Delta Kappa Epsilon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ΔΚΕ - Delta Kappa Epsilon
The crest of ΔΚΕ
Motto Kerothen Philoi Aei

"Friends From The Heart Forever"
Colors Gules (Crimson), Azure (Blue), Or (Gold)
Symbol Rampant Lion
Flower None
Founded June 22, 1844 at No. 12 Old South Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Type Social
Scope United States, Canada
Headquarters P.O. Box 8360
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Chapters 63 active
Homepage http://www.dke.org

Delta Kappa Epsilon (ΔΚΕ; also pronounced D K E or "Deke") is the oldest secret college men's fraternity of New England origin. ΔΚΕ was founded at Yale College by 15 men of the sophomore class who, upon hearing that some but not all of them had been invited to join the two existing societies (Alpha Delta Phi and Psi Upsilon), instead elected to form their own fraternity. These men sought to establish a fellowship "where the candidate most favored was he who combined in the most equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar, and the jolly good fellow."

Contents

Image:1844crest.gif
Original version of the ΔΚΕ coat of arms

In the spring of 1844, due to undergraduate politics and a division in the Sophomore class, a number of men of high character and scholastic attainment did not receive bids from the two societies--Alpha Delta Phi and Psi Upsilon. So unfair, in fact, were the selections that some men who did receive bids promptly rejected them. There arose a feeling of such injustice that fifteen men resolved to form their own society, one which would be more fraternal in nature and less restricted to the limited (and, as they saw it, unfair) membership criteria of their rivals.

This new society was founded June 22, 1844, in room number 12 Old South Hall, Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut. At this meeting, the Fraternity's secret and open Greek mottos were devised. The open motto is "Kerothen Philoi Aei" ("Friends from the Heart, Forever"). The pin and secret handshake were also devised. The DKE pin shows the Greek letters ΔΚΕ on a white scroll upon a black diamond with gold rope trim and a star in each corner. DKE's heraldic colours are azure (blue), or (gold), and gules (crimson) and its flag is a triband of those colours with a left-facing rampant lion in the middle.

The fifteen founders were: William Woodruff Atwater, Edward Griffen Bartlett, Frederic Peter Bellinger, Jr., Henry Case, George Foote Chester, John Butler Coyngham, Thomas Isaac Franklin, William Walter Horton, William Boyd Jacobs, Edward Van Schoonhoven Kingsley, Chester Newell Righter, Elisha Bacon Shapleigh, Thomas Du Bois Sherwood, Orson William Snow, and Albert Everett Stetson.

This first Chapter was denoted Phi chapter and is the only fraternity at Yale that has never gone inactive. It also holds the distinction of being the longest uninterrupted chapter of DKE.

Within three years of the founding at Yale, chapters were founded at Bowdoin, Princeton University, Colby College, and Amherst College. Since that time, DKE has grown to over 64 chapters and has initiated over 85,000 members across North America.

DKE is inextricably linked to the history of the United States of America, as its members have included five of forty-three Presidents of the United States: Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Another way to look at this impact, is that five of the most recent 25 US Presidents (20%) were Dekes (at the time of George W. Bush's election).

Some might argue that Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be the 6th US President that was a DKE. FDR was a member of the Alpha Chapter of DKE at Harvard, also known as the "Dickey Club." However the Alpha Chapter derecognized by DKE International due to the chapter's stance on dual membership with other fraternities. Here is a detailed explanation of Harvard's complex club system: The Porcellian was the loftiest of Harvard's "final" clubs. The selection process was rigidly hierarchical. First you had to get into the Institute of 1770, the oldest and largest club. If you were among the first 70 or 80 of the 100 sophomores accepted, you were taken into Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity ("the Dickey"). Then you might join a "waiting" club, and at last a final club like Porcellian or A.D. Your chances improved if you were a "legacy," i.e., related to a member.

During the Civil War, the first Union officer killed in battle was a Deke, Theodore Winthrop of Phi. Six weeks after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Philip Spence of Zeta commanded Confederate troops in their last organized battle of the war.

In the election of 1876, the Republican Party chose between two Dekes, nominating Hayes rather than rival and fellow DKE James G. Blaine, who later served two administrations as Secretary of State and who authored the Fourteenth Amendment; Blaine also ran unsuccessfully for President.

Flag of ΔΚΕ
Flag of ΔΚΕ

During the Spanish-American War, the first American officer to be killed was a Deke, Surgeon John B. Gibbs (Rutgers), and his brother in DKE J. Frank Aldritch (DePauw) died when the USS Maine was sunk. In this same war, Deke Theodore Roosevelt distinguished himself and started on his path to the Presidency.

The fraternity's membership has also included dozens of American and Canadian politicians, businessmen, sports figures, and artists who have achieved iconic status, including among many others J.P. Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, Cole Porter, Henry Cabot Lodge, Dick Clark, Tom Landry, and George Steinbrenner. Deke flags have been carried to the North Pole by its discoverer, Admiral Robert Peary (Theta), and to the Moon by astronaut Alan Bean (Omega Chi).

