[AnchorAlumna]

I am happy to note the April 15-16, 2022, installation of Omicron Xi chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, returning for the second time, this time after an absence of about 17 years.
OXi was originally begun about 1972 at the university, after a couple of friends agreed they would like to join a fraternity on campus but did not agree with the harsh, often cruel hazing that was practiced at that time (and is still used by many of UA's oldest groups).
The friends chose to petition the largest fraternity in the nation, Tau Kappa Epsilon, to form a colony.
Petition granted, the friends received an office at the student union building (now Reese-Phifer Hall) and began reaching out and building the chapter. After a year and a half with only an office for their physical presence, the chapter managed to rent the house of a closed sorority (Delta Phi Epsilon) on UA's sorority row. Slowly members built their numbers to around 55, and in September 1975, members were initiated and the colony became a chapter.
A few years later, the chapter moved to the old Chi Phi house on University Drive on Old Fraternity Row.
The house was one of the oldest on campus and adjacent to Bryant-Denny football stadium. It was not in great repair and would have been extremely expensive to remodel. A handful of years later, the university decided they need the land for future expansion of the stadium. That, coupled with crippling expenses, caused the chapter to be closed about 11 or 12 years after its founding, around 1983-84.
The son of an OXi alumnus attempted to revive the chapter around 1997. The colony rented a university-owned Greek lodge on campus, but in 2002, the effort expired.
Contemporary efforts to revive the chapter began around 2019, although there were talks among fraternity delegates and university officials for many years.