The refounding of the new chapter happened just two months after the February 21, 1990 Reorganization. The MIT community was still raging over the "cruel" fate of the 45 Mu Tau members who had been banished by the AEPi national, and of the 10 who voluntarily chose to share their brothers' destiny.

The National Fraternity always follows the tradition of expansion to campuses, not withdrawal from them. MIT was no exception. AEPi could not tolerate the disappearance of one of its oldest chapters. As a result just weeks after the old chapter was reorganized, Andy Borans started rebuild the MIT chapter. He quickly attracted four MIT students to lead the effort in rebuilding the chapter -- David E. Borison '91, David Goldstone '92, Robert A. Rich '90, and Steven H. Baden '92. The five held several meetings and invited everyone interested to attend. By the end of April 1990 the group boasted 15 men.

The new group chose to apply for the IFC recognition at the end of May. Their request was rejected by a unanimous vote. MIT administration, in the face of the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, James R. Tewhey, refused to support the new group as well, pointing towards its ambiguous membership size and the trauma to the residence situation at MIT that the National fraternity had caused. As far as the residence crisis goes, "The Tech" was screaming all through early June and September 1990 about housing shortages and overcrowded dorms. They blamed a larger than expected freshman class and the necessity of the dorm system to absorb the 55 members of the reorganized Mu Tau chapter.

Yet in late April of 1990 the new chapter was already alive. Borison assumed the post of the Master, and Rich took that of scribe. The Tech indicated that Baden had a role of Lieutenant Master. This however, is not true. He chose to leave the group of the founding fathers two weeks after joining them without even being initiated into AEPi. He chose to leave the fraternity, disillusioned as he put it "with the way the AEPi National treated the old chapter."

The new chapter chose as its meeting place the Conference Room of the Burton Connor's Third Entry. It was Burton Connor that served as AEPi's Rush central during the Fall of 1990 rush. The fraternity agreed not to start rushing until the freshmen had chosen their permanent place of residence. This decision was influenced by the fact that AEPi was still not admitted to the InterFraternity Council and was not going to offer freshmen an opportunity to reside at its Bay State Road housing. (AEPi's right to house freshmen had been revoked by the Institute almost immediately after the Reorganization had happened.)

The official date that AEPi picked to begin its Rush was the Activities Midway on Thursday of the Residence/Orientation (R/O) week. The fraternity had a booth during the Midway during which they officially started recruitment for the organization. Delta Pi's and other IFC members noted, however, that AEPi's were present at the freshman picnic wearing letters. Neal Dorow, however, cooled off their excitement by noting that AEPi's letters were hardly noticeable in the crowd, and that only six AEPi's were present at the picnic. The fraternity continued its fall rush a long way into the semester, and by the end of it initiated its first pledge class--the Alpha Pledge Class. The chapter chose to rush again in the Spring of 1991.

With the appearance of the Beta Pledge class the size of the new chapter practically tripled. The next step that it decided to take was to request permission to return to its houses on Bay State Road that at the time were occupied by the Boston University AEPi chapter. The houses are owned by the Mutaw Corporation, whose Board of Directors includes several Mu Tau alumni, and to them, Mu Tau's moving back in was welcomed. However, the chapter needed to complete two things. First, obtain the right to house freshmen. Second, become re-recognized by the IFC.

Mu Tau started by targeting the IFC. On March 13, 1991 the full assembly of the MIT InterFraternity Council was addressed by Jonathan Olenick '92 (then Master) as well as by Alfred H. Bloom '50, who was joined by two other members of the House Corporation. IFC members could not be easily convinced. The IFC decided, by a 23-4 vote, to keep AEPi off campus.

An interesting surprise waited for Mu Tau shortly after the decision. Associate Dean of Student Affairs James R. Tewhey indicated that the institute would still probably grant the chapter the freshman housing status. Tewhey had to choose between the unpopular National on campus and 55 beds in the dorms. He chose the former. Indeed, shortly after that statement Office of the Dean of the Student Affairs announced through Tewhey that it authorized Mu Tau to house freshmen starting with the Fall of 1991. The battle for a place on campus was basically won at that point. What could IFC do? Its Rush restrictions did not apply to AEPi. So they granted every fraternity the right to have a "sign" at the freshman picnic. AEPi, not bound by any rules, could wear the letters before "let the rush begin" was spoken out. They could choose to start wearing them during the Thursday Night Dinners, or at any other time. AEPi's were allowed to extend bids or accept pledges at any time they wished. In fact that could start bidding Friday, or Saturday (they took advantage of this opportunity, and once freshmen accepted bids Saturday, they were sent as "spies" to get other freshmen over to the house. An interesting way to rush, isn't it? In this situation a freshman recruited other freshmen who did not even realize that they were talking to people who have already pledged AEPi!) The advantages as you see were numerous, which made a lot of IFC bound fraternities worried. How would AEPi step over the rules and go out of their way destroying them in cross-rushes? Jonathan Olenick '92 announced a sort of "good faith" policy that he said would be kept by the brothers of AEPi. This included not wearing letters during the work week and up until the time when all fraternities were allowed to wear letters, as well as not badmouthing other houses (an offense not tolerated by the IFC). AEPi kept their word, and despite the disadvantages it had created for itself, it successfully rushed its Gamma pledge class that was the first freshman class to live at 155 Bay State Road after the Reorganization. The house at 155 Bay State Road had been loaned by the Mutaw Corporation to the Zeta Deuteron chapter of AEPi at Boston University. When the house was returned, it was a mess. The Zeta Deuteron chapter had left without paying the gas bill, so Mu Tau was left without a working kitchen for rush. Furthermore, they had gone so far as to keep a pig in one of the rooms.

Subsequent admission of AEPi into IFC seemed only like an afterthought. The MIT Greek community saw that AEPi was able to rush successfully even without being a member of this all-important organization. Many IFC members also observed the "unfair advantages" that AEPi had during the Fall 1991 rush. The only way they knew of putting AEPi on the same level with themselves was to actually bind AEPi by the same set of rules they themselves were gasping for air under. It did not come as a surprise to any of the AEPi brothers when IFC suddenly "decided to approve" AEPi as a full voting member later in the Fall of 1991.

Readmission to IFC practically completes the story of the Reorganization and Refounding of the Mu Tau Chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. We attempted to show you a fair representation of the facts as "The Tech" and AEPi alumni put them.

After refounding, Mu Tau steadily grew, with each pledge class getting larger. Mu Tau rushed year round, getting the Epsilon pledge class in the spring of 1993. The Zeta pledge class, the largest since reorganization, reached 17 members.