SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON

'Sigma Alpha Epsilon' ('ΣΑΕ') is a secret letter, social college fraternity. Founded in 1856 , it has initiated more men since its founding than any other fraternity with more than 282,000 initiated members. At present, 'SAE' (as it is nicknamed) has more than 8,200 undergraduates at more than 250 chapters in 48 states. It was the first fraternity to establish a national headquarters (Levere Memorial Temple, 1929), a national Leadership School (1935), a national Men's Health Issues Committee (1980), and a career-development program tailored for the community ("''The Leading Edge''" in 1990).
Currently, the Fraternity offers a comprehensive member-education program called The True Gentleman Initiative. The Fraternity communicates through ''The Record'', a quarterly publication that has been published continuously since 1880 . New members receive a copy of ''The Phoenix'', the manual of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, for educational development.

Contents

History

The True Gentleman

The Levere Memorial Temple

Government

''The Record''

''Famous SAEs''

Literature

Television & Movies

Music

Print & Broadcast Journalism

Business

Education

Government

Science

Sports

Misc.

External links

History

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded on March 9, 1856, at the University of Alabama located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Its founders were Noble Leslie DeVotie, Nathan Elams Cockrell, John Barratt Rudulph, John Webb Kerr, Samuel Marion Dennis, Wade Hampton Foster, Abner Edwin Patton and Thomas Chappell Cook. Their leader was DeVotie, who had written the ritual, devised the grip, and chosen the name. Rudulph designed the badge. Of all existing fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the antebellum South.

Founded in a time of intense sectional feeling, Sigma Alpha Epsilon confined its growth to the southern states. By the end of 1857, the fraternity numbered seven chapters. Its first national convention met in the summer of 1858 at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with four of its eight chapters in attendance. By the time of the outbreak of the US Civil War in 1861, fifteen chapters had been established.
The fraternity had fewer than 400 members when the Civil War began. Of those, 369 went to war for the Confederacy, and seven fought with the Union forces. Seventy four members of the fraternity lost their lives in the War, including Noble DeVotie. DeVotie, who served as Chaplain in the Confederate Army is noted as the first Alabama soldier to lose his life in the 'War of Rebellion'. After the Civil War, only one chapter at tiny Columbian College in Washington, D.C., survived, but it died soon thereafter.
When a few of the young veterans returned to the Georgia Military Institute and found their college burned to the ground, they decided to enter the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Founding a chapter there at the end of 1865, along with the re-establishment of the chapter at the University of Virginia, led to the fraternity's revival. Soon, other chapters came back to life and, in 1867, the first post-war convention was held at Nashville, Tennessee, where a half-dozen revived chapters planned the fraternity's future growth.
In the 1870s and early 1880s, more than a score of new chapters were formed. Older chapters died as fast as new ones were established. By 1886, the fraternity had chartered 49 chapters, but few were active. The first northern chapter had been established at Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg College), in 1883 , and a second was placed at Mount Union College in Ohio two years later.
Soon after, a 16-year-old Harry Bunting entered Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee, now known as Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He was initiated into the Tennessee Zeta Chapter, which had previously initiated two of his brothers. In just eight years, under the guidance of Harry Bunting and his younger brother, George, they provoked Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapters to increase their membership. They wrote encouraging articles in the fraternity's quarterly journal, ''The Record'', promoting better chapter standards. Above all, they gave new life to old chapters in the South (including the mother chapter at Alabama) and founded new ones in the North and West. In an explosion of growth, the Buntings were responsible for founding nearly 50 chapters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Other chapters during this time were also founded, mostly by local undergraduates, at Dickinson College, Ohio State University, Harvard University, and Bucknell University, among others. When Harry Bunting founded the Northwestern University chapter in 1894 , he initiated as a charter member William Collin "Billy" Levere. Bunting passed the torch of leadership to Levere, and for the next three decades, Levere's high spirits brought the fraternity to maturity.
When Levere died on February 22, 1927, the fraternity's Supreme Council decided to name the new national headquarters building The Levere Memorial Temple. Construction of the Temple, an immense German Gothic structure located near Lake Michigan and across from the Northwestern University campus, was started in 1929, and the building was dedicated in the winter of 1930.
When the Supreme Council met regularly in the early 1930s at the Temple, educator John O. Moseley, the fraternity's national president, lamented that, "We have in the Temple a magnificent school-house. Why can we not have a school?" Accordingly, the economic depression notwithstanding, in the summer of 1935, the fraternity's first Leadership School was held under the direction of Moseley. In the last years of Moseley's life, he served the fraternity as its executive secretary, capping an academic career that had included two college presidencies.

