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Zeta History
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During the 1968-69 school year at Lambuth College (now Lambuth
University) in Jackson, TN, a new fraternity was taking shape on
campus. This fraternity arose from young men that wished
to seek and follow high ideals and desired to create and pursue
an alternative to the Greek options of that time. This group of men
formed a colony known as Beta Chi (BX) and called themselves "Lambuth's
Newest."
The men of Beta Chi had many of the same characteristics that can
be ovserved in today's SigEps. They were the leaders and
the "nice guys" on campus, and were always searching for
something to be a part of that was true to heart. This diverse and
tight-knit group of men was bursting with leaders, future businessmen,
and even had a future Methodist minister in their ranks. Despite
the quality of the bond that these men shared, however, they were still left
desiring something more; they sought to be chartered by a national
fraternity: Sigma Phi Epsilon. On October 16th, 1971, thanks to
the help of Sigma Phi Epsilon’s National Headquarters and
Brother Steve Shanklin of the KY Epsilon chapter, this goal was
finally attained and Beta Chi colony was chartered as the Tennessee
Zeta Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
From the time of their chartering, the men of the Tennessee Zeta
chapter continually and successfully sought to attain the high ideals
of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and by the time the 1980's had rolled around,
it seemed that the men had everything going right. Tennessee Zeta’s
diverse group of members was heavily involved both on campus and
in the community, and they were receiving a copious amount of awards
from the Carlson Leadership Academy every year celebrating their
academic and overall excellence; basically, they were very much
on top of everything.
After the excellence that Tennessee Zeta enjoyed in 1980's, they
allowed themselves to go a little astray around the '89-'90 school
year. During the first half of the 1990’s, the chapter was
faced with some internal conflicts that served to lower its morale.
At one point, the chapter was nearly shut down by National Headquarters.
There were still men within the fraternity that embodied the principles
of a good SigEp, but these principles were just not found throughout
the entirety of the membership. It was clear that things had to
change.
In 1996 that change came when Tennessee Zeta adopted the Balanced
Man Program, the new membership development program that the national
fraternity had introduced earlier in the decade to take the place
of the pledge system. This new program provided a better way to
build members into leaders by emphasizing dedicated service on campus,
in the community, and towards one another, and allowed Sigma Phi
Epsilon’s three cardinal principles of Virtue, Diligence,
and Brotherly Love to be enhanced. Even though Tennessee Zeta certainly
did have a great deal of success with the previous system in its
time, adopting the Balanced Man Program proved to be one of the
wisest decisions that the chapter ever made. It served the role
of helping to right the negative situation of the early 1990’s,
and gave those remaining men who hadn’t strayed from the principles
of SigEp another chance for excellence.
Tennessee Zeta took this second chance and never looked back, and
the years that have followed have proven to be some of the best
years yet for Tennessee Zeta. The men have worked diligently and
rebuilt themselves into an excellent and well-respected chapter.
The chapter is tops in Campus Manpower (# of Fraternity members),
has had the highest fraternity GPA on campus for over a decade, has consistently
finished at the top in intramurals, and has recently been awarded
the Outstanding Chapter Award, also known as the Buchanan Cup, twice
(2001, 2003).
The men of the Tennessee Zeta chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon have
always strived and will continue to strive to provide the best place
for men at Lambuth University to grow and to become leaders. The
craving for something different that, in 1969, inspired a group
of young men to establish their own alternative to the Greek opportunities
of their time, is still alive and well within our great fraternity.
We know that what we offer will change lives, and we know that even
as we are improved individually our chapter will continue to get
better, because for every great man that has come before, there
is another waiting to take part in this journey; a journey that
could never last too long.
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