Sigma Beta Rho

Sigma Beta Rho was founded on August 16, 1996, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as a South Asian interest fraternity.^[3][4][5] Its founders originally attended three different college campuses and came together to form the fraternity.^[5] The first eight members of the fraternity's are its national founding fathers: Russell Abdullah, Anuj Datta, Neil Datta, Rajan Dogra, Suman Ghosh, Shoor Kalam, Saiful Khandker, and Bonit Sharma.^[6][7][5]

Beta chapter was chartered at Binghamton University on August 22, 1998. That same year, the fraternity was incorporated in the State Department of New York. In its first few years of existence, Sigma Beta Rho changed its focus from a South-Asian interest fraternity to one with a multicultural mission.^[5] It promotes cultural awareness and spreads a positive image of diversity.^[1]

Sigma Beta Rho was a founding member of the National APIDA Panhellenic Association (NAPA).^[8][9] Sigma Beta Rho member Akash Kuruvilla co-authored the original constitution of NAPA. The fraternity was also accepted into the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) on April 15, 2007, as its 69th member organization.^[10]

Since 1998, Sigma Beta Rho has initiated over 3,000 members.^[11][12]

The colors of Sigma Beta Rho are red, black, and green.^[13][14] Its symbol is the King Cobra.^[13][14] Its motto is "Brotherhood Beyond All Barriers".^[13][14] Its pillars are "Society, Brotherhood, Remembrance".^[1] Its nicknames are SBRho and SigRho.^[14]

The fraternity’s national philanthropic focus is on its partnership with SOS Children's Villages.^[1][2] Local chapter efforts have supported Habitat for Humanity, Read Across America, and Relay for Life.^[15]

The national executive board is the governing body that presides over the nationwide fraternity.^[16] The fraternity's national headquarters is in New York City, New York.^[17]

Sigma Beta Rho used the term "entities" for its colonies, associate chapters, and chapters.^[18] A colony is a new group, working meeting the requirements to charter as a chapter.^[19] A colony becomes an associate chapter after a certain amount of time and after meeting requirements for membership, finances, and community service.^[19] Associate chapters are chartered as a chapter after maintaining the requirements for an associate chapter for an established period of time.^[19]

In the following list, active chapters indicated in bold and inactive chapters are in italics.^{[20][21][19][22]}

• List of social fraternities and sororities
• National APIDA Panhellenic Association
• List of Asian American fraternities and sororities
• Cultural interest fraternities and sororities