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The Mission Statement of Alpha
Epsilon Pi
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. 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 92-year history, over 77,000 men have
worn the badge of Alpha Epsilon Pi and each year, over 1,800 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.
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