The True Gentleman

:''The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.''
::—John Walter Wayland (Virginia Omicron Chapter 1899)

The True Gentleman is the creed of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which was first adopted by the fraternity sometime in the 1930s. However, it wasn't until the 2001 Fraternity Convention in Orlando, Florida that it was officially adopted as the organization's creed. The definition was discovered by Judge Walter B. Jones, who first came upon it in an Alabama Baptist quarterly of which he was the editor. He sent a copy of it to John O. Moseley, the leader of the annual Leadership Schools, who was quite taken with it. Moseley began using it at the schools. For many years, the author of it was thought to be anonymous until the 1970s when the editor of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledge manual, ''The Phoenix'', Joseph Walt, discovered that the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis also used it in a manual. The author was denoted there as one John Walter Wayland. "The True Gentleman" had actually first appeared in ''The Baltimore Sun'' as part of a competition for the best definition of a true gentleman with Wayland's submission being crowned the winner.
With his family's approval, John Walter Wayland was posthumously initiated into SAE during the Fraternity's 66th annual Leadership School in Chicago. The Virginia Omicron chapter at the University of Virginia was selected as Wayland's chapter since he had completed his master's degree at that institution in 1901.

The Levere Memorial Temple

The fraternity's international headquarters, known as the Fraternity Service Center, is maintained at the Levere Memorial Temple in Evanston, Illinois. Honoring all the members of the fraternity who have served their countries in the armed forces since 1856, it was dedicated on December 28, 1930. The Temple also contains what is considered the most complete library pertaining to Greek-letter fraternities and sororities. The museum on the first floor is devoted to a collection of interesting historical photographs, pictures, and collections from private sources. The walls of the building are hung with oil portraits of distinguished members. The basement contains the Panhellenic Room, on the ceiling of which are the coats-of-arms of 40 college fraternities and 17 sororities, while the niches on the north side contain large murals showing the founding of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 and that of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1856, together with other murals depicting episodes in the history of the fraternity. Perhaps the most outstanding mural in the Panhellenic Room is the reproduction of Raphael's ''The School of Athens'', painted by Johannes Waller in the 1930s.
The building continues to be used for ceremonies and receptions by the various fraternities, sororities, and honor societies at Northwestern University. The impressive chapel of the Temple, with its soaring vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows by Tiffany is used regularly for religious services, and has been the scene of many weddings of Evanstonians and members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. In fact, the entire building is open to the public for patriotic, religious, and educational purposes, while the library is also free to scholars seeking material pertaining to the history of any or all college fraternities and college organizations.

Government

In its early days, the government of the fraternity was vested in one chapter, designated the Grand Chapter. The first such chapter was North Carolina Xi at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which was responsible only to the general convention, the last was Tennesee Omega at the University of the South, in Sewanee, TN.
Today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is governed by National Conventions which are held biannually. Here, brothers from all over the country come together to vote on additions and changes to the fraternity's national laws. SAE is also governed by its own Eminent Supreme Council. This is composed of the Eminent Supreme Archon, president of the entire fraternity, along with other officials.
In addition, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is governed through Province Conventions. A province is a section, or district, of the country which is composed of nearby chapters. These provinces meet regularly to discuss issues concerning its individual chapters. These provinces are led by a Province Archon.

''The Record''

The fraternity communicates through ''The Record'' magazine. It is published quarterly and has been continuously since 1880 . This publication has become popular in social groups throughout the country. One issue of ''The Record'', the fall annual report, is provided free of charge to all active members and alumni at a circulation of 180,000. The other three issues are provided for active members and current donors to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation at a circulation of approximately 30,000.

''Famous SAEs''

Literature

★ Sandro Corsaro - Author and American Animator

★ William Faulkner - Nobel Prize winner, Literature

★ Walker Percy - Author, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Television & Movies

★ George Bodenheimer - President of ESPN Inc. and ESPN on ABC

★ Beau Bridges - Actor

★ Lloyd Bridges - Actor

★ Sam Elliott - actor

★ Thomas Ewing - former congressman, R-IL, Millikin University

★ Jeff Filgo - Executive Producer That 70's Show, University of Texas

★ Terry Gilliam - film director, member of Monty Python

★ Bob Goen - former co-host of Entertainment Tonight

★ Richard Kind - actor

★ Matt Long - actor, Western Kentucky University

★ Adrian Pujol - Actor ((Kansa State University)("Pep Squad"))

