Info for Parents

Joining TKE

Joining a fraternity is a mutual selection process that occurs mostly during formal fall rush as well as summer and spring informal rush. Candidates who are invited to join during the summer and fall recruitment periods will be assembled for education and initiation together. We encourage potential members to attend as many planned events as possible in order to make sure they can interact with current active members and get answers to any important questions prior to beginning the new candidate education period.  Read more under the 'Join' section.

Legacies

If your son is the brother, son, grandson, or nephew of a Teke somewhere, of course we'd appreciate it if he would bring that information to our attention so we can get to know him and vice versa. However, being a legacy does not guarantee that he will get a bid from the Chapter just as it does not obligate a legacy to pledge the Chapter if he's invited. TKE is an enormously diverse fraternity in North America and each given chapter changes over time. Pledging remains a mutual selection process based primarily on compatibility.

Chapter Housing

The Nu Xi chapter is located at 991 Westview Rd, just outside the loop in Nacogdoches. The beautiful property is located on nearly three park-like acres, and numerous ammenities are available on site, including a game room, living quarters, a chapter room, a sand volleyball court, a 1000 square foot deck encompassing 3/4 of the house, a fire pit, and a sizeable parking lot.  Read more under the 'Housing' section.

Academics

From the very beginning, high scholastic attainment has been a primary goal in Tau Kappa Epsilon. TKE maintains that the real reason a person goes to college is to improve intellectual faculties, to improve thought processes, and to improve one's knowldege of particular subjects. Within the chapter, members are always ready to help one another with studies. The chapter also requires mandatory study hours for those members who are not maintaining a satisfactory GPA. The International Fraternity also awards numerous scholarships to high achieving student members.

Financial Obligations

Financially, we operate as a small not-for-profit corporation with alumni oversight of our finances to make sure the chapter does not pile up debt or receivables or budget funds in a way inconsistent with the principles and policies of the Fraternity. All members sign a contract in which they agree to pay their bills and also for any damage they cause to chapter property. We realize that, for many members, going to college represent the first time in their lives that they have such wide-ranging control over their personal finances. Although we try to make everything as plain as possible, some people make bad choices anyway and then later claim ignorance or lack of notice. TKE does not consider those excuses valid and we appreciate your cooperation in encouraging your son to budget and monitor his spending.

Hazing

TKE and our Chapter do not require or expect, formally or informally, that a person engage in any activity that is illegal or dangerous or that the person considers immoral or against his convictions as a condition of gaining, maintaining, or claming any advantage of membership. If you or you son believe that his treatment by any member is inappropriate, there are several reporting options in the Chapter and among the Alumni, depending on which he (or you) is most comfortable with. These will be discussed in the first candidate meeting. Any allegation will be investigated and action appropriate to remedy the situation taken, up to and including the expulsion of a member. Hazing is inconsistent with the values of TKE and the beliefs of our members. We can honestly say that hazing is not and will not be something that occurs in our brotherhood.

Secrecy

National Founder William Wilson explained, in 1907, in our Declaration of Principles...
"We believe in secretism in so far as it enables a fraternity to protect the confidence of the brotherhood. Secrecy that is promoted for selfish purposes or utilized to cloak fraternal wrong-doings we unsparingly condemn. We uphold this policy in so far as it is necessary to insure the dignity of our ritualism and the privacy of our internal affairs. As secrecy is employed to protect and perpetuate the sanctity of the family relation, so we enlist the advantage of secrecy to preserve inviolate the confidences and sanctities of the brotherhood."

This level of "secretism" today we might simply call "privacy". Our rituals are private. What is said in our meetings and during certain rituals is private. However, you are free to ask and your son is free to share with you the nature and general content of any activity that is part of Teke life so long as he does not reveal anything symbolic of our Fraternity or anything said by any participant under an assumption of confidence.

Conduct of Members

Alcohol and Drugs Policy

Those members of the Fraternity who are of age and choose to partake in the consumption of alcoholic beverages are expected to always do so responsibly. No candidate or member of the Fraternity should ever feel pressured to consume alcohol. Any member who is found to act in a way that is not responsible or against policies may be subject to review and punishment by the judicial board of the Chapter.

1. The possession, sale, use or consumption of alcoholic beverages during a fraternity event, in any situation sponsored or endorsed by the chapter, or in any event an observer would associate with the fraternity, must be in compliance with any and all applicable laws of the state, province, county, city and institution of higher education, and must comply with either the BYOB or Third Party Vendor Guidelines.

2. No alcoholic beverage may be purchased through chapter funds nor may the purchase of same for members or guests be undertaken or coordinated by any member in the name of, or on behalf of, the chapter.

3. Open Parties, meaning those with unrestricted access by nonmembers of the fraternity, without specific invitation, where alcohol is present, shall be prohibited.

4. No members, collectively or individually, shall purchase for, serve to, or sell alcoholic beverages to any minor (i.e., those under legal "drinking age").

5. The possession, sale or use of any illegal drugs or controlled substances during a fraternity event or at any event that an observer would associate with the fraternity, is strictly forbidden.

6. No chapter may co-sponsor an event with an alcohol distributor, charitable organization or tavern (tavern defined as an establishment generating more than half of annual gross sales from alcohol) where alcohol is given away, sold or otherwise provided to those present.

7. No chapter may co-sponsor or co-finance a function where alcohol is purchased by any of the host chapters, groups or organizations.

8. All rush activities associated with the chapter will be a DRY rush function.

9. No member shall permit, tolerate, encourage, or participate in "drinking games."

10. No alcohol shall be present at any pledge/candidate member program, activity or ritual of the chapter.