Alpha Tau Omega’s Zeta Eta Chapter was officially the first fraternity on Texas Tech’s campus. Our charter was given to us in May of 1953, and stayed on this campus until 2003 when it was voluntarily removed from Texas Tech. The chapter’s size and success had dwindled. The Alumni and National ATO Staff decided that the chapter needed to be shut down for a short time to allow for a revival a few years later so that it could be successful for future generations. There were no risk management infractions or illegal incidents of any kind that caused the chapter to shut down.
In April of 2006, a group of men who resided in Clement Dormitory 1st floor decided to start their own fraternity. The men had lived together in the dorm for a year and found a brotherhood they considered unparalleled. They wanted to spread this fellowship to the rest of the men on Tech’s campus because they believed that this was what a true fraternity should base itself on. They approached the Greek Advisor at the time, Mike Gunn, to explore their options. ATO wanted to come back onto campus around this time, so Mr. Gunn put the interest group into contact with the National Expansion Representative Chris Trott. After some research and discussion, the men decided that ATO exhibited the ideals and values that they had initially set out to establish by creating their fraternity.

After the first two chapter meetings on top of the Flint Avenue Parking Garage in April of 2006, 22 men decided to go forth with this plan. Over the summer, correspondence between ATO Nationals and Austin Pennington continued in order to make plans for the fall semester. ATO kicked off its recruitment efforts on August 19, 2006. They finished the week and were officially colonized on August 27, 2006 with 35 men.
A new fraternity must first be granted colony status and then work to achieve chapter status. Therefore, the colony members are not initiated, and do not know the secrets of the ATO Ritual. They must first get their membership numbers up to 45 men, and submit a Petition to Charter. This document consists of an outline of all of the programs it takes to run a fraternity including plans for the pledgeship process, recruitment system, and risk management programs.

During the Texas Tech Colony’s time, they faced much adversity including a loss of 30% of their members at the conclusion of their first semester. Despite all of these obstacles their first year, they managed to finish 1st or 2nd in 5 intramural events, host 4 parties, 2 sorority mixers, hold the 3rd highest fraternity GPA on campus, host their first Viking Formal Banquet, and double their size to 44 men at the conclusion of the Spring 2007 Semester.

In the fall of 2007, the Texas Tech colony had finally received final approval of their Charter Petition and had the membership numbers to charter. After a successful fall formal rush, the Zeta Eta Chapter was made official on September 22, 2007. ATO’s national staff came down to Lubbock and initiated 53 men as the founding fathers of the Zeta Eta Chapter at Texas Tech University. The original charter was returned to the men of the Zeta Eta chapter and there was a banquet to recognize the success of the men.

ATO was started on Texas Tech’s campus in order to bring about a new perspective on Greek Life and the values a fraternity represents. The men of the Zeta Eta chapter have the distinguished responsibility of living out and keeping alive the traditions and integrity that the chapter was originally founded upon. The men must always keep in mind that we were not founded in opposition or likeness of any other organization. We were founded to bring about change and to represent our brothers with humility, passion, and perseverance.