Chapter Status
Current Cavalier House awaits the TKE crest once again.
The chapter was suspended from the UW-Whitewater campus in the spring of 2008 and was declared in active. With the help of dedicated alumni and TKE National, recolonizing began in the fall of 2012. Several outstanding men were recruited to be the “starters” of the new colony. By late-January, 2013 there were at least 20 men signed up to receive official colony status from the Grand Council of TKE National.
With the help of generous alumni donations, seven of those members attended their first TKE Leadership Conference in Chicago. At the conference, four members were initiated into the bond of TKE. Active recruitment on campus continued but was difficult because of a negative fraternity culture and strict university Greek guidelines. Both of these factors continue today on the UWW campus.
The small Iota Omicron colony continued on despite small numbers. On the Friday before our 50th Anniversary celebration on May 17, alumni gathered at the house and initiated two more undergraduates into the bond. These additional young men took on the challenge of re-building the chapter. Through generous support of alumni, Prytanis, Lawton Lohff and Epiprytanis, Devon Bartulis were able to attend the National Conclave in Washington DC in early August 2013.
With the start of the school year in September, the young colony began their fall rush by recruiting seven outstanding new men. Alumni again stepped up to initiate these new guys on homecoming weekend, November 1. Homecoming was the perfect opportunity for the undergraduates to meet many successful alumni and to raise money for another trip to Chicago in February for the TKE Leadership Conference. More donations are needed to send as many of the undergraduates to the conference as possible. The more education these men have the better our chapter will be.
The undergraduates are continuing to work very hard to regain the house and finally become an official chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon. 40 active members are required to petition the TKE Grand Council for chartering.
In case you haven’t realized, the fraternity system has gone through some drastic changes. House parties with alcohol are strictly prohibited by the university and national fraternity. The emphasis now is: scholarship, character, leadership, teamwork, service and brotherhood. From the start, our new group has been coached on all these principles. There is no longer a “pledging” process rather more of an orientation program about the fraternity history and ideals and then a unique program TKE National has developed called “The Blueprint.” A program that carries the member from initiation to graduation. The IO “Blueprint” program is still in its infancy, but will be up and running in the near future.
House Status
Our eight-family apartment building at 1238 W. Main continues to be owned and managed by Teke alumni. The housing corporation, Whitewater Teke Association, a Wisconsin Non-Stock Corporation continues to own and manage the building as it has been since 1969. The eight apartments are all 2 bedroom, 1 bath and each has a refrigerator, stove and dishwasher. Hot water heat and parking is included with rent. Each apartment rents for $775 during the school year and $450 in the summer. It continues to be one of the nicest fraternity houses in the state. Whitewater Teke Association has four officers and three Board of directors. Alumni currently serving are:
Joe Pyzyk- President
Mark Isch- Vice President
Bob Noonan-Secretary
Chris Phelps- Treasurer
Scott Drolshagen-Board of Director
Matt Troha-Board of Director
Rob Benes-Board of Director
The building has been rebuilt twice, due to fires. One fire in 1997 and another in 2008. Maintenance of the building is kept up as much as possible, so that rents can stay as high as possible. The income, expenses and repairs are at a break-even point with a small reserve fund. The board has been able to maintain over 95% occupancy, through summer and the school year. Even with the high occupancy we are not able to fund important projects needed on the building. The board has lowered the mortgage interest, real estate taxes and insurance in the last two years.
With the exception of twice a month cleaning, grass cutting and snow plowing, all smaller repairs are done by the board or volunteer alumni. We have a small amount budgeted for these smaller repairs but are far short of funds to take care of some major improvements needed to the building and grounds. We are in desperate need of funds to do some very important projects. Some of these include:
- Replace upstairs hallway and apartment carpeting- $2,000 +
- Parking lot is in serious need of repair, approximately $15,000
- Replace apartment locks- $1,500
- Fence on North side of parking lot – $2,000
- Basement lower outside doors- $1,000
- Fire Sprinkler system- $30,000. The state of Wisconsin now requires all fraternity and sorority houses to install a sprinkler system. We will need to do this before we can put TKE signs back up on the house.
Because of these financial needs, we are getting proactive for financial support from alumni. We have created Club 50 for a way to give back to the 50 years of Iota Omicron. If we can get 50 alumni to contribute $50 per month for a year (or a one-time donation of $600), we will achieve $30,000 in funds. This puts us well on our way to making repairs and upgrading the house to be fraternity ready.
If generosity continues a second year, we can then create a reserve/capital fund that will help fund any repairs or improvements in the future. The house and spirit of Iota Omicron belongs to all of us. Consider joining the Club 50 today!
Moving into the future.
We are in need of more volunteers to run the house and advise the chapter. Managing the house is not an easy task and has been shared by a small group of alumni, under Joe Pyzyk. Your help is needed!
The chapter still needs an official Chapter Advisor. This person does not have to be a Teke. We can initiate this person as an Honorary Teke, if they are interested. If you know of any one or if someone is interested, the position would include meeting with the chapter periodically and attending their weekly chapter meetings a couple times a month.