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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 have remained unchanged to this day.
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, 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 has
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.
Click
here for a complete
list of famous alumni.
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