Our History
Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded in the early 20th century at Richmond College. Twelve young collegians hungered for a campus fellowship based on Judeo/Christian ideals that neither the college community nor the fraternity system at the time could offer.
Carter Ashton Jenkens, the 18-year-old son of a minister, had been a student at Rutgers University, New Jersey, where he had joined Chi Phi Fraternity. When he transferred to Richmond College in the fall of 1900, he wanted companions to take the place of the Chi Phi brothers he had left behind at Rutgers. During the course of the term, he found five men who had already been drawn into a bond of an informal fellowship, and he urged them to join him in applying for a charter of Chi Phi at Richmond College. They agreed, but their request was refused because Chi Phi felt that Richmond College was too small for the establishment of a Chi Phi chapter.
Wanting to maintain their fellowship, the six men, William Carter Jenkens, Thomas Wright, William Phillips, Benjamin Gaw, and William Wallace, decided to form their own local fraternity.
A committee of Jenkens, Gaw, and Phillips was appointed to discuss plans with the administration of the college. These men met with the faculty committee, where they requested to present their case.
(1) The need for a new fraternity since five fraternities already existed and the total enrollment was less than 300.
(2) The wisdom of this attempt to organize a new fraternity with twelve members, of whom seven were senior.
(3) The right to name the new fraternity Sigma Phi, the name of an already established national fraternity.
The fraternity committee answered along this line: "This fraternity will be different, it will be based on the love of God and the principle of peace through brotherhood. The number of members will be increased from the undergraduate classes. We will change the name to Sigma Phi Epsilon." Though the discussion lasted some time, the faculty committee was friendly, and permission was granted for the organization of the new fraternity to proceed, provided full responsibility for the consequences would rest on the group of twelve students.
