Theta Nu Epsilon Society - Articles - 1949 Wesleyan Cardinal editorial

The Theta Nu Epsilon Society.

1949 Wesleyan Cardinal editorial,

James Eaton, The Wesleyan Cardinal, June 1949.

This short recap of Theta Nu Epsilon appeared in the Wesleuan Alumni magazine in 1949, just a few years into recovery from the war years. Among other things, it connects up the chapter history through the 1920’s and 1930’s, and did so in a public forum.

Since T.N.E. is attempting to regain its former position on campus, its history and policies are matters of concern to the members of the college who are affected by the organization. In the following article Jim Eaton outlines briefly T.N.E.’s rather interesting history and explains why it has a place on the Wesleyan campus.

Theta Nu Epsilon (more commonly known as T.N.E.) was founded at Wesleyan in 1870 by a group of socially-minded students whose idea was to organize a society in which they could enjoy good fellowship and, more often than not, good liquor. It was actually, Wesleyan’s first drinking club. Strangely enough this original purpose of T.N.E. has been modified through the years so that the present day objective of the organization offers a sharp contrast to that of the past. T.N.E. today tries to promote better athletics at Wesleyan by advocating a program of strict adherence to training rules for our athletes.

The history of T.N.E. shows how such a radical change was brought about: first when the faculty condemned the party spirit that was a basis for all T.N.E. activities, and second when an editorial in the Argus protested strongly against the things that T.N.E. stood for and challenged the society to present its objectives to the student body so the college might pass on its worth to the college community.

The original idea, then, was to bring together a good bunch of fellows and to plan parties and other good times within the group. Through he years. however, the parties became wilder and wilder. This was too much for the faculty of a staid college community. T.N.E. had an absolute disegard for college rules. T.N.E. was a drinking society. T.N.E. was dishonest. It had been discovered that some particularly shrewd members of the group had put T.N.E. on a national scale and had proclaimed the Wesleyan chapter as the mother chapter. The charter members at Wesleyan collected dues from each other chapter in the country and used the funds to throw bigger and better parties.

At last, in 1910, after a riotous weekend party at Saybrook, T.N.E. was called before the faculty. Three members of the group were requested to defend their actions in violating certain of the college rules. This resulted in their dismissal from school. The officers of the society were forced to sign a pledge that T.N.E. would disband immediately.

For three years T.N.E. remained inanimate until a group of athletes got together and decided to reactivate the society but to carry on their activities secretly because of the college ban. At that time only Alpha Delts, Eclectics, and Dekes were admitted into the fellowship.

No records were kept during the period 1913-1922 but apparently T.N.E. activities had been brought to the attention of the faculty by 1922 for in that year a ban was once again placed on all secret societies in the college and special reference was made to T.N.E..

Nothing was heard of T.N.E. until 1931 when “in a solemn conclave in Harriman Hall”, five men met secretly and decided to bring T.N.E. to life once more. Through the aid of the alumni they managed to obtain the ancient documents and the original constitution of the society.

Operations were again carried on “sub rosa” and year after year full delegations of Sophomores were elected to carry on the traditions of the group.

In an Argus editorial in 1938. T.N.E. was vigorously attacked on the grounds that it had been manipulating elections of team captains and managers. At the same time it was noted that there was a striking correlation between the membership of T.N.E. and the Senior Honorary Societies. By this time T.N.E. had been reorganized as a strong Sophomore Honorary Society.

T.N.E. defended itself in a letter to the Argus in which it offered a restatement of its objectives:

1. To emphasize training in athletics by instituting an Athletic Honor System.

2. To devote itself to maintaining the traditions of the college such as freshman-sophomore flag scrap, to promote inter-class competition, to support the regulations regarding freshmen.

These are the main objectives of T.N.E. today.

The Athletic Honor System is an attempt to impress on athletes the importance of the individual’s attitude toward training. It can be successful in just the way that the Scholastic Honor System is successful. Rules are explained to the teams by the coaches and the individuals are left with the responsibility of living up to them. A squad member who is seen breaking training rules will be approached by a member of T.N.E. who warns him and tries to get him to agree to abide by rules. If such a warning is ignored the name of the individual in question may be turned into the Athletic Department for disciplinary action. A few proposed punishments have been :

1. Dismissal from the squad.

2. Loss of an award of a varsity letter.

3. Receipt of a flunk in Physical Education.

In all cases, however, the coaches can be relied upon to use their judgment in handling the case of a violator.

At first the Athletic Department would not give its official sanction to the plan. It felt that a spy ring of T.N.E.’s would be objectionable to the student body. The past few years however, have shown that an Athletic Honor System can be effective and Wesleyan’s coaches have praised the work of T.N.E. whose objective has been to improve the calibre of Wesleyan teams.

Wesleyan athletes today have not been paying particular attention to training rules. The fault for such a condition may be that no great stress has yet been put upon training. Every athlete knows the importance of condition in participating in sports and every athlete knows the importance of training. T.N.E. can help the situation by checking up on individuals here and there, but for athletes who are interested in doing their best for Wesleyan there should be no need of T.N.E. Better training will make for better teams which in turn will put on better performances in every sport.