthday in Ohio. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia."The Seven Founders: Benjamin Piatt Runkle" page 32. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition Thomas Cowan Bell (May 14, 1832 – February 3, 1919) was born near Dayton, Ohio. He was twenty-three years old when Sigma Chi was founded, the second oldest of the founders. He graduated from Miami University in 1857 and began teaching. In 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army and rose to the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he returned to his career in education, serving as the superintendent of schools in Nobles County, Minnesota, as well as the principal and president of several preparatory and collegiate institutions in the Western United States. Bell died the day after attending the initiation of the Alpha Beta chapter at University of California Berkeley on February 3, 1919. He is buried at the Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco National Cemetery in California."The Seven Founders: Thomas Cowan Bell" page 33. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition Section OS, Row 43A, Grave 3. William Lewis Lockwood (October 31, 1836 – August 17, 1867) was born in New York City. He was the only founder who had not been a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. He was considered the "businessman" of the founders and managed the first chapter's funds and general operations, becoming the first treasurer of Sigma Chi. After graduating from Miami University in 1858, he moved back to New York and began work as a lawyer. He received serious wounds serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, from which he never fully recovered. He named his son after Franklin Howard Scobey."The Seven Founders: William Lewis Lockwood" page 34. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition Isaac M. Jordan (May 5, 1835 – December 3, 1890) was born in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania as Isaac Alfred Jordan.Illinois State University Theta Rho chapter - Isaac M. Jordan His family later moved to Ohio, where Jordan met Benjamin Piatt Runkle and became close friends. After graduating from Miami University in 1857, he went on to graduate school, where he graduated in 1862. He then began work as an attorney and was elected to the United States Congress in 1882."The Seven Founders: Isaac M. Jordan" page 35. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition He proceeded to change his middle name, Alfred, to just the letter "M" to help distinguish himself from his brother and law partner, Jackson A. Jordan. He died in 1890 after accidentally falling down an elevator shaft while greeting a friend.Eta Upsilon biographies on the founders He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Daniel William Cooper (September 2, 1830 – December 11, 1920) was born near Fredericktown, Ohio. Cooper was the oldest founder and was elected the first consul of Sigma Chi. After graduating from Miami University in 1857, he became a Presbyterian minister. Cooper's original Sigma Chi badge came into the possession of the Fraternity at the time of his death. It is pinned on every new Grand Consul at their installation. Cooper is buried at the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pa."The Seven Founders: Daniel William Cooper" page 36. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition Franklin Howard Scobey (May 27, 1837 – July 22, 1888) was born in Hamilton, Ohio. Scobey was considered the Spirit of Sigma Chi for being friendly with everybody and not just a select group of people. After graduating from Miami University in 1858, he went on to graduate again in 1861 with a law degree. He worked as a journalist in his hometown until 1879, but went on to become a cattleman in Kansas until 1882. Scobey then moved back to Ohio, where he took up farming until his death. Never physically robust, Scobey was afflicted with hearing loss in his final years."The Seven Founders: Franklin Howard Scobey" page 37. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition James Parks Caldwell (March 27, 1841 – April 5, 1912) was born in Monroe, Ohio. By the age of thirteen, Caldwell had completed all the academics that could be offered at his local academy. He was then sent to Miami University with advanced credits. Caldwell was just fourteen at the time of the founding, making him the youngest of the founders. After Caldwell graduated from Miami University in 1857, he practiced law in Ohio but moved to Mississippi to begin a career as an educator. When the Civil War broke out, he joined the Confederate Army. During the war, he was taken prisoner but, later, due to the influence of General Benjamin Piatt Runkle, was offered freedom on the condition that he renounce his allegiance to the Confederacy. He rejected this offer and remained loyal to the South. He was later released, again due to the influence of General Runkle. After the war, he moved back to Mississippi and was admitted to the bar. He moved to California in 1867 and practiced law. In 1875, he began to travel frequently, practicing law and editing newspapers. He died in Biloxi, Mississippi, where the latest issues of The Sigma Chi Quarterly were found in his room."The Seven Founders: James Parks Caldwell" page 38. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition
Early years Constantine chapter
Harry St. John Dixon, a brother from the Psi chapter at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, who fought for the Confederacy, kept a record of all Sigma Chis within his vicinity on the flyleaf of his diary during the Civil War. He began planning a Confederate Army chapter of Sigma Chi with this information. On September 17, 1864, Dixon founded the Constantine chapter of Sigma Chi during the Atlanta campaign with Harry Yerger, a brother from Mississippi who was in Dixon's division. Dixon stated the reasons for which the wartime chapter was created, saying,
Dixon and Yerger contacted all brothers listed in the diary who could come to the meeting. They met at night in a deserted log cabin a few miles southwest of Atlanta. Dixon later wrote, Dixon was elected "Sigma" (president), and Yerger was elected "Chi" (vice president); the chapter also initiated two men. The only badge in the chapter was one Dixon had made from a silver half-dollar.
The last meeting was held on New Year's Day 1865. The men at that meeting passed a resolution to pay a "tribute of respect" to the four brothers from the chapter who had died during the war. In May 1939, the Constantine chapter memorial was erected by Sigma Chi in memory of the Constantine chapter and its members. The memorial is located on U.S. 41 in Clayton County, Georgia.
Purdue case In 1876, Emerson E. White became president of Purdue University. He required each applicant for admission to sign a pledge "not to join or belong to any so-called Greek society or other college secret society" while attending the school. The Sigma Chi chapter at Purdue, which was already established at the university, sent petitions to the faculty and pleaded their case to the board of trustees, but was unsuccessful in changing the rule.