Connecticut Alpha at the University of Connecticut received their original charter in 1956, initiating 323 men before becoming dormant on the UConn campus when the entire Fraternity system collapsed in 1972. With renewed national interest in fraternities and sororities, CT Alpha returned to campus in 1980, and enjoyed great success for decades, earning 4 Buchanan Cups and producing many local and national fraternity volunteers. Sadly, under-performance caused its demise again in 2008. Although under 13% of students at Connecticut’s flagship university (~18,000 undergraduates) are members of the Greek system, Sigma Phi Epsilon would not be gone for long!
When Sigma Phi Epsilon came back to Storrs in September 2014, they found a campus hungry for Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Balanced Man vision; by the end of that first semester, interviewing over 600 men for the Balanced Man Scholarship and actively recruiting across campus, 61 new members were added to the CT Alpha role. Within two years, that number grew to 92 men with a chapter GPA of 3.33, well above the all-campus, all-men, and all Greek averages.
With the support of an active volunteer and alumni base, the new colony was able to move into UConn’s Husky Village housing after only one year on campus. New furniture was purchased, and Composites and other memorabilia were dug out of storage, repaired and cleaned, and proudly displayed throughout the house. After two years of hard work and continuous growth, we submitted our comprehensive Chartering Application in November 2016, and received approval on December 16, 2016.
The new Connecticut Alpha chapter celebrated our re-chartering on April 1, 2017, with over 280 brothers and guests. In addition to 89 undergraduate Brothers and 14 recent alumni, almost 50 alumni from every decade of CT Alpha’s history and a dozen alumni and active members of other SigEp Chapters came together to help us celebrate the occasion.
Since rechartering, the chapter has stacked up many accolades. The chapter received Buchanan Cups in 2019, 2021, and 2023, recruited several new faculty fellows, and continued to be among the top-ranked chapters academically. Connecticut Alpha has also kicked off several new traditions, including an annual brotherhood retreat in Moodus, an annual formal in Montreal, and a senior send-off picnic in April with recently-graduated alumni.
We are indebted to the generations of brothers who built this chapter and who continued to support Connecticut Alpha through high and low times. Chief among those brothers is the late Ed Kaplan. In recognition of the critical role he played in UConn's return to campus in 2014, the chapter renamed its house in his honor after he passed away in late 2021.
