- Sigma Iota
Infobox Fraternity
letters = ΣΙ
name = Sigma Iota
motto = "Omne Rarum Carum"
crest =
founded =March 12 ,1912
charterdate=
chartercity=
type = Defunct
scope = International
flagcountry|USA
flagcountry|Belgium
flagcountry|Guatemala
flagcountry|Switzerland
address =
symbol =
city =
state =
country =
colors =
free_label =
free =
homepage =
birthplace =Louisiana State University
flower =
symbol =Sigma Iota (ΣΙ), Established
March 12 ,1912 was the first Latin American based Greek Lettered inter-collegiate fraternity in the United States. = History =Origins
Sigma Iota was founded on November 27, 1904 in Louisiana State University as a secret society for Spanish-American students under the name La Colonia Hispano-Americana. Soon after its founding La Colonia Hispano-Americano decided to change its name to Sociedad Hispano-Americana in December 1904.cite book | last= Brown | first= James T. | coauthors= | year=1920 | title=
Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities | publisher=College Fraternities Pub | location=New York, New York | id=OCLC 15604776 | page=346 ]Founding
On March 12, 1912 the Sociedad Hispano – Americana decided to transform itself once more and officially changed its name to Sigma Iota Fraternity. This name change allowed for the official transformation from a Latin American social club to Latin American Greek Lettered Fraternity.
Expansion
Between 1912 and 1925, Sigma Iota expanded very rapidly in the United States,
South America , and Europe. As a result of this, Sigma Iota became the first international Latin American based fraternity.cite book | last=Anson | first=Jack L. | coauthors=Robert F. Marchesani, Jr. | year=1991 | title=Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities | publisher=Banta Publishing Company | location=Menasha, Wisconsin | id=ISBN 0-9637159-0-9 | page=VIII-22 ] By 1928, Sigma Iota had lost many of its chapters and therefore sought to stabilize its operations by consolidating its chapters in the United States with a more stationary and well-rooted organization.Consolidation
Meanwhile another fraternity
Phi Lambda Alpha , which had been recently founded in 1919 at the University of California, Berkeley was seeking to expand throughout the United States. Sigma Iota Fraternity was in search of revitalizing some of its defunct chapters. Thus both organizations complemented each other and began to work towards the creation of the fraternity now know as Phi Iota Alpha.On December 26, 1931 Sigma Iota Fraternity merged with Phi Lambda Alpha Fraternity to form
Phi Iota Alpha .Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity can also trace its roots back to ΦΛA.= Former Chapters =
*United States
**Louisiana State University (1904)
**University of Iowa (1909)
**Iowa State University (1910)
**Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1913)
**Alabama A&M University (1913)
**Syracuse University (1913)
**Atlanta Medical School (1914)
**University of Pennsylvania (1915)
**Tulane University (1924)
**Loyola University New Orleans (1927)
**University of Florida (1928)
*Europe
**University of Geneva (Switzerland) (1913)
**University of Liege (Belgium) (1914)
*Latin America
**University of Guatemala=See also=
Phi Iota Alpha Phi Lambda Alpha Phi Sigma Alpha Union Latino Americana =Footnotes=
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