Founding of Delta Omega Chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu

Delta Omega chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu began as the brainchild of five men at Rochester Institute of Technology. These men saw a need for something more than what the current fraternity system at RIT provided. They did not like what they saw (hazing, drinking clubs, etc.) they decided to start their own fraternity.

Jason Brooks, Edan Cohen, Jon Stolberg, Mitch Sukoff, and Mike Wainick were the men who did this.

On October 21, 1991 on the 7th floor of Nathaniel Rochester Hall, the first meeting of the Octagon Club took place. About 20 people attended. Of those, the following stuck through to the end:



Jason Brooks was elected the first president of The Octagon Club. His father was a Sigma Alpha Mu brother and therefore contact was made with SAM. For the rest of the year the group was under the understanding that they would soon be colonized.

People joined and left the group almost on a daily basis, as the group struggled to find members who were committed to getting the club off the ground. Mike Wainick was elected president in the spring of 1992 and by the end of the spring The Octagon Club was close to scrapping the idea of becoming a fraternity. But then in the basement of 428 Raquet Club, a Lacrosse Ball meeting was held in which everyone’s complaints, concerns, and aspirations were thrown onto the table for everyone to hear. This was a turning point for the group as the group was revitalized and motivated to succeed. Three informal Rush classes were taken during this time and The Octagon Club was ready for the next year.

The beginning of 1992 found Mike Dennehy as our Graduate Advisor. A Sammy himself, Mike contributed a lot to the founding of the group. In the spring of 1993, The Octagon Club petitioned twice to receive Special Interest Group status. On one of those instances, in March, we were denied Special Interest Group status and told not to associate with Sigma Alpha Mu. The school told us that for us to grow as a group; we needed to do it on our own, without any help from Sammy.

On May 12, 1993, we gained Special Interest Group status under Greek Council. We put together our own Education program in the winter of 1993 for CC #2. Prior to that, the candidates were taught from the Purple Books.

For the next three years, The Octagon Club focused on developing internally. All three years, we gave presentations to the school urging them to lift the ban on Greek expansion.

Our visibility on campus grew and grew as we participated in such activities as the Greek God competition (which we organized), Horton Play Day, and Love Day. The fall of 1995 saw The Octagon Club put on the first PoleSit, benefiting the Muscular Distrophy Association. Also, that fall, the ban on Greek expansion was lifted.

With the ban lifted, The Octagon Club started looking around at national Fraternities. That winter, Delta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu came and made presentations to our club. We chose Sammy.

On March 15, 1996 we were colonized and on November 2, 1996, we were chartered.