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On the cold night of January 10, 1899, students of Illinois Wesleyan University, in the small Midwestern town of Bloomington, had just returned from the Christmas holidays when Joseph L. Settles went to the room of James C. McNutt and Clarence A. Mayer to discuss the organization of a new society on campus. Joined immediately by Owen I. Truitt and C. Roy Atkinson, these five students created the first set of regulations for the Knights of Classic Lore, a society whose avowed purpose was "to aid college men in mental, moral, and social development." |
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LOVE: Love is, to say the least, a concept that has been philosophized and dissected by millions over the ages. It has been disparaged and exalted, and it has made and broken many men. Since the beginning of Greek-letter organizations, it has been a critical part of fraternities and their ideals. Since 1899, love has been one of the central principals of Tau Kappa Epsilon.
CHARITY: Charity, in a fraternal sense, is understanding. Yet it is often misconstrued to be associated with pity and helplessness, as though those in need of charity cannot help themselves. But those who have experienced fraternal charity know differently.
ESTEEM: While it is love that inspires charity and esteem, it is esteem that typifies the coming together of love and charity. Clearly, the three are intricately linked, but at the base of our successful relationships with one another is esteem. Esteem could be described as respect, but it is more than that. It is the regard and consideration of respect, tempered with the compassion and understanding of charity, and the caring of love. |
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