Alpha Epsilon Pi was founded to provide opportunities for the
Jewish
college man seeking the best possible college and
fraternity experience.
We have maintained the integrity of our purpose by strengthening our ties
to the Jewish community and serving as a link between
high school and
career.
Our heritage stems from one source: young Jewish men banding together
in allegiance. The role of Alpha Epsilon Pi has expanded since its inception
in 1913 at New York University in New York City. When Charles
Moskowitz, a noted college basketball player, transfered from CCNY (College
of the City of New York) to NYU, he was heavily sought by the fraternities
on campus at the time and was given a bid to at least one of them.
Moskowitz had a close circle of Jewish friends, and Moskowitz asked if
bids could be extended to his friends as well. He was told that the
offer was for him alone. Moskowitz decided not to join, he
and his friends instead electing to start their own fraternity. They
met at a German rathskeller on Second Avenue, within walking distance
of the university. The young students talked with the owner who agreed
that if six or eight men would eat their regularly every school night,
he would give them a private area in the rathskeller. And that is
how Alpha Epsilon Pi began.
Initially, the Jewish fraternity served as a brotherhood of young men
who came from similar religious backgrounds and who had experienced the
same prejudices against their religious beliefs. Alpha Epsilon Pi soon
broadened its role to include serving as the living quarters for some
of its members. The fraternity became a home away from home, providing
the same stabilizing and guiding values that students previously gained
from their families. Armed with these values, Alpha Epsilon Pi faced changing
conditions on the college campus and survived. Today, Jewish students
search out Alpha Epsilon Pi because it is a Jewish Fraternity. In the fraternity's
88 year history, over 72,000 men have worn the badge of Alpha Epsilon Pi
and each year, over 1,500 undergraduates perform the Ritual of Initiation,
which remains the same ritual adopted decades ago.
Perhaps of greater importance, Alpha Epsilon Pi develops leadership
for the future of the American Jewish community. Tomorrow's Jewish leaders
are in our chapters today. These are the young men who must be counted
upon to support Jewish causes and to prepare to be one of tomorrow's Jewish
leaders, so that they may aid themselves, their family, their community,
and their people. Those students who enter the mainstream of non-Jewish
life on the campus are far more likely to assimilate and to forsake their
heritage. Working together with the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life/International
Hillel, Alpha Epsilon Pi can play a vital role in helping reverse the
growing trend among our young people to abandon Judaism at this critical
time.
Throughout our history, the fraternity setting has served as a "learning
laboratory", a testing ground for young men who later become leaders in
business, education, government, religion, and science. A goal of our fraternity
is to help each student to develop character, to learn responsibility,
and to develop a proper set of values through living together in brotherhood.
Alpha Epsilon Pi prepares young men for their role in life as responsible
citizens.
Therefore, our basic purpose is to provide the opportunity for a Jewish
man to be able to join a Jewish organization whose purpose is not specifically
religious, but rather social and cultural in nature. Alpha Epsilon Pi is
a Jewish fraternity, though non-discriminatory and open to all who are
willing to espouse its purpose and values.
The "Immortal Eleven" Founding Fathers:
Charles C. Moskowitz
I.M. Glazer
Herman L. Kraus
Arthur M. Lipkint
Benjamin M. Meyer
Hyman Schulman
Emil J. Lustgarten
Arthur E. Leopold
Charles J. Pintel
Maurice Plager
David K. Schafer
Moskowitz was elected the first Master (President). Alpha
Epsilon Pi officially became a fraternity on November 7, 1913, when Dean
Joseph Johnson of the School of Commerce approved the mens' request for
recognition.
The First Twenty Chapters
1913 Alpha
New York University
1917 Beta
Cornell University
1919 Gamma
University of Pennsylvania
1920 Delta
University of Illinois
1920 Epsilon
Emory University
1920 Zeta
Georgia Institute of Technology
1921 Eta
Ohio State University
1921 Theta
Auburn University
1921 Pi Deuteron
Penn State University
1923 Iota
Columbia University
1924 Kappa
Ohio Northern University
1924 Lambda
University of Chicago (transferred to Illinois Institute of Technology
in 1948)
1925 Mu
University of Virginia
1925 Nu
Marquette University
1925 Rho Deuteron University
of Delaware
1926 Omicron
University of Georgia
1927 Pi
University of Wisconsin
1928 Rho
University of Rhode Island
1928 Sigma
Washington University
1929 Tau
Vanderbilt University
Sources (with permission)
http://www.aepi.org
The Alpha Epsilon Pi Blue Book