History of ΣAE

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded March 9, 1856, at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Its founders were Noble Leslie DeVotie, John Barratt Rudulph, Nathan Elams Cockrell, John Webb Kerr, Wade Foster, Samuel Marion Dennis, 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 ante-bellum South.

• Sigma Alpha Epsilon was the first international fraternity to be established in the deep South, having been founded at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, on March 9, 1856.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon was the first fraternity to have an international headquarters and the first to build its own headquarters, known as the Levere Memorial Temple. The Temple is the only fraternity headquarters to have a chapel.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon was the first fraternity to establish a leadership school. Started in 1935, the Leadership School has more than 34,000 graduates.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon has the greatest number of initiates of any Greek-letter organization with more than 280,000 men.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon has more than 200 chapters in 48 states and Canada and 175 alumni associations.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s fraternity magazine, The Record of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, has been published continuously since 1880.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon has Assistant Executive Directors in four regions who support each chapter and assist with management and programming.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon has a student loan program to assist undergraduate brothers with their education. More than $5 million has been loaned since the program’s inception.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon has an awards program to recognize outstanding contributions of Sigma Alpha Epsilon alumni, undergraduates, chapters, and others to the development of individuals and to the betterment of life in their community.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon requires all chapters to conduct dry rush, and the fraternity has a strong policy against hazing.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon launched The True Gentleman Initiative, a continuing member-education program designed to enhance the individual development of its members.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon was the first fraternity to offer a toll-free hazing hotline available for all members, pledges, and parents.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon offers an extensive scholarship program that recognizes student leaders and scholars.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon was the first social fraternity to donate money to the World War II Memorial Campaign, with more than $100,000 being raised from its members. It was the largest donation from a student group.

The True Gentleman by Brother John Walter Wayland // 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.

For almost three-quarters of a century, our Brothers have been guided by these simple but powerful words. They have inspired us in times of discouragement, guided us in times of confusion, humbled us at our moments of great achievement, and bonded us across all distance and time.

In many ways the words penned by John Walter Wayland are Sigma Alpha Epsilon, to members and non-members alike. No other piece of writing captures so completely our intentions and standards; no other works sums up so concisely what we stand for, aspire to, and work toward in everything we do.