The College Fraternity experience offers endless opportunities for your college years and beyond. Many successful leaders in business, politics, education, and entertainment developed their skills in the Greek Community. Fraternity members come together from all walks of life with a common goal: to achieve excellence in every aspect of life.

In 1909, eight sophomores at the College of the City of New York pledged themselves in a bond of fellowship. Thus Sigma Alpha Mu was born. The passing years have witnessed much as over 50,000 have earned the right to wear the distinctive octagonal badge. Sigma Alpha Mu grows ever stronger and looks ahead.

The camaraderie gained will last a lifetime. SAM seeks to attract those of vision and character. Such young men will gain as individuals, mature, and learn from their fraternity experience that which universities are unequipped to teach, namely to get along with others in a complicated society. In the process, these men will mold the future of the Fraternity and carry its ideals and objectives on to the next generation.

Academics

We are proud of Sigma Alpha Mu’s scholarship record. Sammy has ranked near the top of all national fraternities in academic achievement. Currently over $70,000 in scholarships are given away annually to our student members who demonstrate need and merit. When one experiences scholastic difficulty, SAM and its members try to help. Only in a fraternity can one find fellow students and an entire organization so interested in the welfare of the individual.

Serving the Community

Community service and philanthropic fund raising are integral parts of the Sigma Alpha Mu experience. Our international philanthropic programs have raised funds to combat Pediatric AIDS and heart disease. Each chapter constructs and performs its own philanthropic events to benefit worthwhile causes. In addition, members participate in activities such as university and community cleanups, feeding the homeless, and tutoring elementary school students.

Leadership

The opportunity for leadership development is one of the greatest assets of membership in Sigma Alpha Mu. Hands-on experience as a chapter officer, committee chairman or active member allows you to develop skills which will benefit you throughout your college career, as well as in your professional endeavors.

In SAM you will learn by doing. You will learn to manage a budget, run effective meetings, speak in public and motivate others. These skills will help you in college and throughout your life. Remember, it takes more than just a degree to get an education!

Friendship

Sigma Alpha Mu is built on friendship, a spirit of brotherhood and fellowship. Sharing each others’ experiences and growing together. Once you graduate your memories of specific classes and exams may fade, but the friendships you make in Sammy will remain vivid for a lifetime.

Sigma Alpha Mu

Sigma Alpha Mu can play an important part in making your college experience positive, fulfilling, and rewarding. SAM nurtures individuality while providing greater opportunities for friendship, education, service, and leadership. Sigma Alpha Mu is continuity. It’s valuable traditions carried forward. It’s a home away from home and a center for your college activities. It creates friendships and nurtures ideals that will last your whole life through.

Sigma Alpha Mu is an international fraternity with chapters spread across North America. Its members share certain common ideals. The Sigma Alpha Mu experience expands knowledge, offers the experience of service, and brings out one’s best. With knowledge comes understanding. And with service to self and one’s fellows, there is developed a unique sense of usefulness that enriches all of life.

Recognition by the Universities

Most Universities require that all fraternities on campus be affiliated with a national fraternity. Sigma Alpha Mu is an established and respected national fraternity, with alumni having served as leaders for the National Interfraternity Conference (NIC), the Fraternity Executives Association (FEA), and the Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA).

Lifetime Membership

Because you are one or more of more than 50,000 Sammies living all over the world you will meet with fratres in many cities and have the opportunity to stay involved with the fraternity after graduation.

National Brotherhood

You never know when you'll meet a fratre, or need to seek out the help of someone that you trust because he is the member of the same national fraternity. Some fratres have taken advantage being in a national fraternity when they travel long distance, seeking out lodging of a chapter or assistance from a fratre in that city.

Perpetuation

Being in a national fraternity provides greater assurance that your chapter will carry on after you leave university. Someday your sons and grandsons can join Sigma Alpha Mu.

National Service

The Executive Office provides many services to our chapters, including assistance with solving problems, help from the advisory system, visits from the field representatives, and access to financial and legal experts in our alumni networks.

Leadership and Education

The National Fraternity sponsors the annual Leadership Conference and other educational activities at regional Conclaves which offer training in leadership and management skills, which will be useful well beyond college years.

Financial Aid

Brothers who are students are eligible for national fraternity scholarships and loans. For example, in celebration of our 75th Anniversary year, the national fraternity sponsored a campaign, continuing today, which had raised more than 100 new scholarships for our fratres.

Housing Loans

Eligible chapters can receive assistance from the national fraternity to establish housing programs.

Awards

Sigma Alpha Mu sponsors a number of individual and chapter awards to recognize excellence across our chapters nationwide.

Philanthropy

Chapters across the country can receive help setting up a program to sponsor our national philanthropy programs; Bounce for Beats and Pediatric AIDS. To date Sigma Alpha Mu has donated 2.8 million dollars to the American Heart Association.

Excerpt taken from the Candidate's Handbook:

I BELIEVE the college fraternity was not foisted upon our schools but evolved to satisfy a natural social need.

I BELIEVE that man wants the intimate companionship of certain of his fellow men who have similar standards, ideals and aspirations.

I BELIEVE that college men working together in common cause can help to bring out in one another the best that within them lies.

I BELIEVE that the chapter is the ideal laboratory where men learn to assay what gold they have, to discard the slag, and discover how best to use the finished product.

I BELIEVE that the college fraternity is the best of all places to make friends at the best of all times.

I BELIEVE a man joins a fraternity for life and not just for college years; and while specific obligations may change with graduation, reciprocal responsibility continues to exist.

Finally, I BELIEVE that many an alumnus is giving himself to his community because years ago he learned to give himself to his fraternity, and the objective then was to prepare him for larger usefulness to his environment-not for larger usefulness to his fraternity.

I submit that, if these be our beliefs, we may be proud of what the college fraternity is, and prouder still of what it is going to be.

JAMES C. HAMMERSTEIN
Executive Secretary 1934-62