Theta Nu Epsilon Society - Starting a Chapter

The Theta Nu Epsilon Society.

Starting a chapter.

First, some basics.

If you’re looking for a dark and mysterious conspiracy to control and manipulate college affairs behind the scenes,
if you’re looking for some vast, wealthy, Victorian, secret, powerful organization,
if you’re looking for access to the corridors of power,
if you’re looking for a center of espionage and dirty tricks,

...then go set up a new organization of your own.

Theta Nu Epsilon is none of those things.

Read this website carefully. The National Organization of the Alpha Chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon is not, and will not be made into, any of those things.

We have to be very clear about this, because even when we make this clear, we still get e-mails every month from people who believe every rumor they have heard about Theta Nu Epsilon or Skull & Bones, and they want to be a part of that rumor.

Is there a mission statement?

There is something better than a ‘mission statement’ that is a useful guide for the society. However, in general, we hate mission statements. People only have to write mission statements when they don’t know what they’re doing. However, because there have been requests here to have a mission statement posted, we have written something for the public that can serve as an equivalent statement for the society :

Theta Nu Epsilon is a social organization dedicated to the preservation of college customs and the promotion of collegiate and intercollegiate friendship.

Where can new chapters be created?

Theta Nu Epsilon is interested in establishing new chapters, and as a part of our planned development, the society has established parameters to determine where chapters can be created. This has allowed us to generate a list of American and Canadian college & universities that qualify. Check the list for your college or university. The officers of the National Organization can only present applications from these institutions to the Alpha Chapter for consideration. Further, the total number of chapters has been limited. We plan to never grow beyond a hundred chapters, and probably only half that.

We have had initial contacts from some European universities, and will entertain the idea of establishing chapters outside North America.

Groups.

The classic number of members for an organization such as ours is 15 in a class year. There is no real reason for this. The patters was established at Yale University where the class year societies in the upper classes always took 15 members. Nonetheless, the 15 member per class year benchmark remains. If you can begin the chapter with 15 members you will have attained that normative standard which will at least communicate to some members of the public what your intentions are.

The National Organization can be flexible about the 15 member standard. However, very small groups cannot be considered. Their odds of success are too small to make the investment of time worthwhile.

Chapter Size.

We’re going to suggest 20 per class year for a total of 60. And we suggest this more for the sake of argument than anything else. People tend to assume that a society like this must be extremely small, and that’s a mistake. First, as far as very small groups go, if you have less than a dozen, you have severe issues perpetuating the organization. Summer comes, four take a semester abroad, four graduate, and then there is a real problem effectively continuing the chapter. Second, it is also important to avoid the small-circle-of-intimate-friends syndrome. Not that anyone is opposed to people having intimate friends. But the first members of a newly-restarted chapter often get very territorial about who has access to membership very quickly, and want it only to be for their closest friends. As sweet and emotionally fulfilling as that may be, if a society becomes “the tight-knit society of the close friends of X,” then who would want to join? The whole thing would only last as long as X and his friends are in school. Besides, if that was all that the society really meant, then why should it be passed on?

In general, the first thing you have to realize is that you have to initiate about three times as many people as you want showing up to meetings. That’s just the standard rule of thumb found by long experience.

In the real world, most organizations function at 5% of their total membership. Everything runs like that, most churches (i.e. Presbyterians), most fraternal organizations (i.e. Elks), most civic organizations (i.e. Chamber of Commerce). It’s just the way it is. Actually, it’s only college fraternities that get up to 90% participation,—but they’re residential, so it’s hard to miss a meeting when it’s held at home.

Most college groups have at least 50% to 60% attrition, and that basically comes in two kinds, ‘permanent’ (away for a semester, or a Senior), or ‘I’d love to make it this weekend but I can’t’ which can be theater, lab projects, writing projects, ex-girlfriend in town, & c.

If you want ten at a regular meeting, you had better think of initiating thirty.

Does that seem huge?

When, at Wesleyan, Theta Nu Epsilon was taking in 20 in a class year, and our arch rival, Zeta Phi, the evil bastards, were doing the same, the two Sophomore societies were initiating almost half a class year. Similar proportions applied at Yale and other schools with a class-society system. Do that today, and it would be 175 per class year, for two societies. For three class years, that would put on-campus membership at over 500.

No one is suggesting that these societies be that size again: it’s an unworkable plan. But there is a valuable point in these numbers. A hundred years ago, these societies were functioning like initiatory societies into college life itself. That was the function they held in the 1880’s ’till about 1910. You became a Yalie, or a Wesleyanite, or a Brown man, in your Sophomore society initiation. Now, we cannot fulfill that function today, nor is anyone asking us to. But it is important to realize what initiation into a society like Theta Nu Epsilon meant, and it still means today.

Men & women members.

The National Organization will no longer present applications to the society that do not have men and women members. There are numerous points that are necessary to observe to set an appropriate tone at the outset of a chapter. Most of the older chapters are already ‘co-ed’. There is no reason to introduce a disparity among chapters on an issue like this. Further, we have found that new chapters that begin with men & women members have been naturally recognized by the public as the responsible and upstanding organizations we all know Theta Nu Epsilon to be.

