Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon ( ΣΑΕ , also SAE ) is a North American Greek - letter social college fraternity . It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9 , 1856 . Of all existing national social fraternities today , Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South . Its national headquarters , the Levere Memorial Temple , were established on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston , Illinois in 1929 . At the time the Levere Memorial Temple was built , the building cost $ 400 , 000 ; it is now said that the building is priceless due to its extensive collections of Tiffany stained - glass windows . Sigma Alpha Epsilon has more than 304 , 000 initiated members and more than 11 , 900 undergraduates at 246 chapters and 19 colonies in 49 states and provinces at present . The creed of Sigma Alpha Epsilon , " The True Gentleman " , must be memorized and recited by all prospective members . New members receive a copy of " The Phoenix " , the manual of Sigma Alpha Epsilon , for educational development . History . Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded on March 9 , 1856 , at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa , Alabama . Its founders were Noble Leslie DeVotie , Nathan Elams Cockrell , John Barratt Rudulph , John Webb Kerr , Samuel Marion Dennis , Wade Hampton Foster , Abner Edwin Patton , and Thomas Chappell Cook . Their leader was DeVotie , who wrote the ritual , created the grip , and chose the name . Rudulph designed the badge . Of all existing national social fraternities today , Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only national fraternity founded in the antebellum South . Founded in a time of intense sectional feeling , Sigma Alpha Epsilon confined its growth to the southern states . By the end of 1857 , the fraternity numbered seven chapters . Its first national convention met in the summer of 1858 at Murfreesboro , Tennessee , with four of its eight chapters in attendance . By the time of the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 , fifteen chapters had been established . None of the founders of SAE were members of any other fraternity , although Noble Leslie DeVotie had been invited to join all of the other fraternities at the University of Alabama before founding Sigma Alpha Epsilon . The fraternity had fewer than 400 members when the Civil War began . Of those , 369 went to war for the Confederate States and seven for the Union Army . Seventy - four members of the fraternity lost their lives in the war . While many Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chapters today claim that Noble Leslie DeVotie was the first person to die in the Civil War , DeVotie is not recognized by reputable sources as the first death . DeVotie lost his footing while boarding a Steamer on February 12 , 1861 , purportedly becoming the first casualty of the war . After the Civil War , only one chapter survived – at tiny Columbian College ( which is now George Washington University ) in Washington , D . C . . When a few of the young veterans returned to the Georgia Military Institute and found their college burned to the ground , they decided to enter the University of Georgia in Athens , Georgia . The founding of a chapter there at the end of 1865 , along with the re - establishment of the chapter at the University of Virginia , led to the fraternity ' s revival . Soon , other chapters came back to life and , in 1867 , the first post - war convention was held at Nashville , Tennessee , where a half - dozen revived chapters planned the fraternity ' s future growth . In the 1870s and early 1880s , more than a score of new chapters were formed . Older chapters died as fast as new ones were established . By 1886 , the fraternity had chartered 49 chapters , but few were active . The first northern chapter had been established at Pennsylvania College ( now Gettysburg College ) , in 1883 , and a second was placed at Mount Union College in Ohio two years later . Soon after , 16 - year - old Harry Bunting entered Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville , Tennessee , now known as Rhodes College in Memphis , Tennessee . He was initiated into the Tennessee Zeta Chapter , which had previously initiated two of his brothers . In just eight years , Harry Bunting and his younger brother , George , emboldened Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapters to increase their membership . They wrote encouraging articles in the fraternity ' s quarterly journal , " The Record , " promoting better chapter standards . Above all , they gave new life to old chapters in the South ( including the mother chapter at Alabama ) and founded new ones in the North and West . The Buntings were responsible for an explosion of growth , founding nearly 50 chapters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon . When Harry Bunting founded the Northwestern University chapter in 1894 , he initiated as a charter member William Collin " Billy " Levere . Bunting passed the torch of leadership to Levere , and for the next three decades , Levere ' s high spirits brought the fraternity to maturity . When Levere died on February 22 , 1927 , the fraternity ' s Supreme Council decided to name the new national headquarters building The Levere Memorial Temple . Construction of the Temple , an immense German Gothic structure located near Lake Michigan and across from the Northwestern University campus , was started in 1929 , and the building was dedicated in the winter of 1930 . When the Supreme Council met regularly in the early 1930s at the Temple , educator John O . Moseley , the fraternity ' s national president , lamented , " We have in the Temple a magnificent school - house . Why can we not have a school ? " Accordingly , the economic depression notwithstanding , the fraternity ' s first Leadership School was held under the direction of Moseley in the summer of 1935 . In the last years of Moseley ' s life , he served the fraternity as its executive secretary , capping an academic career that included two college presidencies . The True Gentleman . " The True Gentleman " is the creed of Sigma Alpha Epsilon , which was first adopted by the fraternity sometime in the 1930s . However , it wasn ' t until the 2001 Fraternity Convention