TKE is…
TKE is friendship. It is a deep friendship and mutual understanding among a group of men who have similar ideals, hopes, and purposes. Such a bond of friendship and understanding furnishes the indispensable incentive which helps the college man develop into a poised and self-confident adult–equipped with a keener mind, a greater appreciation, and broader sympathies, and fortified by a group of true and understanding friends which will abide throughout life. Any definition, however, would be inadequate without describing what a fraternity does or what characteristics it posseses. To this end TKE is:
Adventure In Group Living
College men joined together in the closest ties of friendship give to each other and learn from all the ability to live with men in harmony and good will. The adage “to live and learn” is certainly applicable to a social fraternity, for the experience that you gain from living, working, and relaxing in a cooperative endeavor reveals the qualities that are needed to get along with people, and to win the respect of your fellow man.
Education In Leadership
Leadership is one of the many things that cannot be learned from a text book. It must be developed through proper experience. In TKE you have an opportunity to develop your leadership ability in an atmosphere of friendliness and brotherhood, and have an opportunity to put your leadership ability to work. The crying need in every organization is for the right kind of leadership, and in your chapter the opportunities for leadership education are many and varied. Every talent and ability imaginable is found in a fraternity. Here also opportunity exists to develop new talents and to create.
Crucible Of Democracy
Tau Kappa Epsilon is self-governed. Probably for the first time, you will find yourself in a living, viable organization–the success or failure of which will be determined in part by your voice and vote.
Idealism In Action
The ideals and principles expressed by Tau Kappa Epsilon may be in some ways seem unrealistic. The failure, however, to always achieve these lofty purposes does not in any way detract from the ideals themselves. By formulating worthwile goals and purposes, and by working toward fulfillment, your chapter forms a utopian situation seldom found elsewhere.
A Magnificent Obsession
No explanation can be given for the time, money, and energy freely and voluntarily contributed to TKE by mature men, except to say that they are obsessed. An obsession is something that grips you, and won’t be shaken off. But when it influences the lives of the young men–in the right directions–it becomes magnificent. It is one hope of safeguarding the future.
A Mutually-Selective Organization
And finally, TKE is a mutually -selective organization. This membership selection procedure distinguishes a social fraternity from other organizations on a college campus. You select the fraternity with which you want to affiliate and, in turn, the fraternity selects you as a man to whom the opportunity for membership is extended. Only by mutual consent between you and the fraternity does this union occur.