Tau Epsilon Phi

The organization's creed asserts its governing ideals as "friendship, chivalry, service." TEP attracts and accepts brothers of all religions and ethnicities who agree to be bound by these ideals. Chapters uphold these ideals through participation in various social, academic, athletic and charity events.

The organization was founded on October 10, 1910 by ten Jewish men at Columbia University, as a response to the existence of similar organizations which would not admit Jewish members.[3] The first pledge, Maximillian Nemser, was initiated in 1911 and, in 1912, the first new chapter was founded at New York University.[3] Continued expansion led to the adoption of a national constitution in 1916.[3]

In 1920, the opening of a chapter at McGill University in Canada's then-largest city, Montreal, made ΤΕΦ an international fraternity.[3] The McGill chapter has since been disbanded. The oldest remaining chapter, as of 2015, is the Nu chapter at University of Georgia. Beginning in 1923, the organization has published a nationally distributed magazine, The Plume.[3]

ΤΕΦ began as exclusively Jewish, but began admitting non-Jewish members (predominantly Catholics) in the 1950s.[3] President Dwight D. Eisenhower was inducted as an honorary member during his administration.[3] Washington, D.C. mayor Vincent C. Gray was the first black member of Tau Epsilon Phi and was elected president of his local chapter for two consecutive terms.[4]

In 1986, Sidney Suntag, who served as Executive Secretary from 1946 to 1979, published the book The History of Tau Epsilon Phi: 75 Years of Friendship 1910–1985 recounting the national history of the fraternity.[3]

In September 2010, a group of fraternity members filed a civil lawsuit against the national Tau Epsilon Phi organization. The plaintiffs alleged that the national executive director and board of directors had been operating the fraternity for personal financial gain and that they drove chapters away by making unreasonable financial demands on them (the fraternity had shrunk from 42 active chapters in 1999 to just 13 in 2010). They further argued that the executive director failed to hold elections for the position for over 10 years, even though the fraternity's constitution required it biannually. The executive director stated that elections could not take place because none of the chapters were in good standing due to failure to pay dues, and thus there was no one who could legitimately vote.[5] While the judge in the case ordered a new election overseen by an independent party,[5] that order was automatically stayed after the national organization filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January 2011.[6] In May 2011, all allegations were rescinded,[7] the parties settled all outstanding cases and the fraternity agreed to hold new national elections.[8]

Some notable alumni:[9]

Arts and entertainment:

• Jeff Altman – stand-up comedian
• Larry David – actor, writer, comedian, and television producer
• David Duchovny – actor, writer and director
• Mat Franco – entertainer, magician, winner of Season 09 of America's Got Talent
• Benny Goodman – musician and bandleader
• Larry King – TV and radio host
• Gary Kott – writer and supervising producer of The Cosby Show, Kott worked on the program during its five consecutive years of number one Nielsen ratings.
• Harold Rome - Tin Pan Alley and Broadway songwriter
• Ed Sabol – filmmaker, founder of NFL Films
• Robert Sherman – songwriter
• Jerry Springer – TV and radio host
• George Stephanopoulos – TV journalist
• Marc Turtletaub – movie producer
• Joseph Wapner – judge, The People's Court

Sports and athletics:

• Red Auerbach – general manager, Boston Celtics
• Bryan Clark – professional wrestler
• Jared Ross – professional hockey player
• Eddie Fogler – college basketball coach
• Howie Roseman – general manager, Philadelphia Eagles
• Jedd Fisch – offensive coordinator, Michigan Wolverines
• Bob Vogel - college and professional football player Ohio State University Buckeyes and Baltimore Colts
• Neal Walk - college and professional basketball player University of Florida and various NBA teams

Politics and government:

• Omar Bradley – General of the Army and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (accepted honorary membership)
• Dwight D. Eisenhower – 34th President of the United States (accepted honorary membership)
• Kenneth A. Gottlieb, representative in the House of Representatives of Florida
• Vincent C. Gray – mayor, Washington, D.C.
• Louis Harris – founder, Harris Poll
• Irving R. Kaufman – judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Rick Kriseman - Mayor, St. Petersburg, Florida
• Elliott H. Levitas – U.S. Representative, Georgia's 4th congressional district
• Marvin Mandel – governor, Maryland
• David Saperstein - United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, the first non-Christian to hold this office.[10][11][12]
• Melvin Steinberg – fifth Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
• Kirill Reznik – state delegate, Maryland House of Delegates
• Michael S. Steele – lieutenant governor, Maryland and Chairman, Republican National Committee
• Rick Santorum – U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania
• Leo M. Gordon – judge, United States Court of International Trade
• Robert C. Wright - Pennsylvania State Representative and judge Delaware County Court of Common Pleas

Business, science, and engineering:

• Max Abramovitz – architect[13]
• Sir Cary Cooper CBE - Professor and renowned British psychologist, President of the British Academy of Management, President of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• Samuel J. LeFrak – chairman, LeFrak Corporation
• Jonas Salk – discoverer of polio vaccine
• Raymond Kurzweil – author and inventor
• Harris Rosen - hotelier, investor, and businessman. Founder of the Rosen Hotels & Resorts
• Bernard Siegel – director, Genetics Policy Institute
• Chad Trujillo – astronomer and co-discoverer of 12 trans-Neptunian objects, including Eris
• Neil Woodward – American Naval officer and a former NASA astronaut
• David S. Salomon, Phd. – Breast Cancer Researcher, Cancer gene discoverer.

Other:

• Guy Fulton – Architect
• Mike Sager – Bestselling author and award-winning journalist

• List of social fraternities and sororities

• Official website