Theta Nu Epsilon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This page is currently protected from editing until disputes have been resolved.
This protection is not an endorsement of the current version. See the protection policy and protection log for more details. Please discuss any changes on the talk page; you may use the {{editprotected}} template to ask an administrator to make the edit if it is supported by consensus. You may also request that this page be unprotected.

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Theta Nu Epsilon ΘΝΕ
Nickname: TNE

Founded:	December 11, 1870 Wesleyan University
Official Colors:	Green and Black
National Headquarters:	The National Organization is maintained by the Alpha Chapter. There are chapters independent of the national.
Badge:

Founded at Wesleyan University as a chapter of Skull and Bones. ΘΝΕ (Theta Nu Epsilon), also known widely as TNE, (or, at the University of Alabama, The Machine), Theta Nu Epsilon is primarily a sophomore class society that accepts members regardless of their fraternity status. The society has maintained a reputation of secrecy largely based on the lack of verifiable records. The colors of the fraternity are green and black.

1 Early History
2 Internal struggle
3 Post WWII history
4 The Louderback Theta Nu Epsilon Society of 1870
5 Official Chapters
6 External links

Early History

Theta Nu Epsilon was founded on December 11, 1870 in Room Seven of Wesleyan’s South College by Herbert Hull Coston, Coleridge Allen Hart, George Washington Shonk, Lyman Horace Weeks, (all four Alpha Delta Phi), Benjamin Emmons Gerst, Arthur Collins McClay, George Bickford Davey Toy, (all four Delta Kappa Epsilon), Stephen Judson Kirby, George Henry Towle, Alfred Charles True, (all four Eclectic), George William Elliott, Charles Hamlin Furber, William Henry Lawrence, Olin Levings Livesey, (all four Psi Upsilon), Amos Howard Hoagland, (independent). Two years after being founded as the Wesleyan chapter of Skull & Bones, the chapter cut its ties to Yale and changed the bones of the Skull & Bones emblem to keys. According to the traditional model, T.N.E. is exclusively a sophomore class society, and members were chosen near the end of their freshman or start of their sophomore year. Once selected, the new members were active and responsible for operation of the chapter during their sophomore year. As juniors and seniors, they were considered honorary members and only had authority to lead active members in an advisory role. The society always excluded freshmen. From the beginning, the identities of the sophomore members were kept secret. In yearbooks, the names of the sophomores appeared in code. The Alpha Chapter and legitimate chapters continue this tradition. There were alternate models for chapters, one is that of the three-year society, adopted by chapters at many institutions without a class society system, another model was for a wholly secret society, (which were usually chapters that had notorious reputations), and yet another model was where the chapter acted as an interfraternity coordinating body; the latter two models are not considered workable chapter models by the society today.

The society enjoyed immediate success at Wesleyan, and it grew rapidly and spread throughout the country. The Wesleyan Chapter acted as the national organization and continued to grant charters until 1907.^{[citation needed]}

Internal struggle

The society's national governance was disrupted by internal dissention. There was a convention structure developed for the society in 1885. But by the mid 1890s, two major factions and several lesser ones had formed and were exercising the functions of a national organization. One of these factions was started by the chapter at Purdue in 1889. After some urging by several New York City chapters, the Alpha Chapter realized the growth and size of the society was no longer manageable by a single mother chapter, and a convention was called in New York in 1907, and a more business-like national governing body was established and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. The new national organization attempted to unify all chapters of the society, but the process proceeded slowly. The illicit chapters became very problematic for the society. Several of these chapters were banned from campuses, and many fraternities prohibited members from accepting membership in the society.

In the late 1910s, many of the older legitimate chapters reorganized themselves as independent organizations which were loosely allied across campuses. However, the trouble-making reputations of many of the independent chapters led several major fraternities to place a ban on members from joining T.N.E., but these bans were seldom effective. An attempt was made to convert a small portion of the then existing chapters into a four-year college fraternity in the 1930s. The worst activity seems to have been among some chapters in the West in the late 1930s and 40s. Several of the older chapters that separated in the 1910s have survived as intact entities on their respective campuses, (Wesleyan, Berkeley, Alabama, etc.). Some, but not all, of these independent chapters began initiating women as members in the 1970s.