in Orlando , Florida that it was officially adopted as the organization ' s creed . The definition was discovered by Judge Walter B . Jones , who first came upon it in an Alabama Baptist quarterly of which he was the editor . He sent a copy of it to John O . Moseley , the leader of the annual Leadership Schools , who was quite taken with it . Moseley began using it at the schools . For many years , the author of it was thought to be anonymous until the 1970s when the editor of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledge manual , " The Phoenix " , Joseph Walt , discovered that the U . S . Naval Academy in Annapolis also used it in a manual . The author was denoted there as one John Walter Wayland . " The True Gentleman " had actually first appeared in " The Baltimore Sun " as part of a competition for the best definition of a true gentleman with Wayland ' s submission being crowned the winner . With his family ' s approval , John Walter Wayland was posthumously initiated into SAE during the Fraternity ' s 66th annual Leadership School in Chicago . The Virginia Omicron chapter at the University of Virginia was selected as Wayland ' s chapter since he had completed his master ' s degree at that institution in 1901 . " The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety , and whose self control is equal to all emergencies ; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty , the obscure man of his obscurity , or any man of his inferiority or deformity ; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another ; who does not flatter wealth , cringe before power , or boast of his own possessions or achievements ; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy ; whose deed follows his word ; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own ; and who appears well in any company , a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe . " - John Walter Wayland . Virginia , 1899 The Levere Memorial Temple . The fraternity ' s international headquarters , known as the Fraternity Service Center , is maintained at the Levere Memorial Temple in Evanston , Illinois . Honoring all the members of the fraternity who have served their countries in the armed forces since 1856 , it was dedicated on December 28 , 1930 . The museum on the first floor is devoted to a collection of interesting historical photographs , pictures , and collections from private sources . The walls of the building are hung with oil portraits of distinguished members . The basement contains the Panhellenic Room , on the ceiling of which are the coats - of - arms of 40 college fraternities and 17 sororities , while the niches on the north side contain large murals showing the founding of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 and that of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1856 , together with other murals depicting episodes in the history of the fraternity . Perhaps the most outstanding mural in the Panhellenic Room is the reproduction of Raphael ' s " The School of Athens " , painted by Johannes Waller in the 1930s . Additionally , all brothers who visit are encouraged to sign the guest book , which amassed quite a collection over the years . The building continues to be used for ceremonies and receptions by the various fraternities , sororities , and honor societies at Northwestern University . The impressive chapel of the Temple , with its soaring vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows by Tiffany is used regularly for religious services , and has been the scene of many weddings of Evanstonians and members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon . In fact , the entire building is open to the public for patriotic , religious , and educational purposes , while the library is also free to scholars seeking material pertaining to the history of any or all college fraternities and college organizations . Government . In its early days , the government of the Fraternity was vested in a single chapter , designated the Grand Chapter . The first such chapter was North Carolina Xi at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , which was responsible only to the general convention , the last was Tennessee Omega at the University of the South , in Sewanee , Tennessee . Today Sigma Alpha Epsilon is governed by Fraternity Conventions which are held biennially . At Conventions , brothers from all over the country come together to consider modifications to the Fraternity Laws , to the Ritual and to elect national officers . Between Conventions , SAE is governed by an all - volunteer Supreme Council ; composed of the Eminent Supreme Archon ( President ) , Eminent Supreme Deputy Archon ( VP ) , Eminent Supreme Warden ( Treasurer ) , Eminent Supreme Herald , and Eminent Supreme Chronicler . An Honorary Eminent Supreme Archon is also selected by the Past ESAs . The Executive Director of Sigma Alpha Epsilon ( a full - time paid staff position ) holds the title of Eminent Supreme Recorder and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the organization . He is supported by a 25 + person full - time staff based at the Levere Memorial Temple as well as in the field . The Fraternity Convention also elects members to serve on the SAE Foundation Board of Directors ( 11 - members total ) and the SAE Financial and Housing Board of Directors ( 7 - members total ) . In addition , Sigma Alpha Epsilon is governed more locally through Province Conventions . A province is a section of the Realm which is composed of nearby chapters . These provinces meet regularly to discuss issues concerning its individual chapters . Each of the 30 provinces are led by a Province Archon supported by a Province Council . " The Record " . The fraternity communicates through " The Record " magazine . It is published three times a year and has been continuously in publication since 1880 . The magazine has become popular in social groups throughout the country . The fall issue of " The Record " contains additional sections , such as Chapter Eternal and the annual report . All three issues are provided to active members and current donors to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation - at a circulation of approximately 30 , 000 . As of May 5 , 2009 , " The Record " can be read online at saerecord . net .