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sigma chi timeline

/ The founding and parent chapter era /

1855
1855

Sigma Chi
  • Sigma Chi founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

World Events

  • Wisconsin Supreme Ct declares US Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional.
  • Aleksandr Romanov becomes tsar of Russia.
1856
1856

Sigma Chi

  • Greek-letter rivals at Miami University stole the Ritual and records, which necessitated the preparation of a new constitution and Ritual and a change in name from Sigma Phi to Sigma Chi.

World Events

  • Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, Ohio.
1857
1857

Sigma Chi

  • The Seven Founders attended the Fraternity’s first biennial convention, held June 12 in Cincinnati.
  • On October 10, Eta chapter was installed at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss. Eta’s was the fourth charter granted.
  • Bell, Caldwell, Cooper, Runkle and Jordan graduated that June from Miami University.

World Events

  • Dred Scott Decision: Supreme Court rules slaves cannot be citizens.
  • Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada.
1858
1858

Sigma Chi

  • On September 10, Lockwood and Scobey, the last of the Founders to graduate from Miami, established Lambda chapter at Indiana University in Bloomington, now the oldest chapter in continual existence in Sigma Chi.
  • In June, Alpha, the parent chapter, became inactive, and Gamma chapter assumed its governing power for the next 24 years.

World Events

  • 1st Lincoln-Douglas debate (Illinois).
  • First news dispatch by telegraph.
1861
1861

 
Sigma Chi
  • Twelve chapters had been installed prior to the Civil War. Fraternity records contain the names of 265 active and alumni members who were in the conflict. Of this number, 147 were in the Union forces and 118 with the Confederacy, totaling more than 60 percent of the total Sigma Chi membership of 432.
  • Founders Runkle, Scobey, Lockwood, and Bell fought for the Union in the conflict. Caldwell, who made his home in Panola County, Miss., fought with the Confederacy.
  • The third Grand Chapter met in Wheeling, West Virginia, and there the first official “Form of Initiation” was designated for all chapters. “In Hoc Signo Vinces,” a secret motto since 1856, was made the official public motto.

World Events

  • United States Civil War Begins
  • Queen Victoria announces England’s position of neutrality.
1864
1864

Sigma Chi

  • Harry St. John Dixon and his small band of Sigma Chi soldiers established what has come to be known as the Constantine Chapter of Sigma Chi on the night of September 17 during the heated Atlanta campaign of the Civil War.

World Events

  • U.S. Civil War in its 4th and final year–ending with the formal surrender of Confederate Forces at Appromattox Court House on April 9th, 1865.
  • Red Cross forms in Geneva.
1866
1866

Sigma Chi

  • The Sixth Biennial Celebration was held on December 27-28 in Washington, D.C. Here, the name “Grand Chapter” was first used.

World Events

  • Cincinnati Baseball club (Red Stockings) forms. They go on to become the first professional Baseball team.
  • Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long)
1870
1870

Sigma Chi

  • The eighth Grand Chapter, held in Philadelphia, adopted blue and gold as the Fraternity’s colors. These colors are now standardized as Blue and Old Gold.

World Events

  • 1st sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) (DePauw U in Greencastle, Indiana).
  • U.S. passes the 15th Amendment, guarantees right to vote regardless of race.
1872
1872

Sigma Chi

  • The first alumni chapter was established in Indianapolis, Ind.
    The Grand Chapter elected Harry St. John Dixon as Grand Historian, making him the Fraternity’s first Grand Officer.

World Events

  • 1st national convention of Prohibition Party (Columbus Ohio).
  • Britain pays US$15.5 million for damages during Civil War.
1876
1876

Sigma Chi

  • The “Purdue Case” – in which Thomas P. Hawley was denied entrance into Purdue University because of his prior initiation into and affiliation with Sigma Chi – began. The case came to a head in 1881 when Judge D.P. Vinton ruled that the faculty had no right to bar Hawley from their classes on the issue. When the appeal decision was handed down on June 21, 1882, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Fraternities could exist on the campus of Purdue University – a sweeping victory for Sigma Chi.

World Events

  • Alexander Graham Bell patents telephone.
  • The United States celebrates its centennial.

/ A new form of governance /

1881
1881

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity’s first magazine, The Sigma Chi, was established under the supervision of Theta Chapter at Gettysburg College, Pa. In 1926 it became The Magazine of Sigma Chi.

World Events

  • Dr John H Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes.
  • Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
  • American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton.
1882
1882

Sigma Chi

  • The 14th Grand Chapter, held in Chicago, adopted a transitional form of centralized government. Delegates elected John S. McMillin, DePauw 1876, the first Grand Consul.