It is frequently assumed that all Theta Nu Epsilon members are also members of four-year college fraternities, but that has never been a requirement of membership. However, it is true that very many members have been members of four-year fraternities. There have been chapters that have operated exclusively that way, and the independent former chapter at Alabama is a well-known example of a chapter operating solely as an interfraternity coordinating organization. The Alpha Chapter, which operates as the national organization today, has a clear policy against having chapters operate as an interfraternity coordinating organization.

Post WWII history

Although the National found in the 1930s editions of Baird's Manual stopped operating in WWII, some of the chapters of that national continued into the late 1940s. However, the 1938 president of that national, Henry Kelly, was unable to restore any national governance. Other chapters, (Rochester, Wesleyan, etc.) did continue on virtually as locals and simply by force of their own momentum. The Purdue chapter continued on as a feeder organization to a senior society until 1992, and the NYU chapter continued on, apparently attached to the vestigial old literary societies. Several other chapters exist, usually under different names, and it is questionable in each case how much of what is left is still a part of Theta Nu Epsilon. The Alpha Chapter organized a National Organization in 1988, and later found Henry Kelley, naming him an Honorary National President before he died. The Alpha Chapter now has a handful of groups operating across the country, and expects to charter them as full chapters in the near future. (See link to their website below.)

The Louderback Theta Nu Epsilon Society of 1870

There was an independent organization centered at the University of Kansas which was led by John L. Louderback. Louderback may have been initiated into the remnants of a chapter at Kansas sometime in the 1960s, and he declared himself national president of TNE in 1989. His group attempted to establish two chapters, including one at East Tennessee State University in 2002 that was not successful. Investigation by legitimate alumni of the society proved that Louderback possessed none of the secrets of the society. He also charged steep chapter fees without providing charters, and was under investigation by the F.B.I. for a fraudulent 'scholarship' program, and was prosecuted for income tax evasion regarding the endowment of his society. His organization is not believed to have survived his death.

Official Chapters

Alpha Theta chapter at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1917

Because of early splits in the national organization, several unofficial national coalitions and rogue groups granted their own charters. As a result, many conflicts exist surrounding the actual founding dates and chapter designations, even at the institutions that had officially recognized groups. The following list of chapters is composed of all chapters either founded by the Alpha, founded by the successive nationals from 1907 to 1949, or made legitimate after their original founding. Institution names have been modernized where necessary.

