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About the Tau Kappa Epsilon
Fraternity
Tau Kappa Epsilon is a college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899
at Illinois Wesleyan University with chapters in the United States,
and Canada. There are currently over 290 TKE chapters and colonies throughout
the United States and Canada and more than 257,000 men.
Of the national fraternities founded prior to 1920, TKE is one of the
few fraternities that never had a discrimination clause in its membership
requirements to prevent membership of men because of their race, color,
or creed. TKE was also one of the first fraternities to abolish "Hell
week" when in 1928 it was replaced with an initiation period consisting
of lessons portraying the finest attributes of brotherhood.
The members of Tau Kappa Epsilon value scholarship, character, leadership,
teamwork, service, and above all else brotherhood. We aim to make a
positive difference in society, and become better people in the process.
Notable Alumni:
- Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, 33rd
Governor of California
- Elvis Presley, Rock 'n' Roll pioneer, actor
- Conrad M. Hilton, Founder of Hilton Hotels
- Howard D. Schultz, Founder, Principal Owner, CEO of Starbucks
- Malcolm S. Forbes, Jr., editor-in-chief of Forbes Magazine,
president and CEO of Forbes Inc.
- Paul Caine, Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue
Officer, Time Inc.
- Terry Bradshaw, NFL Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl MVP &
Fox Broadcasting Company football analyst
- Merv Griffin, Host of The Merv Griffin Show, creator of the
game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune
- Jim Fielding, President, Disney Store
- Gary Doer, 20th Premier of Manitoba (1999-2009), Canadian
Ambassador to the United States (2009-present)
- James P. Evans, former president and CEO of Best Western
- Robert L. Nardelli, Former Chairman and CEO at Chrysler,
Former Chairman, President and CEO at The Home Depot
- and many, many others
About the Kappa Chi
Chapter
Kappa Chi (or simply KX) is the denomination of the chapter of Tau
Kappa Epsilon at Concordia University. Established in 1965 at Loyola
College, KX was accepted into TKE on March 18th, 1967 as the 238th chapter
of Tau Kappa Epsilon. In 2012 we are celebrating our 45th year of existence
in Montreal.
Since 1967, our Kappa Chi chapter has initiated over 530 members into
our fraternity always striving to build better men for a better world.
Kappa Chi is known for it's philantropical events. Every year we hold
our TKE Bachelor & Bachelorette Auction which raises money for MUSCULAR
DYSTROPHY CANADA, a not-for-profit organization committed to finding
a cure for neuromuscular disorders. In 2011, we have raised over 1600$
for this cause.
Throughout the years, Kappa Chi has had a reputation for holding our
Teke-in-a-box, which is a charity that raises money for DANS
LA RUE, a grassroots, community-based organization that works with
street kids and at-risk youth aged 12 to 25. Almost every year, the
brothers of Tau Kappa Epsilon- Kappa Chi chapter, sleep outside for
36 hours in a shelter built of wood, cardboard and other debris that
can be found on the street. The fraters panhandle during this period
of time around the streets and near the campus at Concordia University.
The charity drive is always met with great support and generosity from
both the students and the general public. The founder of DANS LA RUE,
Father Emmett Johns, or as he is better known as "Pops", is
a great figure head for our charity and always welcomes our support
with open arms. He is always appreciative of our efforts and holds great
regards for our fraternity.
Kappa Chi manages to raise thousands of dollars for various causes,thus
giving back to our community whether financially through money raised
or thorugh community service hours.
Our Declaration of Principles
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.
For more information visit jointke.org.
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