Image:Dke-pin.gif
Pin of ΔΚΕ

Delta Kappa Epsilon administers a charitable organization called the Rampant Lion Foundation. As well, DKE has championed an organization call ROAR, which stands for Restore Our Associational Rights. ROAR campaigns for the freedom of fraternities and Greek organizations in general to operate without interference and discrimination from university administrations or others.

Traditionally an Eastern Seaboard fraternity, DKE's Yale chapter had an early reputation as a Southerner's fraternity. Many wealthy plantation owners sent their sons to Yale where they joined DKE. Two of the original founders were from the South and 13 out of 38 members of 1845 and 1846 were from the South. DKE's first chapter in the South was Gamma chapter founded in 1847 (Vanderbilt University) followed by Psi chapter at the University of Alabama in the same year.

Delta Kappa Epsilon's first West Coast chapter was founded at the University of California, Berkeley on Halloween night, 1876. DKE is the fourth fraternity at the prestigious institution. Their rival, Stanford University, followed suit in 1901.

Delta Kappa Epsilon became an international fraternity with the addition of the Alpha Phi chapter in 1898 at the University of Toronto, Canada.

DKE is not the only fraternity that has a club in New York. The DKE Club of New York was founded in 1885 and is currently in residence at the Yale Club of New York City. The club is a rare survivor of the fraternity clubs that once proliferated at the turn of the century and then folded.

The Sigma Chi Fraternity was founded in 1855 when twelve members of the Miami University chapter of DKE (Kappa Chapter) split evenly over a debate on the office of Poet in the Erodelphian Literary Society. Six Deke members, led by Benjamin Piatt Runkle, rescinded their membership and later founded Sigma Chi. The leader of the "loyal" Dekes was future Ambassador Whitelaw Reid. Frank Baird, a "loyal" Deke, had a hand in creating the Sigma Chi "White Cross" badge along with the founders of Sigma Chi. He was known as an artist on campus and assisted his former Deke brothers.

Reportedly, the past president of Yale's DKE chapter is guaranteed to be one of the 15 juniors tapped to form the Yale's Skull and Bones senior secret society.

Mu of DKE Foundation vs Colgate University[1]

Attorneys for DKE attempted again in August 2005 to enter into negotiations with Colgate regarding a reasonable sale agreement on the DKE house. Colgate refused.

In September 2005, the lawsuit by Delta Kappa Epsilon against Colgate University was in the discovery stage. Following Colgate's motion to dismiss, the Supreme Court made an unusual allowance, permitting attorneys for Mu of DKE to file an appeal brief.

DKE alumni leadership again offered to negotiate an agreement to sell the house but retain the Temple-Library. The offer included a requirement that “just cause” be established by neutral third parties as a condition of eliminating the chapter, that mandatory, binding arbitration be conducted as part of the due process regarding banning the chapter, and that compensation be awarded for the “good will” of the contributions to Colgate by the 150+ year-old fraternal organization. At every stage, the offers were rebuffed and denied.

Colgate has banned the DKE chapter. The undergraduates are living in college-owned housing and are denied the right to free assembly as fraternity brothers. The DKE house is forbidden territory.

Lawsuits by DKE undergraduates and another by DKE alumni have been heard by Judge McDermott in the NY State Supreme Court.

DKE counts many political, business, sports, education, science, and arts leaders. Listed is a VERY small sample of some famous Dekes.

Presidents of the United States

Vice Presidents of the United States

Justices of the United States Supreme Court

Newspaper publishers and editors

Agency Heads

Businessmen

Famous political figures

Sports and entertainment

Other famous Dekes

  • Alan Bean, Omega Chi - Apollo astronaut
  • Edward Bellamy, Theta Chi - author
  • Sutemi Chinda, Psi Phi - Secretary of State of the Empire of Japan (The Washington DC Cherry trees were presented by him and his wife on behalf of the people of Japan in 1912)
  • Melvil Dewey, Sigma - devised the Dewey Decimal System
  • Charles A. Ellis, Gamma Phi - designed the Golden Gate Bridge
  • Baron Seijiro Hirai, Psi Omega - President, Japanese Railways
  • Robert E. Peary, Theta - first man to reach the North Pole
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne, Theta - author
  • Calvin Plimpton, Sigma - President of Amherst College and American University of Beirut
  • Yung Wing, Phi - Chinese Diplomat to the United States. Founder of the Chinese Educational Mission in 1872.
  • Yuan Shikai, Phi Prime Minister, Chinese (Qing Dynasty) Empire
  • Chung Mun Yew, Phi - Director of Chinese Railroads
  • Liang Tun Yen, Phi - Secretary of State, Chinese (Qing Dynasty) Empire
  • John Wesley Cornwell V, Epsilon Rho - Creator of the Beer Launching Fridge [2]
  • Reuben J. Petty, Nu Zeta -Creator of clear metal
  • Brett Arthur Russo, Phi Gamma - Wall Street Executive