Alpha - Wesleyan University - 1870
Beta - Syracuse University - 1872-1925
Gamma - Union College - 1874-1925
Delta - Cornell University - 1877-1913
Epsilon - University of Rochester - 1878-1944
Zeta - University of California - 1879
Eta - Colgate University - 1880
Theta - Kenyon College - 1881-1930
Iota - Case Western Reserve University - 1881-1921
Kappa - Hamilton College - 1882
Lambda' - Williams College - 1882-1923
Lambda - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - 1882
Mu - Stevens Institute of Technology - 1883-1935
Nu - Lafayette College - 1884
Beta Beta - Ohio Wesleyan University - 1884-1930
Xi - Amherst College - 1885-1925
Omicron' - Lehigh University - 1887-1907
Omicron - Allegheny College - 1887-1924
Pi' - Dickinson College - 1887
Pi - Pennsylvania State College - 1888-1940
Kappa Theta - University of Pennsylvania - 1888-1919
Alpha Rho - University of Alabama - 1888
Sigma - New York University - 1889
Alpha Alpha (Indiana Alpha) - Purdue University - 1882-1992
Psi Omega - University of the South - 1890-1913
Alpha Phi - University of Mississippi - 1890-1929
Beta Beta - University of Iowa - 1890-1929
Tau - Wooster University - 1891-1923
Kappa Kappa - Northwestern University - 1891-1929
Phi - Rutgers University - 1892-1916
Upsilon - University of Michigan - 1892-1930
Delta Delta - University of Maine - 1893-1930
Chi - Dartmouth College - 1893-1925
Psi - Ohio State University - 1893-1931
Omega - Stanford University - 1893-1936
Alpha Epsilon - University of Minnesota - 1893-1934
Alpha Alpha - Bowdoin College - 1893-1930
Alpha Beta - University of Kansas - 1893-1929
Alpha Gamma - University of Virginia - 1893-1932
Alpha Delta - Illinois Wesleyan University - 1893-1925
Alpha Sigma - Washington & Lee University - 1894-1912
Alpha Zeta - University of Chicago - 1894-1934
Gamma Gamma - University of Wisconsin - 1894-1934
Gamma Gamma - Trinity College - 1894-1930
Omega - Swarthmore College - 1894-1913
Alpha Epsilon - University of Colorado - 1894-1929
Alpha Eta - University of Nebraska - 1894-1929
Epsilon Epsilon - Case Western Reserve University, Medical - 1895-1919
Alpha Theta - University of Missouri - 1895
Kappa Kappa - University of Texas - 1895-1929
Omega Omega - Georgia Institute of Technology - 1895-1955
Alpha Omicron - Cumberland University - 1896
Zeta Zeta - Indiana University - 1898-1924
Theta Theta - West Virginia University - 1898-1930
Kappa Gamma - University of Vermont Medical School - 1898-1914
Omicron Omega - Saint Lawrence University - 1898-1930
Mu Beta - Brown University - 1900-1930
Princeton - Princeton University - 1900-1902
Theta Tau - University of Illinois - 1901-1934
Alpha Omega - Columbia University - 1901-1930
Beta Omicron - Colby College - 1902-1930
Beta Mu - Emory University - 1902-1923
Sigma Alpha - Westminster College - 1902-1929
Beta Eta - Muhlenberg College - 1902-1912
Tau Tau - Baker University - 1902
Nu Mu - Auburn University - 1902-1929
Omicron Omicron - Ohio Northern University - 1903-1921
Pi Pi - Dickinson College of Law - 1903-1925
Lambda Sigma - Yale University - 1903-1930
Omega Nu - University of Maryland - 1904-1914
Phi Phi - University of Arkansas - 1904-1930
Zeta Phi - Boston University - 1904-1914
Kappa Rho - University of Maryland at Baltimore, (BCDS) - 1904-1929
Zeta Phi - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - 1904-1916
Omega Kappa - University of Maryland at Baltimore, Medical School. - 1904-1915
Sigma Rho - University of Georgia - 1904-1915
Sigma Phi - University of Tennessee Medical College - 1908-1929
Eta Eta - University of Massachusetts - 1909
Gamma Beta - Thomas Jefferson University - 1909-1928
Epsilon Deuteron - University of Rochester Alumni Chapter, Theta Pi Sigma - 1909-1942
Zeta Zeta - University of Wyoming - 1910-1917
Rho Rho - Norwich University - 1910-1930
Sigma Tau - University of Maryland at Baltimore, Medical School. - 1910-1934
Nu Nu - Marquette University - 1911-1936
Xi Xi - University of Louisville - 1911-1935
Sigma Sigma - Virginia Medical College - 1911-1916
Upsilon Upsilon - New York University, Washington Square - 1912 - 1972
Psi Psi - Iowa State University - 1912-1935
Alpha Beta - State University of New York at Buffalo - 1914-1930
Alpha Gamma - Duke University - 1914-1930
Alpha Eta - Rush Medical College - 1915-1925
Alpha Epsilon - University of South Dakota - 1915-1929
Alpha Kappa - Northwestern University Dental School - 1916-1923
Beta Gamma - Chicago College of Dental Surgery - 1917-1925
Beta Epsilon - Oklahoma State University - 1917-1949
Delta Beta - Lehigh University - 1922-1925
Delta Lambda - University of Missouri at Kansas City - 1922-1930
Delta Chi - University of Oklahoma - 1922-1934
Alpha Iota - Harvard University - 1924-1928
Kappa Rho - University of Maryland at Baltimore - 1924-1929
Delta Phi - Lombard College - 1928-1930
Mu Mu - Coe College - 1928-1934
Alpha Mu - Southwestern University - 1928-1936