★ Michael Rosenbaum - actor, Lex Luther, Smallville Western Kentucky University

★ Fred Savage - actor, Stanford University

★ Grant Shaud - actor on "Murphy Brown", University of Richmond

★ David Spade - actor/comedian, Arizona State University

★ Kevin Tighe - actor

★ Charles D. Varnell - George Lucas's right hand man and co-producer of Star Wars

★ Ed Wilson - President and CEO of Fox Entertainment

★ Robert Young - actor ("Father Knows Best", Marcus Welby, MD)

Music

★ Dierks Bentley - country music singer and musician (initiated at Vanderbilt University)

★ Jay Davis - Famous musician from Georgia

★ Rudy Vallee - entertainer

★ Nick Lachey - Singer and former husband of Jessica Simpson

Print & Broadcast Journalism

★ Dave Campbell - ESPN baseball broadcaster

★ Philip Graham - former publisher of the Washington Post and Newsweek, University of Florida

★ Ernie Harwell - Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers

★ Ed Hinton - sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, and formerly Sports Illustrated

★ Ernie Pyle - legendary WWII journalist

Business

★ Jim Alling - President, Starbucks, DePauw University

★ Rob Burton - CEO and President, Hoar Construction Company, Auburn University

★ Bill Duvall - President, Lincoln Property Company, University of Texas

★ J.B. Fuqua - former businessman and philanthropist. The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University is named for him.

★ Andrew "Lippy" Shaw - Former CEO and President of Lipton Teas Inc.

★ Steve Lacy - President & CEO, Meredith Corporation

★ Ralph Owen - Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University is named for him

★ William Perez - CEO of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company

★ Richard Scruggs - Lawyer

★ William T. Young - businessman, major owner of thoroughbred racehorses, University of Kentucky

★ T. Boone Pickens - Chairman of Mesa Petroleum, Oklahoma State University

★ Josh Abramson - Co-Founder and President of CollegeHumor.com, University of Richmond

★ Tad T. Pardue - Lawyer with Broderick & Associates, Bowling Green, KY, Western Kentucky University

Education

★ Stephen G. Jennings - president of the University of Evansville

★ Bruce Grube - president of Georgia Southern University

★ Dr. Luis M. Proenza - president of the University of Akron

★ Dr. Gary Ransdell - president of Western Kentucky University

Government

★ Ivan Allen Jr. - Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia Tech

★ William Reynolds Archer, Jr. - U.S. Representitive, Chairman -House Ways and Means Committee, University of Texas

★ Haley Barbour - Governor of Mississippi, University of Mississippi

★ Max Baucus - Montana Senator, University of California-Los Angeles

★ Allen Boyd - US Representative from Florida (D), Florida State University

★ Jim DeMint - US Senator from South Carolina, University of Tennessee

★ Pete Domenici - New Mexico Senator, University of New Mexico

★ David Drier - US Representative from California, (R)University of La Verne

★ Don Evans - former US Commerce Secretary, University of Texas

★ Joe Foss - former SD Governor, Medal of Honor recipient, 1st Commissioner of the AFL, former NRA President, University of South Dakota

★ Paul Gillmor - US Representative from Ohio, Miami University

★ William Guy - former ND Governor, North Dakota State University

★ John J. Hickey - Wyoming governor (1959-61); U.S. Senator from Wyoming (1961-62), Indiana University

★ Johnny Isakson - U.S. Senator from Georgia, University of Georgia

★ Gary Johnson - Former Governor of New Mexico (R) University of New Mexico

★ Ray Jones - Kentucky State Senator (D), University of Kentucky

★ L.Q.C. Lamar - statesman, Justice of US Supreme Court, Emory College

★ John Lynch - Governor of New Hampshire, University of New Hampshire

★ Connie Mack III - former Florida US Senator (R), University of Florida

★ William McKinley - Twenty-fifth President of the United States (R), Allegheny College

★ Sidney S. McMath - Former Governor of Arkansas (D), Marine General & Renowned Trial Lawyer, University of Arkansas

★ Richard Myers - former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Kansas State University

★ Eliot Ness - Prohibition agent, University of Chicago

★ Hank Paulson - U.S. Treasury Secretary and former Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs, Dartmouth College

★ Larry Pressler - former South Dakota US Senator (R), University of South Dakota

★ David Pryor - former Arkansas Governor and US Senator (D), University of Arkansas

