our audience?
 

been a week now since any activity has occurred on this site.
Has ole tau kap frat gotten tired of this?

I think they are all busy with rush.

I'm too busy worrying
 

I think we're all spending our time worrying about Bush vs Kerry.

I worry about young people who think that a musician is a good source of recommendations on the best candidate.

And it's only about 60 days 'til the first big "dress-up in blackface" Halloween parties. That'll be good for a few days of action.

Re: I'm too busy worrying
 

I just liked the quote. If people want to think others vote because of musicians or toher famous people , let them.

I check Greek Chat as a regular site on my Fav lists. I use it as resourse for Rush, Brotherhood Activites and General Issues. Keep Posting and I will keep reading ( and adding my occasional coment or post).

YITB
Vinnie

Good to hear from Rho Rho
 

See your house has been taken down - what's up with the new one?

Who has the courage?
 

I see no ambitious Frater has accepted the challenge of listing our dormant chapters in the "dead chapters" thread.

Or maybe the list was rejected as "too long, cannot be true."

Re: Good to hear from Rho Rho
 

The old house was almost 100 Years old and had to be torn down for safty reasons :) . But we own the land and are trying to get a loan for a house and/or a party barn. We are doing well in rush already and are graduating a lot of good members in the spring. Hopefully a new structure is just around the corner. Any fundraising or House concepts will be greatly apreciated.

YITB
Vinnie

Check out what we are trying to build
http://www.rhorho.org/modules/PNphpb.../tke_lodge.jpg

dormant chapters
 

why list our failures? We got plenty of them, some due to poor
charterings in first place, some due to lies in the petition, some
due to poor leadership locally and from HQ. Only about four
of the schools have closed.
It would be, and should be, and embarrassment to alumni and to
TKE hq & grand council...in spades.
Instead, why not list the places we oughta be back or would like
to be back. Headquarters is asleep again.
To list our dead ones...dumb....think positive! YITB, Erik

Closed schools
 

Do you know which schools have closed?

I know Parsons (IA) closed, and I know there was a chain of "Parsons" style schools (designed as profit makers) for a few years.

In about 25 years of life, I never had skim milk until I visited Parsons. They did every thing on the cheap, except pay high salaries to teachers. The classroom buildings were pie shaped, with the instructor/blackboard at the point of the pie, and the students out in the "filling".

The Tekes had rented a party house within sight of the campus, and each member had a locker with a lock for their bottle in the house.

Last I heard, some Maharishi had bought the Parsons campus.

I also wonder if TKE has been at any place where the administration has closed the GLO system?

lucky
 

TKE has never been anywhere which banned GLOs--lucky
Tarkio, MO...closed
Milton, WI....closed
Alliance, PA..closed
Parsons, IA..closed
We have never had chapters at merged ones, like Case-Reserve
The "Parsons" type schools, none of which ever made it, all had
TKE colonies, by the way, and all strong. I recall two in NE, one
in IA, 1 in AZ. Gamma Pi chapter, Parsons, was extremely strong
arguably #1 all its life. Alum chapter yet exists. If AAUP hadn't
got panties in a wad and banks panicked, this college would be
thriving today. Maharishi group bought Parsons campus, made peace with town, belongs even to Chamber of Commerce now! Pure professorial jealousy, the flames fanned by the envious
Chronicle in Higher Ed publication. Pure bullshit. There was a real place for this "flunk out u" especially when you look at the
quality, grades given out today...A real educational travesty.
The JuCos were chartered by TKE only two times, both in FL.
I am not sure that Salem-Teikyo or the aero school in CA are yet
open, Northrop Tech...we closed at both. NIC groups who've
gone on to traditionally-black schools have not fared well due to
our costs...
We have come a long ways since the Union Triad, and any day
now I look for us to charter at Bruce's College of Cosmetology in local shopping centers and malls....

Milton WI? Whats that? Which chapter/School?

surprised
 

surprised that you do not have a pledge manual or know how to
look this stuff up...anyway, here, spoon-fed, are closed colleges:
Milton College, Milton, WI, Xi Sigma
Alliance College, Cambridge Springs, PA, Zeta Upsilon
Tarkio College, Tarkio, MO.Rho Iota
Parsons College, Fairfield, IA, Gamma Pi
none of these were weak TKE chapters, by the way
duh
There are about a dozen schools where TKE is no longer active,
and who are candidates for closing...any day. Subjective naming
+ fear of self-fulfilling prophesy negates my mentioning them.
And there are schools where TKE was the only NIC chapter on
campus...a gross mistake, but we never learn...do we?

