In honor of the Fraternity's 75th Anniversary, Sidney Suntag published The History of Tau Epsilon Phi — 75 Years of Friendship, charting the history of every chapter founded through 1985. The summary below covers TEP's history from its founding in 1910 until 1985. A history from 1985 to the present is forthcoming.
The Beginning
For many years, there existed in the Department of Pharmacy at Columbia University, two fraternities — neither of which would allow the admission of members of minority races, religions or creeds.
During the year 1909–1910, two small groups of men became intrigued with the idea that friendship acquired during collegiate days should be bound together through some means for the remainder of one's life. The desirable qualities that one gathered from those around him should be interchanged for more than the mere two or three years of collegiate association.
Neither of these groups had any inkling of the existence of the other until the opening of the school term the following year, when providence interceded to bring them together. One group believed a social club was the solution; the other felt a fraternity was the correct path. With contact between the two, it was immediately evident that neither could get along without the other — and the union was made.
October 10, 1910
On October 10, 1910, during a lunch period, a hurried conference was held between the two groups in a deserted lecture hall. The spirit of organization was so instilled in the eight original gatherers that another meeting was arranged for that very afternoon.
At five o'clock that afternoon, a determined group of young men met in Central Park to hold a lengthier discussion and see the plans they had dreamed of approach reality.
The first regularly recorded meeting was called to order in the library of the Department of Pharmacy, Columbia University, on Friday afternoon, October 19, 1910. Four additional men were invited. Here in this quiet library — surrounded by volumes of books, at the very table where the faculty deliberated their policies — these ten men each took a solemn and binding oath, pledging themselves to secrecy and fidelity, sincerity and devotion, eternal friendship and brotherly love.
"…each in turn, took unto himself a solemn and binding oath, pledging himself to secrecy and fidelity, sincerity and devotion, eternal friendship and brotherly love."
The Name & First Officers
The first officers chosen were Harold Goldsmith, President; Charles Driesen, Vice President; Israel Schwartz, Secretary; and Julius Breitenbach, Treasurer. With the little knowledge of fraternities these ten could gather among themselves, they wisely chose the name Tau Epsilon Phi to signify that for which they were founded.
The first pin was oval in shape with the inscription ΤΕΦ reading downward in gold upon a black background with gold trim — the precursor of the oblong, jewelled badge of distinction worn today.
Growth & Expansion
The idea of expansion was largely that of Monroe Weil, who quickly convinced the others that it was a necessary move. He gathered together friends attending New York University and the New York College of Dentistry, who were initiated as members of Alpha Chapter — later becoming Beta and Gamma Chapters.
Delta Chapter was started at Cornell, and Epsilon was installed at Fordham. For four years controversy raged over national organization, and finally in 1916 the first Constitution of the fraternity as a national organization became a reality. Shortly after, Boston University and Tufts chapters were established, and Iota was installed at Yale.
In 1920, Tau Epsilon Phi became an international fraternity with the installation of Omicron at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada — slightly less than ten years from that first harried conference. Georgetown and Pennsylvania received charters on the same day in 1921, and 1922 brought Syracuse, Dickinson, Charleston, and Georgia Tech. In 1923, TEP expanded into the Midwest with a charter at the University of Michigan — and that same year, the first copy of The Plume made its appearance, giving the fraternity a true magazine of its own.
Post-War Growth & Perseverance
The growth of the fraternity following World War II was truly phenomenal, with more than 40 chapters added during the 1950s and well into the 1960s. That prosperity came to a halt in the late 1960s with the heating up of the Vietnam War, when the entire fraternity system declined.
During the period of 1969 to 1975, TEP lost almost all of the gains it had achieved in the previous two decades — but the fraternity persevered. While a substantial number of other national fraternities went out of existence, TEP held onto a meaningful number of chapters and survived.
In the mid-1980s, the fraternity system came back strongly, with TEP leading the way in reviving many of its old chapters while adding many new ones.
¹ Emory University and University of Georgia chapters.
² Xi Chapter at MIT.