Tau Kappa Epsilon (also pronounced T K E or "Teke") is a college fraternity with chapters in the USA and Canada, and was founded on January 10, 1899 at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. TKE's five Founders were C. Roy Atkinson, Clarence Arthur Mayer, James Carson McNutt, Joseph Lorenzo Settles, and Owen Ison Truitt.

TKE was originally named the Knights of Classic Lore with the goal of establishing a fraternity where membership based on personal worth and character rather than wealth, titles, or social rank.

As of May 2003, Tau Kappa Epsilon had 270 active collegiate chapters and colonies throughout the United States and Canada.

Table of contents
1 Creed
2 Declaration of Principles
3 Notable alumni
4 External References

Creed

The Creed of Tau Kappa Epsilon is:

  • To Believe in love and loyalty to my College, my Fraternity, my Country, and my God;
  • To Believe in the worthiness and dignity of my fellow man, and judge him solely upon his personal worth and character;
  • To Believe with fidelity in the traditions and ideals of my Fraternity, and upon my sacred honor, to uphold them;
  • To Believe in the constant search for truth, and through it, to seek the goal of wisdom;
  • To Believe in the life based upon integrity, justice, sincerity, patience, moderation, culture, and challenge in order to serve as a responsible, mature member of society;
  • To Believe in the cardinal principles of Love, Charity, and Esteem and to use them to guide my life;
  • To Believe in my Fraternity as a brotherhood of gentlemen in perpetual quest of excellence as a way of life.

Declaration of Principles

William Wilson wrote the TKE's Declaration of Principles in 1907, and it remains unmodified today:

We, the members of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, hereby declaring our strict adherence and unswerving fidelity to what we believe to be the basic principles of true friendship, do ordain and adopt this our Declaration of Principles.

The object of this Declaration is to codify the settled convictions of this fraternity into abiding form to guide fraternal action and conduct for all time to come. And to the principles hereinafter enunciated, we individually and collectively pledge our unreserved allegiance.

Man is a social being. Our whole structure evidences the absolute interdependence of man. Reclusiveness is dwarfing to man's best qualities. Intimate and frequent contact with our fellows is necessary to symmetrical development. As a consequence, organizations whose purpose is to promote these ends are to be fostered and encouraged.

We believe that at no other period in the life of a man is the time more opportune for the fostering of such qualities than during the years of his college career. Then mind and heart are in their most receptive condition, for it is the formative period of life.

We regard mental development as of vital importance, but of equal consequence is the acquisition of a knowledge of men and a proper conception of their relation to one another. This is not obtained from texts and lectures, but from actual and intimate intercourse with men. To promote these ends is the avowed and earnest purpose of this fraternity. Fully realizing the burdens of this duty, we enter upon its performance with the conscientious purpose of adequately meeting its demands.

We maintain that exclusiveness is the direct antithesis of a true fraternity. We condemn the un-American policies of some of the leading college fraternities of the country in their attitude of contempt to all who are without the bonds of fraternities, regardless of character, ability or personal merits. Such policies we seek to avoid, as they are destructive of the very ends of true fraternity.

We believe that a fraternity should be a brotherhood in conduct as well as in name. "Faith without works is dead." Pledges of brotherhood not succeeded by observance in conduct are as "sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." By the tenor of our daily action we should evidence our devotion to the principles we have solemnly obligated ourselves to observe.

The duties and obligations that subsist between the sons of the same mother should subsist between brothers in the sacred bond of this fraternity. The instinct to the observance of mutual duties that common blood supplies, must be furnished by the pledges of our ritual.

We believe that the essential elements of true brotherhood are love, charity, and esteem; love, that binds our hearts with the sturdy chords of fraternal affection; charity, that is impulsive to see virtues in a brother and slow to reprove his faults; esteem, that is respectful to the honest convictions of others and that refrains from treading upon that which is sacred to spirit and conscience; these are the triple obligations of every brother in the bond.

We believe in secretism in so far as it enables a fraternity to protect the confidence of the brotherhood. Secrecy that is promoted for selfish purposes or utilized to cloak fraternal wrong-doings we unsparingly condemn. We uphold this policy in so far as it is necessary to insure the dignity of our ritualism and the privacy of our internal affairs. As secrecy is employed to protect and perpetuate the sanctity of the family relation, so we enlist the advantage of secrecy to preserve inviolate the confidences and sanctities of the brotherhood.

Toward other fraternities we believe we should maintain an attitude of dignity and respect, recognizing their merits and studiously avoiding their evils. We believe our relation to them is, in a measure, competitive, and that we should endeavor to excel them in the fields of college activity.

We maintain that competition may become detrimental to any school. When healthy rivalry is followed by competition in which honorable methods are employed, it is a boon to the fraternity, and a benefit to the school, but when groveling and unprincipled means are employed, when school spirit and interest are subordinated to fraternal prejudice and selfishness, it becomes "a snare to the feet," and a detriment to the fraternity and to the school. Competition in such form we condemn, and pledge every effort to avoid.

Finally, above all else, this fraternity stands for Men. We believe in their equality in those things which the Creator has decreed they should equally enjoy. We consider no man from the standpoint of those qualities and advantages he has not attained by personal effort. We stand for men whose manhood has withstood the test of trying conditions. We deem sterling character and staunch uprightness to be necessary qualifications to membership in this fraternity. All else, though desirable, is secondary to these.

Notable alumni

The following is a list of many distinguished alumni of TKE:

Government

Business and Industry

  • Raymond G. Chambers - Co-Owner of the New Jersey Nets
  • Roger J. Dow - VP of Marketing for Marriott Hotels
  • Edward C. Droste - Co-Founder of Hooters
  • Conrad M. Hilton - Founder of Hilton Hotels
  • James P. Evans - CEO of Jenny Craig
  • James M. Kilts - Chairman and CEO of The Gillette Company
  • Paul R. Oreffice - CEO of Dow Chemical
  • Howard D. Schultz - Principal Owner of Starbucks
  • Robert L. Nardelli - Chairman, President and CEO of The Home Depot
  • W. Alan McCollough - Chairman, President and CEO of Circuit City
  • Charles R. Walgreen, Jr - Chairman of Walgreen Drugs
  • Paul Mobley - President of Noble Romans Pizza

Education

Athletics

  • Terry Bradshaw - NFL Star and TV Analyst
  • Louis Carnesecca - St. John's Basketball Coach
  • George S. Halas - Founder of the NFL
  • Marv Levy - Head Football Coach in the NFL
  • Richard F. "Digger" Phelps - Notre Dame Basketball Coach and TV Analyst
  • Philip M. Simms - NFL Star and TV Commentator

Entertainment

Military and NASA

Philanthropic, Literary, and Religious

External References