World Events

  • Britain’s first electric trams run in East London.
  • 1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison.
1886
1886

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi reached the Pacific Coast with the establishment of Alpha Beta chapter at the University of California–Berkeley.

World Events

  • 1st US alternating current power plant starts, Great Barrington, MA.
  • Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen.
  • Statue of Liberty dedicated by Pres Grover Cleveland.
1887
1887

Sigma Chi

  • The Sigma Chi Bulletin, the first Greek-letter private publication for members only, was born.

World Events

  • Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show opens in London.
  • Britain celebrates golden jubilee of Queen Victoria
1890
1890

Sigma Chi

  • Chi Chapter at Hanover College became the first chapter in Sigma Chi to move into its own home.
  • Founders Runkle, Scobey, Lockwood, Bell and Cooper fought for the Union in the conflict. Caldwell, who made his home in Panola County, Miss., fought with the Confederacy.
  • The third Grand Chapter met in Wheeling, West Virginia, and there the first official “Form of Initiation” was designated for all chapters. “In Hoc Signo Vinces,” a secret motto since 1856, was made the official public motto.

World Events

  • Alice Sanger becomes 1st female White House staffer.
  • Ellis Island designated as an immigration station
1893
1893

Sigma Chi

  • The last honorary member of Sigma Chi, President Grover Cleveland, was initiated on January 26. He is the only Sigma Chi to have held the office of President of the United States.

World Events

  • World’s Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
  • First appearance of an electric car.
1895
1895

Sigma Chi

  • The 22nd Grand Chapter, held July 25-27 in Chicago, elected Founder Benjamin Piatt Runkle to be Grand Consul, the only Founder to serve in that position.

World Events

  • French Capt Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, publicly stripped of his rank; later declared innocent.
  • Moving picture projector patented.
  • Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates his invention – the world’s first radio receiver.
1899
1899

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity adopted Henry V. Vinton’s, Purdue 1885, flag design.

World Events

  • The first known use of the word automobile, was seen in an editorial in The New York Times.
  • Start of the Boer War as S. Africa declares war on Great Britain
1901
1901

Sigma Chi

The 25th Grand Chapter approved the Fraternity’s pledge pin.

World Events

  • Australia declares independence from federation of UK colonies.
  • Britain’s Queen Victoria dies after 64 years on the throne.
1903
1903

Sigma Chi

  • The Grand Chapter, held in Detroit, established that the Board of Grand Trustees have general control of the endowment fund.

World Events

  • 1st regular transatlantic radio broadcast between US & England.
  • Inspired by U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, the world’s first Teddy Bear is introduced.
  • Wright Bros make 1st flight at Kittyhawk.
1905
1905

Sigma Chi

  • The Semi-Centennial Grand Chapter was held in Cincinnati and Oxford, Ohio, July 27-30, with Founders Bell, Caldwell, Cooper and Runkle attending.

World Events

  • The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein’s paper “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”, introducing the equation E=mc².
  • In France, the law separating church and state is passed.

/ Sigma Chi International /

1911
1911

Sigma Chi

  • The 29th Grand Chapter, held June 29-30 in Chicago, created a five-member Executive Committee.
  • Sigma Chi helped launch the National Interfraternity Conference on November 27 in New York City.
  • The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi was written in June for the 25th Anniversary Reunion of Alpha Pi chapter at Albion College, Michigan. Byron D. Stokes, 1913, wrote the words one afternoon in class. He then gave them to F. Dudleigh Vernor, 1914, who set them to music the same day.

World Events

  • British explorer Ernest Shackleton finds magnetic south pole. Later that year, Americans Robert Peary & Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.
  • 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (NYC).
  • 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution approves income tax. It will be ratified and become law in 1913.
  • Great fire destroys downtown Constantinople/Istanbul Turkey.
  • R.M.S. Titanic launched. It will sink on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912.
1913
1913

Sigma Chi

  • Frederick C. “Fritz” Grabner, Beloit 1911, became the Fraternity’s first full-time Executive Secretary.

World Events

  • British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland.
  • The skyscraper Woolworth Building in New York City is opened.
  • British House of Commons rejects woman’s right to vote.
1914
1914

Sigma Chi

  • The first General Headquarters office devoted exclusively to the business of the Fraternity was established in
  • Chicago

World Events

  • Henry Ford introduces assembly line, for Model-T Fords.
  • Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo. This event is the first in a series leading to the onset of World War I in July when The Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Serbia. The war would last until November 1918, eventually drawing the United States into the war in 1917.
1920
1920

Sigma Chi

  • During the 1920s—the exact year is unknown—Mrs. Alice Tuttle, housemother at the Gamma Delta Chapter, Oklahoma State, wrote The Sigma Chi Gracei, the Fraternity’s prayer.

