Phi Sigma Alpha
Phi Sigma Alpha, commonly known as La Sigma, is a Puerto Rican fraternity originally established as the Sigma Delta Alpha Fraternity on October 22, 1928, at the University of [Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus|University of Puerto Rico] by twelve students and a professor. Phi Sigma Alpha can trace its roots back to 1898 to the Union Hispano Americana, as well as to the first ever Greek letter Hispanic-oriented fraternity, Sigma Iota, established in 1912. By 1998 there were over 4,376 members.
History
Origins 1898–1928
Phi Sigma Alpha traces its origins to several organizations including Phi Lambda Alpha. Phi Lambda Alpha fraternity was founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1919. The fraternity was the result of a merger of three societies: Pi Delta Phi Fraternity at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded in 1916; Phi Lambda Alpha Fraternity, founded in 1919 at the University of California, Berkeley; and the Unión Hispano Americana, founded in 1898, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. This last one was the first Latin-American student society formed in the USA; A group of Latin American students organized the Unión Hispano Americana as a cultural and intellectual secret society based on the ideology of Pan-Americanism.After ΦΛΑ was organized, other societies joined it: the Club Latino-Americano, founded in 1919 at Colorado School of Mines; the Federación Latino-Americana, founded in 1926 at Columbia University and which joined in 1928; the "Club Hispania" of Cornell University, founded in 1929, and which joined in 1931; the Club Hispano-Americano of Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, founded in 1921, and which joined in 1929, and the Alfa Tenoxtitlan Militant chapter whose members had come from the former ΦΛΑ society in Mexico City, Mexico.
Sigma Iota fraternity was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on March 2, 1912, previously known as the Sociedad Hispano Americana, which was founded in the University of Louisiana in 1904. Between 1912 and 1925, Sigma Iota expanded rapidly in the United States, South America, and Europe. As a result of this, Sigma Iota became the first international Latin American-based fraternity.
Sigma Iota and Phi Lambda Alpha joined and became Phi Iota Alpha in 1931. In 1932, Phi Iota Alpha reorganized and formed the Union Latino Americana as its overall governing body, dividing their member fraternities in Latin America into zones according to the country they represented.
The Sigma 1928–1934
Sigma Delta Alpha fraternity was established by twelve students and a professor on October 22, 1928, at the University of Puerto Rico at the Glorieta Fabián. The founding members included:- Gilberto Alemar
- Santos Primo Amadeo Semidey
- Adalberto Carrasquillo
- Juan Figueroa Rivera
- Fernando Jiménez
- Charles Henry Juliá Barreras
- José Laracuente
- Diego Guerrero Noble
- Samuel L. Rodríguez
- Victor M. Sánchez
- Hugo David Storer Tavarez
- Gilberto del Valle
- Joaquin Velilla
For many years, Sigma Delta Alpha enjoyed a certain amount of notoriety not enjoyed by other student organizations at the university. Its membership included four of the most important student leadership positions at the university: the Yearbook editor, the senior class president, the Athletic Society president, and the ROTC Battalion Commander. Every activity sponsored by the school administration was consulted with the Sigma Delta Alpha chapter president at the university in Río Piedras. In 1929, the Beta chapter at the Colegio de Mayagüez was established; thus the original chapter came to be known as Alpha chapter.
The union 1934–1939
Phi Sigma Alpha had its first reorganization with the merger between the Alpha Boriquen Militant chapter of Phi Iota Alpha and Sigma Delta Alpha of the University of Puerto Rico in 1934. The Puerto Rican zone formed when the Alpha Boriquen Militant Chapter was founded in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 4, 1934, by former members of Phi Iota Alpha.Under the conditions stated above, a movement came about to unite Sigma Delta Alpha with the Alpha Boriquen Militant Chapter of Phi Iota Alpha. It was not an easy task since many of the Sigma Delta Alpha members did not want the change or to alter their history. But the decision was made and thus the Phi Sigma Alpha Zone of the Union Latino Americana came to be. A Zone Directive was created and a constitution was drafted, since there was no central body to control the fraternity.
