History Of Iowa Beta
On April 20th, 1916, Sigma Phi Epsilon was founded. Since then the history of our chapter has been very eventful. Shortly after it was founded World War II started, and this lead to many members of the chapter to be abroad. During this time the chapter house was rented out to females. The current chapter house was built in 1929 by Amos Emory, who also built the Sigma Kappa House across the street.
On May 15th, 1942, the Saturday before finals week a costly fire broke out. The fire damaged the third floor extensively and burned through the ceiling on the second floor. Repairs were made during that summer and it was ready by the fall. Since then the chapter house has gone through two separate renovations; the last one being in 2011.
The Iowa Beta Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon is a nationally accredited Residential Learning Community (RLC) through our headquarters. This program benefits our chapter in many ways by being able to have a graduate student living in our house providing us many beneficial services.