World Events

  • 1st Black baseball league, National Negro Baseball League, organizes.
  • 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote is signed into law. The 18th Amendment, prohibition, goes into effect; repealed in 1933.
  • 1st assembly of League of Nations (Paris).
1922
1922

Sigma Chi

  • After 67 years as a national organization, Sigma Chi became international when it installed the Beta Omega Chapter at the University of Toronto on April 22.
  • The event which came to be known as “Sigma Chi Derby Day” in many chapters is believed to have originated this year. Alpha Beta Chapter, California-Berkeley, created the “Channing Way Derby,” which came to life on many other campuses as “Derby Day.

World Events

  • Irish Free State forms; Michael Collins becomes 1st premier.
  • WGY-AM in Schenectady NY begins radio transmissions.
  • Supreme Court unanimously upheld 19th amend woman’s right to vote.
1925
1925

Sigma Chi

  • The 37th Grand Chapter held in Estes Park, Colo. originated the Life Membership program.
  • Dr. Joseph Cookman Nate, Illinois Wesleyan 1890 unveiled the first volume of his monumental History of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

World Events

  • Benito Mussolini dissolves Italian parliament/becomes dictator of Italy.
  • Paul von Hindenburg elected president of Germany.
  • Louis Armstrong records 1st of Hot Five & Hot Seven recordings.
1929
1929

Sigma Chi

  • L. G. Balfour, Indiana 1907, established the Balfour Award, the highest undergraduate honor in the Fraternity. The annual award recognizes the most outstanding graduating senior of each undergraduate chapter, province and international fraternity of that college year.
  • Past Grand Consul George Ade, Purdue 1887, wrote The Sigma Chi Creed.
  • The Fraternity adopted a uniform system of pledge training, which included the first edition of The Norman Shield.

World Events

  • The comic strip adventures of both Buck Rogers and Tarzan appear marking the first Sci-Fi and adventure comics strips.
  • “Black Tuesday,” on October 29 sees the U.S. Stock Market crash marking the onset of the Great Depression. Within a year, the economic downturn will become a worldwide phenomenon.
1930
1930

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi celebrates its Diamond Jubilee as it marks the 75th anniverary of the Fraternity’s founding in 1855..
  • The Fraternity adopted a uniform system of pledge training, which included the first edition of The Norman Shield.

World Events

  • U.S. astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
  • The 1,046-foot (319-meter) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public. Its reign would last only one year until the Empire State Building opened in 1931.

/ 100 YEARS OF SIGMA CHI /

1933
1933

Sigma Chi

  • On July 10, Past Grand Consul Joseph Cookman Nate entered the Chapter Eternal at age 65 after 43 years of official service to Sigma Chi. He is best remembered for his monumental History of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, four volumes of which had been published at his death.

World Events

  • Adolph Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany, setting in motion a series of events leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt assumes office as the 32nd President of the United States. FDR will serve 12 1/2 years, be re-elected three times, and lead the U.S. out of the Great Depression and through the worse parts of World War II.
1934
1934

Sigma Chi

  • An Endowment Commission, a forerunner  of the Sigma Chi Foundation, was established. In 1941, its name was changed to the Sigma Chi Foundation.

World Events

  • Edwin Hubble photo shows as many galaxies as Milky Way has stars.
  • Outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre, “Public Enemy No. 1” John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents.
1935
1935

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity created the Significant Sig Award. This award would be presented at Grand Chapter to alumni whose achievements brought honor and prestige to the Fraternity. Seven medals were presented at the 42nd Grand Chapter held in Chicago.

World Events

  • Sandstorm ravages US midwest (Dust Bowl).
  • One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario.
  • 1st automobile to exceed 300 mph, Sir Malcolm Campbell (301.337 mph).
1939
1939

Sigma Chi

  • Ralph Connable, Albion 1882, father of Sigma Chi in Canada, passes to the Chapter Eternal on April 18, 1939.

World Events

  • World War II breaks out in Europe
1941
1941

Sigma Chi

  • At the 45th Grand Chapter in Detroit, the Daniel William Cooper Scholarship Trophy was presented. Undergraduate chapters now compete for the award annually. This will be the last Grand Chapter until the conclusion of World War II.

World Events

  • On December 7th, “Naval and Air Forces of the Empire of Japan” attacked the U.S. Naval Station at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Aboard the U.S.S. Oklahoma was Ensign Verdi D. Sederstrom Oregon 1940–he will be come the first Sigma Chi casualty of World War II. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt stands before Congress asking for a declaration of war against Japan. Four day later, on December 11th, Germany declares war on the United States marking full U.S. involvement in the Second World War.
1945
1945

Sigma Chi

  • On June 19, a group of 16 Sigs gathered at the Office of War Information Club in Manila, Philippine Islands, to write another stirring chapter in Sigma Chi history. Fierce fighting in World War II was still raging less than 20 miles from Manila and Japanese snipers were still active in the battered city when these Sigs met to reactivate the Manila alumni chapter. Instrumental in the re-organization were Richard H. Watkins, Oregon 1935, and Howard Kramer, Miami (Ohio) 1929.

