Theta Nu Epsilon Society - History of the North Carolina Chapter

The Theta Nu Epsilon Society.

The Psi Chapter at the University of North Carolina.

This is the history of an illegitimate chapter.

The Psi Chapter was founded in Spring 1893 by representatives of the Pennsylvania State chapter. It was never legitimized by the Alpha or any subsequent legitimate national. The chapter is also variously reported as Alpha Psi or Alpha Pi. Surprisingly, given its good start, the chapter did not live long. The last known information for the chapter only dates to 1905.

Some Reminiscences of the Psi Chapter.

The Spring of 1893 witnessed the establishment, at the University of North Carolina, of the first chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon south of Mason and Dixon’s line. Legate Boyd A. Musser, a Phi Kappa Sigma from Pennsylvania State, brought down the charter and conducted the installation in the Phi Gamma Delta Hall where the charter members had assembled about two of the clock on a pitch dark night and were awesomely led into the mysteries of the order.

The first men were H. H. Atkinson, Sigma Alpha Epsilon; E. W. Myers, Delta Kappa Epsilon; W. A. Graham, Zeta Psi; F. M. Stronach, Alpha Tau Omega; C. R. Turner, Phi Kappa Sigma; J. N. Pruden, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and the writer, a Phi Gamma Delta, who was forthwith elected head of the newly formed chapter under the then title of Worthy Nuktelieus.

The membership was soon increased and the chapter took a strong hold on the imagination of the college body, both by reason of the general standing of the members and the custom of concealing the identity of the initiates until late in the second year. Much secrecy was maintained; the initiations were held in a lonely spot two miles from the campus on the bank of a stream closely wooded for some distance, and where the natural topography of the ground together with certain Druidic Altars constructed by us made an ideal base for operations. It was here that we entertained a bunch of Theta Nu’s from Lehigh the year following : they assisting in a most vigorous manner the initiation of a couple of victims specially reserved for their entertainment. And that was some initiation! Much of our methods were intensely original and appealed to the visitors who had some ideas of their own not to be despised. Some of the bunch attended the World’s Fair and brought back accounts from Chicago of their meeting and mixing with divers wearers of the Skull & Keys as they “ambled down the Midway.” From their reports, their ambling was inspiring.

The North Carolina delegation in 1893.

We were specially fortunate in our choice of men : there were no dead ones amongst us, and we faithfully endeavored to maintain the traditions. Yet, my positive recollection is that during the two years of my connection with the chapter not a single member flunked or came to grief. They might have been dubbed Daredevils in college parlance, but they held the respect of their fellows and teachers, and throve mightily on campus and elsewhere.

Of the seven charter members, two won their Phi Beta Kappa keys and all were elected to Gimgoul, the select and limited Junior Society, membership in which was impossible except among those especially distinguished in some department of college life. To them also fell in one year the Chief Ball Manager, Chief Marshall, Editors-in-Chief of both the Hellenian and the Tar Heel, a couple of class presidents and many minor positions of honor.

After graduation, two went into medicine, two into law, one into dentistry, one into business, and one into engineering. None starved, as yet, none is in jail, and from what I learn from their neighbors, they are reasonably safe in futuro.

The chapter maintained and enviable social position from the outset, giving a delightful German or Cotillion at Commencement time and holding a terminal banquet for the relaxation of attending alumni. One of my cherished possessions is a faded menu card of the first banquet bearing the significant injunction, “Beelzebub, go ring the bell!”

It brings back the glamour of a starlight night twenty-three years ago. Old-time darkies with glistening teeth and shiny pates are gliding between rows of valiant trencher men. Laughter and jest commingle with the rattling and flashing silver and sparkling glass; there is song and shout and a little silence, for we are listening betimes to some well-beloved fellow who tomorrow will be leaving us to fare no one of us knows how far or wither! From the neighboring windows of the Varsity Ballroom floats a call : they are playing “Narcissus.” Listen to that Cello! A scramble for the doors, a hurrying across shadow-dappled lawns, a darting here and yon where expectant eyes and dainty feet impatiently wait, and soon, and soon,—O Scat! Some of my kids will be looking over my shoulder in a minute and declaiming my confessions to Mater; and while I don’t mind telling you that she was a peach on that unforgettable night o’ nights, still, for the peace of his household and the good of his soul, it is just as well that an old Stiff should keep his counsel from the modern day off-spring of that same girl. And so,...

“I take me wings and fly to you,

Once more the boy of long ago.

Oh days of bloom; Oh, honey dew,

Hark, hear the flutes of faerie blow!”

T. Bailey Lee, Psi ’94.