The following information is taken from the pages of A History of Ohio Tau Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Miami University Oxford, Ohio, written by former Eminent Supreme Archon and Ohio Tau alumni Ben L. Allen. The book follows the years before the formation of the Ohio Tau chapter all the way up until the 1990s when the book was written. As the book covers a broad amount of information only a brief part of the history of Ohio Tau is convered here.
Members of the Alpha Delta Sigma fraternity (local founded in 1913) approached Chairman of the Department of Industrial Education at Miami University, Fred C. Whitcomb (Indiana Alpha '00) to the possibilities about becoming an SAE chapter. Whitcomb and the Alpha Delta Sigma men talked with past ESDA Al Leue who also gave his support to the cause. Due to the postponing of the 1918 SAE convention, where the Alpha Delta Sigma men might have achieved their goal, another local at Miami, Phi Alpha Psi (founded in 1910), made a contention to becoming the Miami SAE chapter. Because of Alpha Delta Sigma's priority in petitioning for a chapter they were believed to be the favorite. To counter this the Phi Alpha Psi's pledged Edward W. Nippert, a cousin of Judge Alfred K. Nippert of Cincinnati. Judge Nippert campaigned for the support of the Cincinnati SAE alumni, and convinced them to put their allegiance behind the Phi Alpha Psi's.
As the approach of the 1919 Buffalo convention grew closer... "The fraternity's national officers were in a quandry. They knew that if one of the locals was plainly told to withdraw its petition, its SAE backers would be understandably angered. Yet if both locals appeared at Buffalo, they would almost surely kill each other off, ruining SAE's chances of entering Miami at all. ESA Don Almy and Judge Tuttle agreed that this touchy matter required the skill and diplomacy of Billy Levere, due home from France [surving in the war] any day."
"When Levere arrived and sureveyed the situation ... [he] had suggested to Nippert an obvious solution: amalgamate the two locals and bring in only one petition. Nippert sought out Whitcomb at Oxford, and the two of them persuaded the two locals that a merger was the only way to save the situation. Committees of both locals, working together with harmony prompted by desperation, hammered out an agreement to join forces, and their decision was quickly ratified... It was all accomplished in the nick of time, for the Buffalo convention was only a few days off."
And so..."They called the Miami chapter Ohio Tau...It's installation on October 4, 1919, attracted a large number of SAEs, among them Judge Tuttle...Billy Levere...and Judge Nippert arrived with a large delegation of alumni and Ohio Epsilon undergraduates from Cincinnati. They were joined by dozens of Alpha Delta Sigma and Phi Alpha Psi alumni. As it began to grow dark in Oxford, the proceedings began. The initiation of 101 men, the largest number of neophytes ever inducted into SAE up to that time in a single ceremony, was conducted with fitting solemnity."
The installing officers were:
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