World Events

  • On the eve of victory, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies April 12th, 1945. Within a month, the war concludes in Europe with the suicide of Adoph Hitler and the unconditonal surrender of Germany on May 7th.
  • The U.S. drops the Atomic Bomb on two Japanes cities forcing an unconditional Japanese surrender bringing the war in the Pacific and World War II to a close.
1946
1946

Sigma Chi

World Events

  • British Government takes control of Bank of England, after 252 years.
  • League of Nations assembles for last time and the United Nations forms.
  • President Truman orders desegregation of all US forces.
1947
1947

Sigma Chi

  • On August 31 through September 3, the first Leadership Training Workshop was held at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. 215 delegates from 82 of 108 undergraduate chapters attended. Delegates covered the topics of recruitment, pledge training, chapter organization, accounting methods, preparation of a yearly budget, interpretation of the Ritual, campus and alumni relations and chapter publications.

World Events

  • 1st plane (F-80) to exceed 600 mph (1004 kph).
  • Flying saucers sighted over Mount Rainier by pilot Ken Arnold.
1948
1948

Sigma Chi

  • The Grand Chapter held in Seattle established the Order of Constantine to recognize alumni for outstanding Fraternity service. Forty-seven Sigs were made charter members.
  • At the 47th Grand Chapter, the Fraternity selected Barbara Tanner, a Kappa Alpha Theta sorority member from Michigan State, as the first International Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.

World Events

  • British railways are nationalised to form British Rail.
  • “The Kitty Hawk” comes home. The Wright brothers’ historic plane was formally presented to the Smithsonian Institution on December 17, 1948 by Milton Wright, Miami-Ohio 1915, nephew of the inventors.
1950
1950

Sigma Chi

  • After 95 years of either no headquarters at all or of renting office space, Sigma Chi bought the magnificent Harley L. Clark mansion on Lake Michigan in Evanston, Illinois, for its Headquarters.
  • Life magazine cited Sigma Chi Fraternity as “… one of the most solid of all. … ” in a story on college fraternities.

World Events

  • U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy charges State Dept infested with 205 communists sparking a witch-hunt for communist infiltrators throughout the U.S. society.
  • First kidney transplant (Chicago).
  • First time US & North Korean forces clash in Korean War.
1955
1955

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity celebrated its Centennial June 28 in Oxford, Ohio, as a part of the 50th Grand Chapter which met in Cincinnati.
  • During the Literary Exercise of this Grand Chapter, brothers received a copy of The Centennial History by Robert M. Collett, Denison 1915. With 2,000 Sigs and guests in attendance, it was the largest event in Sigma Chi history.

World Events

  • Elvis Presley’s 1st TV appearance on “Louisiana Hayride” show.
  • Winston Churchill resigns as British PM, Anthony Eden succeeds him.
  • Publication of The Return of the King, being the last part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien.

/ WINDS OF CHANGE /

1957
1957

Sigma Chi

  • The 51st Grand Chapter met in Toronto June 25-28, the first time such an event occurred outside the United States.

World Events

  • To mark the celebration of the International Geophysical Year, the former Soviet Union orbits the world’s first artificial satellite–Sputnik. This event marked the dawn of the Space Age and the start of a Cold War struggle between that country and the United States for supremacy on the final frontier.
1961
1961

Sigma Chi

  • All 134 active chapters participated in the Leadership Training Workshop at Bowling Green State University, the first to have all chapters represented.

World Events

  • President Kennedy establishes the Peace Corp.
  • Soviet Cosmonaut, Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin becomes 1st person in space aboard Vostok 1. Five weeks later, Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space aboard Freedom ).
  • East Germany begins erecting 5′ high wall along the border with the west to replace the barbed wire put up Aug 13
1962
1962

Sigma Chi

  • Four Assistant Executive Secretaries (AESs) from the Headquarters Staff conducted an extended chapter assistance program, visiting each undergraduate chapter at least once.

