The History of National Chi Epsilon
In the spring of 1922 two groups of Civil Engineering students at the University of Illinois, one calling itself Chi Epsilon, and the other calling itself Chi Delta Chi, independently of each other, took steps to petition the faculty for permission to establish an honorary civil engineering fraternity. As soon as the existence of the two groups became known to each other, plans were immediately propagated to merge the two groups. On May 20, 1922, the Council of the University granted permission to the petitioning group of 25 charter members to found the CHI EPSILON FRATERNITY.
As soon as the plans for the local organization had been perfected, steps were taken to expand into a national fraternity by banding together with groups at various other universities. An active expansion policy was decided upon and letters were written to the presidents of all the large engineering schools inviting petitions to Chi Epsilon. Meanwhile, the petition to the State of Illinois to incorporate as a national honorary civil engineering fraternity was granted and the certificate of incorporation issued on February 13, 1923.
Many encouraging replies were received from various universities, but it was not until March 29, 1923 upon the installation of the Armour Chapter at the Armour Institute of Technology, that Chi Epsilon became truly a national fraternity.
In the first 35 years of its history Chi Epsilon had established 49 chapters. Since then the society has grown at a steady rate of 20 chapters per decade. The 25th National Conclave voted to change the name of our organization from Chi Epsilon Fraternity to Chi Epsilon. A total of 40,000 members had been initiated since the founding.
Excerpts from chi-epsilon.org National Chi Epsilon website.
As soon as the plans for the local organization had been perfected, steps were taken to expand into a national fraternity by banding together with groups at various other universities. An active expansion policy was decided upon and letters were written to the presidents of all the large engineering schools inviting petitions to Chi Epsilon. Meanwhile, the petition to the State of Illinois to incorporate as a national honorary civil engineering fraternity was granted and the certificate of incorporation issued on February 13, 1923.
Many encouraging replies were received from various universities, but it was not until March 29, 1923 upon the installation of the Armour Chapter at the Armour Institute of Technology, that Chi Epsilon became truly a national fraternity.
In the first 35 years of its history Chi Epsilon had established 49 chapters. Since then the society has grown at a steady rate of 20 chapters per decade. The 25th National Conclave voted to change the name of our organization from Chi Epsilon Fraternity to Chi Epsilon. A total of 40,000 members had been initiated since the founding.
Excerpts from chi-epsilon.org National Chi Epsilon website.