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Delta Kappa Epsilon

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Delta Kappa Epsilon
ΔΚΕ
FoundedError: Invalid birth date for calculating age
No. 12 Old South Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
TypeSocial
ScopeUnited States, Canada
MottoKerothen Philoi Aei "Friends From The Heart Forever"
ColorsGules (Crimson), Azure (Blue), Or (Gold)
SymbolRampant Lion
FlowerNone
Chapters52 active
HeadquartersP.O. Box 8360
Ann Arbor, Michigan
USA
Websitehttp://www.dke.org

Delta Kappa Epsilon (ΔΚΕ; also pronounced D-K-E or "Deke") is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 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."

Founding and history

File:Dke Crest.JPG
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 DΚΕ 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, Dr. Edward Griffin Bartlett, Frederic Peter Bellinger, Jr., Henry Case, Colonel George Foote Chester, John Butler Coyngham, Thomas Isaac Franklin, William Walter Horton, The Honorable William Boyd Jacobs, Professor Edward Van Schoonhoven Kingsley, Chester Newell Righter, Dr. Elisha Bacon Shapleigh, Thomas Du Bois Sherwood, Orson William Stow, 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). Additionally, the most presidents to come from any other fraternity is only 2, compared to DKE's five presidents.

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.

File:Dkeflag.jpg
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, Jr., 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).

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 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 because they refused to vote for a brother Deke simply because he was a Deke. 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.

Alumni

DKE counts many political, business, sports, education, science, and arts leaders. Listed is a 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

Political figures

Sports and entertainment

Military

Other famous Dekes

Robert E. Peary, Theta - first man to reach the North Pole

  • Robert Paul Hastings, Alpha - Director of the Hastings College of Law, San Francisco in 1885-1890
  • 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.
  • Chung Mun Yew, Phi - Director of Chinese Railroads
  • Liang Tun Yen, Phi - Secretary of State, Chinese (Qing Dynasty) Empire
  • Sal Capizzi, Theta Chi-Astronaut
  • Tom Bacon, Tau- Nutritionist/conditioning coach for James Russell, 3 Time NESCAC pole vault champion

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

Chapters

Main article: List of Delta Kappa Epsilon chapters
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