World Events

  • London trolley buses go out of service.
  • 1st transatlantic TV transmission via satellite (Telstar I).
  • The U.S. House of Representatives passes bill requiring equal pay for equal work regardless of sex.
1964
1964

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi had its first U.S. presidential candidate in 72 years. Arizona Senator and Significant Sig Barry Goldwater, Arizona 1932, won the Republican nomination. Hundreds of Sigma Chis took an active part in his spirited though unsuccessful campaign.
  • The Fraternity presented the J. Dwight Peterson Significant Chapter Award for the first time. Named for Past Grand Consul Peterson, who endowed it, the award recognizes each chapter in the Fraternity that meets a thorough yet attainable set of standards. The first winners, for the 1963-64 school year, were the chapters at DePauw, MIT and Sam Houston. Beginning with the 1969-70 academic year, the Sigma Chi Foundation presented a cash donation to the counseling and tutoring programs of institutions of the winning chapters.

World Events

  • France & Great-Britain sign accord to build the channel tunnel. It would take nearly 1/4 century to begin construction, but the tunnel (now affectionately know as the ‘chunnel’) opened to commercial rail service in 1994. It is now possible to board a train at London’s Victoria station and ride all the way to Paris.
  • In the same year the United States passed the Civil Rights Act, race riots erupt in several U.S. cities.
1966
1966

Sigma Chi

  • On Oct. 30, more than 300 Sigs and guests gathered at 1714 Hinman Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, to dedicate the Fraternity’s newly constructed headquarters, the first built by Sigma Chi for this purpose.

World Events

  • First official meeting after 400 years of Catholic & Anglican Church.
  • First horror soap opera, “Dark Shadows,” premieres on ABC-TV and “Star Trek” premieres on NBC TV.
1971
1971

Sigma Chi

  • The Grand Chapter marked the climax and resolution of nearly 15 years of internal strife in the Fraternity over the proposed initiation of members of minority groups. Grand Chapter delegates voted to remove restrictive passages in the Fraternity’s Governing Laws, validating the 1970 decision of the Executive Committee and granting active chapters increased autonomy in membership selection.
  • John W. Graham, Q.C., Toronto 1933, became the first Canadian to be elected Grand Consul.

World Events

  • 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington, DC.
  • Great Britain abandons 12-shilling system and the pound goes decimal.
1972
1972

Sigma Chi

  • The Executive Committee authorized a program to provide General Fraternity and staff participation and assistance in the initial creation of new local fraternities as prospective future chapters. The first such group was established at Florence State University in Alabama (now known as the University of North Alabama).
  • The committee authorized the new Erwin L. LeClerg Outstanding Chapter Advisor award. The first recipient was Dr. Elton B. Hill, Michigan State 1915, a longtime advisor to the Gamma Psi Chapter.
  • On the governmental and international scene, national elections in the United States and Canada increased the size of the delegation of Sigma Chi members in the Congressional and legislative bodies of the United States and Canada to a record number of three United States Senators, one Canadian Senator, and 15 United States Representatives—the largest fraternity delegation in the Greek-letter world.
  • Astronaut John W. Young, Georgia Tech 1952, was one of three astronauts who circled the moon in Apollo 10. In 1972, as commander of the Apollo 16 space mission, he became the ninth man to set foot on the moon. He carried with him to the moon a Sigma Chi badge and flag, which are now on display in the Fraternity Headquarters Museum.

World Events

  • One of the high points in 1970s diplomacy, and of the Nixon Presidency, Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to visit China.
  • US, USSR & 70 other nations agree to ban the use of biological weapons.
  • Apollo 17 launches from Cape Kennedy marking the end of Nasa’s manned lunar missions.
1973
1973

Sigma Chi

  • In January, Significant Sig and Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Colgate 1934, represented the United States in signing the long-awaited agreement to end the war in Vietnam.
  • At the Grand Chapter, Past Grand Consul William P. Huffman, Denison 1911, presented the title of the Founding Site property in Oxford, Ohio, to the Sigma Chi Foundation. Huffman had purchased the property from its Oxford owners, and by his generous gesture, assured that the building housing the room known as the “birthplace of Sigma Chi” would be preserved. In 1978, the building was identified as the oldest commercial structure in the town of Oxford.

World Events

  • Britain, Ireland & Denmark become 7th-9th members of European Common Market.
  • Following the resumption of the Paris Peace Talks, President Nixon suspends all US offensive action in North Vietnam. Later that year, the United States ends the draft.
  • To protest western support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War, OPEC (Oil Producing and Exporting Countries) begin an oil embargo against the west. It lasted until 1974 and prices for petroleum products soared worldwide. In some countries, government officials instituted rationing.
1974
1974

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity created the William T. Bringham House Corporation Officer and Edna Boss Housemother Awards.

World Events

  • US President, Richard Nixon, resigns in disgrace in the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal.
  • Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended.
  • 1st extraterrestrial message sent from Earth into space.
1975
1975

Sigma Chi

  • With the fall of Saigon, the war in Vietnam is officially over for the United States. As in previous wars, Sigma Chis played vital roles in the Vietnam War. More than 40 Sigs lost their lives in the conflict.

