History of the Beta Chapter
1984 to 1989
During the fall semester of the 1983-84 Academic Year, Dean Edelman, a representative from AEPi National, made several visits to the Cornell University campus. After two visits, Dean selected 17 out of 40 men qualified to refound the chapter, yet no one was willing to make a firm commitment. Out of these men, only 6 finally made the commitment to refound AEPi at Cornell. They were inducted as pledges on the third floor of Noyes Center on Saturday night, February 4, 1984. Those 6 pledges and the positions they assumed that evening were as follows: Master: Andrew Schifrin, Lt. Master: Gary Berman, Scribe: Peter Gold, Exchequer: Andrew Young, Member-At-Large: Michael Weinstein, Social Chairman: Edward Croen.
During the month of February 1984, these men met two to three times a week in order to establish a cohesive structure for the chapter. After several rush events, most of which were held at the Chariot restaurant in Collegetown, these men gave out seven bids, four of which were accepted. Thus, on February 25, 1984, four additional pledges were added. These men were: Peter Eckert, Charles Reing, Mitchell Kaplan, and John Steffian.
Together, these ten men would restart the Beta Chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. On March 3, 1984, nine of the refounding fathers attended AEPi's regional conclave at the University of Pennsylvania, Gamma Chapter. There, these men had the distinction of being initiated by the Supreme Master, A. Edward Scherer. Just prior to initiation, Gary Berman, a hefty drinker, finished Beta's first bottle of Jack Daniels. Andy Schifrin was the first Master of the new colony.
Shortly thereafter, these newly initiated brothers selected a pledge class, to accompany them in the growth of their fledgling brotherhood. These men were as follows: Seth Choset, Lawrence Stoller, Andrew Wahn. Initiated with the pledge class, was Mitchell Kaplan, a refounding father who was not able to join the other nine at the regional conclave. In February of 1985, the next pledge class was inducted. These men were as follows: David Barber, Jacques Boubli, David Cohen, Ariel Eskenazi, Mark Frucht, Michael Gold, Joshua Greenspan, Howard Greenstein, Adam Honen, Andrew Katz, Jay Rivlin, Andrew Sinder, Jonathan Strober, Ken Szydlow, Giuseppe Volpato, and Steven Werblow.
At the start of the 1985-86 school year, the Beta Colony moved into its present house at 140 Thurston Avenue. During this organizational period, rush efforts were persistent. On October 26, 1985, four upperclassmen were inducted- Glenn Fox, Andrew Katz, Robert Rosenberg, Todd Tescher. Master Jay Rivlin was an exceptional leader and foosball player. Adam Honen and Eric Glazer painted the black grafitti filled wall in room 5.
In 1986, these men were initiated: Howard Chafetz, Seth Divack, Ross Leibowitz, Eric Rauch, David Scher, Jeffrey Spector, Howard Stone, Walter Swearingen, Jonathan Weinstein, and Jeffrey Zigman.
On May 10, 1986, one of the most memorable events in recent Beta Chapter history occurred. Supreme Master Ivan Halperin personally gave Beta its charter. This action reinstated Beta as a chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi. In the fall, Eric Glaser and Steven Tomaselli were initiated into the fraternity. Eric and Steven soon became known to the brotherhood as the "Zeta Duo". Glenn Fox '87 served admirably as Pledge Master.
The following spring, Beta added 12 men to its rolls- Richard Dreitzer, Daniel Dubin, David Herold, Daniel Levine, Debashis Nag, Gregory Riskin, Michael Rosner, Seth Ruthen, David Schoenfeld, Howard Weitzman, Scott Winikow, Thomas Wong.
In August of 1987, at the Fraternity's 74th Anniversary Convention held in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jonathan Strober was awarded the Robert Silverman Oustanding Scribe Award. Noteworthy chapter events continued that year.
On January 30, 1988, Michael Dreitzer, Craig Goldberg, Daniel Goldman, Steven Goodweather, Richard Madris, Stephen Schwartz, Randall Singer, and Gregory Stoller were inducted. Stefan Zechowy was inducted one month later. These nine men were initiated on April 30, 1988.
The Chapter built and dedicated a library to the memory of Michael Schwerner '61, a brother killed while pursuing the cause of Civil Rights. The movie Mississippi Burning was based on his death. In June, Jay Hyman '55 donated a modern sculpture to the University in remembrance of Joseph Brender '55, who died while defending his country. The sculpture sits in front of the Johnson Art Museum. In 1988, Rob Rosenberg '88 became the only person in Cornell history to be Class President for all four years. Steve Werblow '88 was Senior Class Vice-President and Steve Tomaselli '88 was Senior Class Treasurer. Richard Madris '91 was a Varsity Tennis Player.
Master Jeffrey Spector attended the fraternity's 75th Anniversary Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. At this convention, the Beta chapter was awarded the Outstanding Chapter Publication Award for its success in improving its Alumni Newsletter, the "Beta-Data". As well, the fraternity's new headquarters in Indianapolis, were dedicated and opened for use.
In 1989, Stefan Zechowy was elected Lt. Master, Steven Goodweather was Scribe, Richard Madris served as Pledge Master, and Stephen G. Schwartz held the position of House Manager. Dan Levine '90 was Steward for three years and his stereo rocked the house. Seth Isenberg, Ben Manevitz, Greg Miller, Gregg Rubenstein, Eric Wagner, and Harris Weisman were the last pledge class to be initiated before the 1990 refounding.
In September, Beta repeated its successful BUCKFEST ride at Fun-in-the-Sun and held its first joint social event with the newly founded Ithaca College chapter (Tom Wong invented Buckfest, the annual Fun In The Sun event, after discovering that a mechanical bull would have cost $10.000).