About Alpha
Zeta Nu Chapter was officially established on the campus of Eastern Illinois University (EIU) on January 10, 1969. This was the first Black Greek Letter. In the fall of 1968, Ed Stephens and Bill Wooten were sophomores at Eastern Illinois University. Bill Wooten’s father was a member of the fraternity, and had stressed the importance of becoming an Alpha man to his son. Bill’s friend Ed has the same aspirations. They contacted members of the Tau Chapter at the University of Illinois to express membership and find out what was needed to join although they were students at EIU. After receiving permission from the Regional Vice President, they were allowed to be initiated into the Tau Chapter.
While going through the initiation process, Bill Wooten met 5 other undergraduates at EIU: Julius Baldridge, Curly Bradford, Clarence Mays, and William Stepney. He lived with a couple of them in the same residence hall and shared with them the importance of joining a fraternity. He encouraged them to join and on many occasions, drove them to Champaign, IL to attend Tau chapter events. Little did they know, Wooten was going through the initiation process while they were there having a good time.
The time had come. Ed Stephens and Bill Wooten were duly initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. S.S. Lonely Drifters.
After being initiated, Bill Wooten really began to express how it was important to be a part of such a group. The other five people believed in what Bill had been telling them and in the fall of 1969, 5 men from EIU and two men from the University of Illinois made up S.S. Tenacious 7. S.S. Tenacious 7 includes L.K. McIntosh, Julius Baldrige, Curly Bradford, Clarence Mays, William Stepne, CJ Whaley, and Vern Pollard.
EIU required student organizations to have a minimum of seven members at the time to charter a chapter. With the initiation of the Tenacious 7, there were enough EIU students to charter the chapter.
On January 10, 1969, seven men signed the charter officially making Zeta Nu the 343rd House of Alpha. Because McIntosh and Pollard were not students at EIU, they were not able to sign the charter.