Regardless if I would have used my pledge manual, I have never heard of Milton college, though I wouldn't have now would I, if my understanding is correct, it has since closed. I noticed that the chapter was installed in the early 70's, not exactly a very friendly time for fraternities right? (Though however maybe not true for TKE, but as a whole for NIC's). Or perhaps that WI is a hard state for smaller schools to compete in... Who knows?

While I agree that TKE still has many dormant chapters deserving re-chartering, it seems that there are many chapters on the verge of losing there charter, either with the school they are at or the OGC. I think Internationals is stuck trying to figure out which is more of a grave concern, would you agree, or have further input to this?

Re: surprised
 

Wow, I never knew this place existed, and it wasn't terribly far away from Clarion (my big's roomie was from CS). Erik, do you know if they ever had NPC sororities there?

Alliance & 33 girl
 

Interesting school. Sponsored by the National Polish Alliance.
I was driving to Gannon in the spring of '58 after having picked
up groups at California, Clarion, Slippery Rock...and drove by this
gorgeous, pillared, fraternity house in this small town....the town
was Cambridge Springs, PA and the letters on the house said Tau
Sigma Pi. I was curious, stopped, went to the door, and engaged
in conversation. Learned TSP stood for a polish phrase which was
in English--"The Sons of Poland". Further learned there were two
locals, the "white frat" and the "red frat." The college only had
about 300 students; the local was old and stable. I answered some questions about national outfits and left, not too enthused
about the school due to its size. I did nothing that spring other than pick up Lock Haven, help with Shippensburg, and fail at the
Carnegie Tech, Duquesne, Pitt and Grove City. We later got
on most of these, but picking up the groups I did, in one month,
got Wilson Heller's attention....I went on later working my way back to Kansas, getting Marietta and a couple more...
That next fall, I was in the area and dropped by Tau Sigma Pi. The college was extremely interested in TKE as was the local. I
right then and there called Don Becker, PA poobah to become the
next TKE national pres...and Dick Hall...before I went any further
and got a yes from all. I right then and there affiliated the group,
had TKE from nearby Gannon come down...The other local was
interested in affiliating with a national...at once. I had visited with Ken Whitesitt in St Louis recently, and had a most congenial
reception...Sigma Tau Gamma. Sig Tau was interested in getting
out of the "teachers college" mold, so I called Ken...who tied up
the group on the phone.
Contacted Delta Zeta and eventually another one came on. It was a warm feeling, a nice pastoral setting, and a good chapter.
Unfortunately, the Polish Alliance did not come up with enough
funds to keep the college open. So, all of us went down the tubes...I was crushed, for here was a little ethnic entity, a piece
of the USA, a nice little college...kinda like Eureka...gone from us.
I do not know how the other groups were, but TKE has pleased
with the chapter and so was Sig Tau with theirs.
This was a tear jerker, and 33, you hit a soft spot in my heart.
Alliance...stood for the good...was good...and lost.

Thanks Erik. I love hearing history stories like that.

There's a huge Polish population in Pittsburgh (we have a neighborhood called Polish Hill, plus parts of Bloomfield & the South Side) so I'd bet there are at least a few Alliance alumni around here.

I know this is an old thread...
 

My father-in-law is a Tau Sigma Pi from Alliance College (early 1950's). Since he gave us his old paddle, I've been trying to find out more about TSP. He thinks his chapter affiliated with TKE and that perhaps he's a member of TKE. His memory isn't really clear; he is in his last days of fighting cancer. How could I find out if he is a member of TKE? If there is a memorial ceremony (for either organization), is there someone we should notify once he passes, for his name to be included in that service?

I'm not familiar with Alliance College, but you should first contact the school, and then the alumni association. They do flash the TKE crest on their website so there's probably a chapter there. You can also look up chapters by state at www.tke.org . Many local fraternities, which is what I assume your father-in-law was in, got absorbed into TKE in the 50s and 60s.

However, if your father was not a member of the local when it became affiliated with TKE, he is not technically a member. You can contact the chapter though and ask them about honorary membership, but if he's near his deathbed, the process is probably too long for him to realistically become a member.

But yeah, contact the alumni at Alliance, it's definitely your best bet.

-Jiffy
Gamma Mu #646
Epiprytanis