Thursday, 15 December 2016

The Humane Values Of Sigma Nu Fraternity

By Thomas Gray


Universities keep faith with tradition and have relevant student organizations that are recognized for practices that support the said tradition. These groups are necessarily autonomous but they have value systems that often complement the ideals of their host schools. Honor societies and clubs have always been identified with quality education.

Many of these student societies were created out of idealistic principles. There have been numerous times that passages of history and other momentous events gave birth to civil organizations that espouse ideals that were needed for the times. Sigma Nu Fraternity Auburn University is an organization whose principles and practices have stood the test of time.

The Fraternity was born in the Reconstruction Era, a time of civil strife following the end of Civil War. Three students from Virginia Military Institute established it to radically depart from the system of corporal punishment then in place for students. These three founders believed in an honor society that did not punish its entrants, and thus were one the first people to depart from an established but cruel tradition.

The three were James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlvaine Riley. Hopkins was a veteran soldier and the other two were his close friends who were with him at VMI, an institution known for discipline and engineering courses. They were all rebelling against physical hazing, and for this cause took their solemn oath on a moonlit field in 1868.

Sigma Nu started out as a secret society of honorable men, and at first went by the name Legion of Honor, from the traditional French honor system of the same name. Its symbolic white cross was the pattern used by James Frank Hopkins for the fraternal Badge. The fraternity was one of the first to radically depart from established practice of student brotherhoods.

These three believed that a better system could be had if the abuse was eliminated from the initiation rites of honor systems. This ideal was born from their abhorrence of the strife, hate and destruction of war. Their ideals were that of abiding peace and contentment, which can only be generated by the practice of sympathy and affection.

Auburn University plays host to the Beta Theta chapter of Sigma Nu. It has an ideal campus on which brotherhood members founded probably one of its best chapters in the year 1890. The school is a great believer in democracy and its ideals of honest work and the values related to it.

The university creed is the foundation on which the leadership qualities of fraternity alumni are molded and by which they progress into positions of rank. The brotherhood is quite well known for turning out men who practice ethical leadership based on Love, Honor and Truth. To this day, the school credo and brotherhood values remain a combination that is a pillar of vibrant student life in the university.

Sigma Nu members admit all those who are honest and have good faith for fall or summer rushes. The organization has some of the more celebrated socials and occasions in campus student life. They form part of a colorful and proud tradition that the society maintains to create excellent democratic qualities in its members and in the nation as well.




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