★ Mark Pryor - U.S. Senator from Arkansas (D), University of Arkansas

★ Robert D. Ray - Governor of Iowa (R), Drake University

★ Ralph Regula - US Congressman from Ohio (R), Mount Union College

★ Richard Riley - former US Secretary of Education, Former Governor of South Carolina (D), Furman University

★ Pat Robertson - Christian leader, 1988 Presidential Candidate, Washington and Lee University

★ Jerry Sanders - Mayor of San Diego (R) (former San Diego Chief of Police), San Diego State University

★ Kenneth Schissler - former Maryland State Delegate (R), Salisbury State University

★ John Shadegg - Arizona Congressman (R), University of Arizona

★ George Smathers- senator and congressman, D-FL, philanthropist, University of Florida

★ Warren A. Turner- U.S. Senator from Arizona

Science

★ Robert Ballard - explorer, located the wreck of the RMS ''Titanic''

★ Steve Fossett - aviator and adventurer

★ William Oefelein - NASA Astronaut and Lothario.

★ Robert H. Goddard - Father of modern controlled rocketry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Sports

★ Andy Douglas - professional wrestler, Morehead State University

★ Walt Terrell - former professional baseball player, Morehead State University

★ Harry Agganis - Boston University football All American, Boston Red Sox 1B, "The Golden Greek", Boston University

★ Chris Ault - University of Nevada-Reno football coach, University of Nevada

★ Andy Bean - Golf announcer, player on the PGA Champions Tour, University of Florida

★ Scott Boras - Pro baseball agent, University of the Pacific

★ Tony Boselli - professional football player, University of Southern California

★ Doug Brien - Former NFL place-kicker, University of California, Berkeley

★ Mack Brown - University of Texas football coach, Florida State University

★ Bob Bryan - tennis player, Stanford University

★ Mike Bryan - tennis player, Stanford University

★ Ken Caminiti - former professional baseball player, San Jose State University

★ Pete Carroll - University of Southern California football coach, University of the Pacific

★ Jayson Phoenix-professional wrestler Cumberland University

★ Dan Clark - American Gladiator-Nitro, San Jose State University

★ Paul Dietzel - Football coach at Louisiana State University, Miami University

★ Dennis Erickson - Arizona State University football coach, Montana State University

★ John Gall - Florida Marlins minor leaguer, Stanford University

★ Peter Gardere - Texas Longhorns Quarterback, 1989 thru 1992. Only University of Texas Quarterback to beat the University of Oklahoma 4 consecutive years. University of Texas

★ Ryan Garko - Cleveland Indians first baseman, Stanford University

★ Joey Gilbert - Professional Boxer, University of Nevada

★ Bob Gilder - Golfer, PGA Champions Tour, Arizona State University

★ Robert Goddard - father of modern rocketry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

★ Mike Gosling - Cincinnati Reds minor league pitcher, Stanford University

★ Jud Heathcote - Hall of Fame former Michigan State University Basketball Coach

★ Phil Jackson - professional basketball coach, currently with the L.A. Lakers, University of North Dakota

★ Bobby Jones - professional golfer, Georgia Tech

★ "Pistol Pete" Maravich - professional basketball player, Louisiana State University

★ Ron Mason - current athletics director at Michigan State University

★ Ed McCaffrey - professional football player, Stanford University

★ Kevin McClatchy - current CEO and former majority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates

★ Patrick McEnroe - tennis professional, Stanford University

★ John W. Mecom, Jr - Owner of the New Orleans Saints and the Mecom Racing Team, University of Texas

★ Graig Nettles - Former Major League Baseball player, San Diego State University

★ John Offerdahl - Former NFL linebacker, Western Michigan University

★ Carson Palmer - Professional NFL Quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals, University of Southern California

★ Todd Peterson - Former NFL place-kicker, University of Georgia

★ Tom Purtzer - Golfer, PGA Champions Tour, Arizona State University

★ Greg Reynolds - minor league baseball pitcher for the Tulsa (Okla.) Drillers, the Colorado Rockies first round choice (No. 2 overall) in the 2006 MLB Draft.

★ Dallas Sartz - Washington Redskins linebacker, University of Southern California

★ Bo Schembechler - Former University of Michigan football coach, Miami University

★ Drew Stanton - Detroit Lions quarterback, Michigan State University

★ Adam Seward - linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

★ Barry Switzer - (honorary) former football coach University of Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys, University of Arkansas

Misc.

★ Spencer Bailey - survivor of United Airlines Flight 232, Dickinson College

★ George Gallup - founder of The Gallup Poll, University of Iowa

★ Frank Reed Horton - founder of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, Lafayette College

External links

★ Official website