World Events

  • Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
  • Pope Paul VI declares Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton 1st US saint.
1976
1976

Sigma Chi

  • The Greek-letter fraternity system observed its bicentennial by commemorating the birth of the first fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1776. Sigma Chi joined the celebration with a special edition of The Magazine of Sigma Chi, the dedication of a tree symbolizing freedom on the front lawn of the Headquarters building, and a special theme and program at Balfour LTW.

World Events

  • The United States also celebrates its bicentennial.
  • The Apple I desktop computer is unveiled.
1977
1977

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi reaffirmed its anti-hazing stance by adopting a Statement of Position on Pledge Training and the Ritual.
  • The Fraternity recorded its 150,000th initiate.

World Events

  • President Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.
  • The first “Star Wars” movie is released. The film’s special effects revolutionized science fiction entertainment.
1980
1980

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity and Foundation dedicated a $600,000 wing, made possible by alumni contributions, on the Headquarters building.
  • Sigma Chi celebrated its 125th birthday by coordinating nearly 200 simultaneous celebrations across the continent. Most of the groups participated in a special telephone conference call and viewed an anniversary film made for the occasion.

World Events

  • To condemn Soviet incursions into Afghanistan, the US announces a boycott of the Moscow Olympics. The Soviets would retaliate by boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
  • 1st transmission of CNN, Cable News Network.

/ RECONSOLIDATION /

1981
1981

Sigma Chi
  • The Magazine of Sigma Chi commemorated its 100th anniversary with a special 120-page edition.

World Events

  • 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed.
  • First launch of the Space Shuttle Program.
1985
1985

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity created the Edwin C. Fisher Grand Praetor Award.

World Events

  • The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
1987
1987

Sigma Chi

  • Epsilon Omicron chapter at the University of Western Ontario hosted the first Leadership Training Workshop held in Canada.
  • The Fraternity established the George Ruhle Outstanding Scholar and the Henri Stegemeier Faculty Advisor Awards.

World Events

  • Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604.
  • U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in a speech before the Berlin Wall.
1988
1988

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity established the Risk Management Foundation to provide educational and liability information and insurance services to active chapters and house corporations.
  • The General Headquarters building was named in honor of Past Grand Consul J. Dwight Peterson, Indiana 1919.

World Events

  • Mulroney & Reagan sign Canada-US free trade agreement.
  • Margaret Thatcher becomes longest-serving British PM this century.
  • Discovery of most distant galaxy (15 billion light years) announced.
1989
1989

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi recorded its 200,000th initiate, John Delaney, Utah State 1994.
  • Executive Secretary William T. Bringham Sr., Illinois Wesleyan 1946, retired after serving the Fraternity in that full-time Headquarters staff position nearly 36 years.

World Events

  • 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons (poison gas, etc).
  • The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit.
  • Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom. The demonstrations are brutally suppressed by the Chinese Government leading to the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1990
1990

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity established Constantine Capital Inc. to assist house corporations in securing financing for new, expanded or renovated chapter housing.
  • Grand Historian Douglas R. Carlsons, Minnesota 1973, 554-page History of the Sigma Chi Fraternity 1955 to 1980 was published, the first Sigma Chi history volume since 1955.

World Events

  • As a new decade dawns, the end is near for the old Soviet Union. Throughout the year, the Warsaw Pact implodes as nation after nation renounce their ties to Moscow. On May 29th, Boris Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian Republic, which begins to act as the sovereign power in Russia. Despite a short-lived attempt to prop up the Soviet regime, it formally dissolved on December 8. 1991.
  • In an act of deluded hubris, Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq occupies Kuwait and challenges the world to remove him.
1991
1991

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity Executive Committee voted to prohibit all chapter little sister groups by June 1992.
  • The 68th Grand Chapter adopted the Fraternity Mission Statement and a new policy on alcohol and illegal drugs.

World Events

  • Operation Desert Storm–the allied effort to remove Iraq from Kuwait begins and ends in six weeks.
  • In a sign of the times, U.S. President, George H. W. Bush decides to end full-time B-52 bombers alert.
1992
1992

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity adopted the Childrens Miracle Network as its recommended service project.
  • The Fraternity rededicated its Founding Site at the Leadership Training Workshop, held August 13-16 at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

World News

  • The world mourns as one the last son of Krypton meets his death at the hands of super-villain, Doomsday. Over the course of a year, DC Comics relates the story of a world without Superman that span nearly all of the publishers monthly titles. The character is resurrected the following year thanks to advanced Kryptonian technology that regenerated the Man of Steel.
1993
1993

Sigma Chi

  • Legislation to create two undergraduate positions on the Executive Committee was approved by the 69th Grand Chapter in Toronto, Ontario, also prompting two undergraduate appointments to the Leadership Training Board.

