Chapter History
Founded in 1986. Chartered in 1989. Refounded in 2018. Rechartered in 2022. Sigma-Epsilon has been built twice, and both times by brothers who believed it was worth it.
Most chapters have one founding story. Sigma-Epsilon has two.
The first began in 1986, when a group of Oneonta students set out to bring Tau Kappa Epsilon to campus. They earned a charter on May 6, 1989. The second began in 2018, when a new generation of brothers brought Sigma-Epsilon back. With the support of the alumni who came before them, they earned the charter again in 2022.
The brothers changed and the decades changed, but the same idea drove both groups: a fraternity where men are judged on character, push each other to be better, and stay brothers for life.
At a glance
What's in a name?
TKE names its chapters in order through the Greek alphabet. The first 24 chapters run Alpha through Omega. After that comes Alpha-Alpha, Alpha-Beta, and on through the alphabet again.
Sigma-Epsilon is the fifth chapter of the Sigma series. It was one of a wave of chapters chartered in the spring of 1989, alongside two other SUNY campuses: Sigma-Beta at SUNY Brockport (February 25) and Sigma-Gamma at SUNY Plattsburgh (April 1). Upstate New York was having a TKE moment, and Oneonta was part of it.
Timeline
Where it all started
On January 10, five students at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, founded the Knights of Classic Lore. They wanted a fraternity built on personal worth and character instead of wealth or social rank. Three years later, they became Tau Kappa Epsilon.
Going international
A charter at the University of Manitoba made TKE an international fraternity and the largest social fraternity in the world.
The Oneonta colony is born
A group of SUNY Oneonta students founds a TKE colony on campus. They have no house, no charter and no alumni yet, just a shared idea of what a fraternity should be. The founding brothers composite is dated 1986–1987.
A Teke in the White House
While Oneonta's founding brothers were recruiting their first classes, the sitting President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, was a Teke. That year TKE held its 44th Conclave in Washington, D.C.
Chartered
After three years as a colony, the Oneonta TKEs are installed as the Sigma-Epsilon Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon. It happens in the same year SUNY Oneonta marked its 100th anniversary.
A big year for TKE in New York
Sigma-Epsilon joins SUNY Brockport and SUNY Plattsburgh as three new SUNY chapters chartered in a single spring. TKE holds its 45th Conclave in Indianapolis.
The chapter goes quiet
Between its original charter and the 2018 recolonization, Sigma-Epsilon went inactive. The chapter was dormant, but its alumni stayed connected. Alumni can help confirm the year and complete this part of the story.
TKE goes online
TKE launches one of the first websites in the fraternity world.
One hundred years
On January 9, Tekes in seven cities count down to midnight together, linked by satellite to Bloomington, where it all began. TKE enters its second century.
Life Loyal Teke
TKE launches the Life Loyal Teke program, encouraging every brother to stay involved for life. Sigma-Epsilon's alumni would later prove what that means.
St. Jude becomes TKE's cause
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital becomes TKE's official primary philanthropy.
Recolonized
A new generation of Oneonta students brings Sigma-Epsilon back to campus. They start from scratch on recruiting, programming and reputation, while building a chapter grounded in the same ideals as the founding brothers.
$10 million for St. Jude
TKE commits to raising $10 million for St. Jude over 10 years, the largest commitment to the hospital by any men's fraternity. The new colony picks up the cause from its first year.
Recruiting through a screen
The pandemic sends campuses home. Chapters across TKE move recruitment, meetings and even ceremonies online. For a colony barely two years old, staying together was a test of the brotherhood.
Rechartered
Collegiate brothers and alumni earn Sigma-Epsilon its charter again. In the same year, TKE's 61st Conclave in Houston moves Conclave to even-numbered years.
125 years
TKE celebrates its 125th anniversary and initiates its 300,000th member.
Building what's next
A chartered chapter again, Sigma-Epsilon welcomes men who want to grow, lead, serve and build friendships that last. The next chapter of this story is still being written, and the men who join today will write it.
Two charters, one brotherhood
The founding brothers (1986–1989) built Sigma-Epsilon from nothing. They recruited without a reputation to lean on, set the chapter's first traditions, and earned the charter that put Oneonta on TKE's map.
The refounding brothers (2018–2022) did it again. They rebuilt the chapter on a campus that had changed, through a pandemic, and earned a second charter.
The alumni connected the two eras. They kept the chapter's history alive while it was dormant, and they supported the brothers who brought it back.
The founding brothers
The men who started it all:
- Anthony Agresta
- Kevin T. Clifford
- David D'Achille
- Michael Dale
- Peter Felix
- Troy Fogle
- William “Bill” Gustafson
- Stephen Liska
- David Marmurek
- Jeff Mavrodes
- George Pieri
- Robert Pollock
- Todd Radner
- Cary Rubenstein
- Ron Safier
- Peter Schaefer
- Michael Spampinato
- Adam Waldman
The refounding brothers
Help us complete the record of the brothers who rebuilt Sigma-Epsilon between 2018 and 2022. If you have a refounding roster or composite, share it with us.
Share a roster or composite →Did you know?
- Sigma-Epsilon was chartered on May 6, 1989, 90 years after TKE was founded and 100 years after SUNY Oneonta opened its doors.
- Three SUNY chapters were chartered in TKE's Sigma series in the spring of 1989: Brockport, Plattsburgh and Oneonta.
- TKE's founders never set out to start a national fraternity. They spent years petitioning to join another one, and the rejection is what led them to build their own.
- TKE's official flower is the red carnation, which is why so many chapters hold a Red Carnation Ball.
- Members of TKE call each other "Frater," Latin for brother.
Help us tell the whole story
Our history isn't finished, and parts of it aren't written down yet. If you're a Sigma-Epsilon alumnus, we want your photos, stories, composites and memories from any era: the colony years, the first charter, the years in between, or the refounding.
