History of Sigma Chi The Seven Founders of Sigma Chi Founding of Alpha Alpha Chapter President's Page Current Brothers Our Literature Alumni Page Philanthropy Pictures from the Brothers				The founder of the Alpha Alpha Chapter was William P. Kemper, Alpha Lambda, Wisconsin, 1892. He transferred to Hobart College in the fall of 1891 for the work of his senior year. During the year he was frequently consulted by a group of prospective petitioners for a charter from a national fraternity. In the Spring of 1892, working in conjunction with George C. Purdy, then a senior in the Alpha Phi Chapter at Ithaca, plans were completed for the petition to Sigma Chi. The correspondence amply satisfied the Grand Triumvirs as to the character of the institution and of the worthiness of the petitioners; but in view of the approaching Grand Chapter, the petition was referred to by that body. The Convention at its session authorized the Grand Triumvirs to proceed with the installation in the fall, if all conditions were favorable. When college opened in September, the Alpha Phi went promptly about the consummation of the plan to establish a neighboring chapter at Geneva. George C. Purdy, 1892, visited the petitioners and returned with glowing reports of the prospects at Hobart, where-upon the Cornell chapter unanimously urged the Triumvirs to approve an early installation. On September 27, 1892, Purdy, with Frank H. Noyes, 1892, and James P. Hall, 1894, of Alpha Phi went to Hobart and in a memorable meeting with all the petitioners explained the high aims and requirements of Sigma Chi in its measures of extension. Hobart College was a field in which several of the older, eastern fraternities had been established for many years, and Sigma Chi must in no way fail to equal the Fraternity traditions of the institution. Every expectation of chapter work and method suggested by the men of Alpha Phi met with fine response on the part of the earnest fellows with whom they were in conference. The evening closed with the placing on the coats of the petitioners bows of blue and gold ribbon as an indication that they were pledged men of Sigma Chi. Purdy remained at Geneva to complete arrangements for the installation and, when all was ready, telegraphed his own chapter on September 28, 1892, to be ready to receive the petitioners at Ithaca that night for initiation. THE CHARTER MEMBERS AT HOBART (1800's) Left to Right, upper row: George C. Strasenberg, '92, Rozelle J. Phillips, '94, Gilbert V. Russell, '96, David C. Huntington, '94, Henry P. Seymour, '94. Seated in foreground: Frederick J. Leach, '95, William P. Kemper, '92, Walter J. Lockton, '94. Photograph taken during Commencement week, June 1893, William P. Kemper, '92, having taught at Kenosha, Wisconsin during the year had returned as a visitor. The Cornell chapter conducted the ceremony. At its conclusion the banquet was held in the new chapter house of Alpha Phi, and the big clock on the Cornell campus chimed for three o'clock before the good time ended. A few hours later the seven new Sigma Chis, perhaps somewhat the worse for the ordeal but exceedingly happy, returned to Hobart College to labor for the success of their new chapter and of Sigma Chi. -Joseph Cookman Nate, Grand Historian 1921-1930