By 1937, the ULA had several well-established and functional zones including:
- Phi Iota Alpha in the United States
- Phi Kappa Alpha in Cuba
- Phi Sigma Alpha in Puerto Rico
- Phi Tau Alpha in Mexico
The Puerto Rico zone rejected this decision because it considered the introduction of political issues to be detrimental to the fraternity. Thus on September 25, 1938, the Phi Sigma Alpha Zone withdrew from the Union Latino Americana. The ULA dissolved shortly after.
The era of growth 1939–1964
Like the members of the Sigma, a majority of the members of the chapter of Phi Iota Alpha of the University of Louisiana disillusioned with the character given to their brotherhood, withdrew from the fraternity and formed Sigma Iota Alpha in April 1939. Sigma Iota Alpha was a fraternity composed of Latin students of that university. This new fraternity was received with distrust by the other Latin fraternal organizations at the university. Since Phi Sigma Alpha was organized in Puerto Rico with ideals similar to those of the Sigma Iota Alpha in Louisiana, negotiations were started to merge the two fraternities. This was decided in a convention celebrated on September 10, 1939, at the University of Puerto Rico, organizing themselves as Fraternidad Sigma with two ramifications: Phi Sigma Alpha Zone in Puerto Rico and Sigma Iota Alpha Zone in Louisiana. Later the USA Zone's name was changed to Phi Sigma Beta Zone and came to include other universities in north Louisiana.The Phi Sigma Alpha Zone was organized by a board of directors of the zone, the Militant chapter Alpha Boriquén of San Juan, and two university chapters, one at U.P.R.-Río Piedras and another one at the U.P.R.-Mayagüez. Years later, the militant chapters of Ponce and Mayagüez were also organized.
The Sigma Iota Alpha Zone consisted of the Alpha chapter at the University of Louisiana. In 1941, the Beta chapter in Baltimore, Maryland, was organized. It was composed of students from various nearby universities, including Georgetown, University of Maryland, University of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington University. In November 1957, together with Phi Eta Mu and Phi Eta Mu. they founded a Greek letter umbrella organization Concilio Interfraternitario de Puerto Rico.
With time it became increasingly more difficult to sustain a fully functional zone in the United States, while pretending it worked as well as zone one in Puerto Rico. A reformist movement arose abroad and culminated in 1964 with the establishment of the Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity composed of active and militant chapters in Puerto Rico, the United States, and abroad. Therefore, the model based on zones was abolished and eliminated.
The era of progress and adaptations (1964)
Puerto Rico felt the economic boom of the post-Second World War years, and this boom was also evident in its universities. Puerto Rican youth registered in Puerto Rican universities in record numbers, and the Fraternity, which acted as the supplier of the union between its young people and an escape from arduous studies, also offered student housing. During the next two decades, Sigma enjoyed extensive enrollment in the original chapters as well as the new ones that were beginning to develop. While the baby boom effect declined dramatically in the late 1970s /early 1980s, it resurged at the end of the 1980s and continued until the beginning of the 1990s.The 1990s brought an era of mandated accountability of fraternities, partly resulting from the deaths of two young cadets of the quasi-fraternal group the "Panthers" of the ROTC in the CAAM, and also a damages lawsuit perpetrated against another island fraternity. This brought forth a law, which can be found in Article 125 of the New Puerto Rico Penal Code, to control the initiation processes or "hazing" and to protect candidates. The Sigma Brotherhood, which since 1959 had prohibited in its processes the use of the "Pledge Paddle", achieved another "first" from its prohibition of acts against the physical and mental dignity of the neophyte even before Article 125 was enacted.
The Sigma has continued its emphasis throughout the years on the areas of community and social work by its active and militant chapters which regularly take part in blood drives and fund-raising activities for different organizations. The "Beca Sigma" program has been re-established and promises to offer young Puerto Ricans of scarce resources the opportunity to receive a university education.
