Kappa Sigma Fraternity

From Free net encyclopedia

Kappa Sigma Fraternity

nickname: "Kappa Sig"

Founded

December 10, 1869

International Headquarters

Charlottesville, VA

Official Colors

Scarlet, White, and Emerald green

Official Flower

Lily of the valley

Official Jewel

Pearl

Official Badge

Image:Ksstarandcrescent.gif

Official Crest

Image:KsCrest.gif

ΚΣ (Kappa Sigma) is an international fraternity with at least 300 chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma was founded in Bologna, Italy in 1400 and was established in America in 1869 at the University of Virginia.

1 History
2 Philosophy
3 Recent history
4 Notable Kappa Sigmas
5 Chapter List
6 See also
7 External link

[edit]

History

Kappa Sigma's traditional founding was in 1400 in the city of Bologna, Italy. Manuel Chrysoloras, a Greek emissary teaching at the University of Bologna, formed with some of his students a society to protect one another against the unscrupulous governor of the city, a former pirate named Baldassarre Cossa. Cossa was infamous for sending robbers to attack and steal from foreigners - in this case, non-city residents. These students bore weapons for protection and devised secret signs, words, and forms to protect their ranks from infiltration. Cossa, after leaving Bologna, later usurped the Papacy as an antipope under the name John XXIII.

Kappa Sigma was founded in America on December 10, 1869 by five students (George Miles Arnold, John Covert Boyd, William Grigsby McCormick, Frank Courtney Nicodemus, and Edmund Law Rogers Jr.) attending the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The five founders, called "The Five Friends and Brothers," gathered in McCormick's room at 46 East Lawn and laid the foundations for the fraternity. From this first meeting, Kappa Sigma was given a Constitution and an Oath from which are taken the principles and ideals of all Kappa Sigmas. Kappa Sigma was the first "Southern" fraternity to establish a chapter in the North, at Lake Forest College, Illinois.

[edit]

Philosophy

Kappa Sigma's ideals are centered around its four cornerstones: fellowship, leadership, scholarship, and service. A Kappa Sigma is charged to present himself as a friend, brother, and protector to any in the order and to defy any tyrant who seeks to take property, liberty, or life.

Kappa Sigmas are expected to subscribe and live by the oath of the order, known as the Star and Crescent: "The Star and Crescent shall not be worn by every man, but only by him who is worthy to wear it. He must be a gentleman ... a man of honor and courage ... a man of zeal, yet humble ... an intelligent man ... a man of truth ... one who tempers action with wisdom and, above all else, one who walks in the light of God." (E. Bradford Holbrouk Jr., Sigma '63)

The goal of all Kappa Sigmas is to be a better man. The champion quest developed by the "Golden Hearted Viriginian" Stephen Alonzo Jackson states that Kappa Sigma is to be the premier fraternity on all college campuses.

[edit]

Recent history

The fraternity is currently building a new headquarters after losing the title to a Charlottesville, VA mansion known as the International Memorial Headquarters in a long-running court battle. In 2002, along with Phi Delta Theta, Kappa Sigma dropped its long-time membership in the North-American Interfraternity Conference because of philosophical differences.

[edit]

Notable Kappa Sigmas

Some of Kappa Sigma's notable alumni include Jimmy Buffett (Epsilon-Nu), Robert Redford (Gamma-Tau), Edwin Hubble (Gamma-Beta), Rick Barry (Epsilon-Beta), Jerry Jones (Xi), Lamar Hunt (Delta-Pi), Kevin Griffin (Gamma), Xavier Atizol (Omicron-Epsilon), Bob Dole (Gamma-Omicron), Dante Fascell (Epsilon-Beta), Estes Kefauver (Lambda), William Hewlett (Beta-Zeta), Edward R. Murrow (Gamma-Mu), Todd Wagner (Beta-Theta), Edgar D. Mitchell (Delta-Alpha), Mike O'Malley (Beta-Kappa), Dennis Haskins (Alpha-Iota), Hoagy Carmichael (Beta-Theta), Sean McGrath (Omicron-Epsilon), and Sam Donaldson (Epsilon-Xi). Jefferson Davis was honorarily inducted into Xi chapter in honor of his son's decision to stay with and tend to his brothers during an epidemic, a decision that would lead to his death. Kappa Sigma has produced two Nobel laureates, an astronaut, four senators, eight congressmen, seven governors, a deputy prime minister, and many successful businessmen. ]]