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Tau Kappa Epsilon (ΤΚΕ or Teke, pronounced T-K-E or /ˈtiːk/, as in teak wood) is a college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899 at Illinois Wesleyan University with chapters in the United States, and Canada, and affiliation with a German fraternity system known as the Corps of the Weinheimer Senioren Convent (WSC). There are currently 274 active TKE chapters and colonies throughout the United States and Canada. The colors of the fraternity are the shade of red known as Crimson Lake Cherry, and the shade of gray known as Pure Silver Gray. Of the national fraternities founded prior to 1920, TKE is one of the few fraternities that never had a discrimination clause in its membership requirements to prevent membership of men because of their race, color, or creed. TKE was also one of the first fraternities to abolish "Hell week" when in 1928 it was replaced with an initiation period consisting of lessons portraying the finest attributes of brotherhood.
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