4 minute read
Sammy Stories Made Again in New York City
Written by Supreme Prior Dave P. Kleppel (Washington University, ’82)
Labor Day 2023 wasn’t a typical 3-day holiday weekend for Sigma Alpha Mu. Friday September 1 Sigma Alpha Mu’s Mu Omicron chapter at New York University, originally founded in December 1949, returned to the active chapter roll. Once again SAM is back where we belong in NYC!
That day Washington Square Park was filled with students enjoying the sunny afternoon before classes started on Tuesday. Inside the Student Center a group of young men awaited their SAM initiation ceremony. While the start of every new chapter or the return of a dormant chapter is always a special event, that afternoon would prove to be exceptional.
Having been selected by NYU’s IFC and University Administration as the #1 expansion choice, Growth Consultant AJ Davis started early and recruited a diverse nucleus of student leaders consisting of both US and international students. They wanted a fraternity experience free from stereotypical behaviors and focused on fostering academic achievement, brotherhood, social excellence and service to the community. And they were so eager to begin they went through candidate education before the start of school so that they could conduct fall rush as an active chapter.
A magnificent day, a special group of young men and the city where SAM was born (where a large concentration of SAM alumni from many chapters work and live) generated quite a bit of excitement. With the SAM Tri-State Alumni Club also publicizing the event locally the alumni turnout was fantastic!
Alumni ranging in age from the mid-20s to the late-70s came to be part of the initiation team. NYU alumni were joined by brothers from Brooklyn College, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Stonybrook, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, Washington University and several other schools. After the initiation the students and alumni joined for a celebratory dinner at a great Italian restaurant on Houston Street.
September 1 wasn’t just the return of a historic chapter in the city of SAM’s birth. That day the distinctions of age and chapters faded as Sammys from multiple generations and schools joined to support each other and socialize as brothers. Later, as we all went in our different directions a genuine excitement had been instilled in all of us. New friendships began that night and have continued growing. Alumni remain engaged, advising and supporting the chapter. Alumni from different chapters who met that evening have been socializing, networking and making inquiries about how they can help other dormant NYC-area chapters return.
Mu Omicron’s initiation reminds all of us that the value of Sigma Alpha Mu continues for members and for the Fraternity as we cross generational, chapter and geographic boundaries throughout our lives. More of these opportunities are available to be realized. By going to our website (sam.org) and signing up for a My SAM id members gain access to SAM’s online resources where they can find their own chapter brothers, brothers from other chapters who live nearby and remain engaged in SAM.
A footnote about the Mu Omicron re-activation. The 15 founders of the chapter in 1949 include some of our most successful brothers. We lost the last of them in 2021. Their ranks included attorneys, educators, physicians, an oil company vice-chairman and an inventor of the artificial sweetener Nutrasweet©. One other, a holocaust escapee, became a physician and a contributor on the team that won the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery of the anti-rejection antigen that makes just about all transplant surgeries performed today possible. I share this knowledge with you as I did with the newly-initiated members of Mu Omicron because I knew many of these men as “uncles” starting in my early childhood. You see, one of the 15 Mu Omicron founders was my father. I want to express my sincere gratitude to our entire membership for giving me the honor and privilege of serving in this role so that I could be the SAM official who led the reactivation of the Mu Omicron chapter. It will be amongst the most meaningful and cherished SAM experiences I will have in my life.
Fast and firm,
