Feature
125 Years of Brotherhood A Look Through the History of Sigma Pi by Grand Sage Joe Palazzolo (Monmouth '00), contributing writer
The founders of Tau Phi Delta would have never conceived of an organization with the scope and influence of today’s Sigma Pi Fraternity. What started with a meeting of like-minded military cadets in Vincennes, Indiana has grown to become an enduring presence on college campuses across North America, from coast to coast, and over many generations.
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onsidering the revolutionary and often tumultuous changes in national and global culture over the last 125 years, one may wonder how the Fraternity was able to persist and thrive through today. It has not been an easy road for Sigma Pi or any Greek-letter organization, but the importance of fraternity and sorority life in forming generations of young men and women cannot be understated. The story of our Fraternity’s resilience over the last 125 years is the story of why Sigma Pi still exists today. For many of our undergraduate brothers, the Fraternity provides social and emotional support while they are living away from home for the first time in their lives. For many of our alumni brothers, the Fraternity
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provides a fun social atmosphere after a hard day’s work. Though, for most of our brothers, Sigma Pi is a connection - to people, to places, and to opportunities. When our brothers talk about their love for Sigma Pi Fraternity, they are talking about the connections that bind them together. And even after 125 years of operations, the Fraternity’s connections do not grow stagnant by any means. In fact, just like the Fraternity itself, the nature of connecting our brothers has drastically changed over the years. When the early members of Tau Phi Delta brought Samuel and Maurice Bayard into their brotherhood, they met with the two young men at their home in an effort to educate them about the fellowship they were
creating at Vincennes University. Today, our undergraduates connect with potential new members across a variety of platforms and engagement methods. From in-person meetings to video chats to shared conversations through chat-focused social media apps, connecting with the next generation of brothers is as diverse and complex as the individuals who comprise the Fraternity in 2022. And this diverse membership is another area where the Fraternity has evolved with the times. Early in its history, Sigma Pi restricted membership to white, Protestant males. Over time, the qualifications of membership grew to include not just Protestant men, but men of all different religious and faith creeds including Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Winter 2022
