Delta Kappa Epsilon

The crest of ΔΚΕ

ΔΚΕ (Delta Kappa Epsilon) (also pronounced D K E or "Deke") is the oldest secret college men's fraternity of New England origin. 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."

Founding and History

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Original version of the ΔΚΕ crest

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Flag of ΔΚΕ

The society was founded June 22, 1844, in number 12 Old South Hall, Yale College. 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 was also devised. The DKE pin shows ΔΚΕ on a scroll, upon a diamond with 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.

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.

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.

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

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a member of a DKE Chapter (Alpha at Harvard) that had been suspended for conflict with the national organization, and for this reason he is not typically numbered among the Presidents who were Dekes. The fraternity's membership has also included dozens of American 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 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, Deke 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.

At one time, DKE initiates were branded with a small Δ on their buttocks. This practice has been discontinued.