For a more complete listing of prominent Dekes visit: Prominent Alumni

1) Phi - Yale

2) Zeta - Princeton

3) Sigma - Amherst

4) Gamma - Vanderbilt

5) Psi - Alabama

6) Chi - Mississippi

7) Beta - UNC-CH

8) Kappa - Miami

9) Lambda - Kenyon

10) Eta - Virginia

11) Alpha Alpha - Middlebury

12) Omicron - Michigan

13) Rho - Lafayette

14) Tau - Hamilton

15) Mu - Colgate University

17) Beta Phi - Rochester

18) Zeta Zeta - LSU

19) Phi Chi - Rutgers

20) Gamma Phi - Wesleyan

21) Beta Chi - Case Western Reserve

22) Delta Chi - Cornell

23) Delta Delta - Chicago

24) Phi Gamma - Syracuse

25) Theta Zeta - Berkeley

26) Phi Epsilon - Minnesota

27) Sigma Tau - MIT

28) Theta Chi - Union College

29) Tau Lambda - Tulane

30) Aplha Phi - Toronto

31) Delta Kappa - Pennsylvania

32) Sigma Rho - Stanford

33) Rho Delta - Wisconsin

34) Kappa Epsilon - Washington

35) Omega Phi - Texas

36) Alpha Tau - Manitoba

37) Theta Rho - UCLA

38) Delta Phi - Alberta

39) Phi Alpha - British Columbia

40) Tau Delta - Sewanee

41) Psi Delta - Wake Forest University

42) Sigma Alpha - Virginia Tech

43) Phi Delta - Western Ontario

44) Alpha Mu - Rowan

45) Epsilon Rho - Duke

46) Nu Zeta - Pace

47) Zeta Upsilon - UC, Davis

48) Phi Sigma - Bryant

49) Phi Rho - Penn State

50) Chi Rho - Bloomsburg

51) Zeta Chi - Bentley

52) Sigma Beta - UC, Santa Barbara

53) Beta Gamma - NYU

54) Alpha Beta - DePaul

55) Sigma Kappa - Michigan State

56) Delta Tau - Ohio State

57) Delta Psi - Indiana

58) Mu Chi - Maryville

59) Upsilon Omega - South Alabama

60) Kappa Omega - Lake Forest

61) Rho Beta - Richmond

63) Phi Beta - Stephen F. Austin

For a complete list of all historical chapters, see DKE's Chapter Website.


Fraternity Leadership Association
Delta Kappa Epsilon | Kappa Sigma | Phi Sigma Kappa | Sigma Alpha Epsilon | Sigma Lambda Beta | Sigma Pi
North-American Interfraternity Conference
Acacia  • Alpha Chi Rho  • Alpha Delta Gamma  • Alpha Delta Phi  • Alpha Epsilon Pi  • Alpha Gamma Rho  • Alpha Gamma Sigma  • Alpha Kappa Lambda  • Alpha Phi Alpha  • Alpha Phi Delta  • Alpha Sigma Phi  • Alpha Tau Omega  • Beta Chi Theta  • Beta Sigma Psi  • Beta Theta Pi  • Chi Phi  • Chi Psi  • Delta Chi  • Delta Kappa Epsilon  • Delta Phi  • Delta Psi  • Delta Sigma Phi  • Delta Tau Delta  • Delta Upsilon  • FarmHouse  • Iota Phi Theta  • Kappa Alpha Order  • Kappa Alpha Psi  • Kappa Alpha Society  • Kappa Delta Phi  • Kappa Delta Rho  • Lambda Chi Alpha  • Lambda Phi Epsilon  • Lambda Sigma Upsilon  • Lambda Theta Phi  • Phi Gamma Delta  • Phi Iota Alpha  • Phi Kappa Psi  • Phi Kappa Sigma  • Phi Kappa Tau  • Phi Kappa Theta  • Phi Lambda Chi  • Phi Mu Delta  • Phi Sigma Kappa  • Phi Sigma Phi  • Pi Kappa Alpha  • Pi Kappa Phi  • Pi Lambda Phi  • Psi Upsilon  • Sigma Alpha Epsilon  • Sigma Alpha Mu  • Sigma Chi  • Sigma Lambda Beta  • Sigma Nu  • Sigma Phi Delta  • Sigma Phi Epsilon  • Sigma Phi Society  • Sigma Pi  • Sigma Tau Gamma  • Tau Delta Phi  • Tau Epsilon Phi  • Tau Kappa Epsilon  • Theta Chi  • Theta Delta Chi  • Theta Xi  • Triangle  • Zeta Beta Tau  • Zeta Psi
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/e/l/Delta_Kappa_Epsilon_f190.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.