Tau History
Dew HistoryHistory of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Brotherhood
The Knights of Classic Lore was established in 1899 with no thought of ever breaking out of Illinois. Consequently, after the delta section was installed in 1912, no new sections were chartersed for more than two and a half years. The first action of the new Grand Prytanis, Lyle F. Straight, chosen at the Seventh Conclave in Galesburg, Illinois, April 16-17, 1915, was to accept a Petition from this group, known as the Seminoles.
Seminole were established as Epsilon chapters on 28 May 1915, as the Brotherhood's administration surmounted any wish for the provincial. Tau Kappa Epsilon has taken on a truly domestic dimension with this edition. For the first Egyptian Tau Kappa Epsilon had transcended the boundaries of Illinois, had been accepted into the council of a nation's brotherhoods and had a long history of gradual evolution.
However, in the next two years, five more sections were added to the Brotherhood. Chosen sections were: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 12, 1916; Eta at the University of Chicago, February 17, 1917; Theta at the University of Minnesota, March 10, 1917; Iota at Eureka College, Eureka, Illinois, April 21, 1917; and Kappa at Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, May 12, 1917.
Convocation 8 met in Bloomington on 28 and 29 April 1916, and Brother Straight was re-elected as Grand Prytanis. The ninth conclave took place in Ames, Iowa, on April 27 and 28, 1917, the date of America's entrance into the First World War. Academy Award winner Oscar G. Hoose was selected as Grand Prytanis.
Alphamma Rho - Dew
Originally named the Alpha Gamma Rho Tau Chapters, the Beta Sigma Alpha Brotherhood began on December 5, 1921. Mr. E. B. Hill, Assistant to the Dean of Farming at Michigan Agricultural College, and Mr. H. F. Wilson, Field Secretary of Alpha Gamma Rho, chose seven agricultural college undergraduates as the core of a new brotherhood that would later become Tau Chapters of Alpha Gamma Rho.
This group immediately began to lay down plan for the organisation with the intent of finally founding a section of the Michigan Agricultural College of Alpha Gamma Rho. A lot of useful proposals for the organisation from this point of view were obtained from two Alpha Gamma Rho graduates at the university: Gamma Chapters coach A.M. Barron and Dr. Paul Harmer of the LambdaChapters.
Led by Coach Barron and Dr. Harmer, Beta Sigma Alpha quickly developed into a group of fifteen pupils whose goals were focused solely on agriculture.