World Events

  • Foreshadowing the September 11th attacks, Terrorists plant a bomb in the garage of the World Trade Center killing 6 and injuring over 1,000.
  • The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
1994
1994

Sigma Chi

  • The James F. Bash Significant Improvement Award was presented for the first time to Eta Alpha Chapter, Eastern Kentucky.

World Events

  • The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is established.
  • All eyes are turned to space as the Shoemaker-Levy comet breaks apart and collides with Jupiter in a series of 9 impact events.
1995
1995

 

Sigma Chi

  • The Magazine of Sigma Chi commemorated its 100th anniversary with a special 120-page edition.

World Events

  • 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed.
  • First launch of the Space Shuttle Program.
 
1981
 

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity created the Edwin C. Fisher Grand Praetor Award.

World Events

  • The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
 
1985
 

Sigma Chi

  • Epsilon Omicron chapter at the University of Western Ontario hosted the first Leadership Training Workshop held in Canada.
  • The Fraternity established the George Ruhle Outstanding Scholar and the Henri Stegemeier Faculty Advisor Awards.

World Events

  • Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604.
  • U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in a speech before the Berlin Wall.
 
1987
 

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity established the Risk Management Foundation to provide educational and liability information and insurance services to active chapters and house corporations.
  • The General Headquarters building was named in honor of Past Grand Consul J. Dwight Peterson, Indiana 1919.

World Events

  • Mulroney & Reagan sign Canada-US free trade agreement.
  • Margaret Thatcher becomes longest-serving British PM this century.
  • Discovery of most distant galaxy (15 billion light years) announced.
 
1988
 

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi recorded its 200,000th initiate, John Delaney, Utah State 1994.
  • Executive Secretary William T. Bringham Sr., Illinois Wesleyan 1946, retired after serving the Fraternity in that full-time Headquarters staff position nearly 36 years.

World Events

  • 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons (poison gas, etc).
  • The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit.
  • Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom. The demonstrations are brutally suppressed by the Chinese Govenment leading to the Tiananmen Square massacre.
 
1989
 

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity established Constantine Capital Inc. to assist house corporations in securing financing for new, expanded or renovated chapter housing.
  • Grand Historian Douglas R. Carlsons, Minnesota 1973, 554-page History of the Sigma Chi Fraternity 1955 to 1980 was published, the first Sigma Chi history volume since 1955.

World Events

  • As a new decade dawns, the end is near for the old Soviet Union. Throughout the year, the Warsaw Pact implodes as nation after nation renounce their ties to Moscow. On May 29th, Boris Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian Republic, which begins to act as the sovereign power in Russia. Despite a short-lived attempt to prop up the Soviet regime, it formally dissolved on December 8. 1991.
  • In an act of deluded hubris, Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq occupies Kuwait and challenges the world to remove him.
 
1990
 

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity Executive Committee voted to prohibit all chapter little sister groups by June 1992.
  • The 68th Grand Chapter adopted the Fraternity Mission Statement and a new policy on alcohol and illegal drugs.

World Events

  • Operation Desert Storm–the allied effort to remove Iraq from Kuwait begins and ends in six weeks.
  • In a sign of the times, U.S. President, George H. W. Bush decides to end full-time B-52 bombers alert.
 
1991
 

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity adopted the Childrens Miracle Network as its recommended service project.
  • The Fraternity rededicated its Founding Site at the Leadership Training Workshop, held August 13-16 at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

World News

  • The world mourns as one the last son of Krypton meets his death at the hands of super-villain, Doomsday. Over the course of a year, DC Comics relates the story of a world without Superman that span nearly all of the publishers monthly titles. The character is resurrected the following year thanks to advanced Kryptonian technology that regenerated the Man of Steel.
 
1992
 

Sigma Chi

  • Legislation to create two undergraduate positions on the Executive Committee was approved by the 69th Grand Chapter in Toronto, Ontario, also prompting two undergraduate appointments to the Leadership Training Board.

World Events

  • Foreshadowing the September 11th attacks, Terrorists plant a bomb in the garage of the World Trade Center killing 6 and injuring over 1,000.
  • The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
 
1993
 

Sigma Chi

  • The James F. Bash Significant Improvement Award was presented for the first time to Eta Alpha Chapter, Eastern Kentucky.

World Events

  • The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is established.
  • All eyes are turned to space as the Shoemaker-Levy comet breaks apart and collides with Jupiter in a series of 9 impact events.
 
