Whitman College Sigma Chi records, 1916-2010

Sigma Chi is a social fraternity founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio by members who split from the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. The chapter on Whitman Campus originated as the local Tau Delta Sigma fraternity in 1916. The group, colloquially known as "The Commoners," wanted another option than the two established fraternities: Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi. In 1923, they were chartered as the Gamma Eta Chapter of Sigma Chi. With the exception of a short period from 1967-1970 when the fraternity went by the name, Nu Sigma Chi, to protest the fraternity's "race clause," which prevented people of color from joining, Sigma Chi has had an active presense on campus.