TKE International

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On a cold night of January 10, 1899. Five students at Illinois Wesleyan University returned from the Christmas holiday and created the first set of by-laws with an avowed purpose to “aid college men in mental, moral and social development” for what is now known as Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. For the past 124 years TKE has grown into an international fraternity with more than 230 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada.

One of the unique qualities of TKE at this time is that the fraternity was open to all and had no exclusionary standards in their by-laws.  Their desire was to establish a fraternity in which the primary requisites for membership would be for the personal worth and character a man possessed not his wealth, his honors, or titles nor the rank he maintained on the social ladder.

Fast forward to today as we approach our 125th anniversary of Tau Kappa Epsilon with over 295,000 diverse members since our founding.  We still aspire to these initial ideals.  Our purpose remains to help to develop “Better Men for a Better World”.