Symbols and traditions
The fraternity's colors are Azure, Gules, and Or. Its motto is Caballeros Ante Todo. Brothers in active chapters are called activos and alumni Brothers are called militantes. Brothers also call each other Sigmas.Governance
The fraternity's highest administrative body is the Junta de Directores or Board of Directors. This body is composed of two groups. The first is the Comité Ejecutivo Central which includes the fraternity president, vice president, and others. The second group is composed of the regional presidents, and the presidents and secretaries of all the fraternity chapters, alumni, and active members. All members have an equal vote. The board of directors meets several times a year, as convened by the fraternity president. As of 2010, there were six regions, with the ones in Puerto Rico named after their main city: San Juan Region, Guayama Region, Ponce Region, Arecibo Region, Mayagüez Region, and the USA Region, based in Florida.Club houses
Through its history the fraternity did have multiple North American [fraternity and sorority housing|chapter houses] for most of its chapters. Nevertheless the practice became less and less common by the late 1990s in the Puerto Rico fraternity movement. Since then Phi Sigma Alpha has focused on nonresidential club houses.Phi Sigma Alpha's main headquarters are located at the corner of Calle Mejico and Calle Chile in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. The offices are located in the Alpha Boriquen chapter's clubhouse, known as Casa Club Sigma. Its restaurant has operated uninterrupted since 1968. Its activity halls are rented out for meetings and events held by many organizations. The clubhouse has two main activity halls and two smaller ones, which can all be opened up to create one big room, or used individually.
In 2025 a club house in Mayagüez was established after renovating the historic Tienda-Almacén Siempreviva.
Philanthropy
The Fundación Sigma is a nonprofit organization, established to offer Puerto Rican youth of limited resources and those of outstanding academic records the opportunity to cover part of their university expenses. Through different fraternity activities, carried out to raise funds, the organization seeks to be fiscally responsible as the basis to fulfill its philanthropic goals.The fraternity collaborates and contributes to different organizations, mainly to the Fondita de Jesus, the American Red Cross, American Cancer Society and Centro Espibi in Mayagüez. Various golf tournaments are held to raise funds for charities. The Beta Boriquen chapter coordinates one such tournament with the Mayagüez Rotary Club. The fraternity raised funds for Da Vida Caminando con Raymond (Walk-A-Thon) during the years the event was active; its members raised $25,000 in 2023. The fraternity once again donated to the "Da Vida Walk-A-Thon" in 2025, having donated in all the years of the event over $100,000.00.
Since 2019, the fraternity has held consciousness raising campaign against violence against women, including a campaign in Caribbean Cinemas in March 2024. The fraternity donated $80,000.00 to the feminist nonprofit Proyecto Matria in September 24, 2024.
Chapters
The fraternity has both collegiate and alumni chapters. The collegiate chapters are named by a Greek letter depending on their order of founding, followed by the word activo. The alumni chapters follow the same nomenclature, with the suffix boriquén.Collegiate chapters
Following is an incomplete list of the fraternity's university chapters, with active chapters indicated in bold and inactive chapters in italics.| Chapter | Institution | Location | Status | |
| Alfa-Omega Activo | University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Beta Activo | University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez | Mayagüez, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Gamma Activo | Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Ponce, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Delta Activo | Interamerican University of Puerto Rico | San Germán, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Epsilon Activo | Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Zeta Activo | University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo | Arecibo, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Omicrón Activo | University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla | Aguadilla, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Epsilon Columbia Activo | Miami, Florida | Active | ||
| Omega Columbia Activo | Orlando, Florida | Active | ||
| Alfa Azteca Activo | Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara | Guadalajara, Mexico | Active | |
| Alpha of Sigma Iota Alpha Zone | Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Inactive | |
| Beta Caribe of Sigma Iota Alpha Zone | Washington, DC | Inactive |
Alumni chapters
Following is a list of Phi Sigma Alpha alumni chapters with active chapters in bold and inactive chapters in italics.| Chapter | Location | Status | References |
| Alfa Boriquén | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Beta Boriquén | Mayagüez, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Delta Boriquén | Arecibo, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Épsilon Boriquén | Guayama, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Kappa Boriquén | Dorado, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Omicrón Boriquén | Aguadilla, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Tau Boriquén | Caguas, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Ýpsilon Boriquén | Yauco, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Omega Boriquén | San Germán, Puerto Rico | Active | |
| Alpha Columbia Boriquen | Washington, D.C. | Active | |
| Epsilon Columbia Boriquén | Miami, Florida | Active | |
| Tau Columbia Boriquén | Texas | Active | |
| Omega Columbia Boriquén | Orlando, Florida | Active |