Friendship
When the Founders came together to form the Fraternity in 1855, one of the core beliefs that each shared with the group was a mutual belief in the idea of true friendship. They believed that true friendship is best found through true service to each other by working to lift each other to be the best versions of themselves. Their quality of character and their practice of core values and proper manners formed a close-knit brotherhood, very similar to the one we promote as a General Fraternity today. We pursue the ideal of friendship by emulating character qualities embodied in the Ritual and aim to help our fellow brothers achieve their goals.
Justice
We continuously pursue the aim of Justice through the commitment of every member of Sigma Chi to promote fairness, decency, and goodwill through our every interaction. Further, justice is found within Sigma Chi through the observance of the Fraternity’s governing laws and through adherence to the decisions of our legislative assemblies, which empower and direct our leadership. Doing the right thing, above anything else, was the sole reason for the birth of the Fraternity and that spirit echoes in Sigma Chi today.
Learning
Sigma Chi believes that learning is constant and is not linear. Rather, the process of learning is gradual – beginning with our earliest days, stretching through our college days, and never-ending throughout our lifetime. In Sigma Chi, each man completes a period of education devoted to understanding the Fraternity’s unique history, traditions, and practices, culminating in an opportunity to accept a lifelong commitment to the Fraternity and its purpose. Along with promoting academic success, the Fraternity also best serves its purpose by developing and implementing world-class programs that foster leadership, build character, and promote positive relationship skills, which, in turn, enable our members to become learned, productive, and caring participants in their families, colleges, and communities.
Our Core Values
Values are only noble words, however, until they are proven on the battlefield of life. Core values must translate into behaviors that others can see and observe. Your life — your actions — will prove that something is of worth to you just as it did in the lives of our seven Founders.
Courage
We attribute courage with Founder Benjamin Piatt Runkle. At the 1895 Grand Chapter, Brother Runkle said, “By courage I do not mean the savage animal instinct that makes a man insensible to danger — a bulldog has that — but I mean that strong conviction, which keeps ever before the mind the true aim of life, and unswerving loyalty to that conviction.”
Wisdom
We attribute wisdom with Founder Thomas Cowan Bell. Brother Charles Townsend, in charge of erecting the monument for Founder Bell, stated “Thomas Cowan Bell early displayed an ardent love for the acquisition of knowledge and demonstrated those scholarly tastes which, coupled with a genial disposition, distinguished his later life.”
Integrity
We attribute integrity with Founder William Lewis Lockwood. In 1857, he stated the following to the Eta Chapter, “We should endeavor so to raise ourselves that to say of a man, ‘He is a Sigma Chi’ shall be synonymous with, ‘He is a liberally educated, highhanded, pure and noble man.’ Such are some of the objects of our Society. The world is in great need of just such men and let all who go out from our chapters be such men.”
High Ambition
We attribute high ambition with Founder Isaac M. Jordan. Founder Benjamin Piatt Runkle said: “He did everything with the same tremendous energy that he displayed when, during the siege of Cincinnati, I took him out of the trenches and put him on my staff. He showed that he would have made a splendid soldier, for he had all the qualities of a splendid man.”
Self-Control
Founder Daniel William Cooper was a man you could trust. His life is a testament to the virtue of self-control. In creating our badge with Founder Benjamin Piatt Runkle, he said, “By our Ritual we must avoid the danger that may come by believing that one could conquer by just wearing an emblem to parade virtues that are not within the heart.”
Courtesy
We attribute courtesy with Founder Franklin Howard Scobey. Founder Benjamin Piatt Runkle spoke highly of Franklin Howard Scobey and wrote: “Frank Scobey, boy and man, was one of those whom everybody wanted everywhere at the same time. Of all those that I have ever been closely associated with, he was the brightest, the most cheerful, the sunniest. Do not understand that he was lacking in the strong qualities of manhood because he was loving and cheery.
Fidelity
We attribute fidelity with Founder James Parks Caldwell. During the dedication of Founder Caldwell’s monument, Bolan Turner, Executive Secretary of the Founders’ Monument Commission said: “Thus, it was that my thoughts turned to James Parks Caldwell, the life he lived, the example or pattern he left for us all. A man of ideals, who in his life displayed that fidelity to principle to the extent of offering to sacrifice his all for it. A man who illustrated early in his life that the ideals which form the foundation of Sigma Chi are even stronger than the jealousies and bitterness which were sufficient to cast our United States into one of the bloodiest civil wars in the history of the world.