THE EVENING SESSION OF BARUCH AND SIGMA ALPHA
Baruch College is also famous for it evening study program, which has continuously operated since the beginning of the 1900’s and probably the best in the nation. Even large business schools such as Columbia and NYU of “the city that never sleeps” cannot compete on this plain. This is another great service that Baruch College offers, allowing less wealthy students, who must work to earn a living during the day, an opportunity to gain a quality education at nights. Needless to say, the motivation and drive of such students parallels or exceeds that of students to be found in other Ivy League schools in the country.
By the late fifties Baruch College had an evening student body numbering several thousand. It had a separate “evening session” which had its own Dean. In fact, they almost comprised a majority of the school body itself. A Baruch student either registered as a “day” student or an “evening” student.
Sigma Alpha traditionally catered to everyone and did not have a particular focus to accommodate the rigid schedules of “evening students”, but as the fifties progressed Sigma Alpha’s evening students grew in proportion. At the end of 1957, William Rosen, a student at Baruch College and a member of Sigma Alpha, decided that he would make a difference and help evening students participate by creating a sub division of Sigma Alpha that would cater specifically to their schedule.
With the assistance of Professor John Ryan. The Evening division of Sigma Alpha was developed in 1958 with a program catering to those students. The society hosted events on Friday Evening’s – during which time classes mostly did not take place. Sigma Alpha did not christen it until it had proved its effectiveness, and in May 1959 after completing its first successful year (on probation), Sigma Alpha agreed to accept William Rosen’s organization as a Chapter of Sigma Alpha – “The Delta Chapter”. Over the years it became known as the “Evening, Sigma Alpha” or “Sigma Alpha, Delta.” In May 2003 Sigma Alpha Delta completed 45 years.
