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.

Considering 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 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,

Members of Tau Phi Delta pose together with the shield of the Fraternity

Sikh, and other believers as well as atheists and more. Cultural and racial backgrounds expanded to include men from countries around the world and with racial identities that resembled the increasingly diverse student populations at our host institutions.

Another evolution is the host institution itself. Unlike fraternal organizations like the Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Columbus, Masons, and Shriners, many fraternities and sororities started as organizations adjacent to local colleges, if not entirely designed and formed by collegians. In the early part of the 1900s through the post-World War II years, Greek-letter organizations grew to be an intrinsic part of campus culture. As fraternity and sorority life combined with college athletics, student government, and other campus-based organizations to form the fabric of student life, an administrative infrastructure developed around these groups. The role of this administrative function, today, looks and feels odd to many brothers who were undergraduates decades ago. Yet, the recent history of the Fraternity and the future of Sigma Pi cannot be fully understood without acknowledging the role of this expansive administrative function at many of our host institutions.

When that administrative function works in an equitable and honest manner, the Fraternity’s chapters thrive. Eta-Eta Chapter at Bridgewater State University and Gamma-Upsilon Chapter at Murray State University are examples of chapters that have excelled while working in collaboration with purposeful and intentionally-driven campus administrators. Meanwhile, chapters like Alpha Chapter at Vincennes, Indiana and Iota-Kappa Chapter in the Orlando area are among the approximately 10% of the Fraternity’s chapters that are thriving while not being officially connected to a local campus. Some of our peers have designed their entire business model around colonizing in areas where a market study proves they can be successful, regardless of the presence of a college campus - or official recognition from a traditional host institution.

This type of approach to expansion does not disregard or end the traditional college-based chapters, rather it adds a new route to the same end - brotherhood in Sigma Pi Fraternity. And this is only one of several opportunities for the Fraternity to connect with new brothers. For example, several historically black, African American, and Latino fraternal organizations have achieved tremendous levels of success by developing substantial alumni chapters in metro areas. These chapters are the empowered entities that operate to recruit the next generation of their brotherhoods. They build connections among populations and age groups that are traditionally considered alumni and that is where recruitment and new member education takes place.

Perhaps in the next 125 years (or sooner), Sigma Pi Fraternity will implement a few of the powerful lessons of our interfraternal brothers and sisters.

One thing is for sure, though - the connections that built and sustained Sigma Pi Fraternity for its first 125 years will be critical elements in our immediate and future success. Those connections are what bring alumni back to their chapters for homecomings, sporting events, and alumni celebrations like Founders’ Day. Those connections are also what fuels our undergraduates to reach out their hands to the next new member class, and what inspires those new members to reach back and enter into the Fraternity. Many of our brothers joined Sigma Pi before the technological revolution that powers today’s college students. Before smartphones and the messaging apps that populate them existed, young men connected to the Fraternity by attending information sessions, meeting brothers in-person at campus and social events, and hearing all of the wonderful benefits of brotherhood from our alumni members. While it looks more and more like digital networking will build the foundations of our future membership, we should remember that all of us have a part to play in enhancing the name and reputation of Sigma Pi on our campuses and in our communities. Alumni visiting campuses should stop in and say hello to the Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life and thank them for working with our undergraduate men. For those alumni who give their time, talent, and treasure to other nonprofits, including their colleges or universities, they should make it known that they are a proud alumnus of Sigma Pi Fraternity. And for those alumni who are in a position to do so, they should help build new connections with their undergraduate chapters by offering help and guidance, if needed, and talking to their local Chapter Advisor about how they may be able to give back - how they can build connections for the future.

It is appropriate that we spend time thinking about our shared future as we celebrate our shared past. The consistency of Sigma Pi Fraternity’s brotherhood across the ages is what binds us - what connects us - together. That brotherhood has stood the test of time across two world wars and a variety of regionalized global conflicts, two major global pandemics, social and cultural revolutions, changing dynamics at our host institutions, and shifting views on the benefits of fraternity membership. The resilience of our brotherhood is a defining

Founder George Martin Patterson

Founder Rolin Rosco James Founder James Thompson Kingsbury

Founder William Raper Kennedy

The Company L, 159th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American War, was composed of Vincennes University Cadets and members of Tau Phi Delta

characteristic of our past and a bedrock on which we will build our future. Just as the generations that came before us weathered the storms brought on when our brothers were called to cross the oceans to fight for our country, the current generation of undergraduates is stemming the tide of disengaged student populations magnified by a mental health crisis that was only made worse by the pandemic. And yet, Sigma Pi Fraternity will prevail like we and our fraternal peers always have and always will. The lifelong connections that we bring to the lives of our brothers are not easily found in a campus club or even among the members of campus athletic teams. Our connection is something different, something deeper and more complex. It is the shared cultivation of progress as we go about our daily lives. It is the shared experience of finding comfort among kindred minds. It is the unity of purpose with which Sigma Pi moves from day to day, year to year, age to age. The connections that we have with and among one another are stitched together by diverse individuals seeking truth and justice in the world. For 125 years we - you and I, the Sigma Pi brothers reading this at any point across time - have breathed life into the words of our Creed by living lives inspired by the intellectual contributions of our Founders. With renewed commitment to those founding ideals, and with a focus on designing a future that exemplifies the best of our traditions and values, Sigma Pi Fraternity will continue to always be stronger tomorrow than it is today.