Woman have to be admitted by the sheer logic of the thing, since Theta Nu Epsilon seeks students who are looking for a more meaningful collegiate experience, who are interested in the traditions of an academic community, and who want to live up to those traditions;—given that, it doesn’t seem possible that women could be excluded. If Sigma Chi says they want to make men out of boys, fine. Theta Nu Epsilon is not making men. Not that we are opposed to that, we just know that we don’t operate at that level. Theta Nu Epsilon is a much less demanding institution, at least as far as that goes. To the extent it improves people, it doesn’t make them better men or women,—it makes them better collegians, perhaps, or ultimately stronger alumni, but not better men as men and better women as women. We fulfill a different function, and therefore have different requirements.

Theta Nu Epsilon prides itself in having members who are the most committed to the life and welfare of their respective institutions of higher learning. Given that criterion, it only makes sense that students of both genders would meet that standard.

Regulations.

Theta Nu Epsilon was created, in part, to escape the regulation-bound institutions that college fraternities had become. One way to look at it, everything necessary to operate a chapter ought to be able to fit into one trunk. Likewise, there are not onerous paper requirements for any chapter. The main issue is to record chapters, memberships, and chapter officers with the National Organization.

The by-laws of the society have been ingeniously constructed to be as adaptable as possible to a wide variety of types of chapters. There are already a variety of different practices among the various chapters, both in and outside the National. It’s up to a new chapter to come up with a clear plan for their level of activity.

Functions.

Probably one of the biggest issues confronting new chapters is planning the kind of activities would work at the new chapter. The National Organization does not provide blueprints. There are, have been, and will be chapters in all kinds of settings, small colleges, large universities, in rural settings and major cities. What works in one institution will not necessarily work in another. It’s important to consider the regular activities of the chapter and possible bigger social events as may be appropriate. Many of the early chapters, from Dartmouth, to North Carolina, and many others, ran annual dances which left behind some impressive dance programs as mementoes. In more recent years, the Alpha Chapter held highly successful cocktail parties.

The usual pattern is for one big initiation in the Fall, one banquet in the Spring, as society events, and regular dinner meetings weekly. To this, add social events open to the public a few times a year. This is the typical pattern across chapters, and more than sufficient for a successful chapter.

Internal organization.

The best organizational model for a Theta Nu Epsilon chapter is to have a small committee, (highly flexible in its membership), called a Prudential Committee consisting of the three officers and anybody else who gives a tin-plated fig, who are completely empowered to do anything in the name of the chapter, as long as it’s not serious/crucial/constitutional or causes serious bodily injury. They get scads of authority, and in return, no one has to sit in long boring meetings approving last meeting’s minutes. You take this plan, and add the proviso that no one’s allowed to spend the meeting bitching and moaning, and you have a very efficient and effective society.

Working with the National Office.

The National Organization’s primary concern with any new group is to ensure that only applications from viable organizations are put before the society for consideration. Most of the National Organization’s interaction with a new group is to ensure that they are aware of the pertinent issues involved in the operation of a chapter, and that they have some well-thought out plan for addressing the anticipated needs.

We cannot emphasize enough that much of this planning will involve thinking of new and innovative ways to integrate the chapter into the local college or university community.

Money.

Currently, there are no National dues or fees. The National Organization is only providing minimal support to chapters, and to charge for that minimal support would be absurd. A chapter should set its own dues schedule, and should ensure that the chapter does not run to the detriment of any one member. We have had chapters ‘sponsor’ new chapters, and those new chapters will in turn act as sponsors to future chapters.

Pro-chapters.

A pro-chapter is a provisional chapter. A chapter should expect to operate on a provisional basis for at least a year. During that period, the chapter should be growing and developing. After a successful period as a pro-chapter, the charter should issue.

The National Organization gets about ten requests per semester, and of that group, we have recently averaged two new pro-chapters per semester.

Can this really be that simple?

The idea behind Theta Nu Epsilon was to take a fraternity, strip it of anything that was work, (keeping up a house, running a dining club, paying utility bills, swearing lifetime affection for people you actually felt a little sketchy about), and take what was left, and make that the whole of the fraternity.

So what are you left with? Short, social weekly meetings, lots of inside jokes, perhaps a larger public social event in the Spring, a kick ass initiation, and the occasional banquet.

Everything under student-member control, and nothing beyond what student-members could reasonably be expected to execute in a year.

So, if you’re looking for a full fraternity with all the bells and whistles, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for a solemn and grave initiation where you can find the deepest expression of your highest values and aspirations, this isn’t it.

How serious is it? In some ways, it sounds deadly serious, and at other times it sounds like a joke.

Theta Nu Epsilon is not a joke fraternity. But it is damn close. It’s as close as you can get while still being serious about it. There are people who do think having a good time with real friends is a valuable and important thing, that it doesn’t need to be dressed up as something else, (like a service organization), and that its good and wholesome to meet on that basis alone. And then have a good time.

Some people will look at Theta Nu Epsilon and see no programs for the development of the individual and therefore see it as wholly superficial.

Some will look at Theta Nu Epsilon and see it completely and only dedicated to what it is, esse, quam videre, and see it as the first real and authentic organization they have ever found in the academic world.

The real answer is, though, that the only things worth giving a damn about in this world do seem like a joke.

What next?

The first step is to become familiar with the information available on the website. The second step is to contact the National Organization. New groups that are at institutions that previously had a chapter will have to do some additional research into their own past so that the new and old can be properly integrated. The main work, in most instances, is bringing together the right group of people. Once that’s done, the rest just falls into place.