The Creed of Sigma Phi Epsilon
I believe in the American College
Fraternity. I believe in Sigma Phi Epsilon. I
believe in this Fraternity because it would have
me strive in every way to live up to the high
principles for which it stands. These are VIRTUE,
DILIGENCE, AND BROTHERLY LOVE.
I believe that the word VIRTUE is
an inclusive term; that it is not enough that I
be merely passively virtuous: I must be positive
on virtue's behalf. Therefore, I will stand
aggressively for honesty in all walks of life,
and I will speak cleanly, play cleanly, and live
cleanly. Whenever I can, I will oppose
lawlessness and vice.
I believe that unless I succeed
in being DILIGENT, I cannot be a good fraternity
member. Believing that my Fraternity can be no
greater that any of its members, I shall strive
to make it so high and so worthy that men will
consider it an honor and privilege to belong to
it and will strive to be admitted to it. I will
not offer concessions to an individual to secure
his affiliation, for thus making concessions
makes the man more noteworthy than the Fraternity
and hence only succeeds in lowering it in his
estimation as well as mine.
I believe that BROTHERLY LOVE
must be given in order to be received, and that
it cannot exist without triumph of the principles
of VIRTUE and DILIGENCE, for these are essential
parts of it.
I believe that a man will be make
better for having been a member of my Fraternity.
I know that I cannot expect the neophyte to be a
finished product. Rather I will try to discover
whether or not the environment and contact with
men of high ideals will make of him a good
fraternity man.
I believe that as a good
fraternity member I must share a rich kinship of
spirit with my brothers. Yet I realize that the
members must be men of diversified abilities and
talents. Among them are to be found the scholar,
the athlete, the builder and craftsman, and the
organization leader. But the scholar cannot make
a fraternity. Nor can the athlete. Nor the
craftsman. The good fraternity member must be par
excellent in manhood.
I believe that to be a good
member I must be loyal to my Fraternity. In order
to be loyal to it, I must love it. In order to
love it, I must strive constantly to make it
worthy of my love. To be loyal to my Fraternity,
I must gain a knowledge of it so that I may
understand it. I have an obligation to understand
what brotherhood means.
I believe that in any organized
society group rights and privileges are based on
individual rights and privileges; that in my
Fraternity I possess the same rights and
privileges and have the same duties as my fellow
members. Therefore, I shall at all times respect
duly the rights of others.
I believe that obedience to the
laws of my community and my country is essential
to good citizenship; that the laws and rules of
my Fraternity and my chapter are intended to
regulate the actions of its members, one with
another, and that without fidelity to those laws
and rules I cannot be a good citizen and a worthy
member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
I believe I should be generous
with the faults of a brother, as I should wish
him to be with mine.
Oscar E. Draper
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