Fraternity
We are proud of our fraternity and the more than 70,000 men who have become our brothers since DKE was founded in 1844.
Dekes come from every walk of life. Many have gone on to distinguish themselves in politics, business, the arts, sciences, sports, education, and the humanities. Five U.S. Presidents have been Dekes, the most of any fraternity. The first man to reach the North Pole was a Deke, and a Deke carried our flag to the moon.
In every corner of the world you will meet fellow Dekes, but whatever their background or station in life, all are united by the shared experience of membership in DKE.
Delta Kappa Epsilon International Fraternity History
Each year at Yale University during the 1840’s, certain members of the sophomore class were elected to two junior societies, Alpha Delta Phi and Psi Upsilon.
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. So unfair, in fact, were the selections that some men who did receive bids promptly rejected them.
On Saturday, June 22, 1844, fifteen Yale sophomores, rejecting the status quo, met and formed a new junior society which they called Delta Kappa Epsilon.
Very quickly DKE became more than just another junior society. Its predecessors’ criterion of academic distinction, while still highly respected, was expanded to include the qualities of good fellowship and compatible tastes and interests and thus attracted a wider range of prospective members.
More fraternal than its rival societies, DKE proceeded to recruit men who combine “in equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar, and the jolly good fellow” — criteria which remain unchanged to this day.
The Antebellum Period and Early Growth of DKE
By 1854, the Yale chapter had granted 18 chapters. Yale, having a variety of students from all over the nation, allowed DKE to branch out across the nation, especially in the South. So many chapters were started in the South that DKE became known as the Southerners’ Fraternity.
The Civil War
The horror and heroism of the Civil War was a profound and searing experience for both DKE and the nation. The first soldier to give his life was a Deke, as was the last Confederate commander to surrender. Several Dekes held high leadership ranks and many brothers gave their lives.
Of a total DKE membership of 2,500, 725 Dekes fought for the South and 817 for the North. No chapter was unrepresented. The toll of war was grim: by war’s end, seven chapters had closed forever due to deaths.
Reconstruction and the Early Twentieth Century
After the war, the chapters regrouped. In 1876 DKE reached the West Coast with a new chapter at the University of California at Berkeley.
Rutherford B. Hayes in 1881 became the first member of an American fraternity to become President of the United States. Brother Hayes would be the first of five Dekes to become the President of the United States. He was followed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901.
On April 6, 1909, Robert E. Peary of DKE’s Theta chapter became the first man to reach the North Pole. The cold was so intense that a flask of brandy that he carried under his parka froze solid. With him he brought an American flag and a Deke flag to represent the things that he loved most in life — his country and fraternity. Peary’s flag is now proudly displayed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
World Wars I and II saw broad service from DKE brothers. Over 400 fought in World War I, with 35 giving their lives. World War II saw over 6,000 Dekes serving and over 300 giving their lives.
To the Moon and Beyond
On November 19, 1969, sixty years after Peary’s historic trip, Alan Bean from Omega Chi chapter at Texas became DKE’s first astronaut and the fourth man to walk on the Moon. Like Peary, he carried a small DKE flag with him on his journey into outer space.
On August 9, 1974, Gerald R. Ford from Omicron chapter at Michigan became the 38th President of the United States, the third Deke to hold the office. The fraternity continued to grow throughout the 1970s and 1980s with new chapters on both coasts and in Canada.
On January 20, 1989 two Dekes again took the White House with the inauguration of President George H.W. Bush (Phi chapter at Yale) and Vice President Dan Quayle (Psi Phi chapter at Indiana). This marked the first and only time brothers of the same fraternity have ever served together in those roles.
The 21st Century
In 2001 the inauguration of George W. Bush as the 43rd President of the United States raised the total number of Dekes in the White House to a staggering five, more than twice as many as any other fraternity.
In 2004, after several years in Richmond, VA and Washington, D.C., DKE headquarters relocated back to Ann Arbor, MI, where operations are now based out of the historic and newly restored DKE Shant.
Mount Dekemore: U.S. Presidents Hayes, Bush, Bush, Roosevelt and Ford
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