Theta Nu Epsilon Society - Introduction to the Society

The Theta Nu Epsilon Society.

Prospectus.

Theta Nu Epsilon is simply a society dedicated to good fellowship and the exercise of those social practices that knit together succeeding generations and academic communities.

Theta Nu Epsilon has no beliefs or credo, because it is not meant to supply the place of those institutions in society that do.

Theta Nu Epsilon has no real or special secrets. Our initiation is challenging, dynamic, and possibly amusing, but it does not teach any truths any more significant, or any less so, than that one should be honorable, true to oneself, an upstanding member of the community, and should not forget to keep alive those social ties upon which we all must rely.

Theta Nu Epsilon is not involved in any kind of political or social agenda. The Society can only exist as a point of union amongst its members if it remains a neutral ground of friendship, collegiality and nostalgic sentiment.

Theta Nu Epsilon is designed for those who want more out of college, and who have more to give.

Any attempt by anyone to pretend that Theta Nu Epsilon is anything more than this is a misrepresentation. Theta Nu Epsilon is not a cabal or a conspiracy, nor is it connected to any other organization, nor is it the tool or dupe of any conspiracy. Those who propagate such tall tales either, believe in such fantasies and are fools themselves, or they wish to make other people into fools and take advantage of them.

Honesty and honor are the opposite of pretense.

This website.

This website is designed not only to be a good introduction to the society, but also to show a spirit of openness that ever should characterize societies such as this. Theta Nu Epsilon exists in academic settings, and among young men and women who will be expected to play a significant role in society in their latter careers.

Governance of the society.

The chapters of the society are wholly independent, with only those limited exceptions necessary to insure some similarity of general purpose under the common name. Properly understood, the Society as a whole is a union of soveriegn polities, and only exists as an association of chapters.

The Society trusts each chapter to pursue its own course under the general precept that the chapters will conduct their affairs in accordance with the principles of honor. No chapter shall operate to diminish the reputations of the individual members, the colleges where they are located, or the society as a whole.

In the past, there have been all kinds of chapters, from residential four-year societies with daily duties to Sophomore class society chapters with only semesterly obligations. We do not at this time enocourage the creation of full four-year ‘fraternity chapters.’ However, the National Organization of the Alpha Chapter has no policy on how often chapters must meet or what business must be transacted. These matters are left to the best judgement of the members in any one chapter.

A chapter can be as elaborate, as obligating, as expensive as the members choose, or as simple as anybody could imagine.

More than anything else, a chapter should seek to accomodate itself to the college or university, and to reflect the history and traditions of that institution and of that chapter.

Character of the Members.

The undergraduate members of Theta Nu Epsilon are expected to conduct themselves in a particular manner. That is, they should have the character to govern themselves, to behave honorably, and acquit themselves decently. Everything in the Society is staked on the ability of members to do this, and we have full confidence in the undergraduates to meet this challenge.

Whatever they do, or whatever their chapter does, as long as they stick to this high standard, a positive final outcome is assured.

A member is expected to do everything necessary to avoid bringing disrepute upon his fellow members.

Secrecy.

The names of the active membership in the society is secret. Only Sophomores are considered active members. From this, two conclusions can be drawn. Only in the Sophomore year is membership considered secret, all other kinds of membership is not secret.

Publishing lists of members in college annuals, for example, is quite appropriate. Graduate chapters operate on equivalent terms.

The ‘Secret Society’ Myth.

It is remarkable how much confusion there is about the concept of a ‘secret society.’ Theta Nu Epsilon is a secret society, so is Freemasonry, so are all college fraternities, so are the Knights of Columbus, the Moose, and the Elks. Any organization with either “secret” modes or recognition, (handshakes, passwords, et c.), or a “secret” initiation, or both, is a secret society.

That means if your local high school football team put the “new guys” through anything like an initiation that they don’t tell anybody about, it is a secret society. If the staff at your local McDonald’s does something to each new guy, they are a secret society, (at least partially). In older universities, a capella singing groups and the editorial boards of the older publications actually act as secret societies.

The confusion is when people, —romantic, daydreaming people,— hear the words “secret society” they automatically fantasize about mysterious cabals that they believe secretly control the world. The movie, The Skulls, was based on this kind of shallow foolishness, (it may have been an excellent movie, but it was no kind of history).

The logic of this kind of daydreaming quickly collapses. It could go like this : “If a secret society was really secret, then how could it have a webpage? If a society was really secret, then how could anybody know about it? If a society was really secret, how could the members know about it? If I were a member of a secret society that was really secret, would I know about it? Maybe I am a member of a secret society so secret I haven’t even been told.”

This, of course, is stupid. Everyone used to say of the Seven Society at Virginia that no one knew they were members until it was reported in the member’s obituaries. That sounds really, really secret. On the other hand, it is also implausible. What is the point of belonging to a society if you can never tell anyone? Obviously the member’s close friends, parents, (and later, their wives), knew very well who was a member.

People have written about Theta Nu Epsilon as if it were a powerful secret society. A large part of this comes from the fact that the history of the organization is so confused, there was no way to have any real knowledge about it. Into that ignorance grew paranoia and silly fantasies. Another aspect of this is that it is much more exciting to write about powerful mysterious forces than a social club. One example of this is Esquire magazine, which found it far more preferable to write about “The Most Powerful Fraternity in America,” (April 1992, Philip Weiss), and build up an aura of mystery than to write about ordinary, mundane college students. Very stylish, but not very useful.

A number of members this organization have had these kinds of ‘powerful secret society’ fantasies, and their writings have contributed to the problem. A more serious problem has been when illegitimate members, (already people with marginal scruples), begin to take advantage of the confusion about Theta Nu Epsilon, and try to create actual conspiracies. This has, for some reason, been mostly a problem in the far West. (In the past eighty years, this has happened at Oregon, Oregon State, U.S.C. and other campuses. This is a problem which continues even into today). There have been some people who have collected significant sums of money and who have taken advantage of scores of college students in this kind of activity.

Theta Nu Epsilon is not a vast conspiracy. It is not a Hollywood fantasy out of The Skulls, or a Manhattan fantasy out of Esquire. Nor does it seek to be such. Conspiracies are, after all, a lot of work and very little fun.

Anyone claiming great power because of his position in this Society is lying.

Anyone looking to join vast and powerful conspiring secret societies should go join something else, and leave the members of Theta Nu Epsilon to their fortnightly amusements.

Anyone who has dreamed of always making it into some great and powerful secret society should settle down and try to imagine what that would really be like. It might be dramatic, but more likely it would involve a lot of drudge work. Meetings would be deadly serious and dull. Unswerving allegiance to some dark overlord would be annoying, tedious, and quickly would be out of the question. Anyone who, as a teenager, was dreaming of things like like this in their future should just grow up.

This has always been contrary to the spirit of Theta Nu Epsilon, anyway. There hasn’t been a true member of Theta Nu Epsilon yet who can file reports to superiors on time, if at all. In fact, no true Theta Nu Epsilon can be brought to recognize that he has any superiors. No group of Theta Nu Epsilon members can be brought to work together like clockwork;—they seldom can be brought together, and they shun work. This is Theta Nu Epsilon.

Theta Nu Epsilon is a venerable, amiable, and time-honored tradition. Those who wish to partake of the ancient traditions should join immediately.