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TKE has given me everything
On Being A Teke
By Ted Bartlett
Published: Monday, September 20, 2004
I have taken many classes at CSU (Cleveland State U), but the best one I have taken has been being a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. Classes at this university teach many valuable skills and theories, but something is missing from them. Classes, by and large, don't teach conflict resolution, or how to deal with internal politics, or how to be a leader (in the sense that leadership and management are vastly different things). You may have to speak in public from time to time in class, but do you really learn how to do it well? It is the perennial book-smarts versus street-smarts problem. A person can only acquire street-smarts on the street, and in the context of working for organizations after graduation; a student organization is that metaphorical street.
I came to CSU as a fairly typical non-traditional student. I was 25, lived with my younger brother in an apartment in Broadview Heights, and had served in the US Navy for four years. I had heard the somewhat derisive nickname, Concrete State University, and was prepared to go to school and go home, like I imagined everybody to do at a school like this. Members of TKE talked to me on the right day, and completely changed my life. Everything good that has happened for me in the last two-plus years has roots in TKE. It is the foundation for everything in my life, and that's a stunning thing to reflect on and write, as I'm sure it is to read.
Most of the selling points of TKE are honestly universal throughout the Greek System. We all have fun, we all make lifelong friendships, we all enjoy a greater degree of academic success than independent students, and we all have a dramatic networking advantage over other students. TKE is far and away the wealthiest organization here, and has an amazing mansion that we've owned for over forty years, and these are certainly differentiators. The major differentiator between Greek organizations is the people in each one.
From the moment I met the Tekes, I knew the fit was right for me. Internationally, TKE has always sought men of sterling character to be our brothers. At our chapter, we specifically target students in Business, Engineering, and Political Science. Of course, we're happy to have brothers in other disciplines, but by keeping an academic niche focus, we're better able to assist younger students with classes our older members have already taken. _
Every year, the Greek System gets stronger at CSU, and with it, campus life does as well. It is kind of sad that we're under-recognized for what we bring to CSU, but our campus community seems to be really starting to get it. The strong positive correlation between Greek Life and campus life simply can't be denied, and we're proud to lead the way in the CSU revolution.
Every student at CSU should be as lucky as me to have had such a terrific experience here. When I recruit new members, I do so in the spirit of sharing with them what others shared with me. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to affect the lives of other men. Membership in Tau Kappa Epsilon is for life, and I fully intend to be active with the Fraternity until I die, like Ronald Reagan and many others have been.
TKE has given me everything, and I am an exponentially better person for having been a member. To all our students out there, remember that it's never too late to make the best choice you'll ever make.
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