1994
 

Sigma Chi

  • Frank J. Raymond, Penn State 1971, was named president of the Sigma Chi Foundation, succeeding Merrill E. Boz Prichard, Illinois 1948, who had served as the Foundations executive officer since 1986.
  • Significant Sig Jon M. Huntsman, Pennsylvania 1959, and Jon M. Huntsman Jr., Utah 1983, made a joint gift to the Foundation to underwrite the Murray K. McComas Scholarships.

World Events

  • The United Kingdom’s oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank, collapses after a securities broker loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
  • The 50th anniversary of the end of World War II is celebrated around the globe. In England, thousands of people participate in public celebrations including Queen Elizabeth II who was a member of Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service where she trained as a mechanic and drove a military truck in support of the war effort.
1996
1996

Sigma Chi

  • Significant Sig K.S. Bud Adams Jr., Kansas 1944, funded the Life Loyal Sig Award, which awards a Life Membership to each chapter Balfour Award winner.

World Events

  • For the first time, a computer defeats a human chess player when chess computer “Deep Blue” defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov. Later that year, Karparox will redeem himself by defeating the computer in a rematch.
  • The X Prize Foundation launches the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which is won in 2004, by Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne. To win the prize teams competed to place the first commerical spacecraft into earth orbit.
1997
1997

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity celebrates its 50th Leadership Training Workshop.
  • Fraternity contributions to the CMN surpassed the $1 million mark.
  • The Balfour Foundation, named for Past Grand Consul L.G. Balfour, Indiana 1907, began its annual grant to underwrite educational elements of the Balfour Workshop.

World Events

  • In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned, and was born in July 1996.
  • The United Kingdom hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.
1998
1998

Sigma Chi

  • The Fraternity launched SigmaChi.org
  • Grand Council delegates affirmed the EC resolution that all chapters must achieve, for each grading term, a cumulative GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, or the equivalent.

World Events

  • The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon’s poles.
  • NASA announces the choice of United States Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins as the first woman to command a space shuttle mission.
1999
1999

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi Horizons, funded by Significant Sig Bob McNair, South Carolina 1958, was bornin the moutains of Snowbird, Utah.

World Events

  • World population reaches 6 billion people.
  • The EURO is established as the currency of the European Union.
2002
2002

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi donations to the Childrens Miracle Network surpassed the $3 million mark.
  • Sigma Chi begins partnership with Betty Ford Center to address alcohol use and abuse among college students.

World Events

  • In a early example of the Global Warming phenomenon, a large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins disintegrating, consuming about 3,250 km (1,254 miles) over 35 days.
  • The U.S. invades Afghanistan in pursuit of Al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the September 11th attacks. A side-effect of the U.S. incursions–coalition forces, working with the Afghan opposition, quickly ousted the Taliban regime.
2005
2005

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi celebrates its 150th anniversary with a once-in-a-lifetime event in Cincinnati. Led by Sigma Chi legislators, both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate pass resolutions honoring Sigma Chi for reaching this milestone.
  • Sigma Chi announces a partnership with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, making it the second recommended philanthropy along with Children’s Miracle Network.

World Events

  • After 26 years as the leader of the world’s Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II (Karol Jozef Wojtyla), dies in Rome. Nearly 4,000,000 people would travel to the Vatican to mourn his passing. Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) succeeds the beloved pontiff.

/ LOOKING FORWARD OPTIMISTICALLY /

2006
2006

Sigma Chi

  • The Mission 365 recruitment program is implemented throughout the Fraternity, enhancing the recruitment methods employed by undergraduate chapters.

World Events

  • The New Horizons probe is launched by NASA on the first mission to Pluto.
  • After 155 years, Western Union discontinues its telegram service.
2007
2007

Sigma Chi

  • Xi Xi chapter is reinstalled at Balfour LTW on August 2nd. Witnessed by almost 1,500 Sigma Chis, it is believed to be the largest audience to participate in an initiation ceremony in the history of the Greek world.

World Events

  • The final book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released.
2008
2008

Sigma Chi

  • Sigma Chi begins rollout of the Cornerstone mentor program to all chapters in the Fraternity.

World Events

  • The price of petroleum hits $100 per barrel for the first time and will top out at nearly $150 a barrel by mid-summer. At the pump this was reflected in gasoline prices of over $4 a gallon in some areas.
2009
2009

Sigma Chi

  • The number of active undergraduate chapters swells to 230, the most at any one time in the Fraternity’s history.

World Events

  • Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th, and first African American, President of the United States.

SIGMA CHI

1714 Hinman Ave. Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 869-3655

Quick Links

Sigma Chi

SIGMA CHI

1714 Hinman Ave. Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 869-3655

Quick Links

Sigma Chi

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