Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon (ΔΚΕ), commonly known as DKE or Deke, is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fifteen sophomores who were discontented with the existing fraternity order on campus. The men established 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."[1]
Delta Kappa Epsilon
June 22, 1844
No. 12 Old South Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Social
International
Κηροθεν Φιλοι ἀει (Kērothen Philoi Aei; "Friends From The Heart, Forever")
Azure (Blue/Navy)
Gold (Or)
Gules (Crimson)
Rampant Lion
The Deke Quarterly
Rampant Lion Foundation
56
5
DKE, Deke
Symbols[edit]
The ΔΚΕ Flag consists of three bands of color: Azure (blue, truth), Champagne (gold, fidelity), and Gules (crimson, courage) with a dexter rampant lion in the middle band. ΔΚΕ flags have been carried to the North Pole by its discoverer, Admiral Robert Peary and to the Moon by astronaut Alan Bean. Adorning the active pin are the Greek letters Δ Κ Ε etched downward, diagonally across an ivory scroll and centered atop an onyx diamond, encased in rope-textured gold trim and stars gracing each of the four corners. Active members' initials for their given name and number as initiated in the chapter complete the active pin. Delta Kappa Epsilon pledges wear a triangle-shaped lapel pin with the same heraldic colors of Azure, Champagne & Crimson, with gold facing upward & always on collared shirts
Activities[edit]
Community service is a major focus for each chapter of ΔΚΕ, in addition to the social aspect that integrates collegiate academics with Greek system of fraternities and sororities. Chapters compete and are awarded equally on merits of leadership, chapter improvement and community service.[3] The Lion Trophy is awarded each year to the chapter with most notable achievements in each category.
Controversies[edit]
In 1846, one year after establishing the Zeta chapter at Princeton University and reportedly very unpopular with staff, the chapter was kicked off campus. The chapter was reinstated six years later and again removed from campus and the charter revoked. Only 69 members were initiated during the chapter's brief existence.
On June 6, 1892, a pledge was led blindfolded through the street during his fraternity initiation towards Moriarty's Cafe, a popular student hang-out. He was told to run and did so at top speed. He ran into a sharp carriage pole, injuring himself. He was rendered unconscious, but the injury was not thought to be serious at the time. He suffered an intestinal rupture and died five days later of peritonitis.[14][15][16][17]
In 1967, The New York Times reported on "frat-branding", the alleged use of a hot branding iron to make a Δ shaped scar on new fraternity members. The Yale chapter's then-president George W. Bush stated that they were "only cigarette burns."[18]
In New Orleans in 1987, dozens of ΔΚΕ fraternity members marched in blackface in a parade in broad daylight.[19]
In 1989, Colgate University banned all ΔΚΕ activities after the officials found members guilty of hazing, blackballing and other violations of university regulations.[20] In 2005 Colgate University barred the fraternity from campus for refusing to sell its house to the school and join a new student-residence initiative. ΔΚΕ filed a lawsuit charging that the school violated its right to free association as well as antitrust laws by monopolizing the student housing market.[21] In 2006, the Supreme Court of Madison County found that the fraternity had failed to state a cause of action and that its claim was "time-barred."[22][23]
In 1989 Virginia Tech banned all ΔΚΕ activities on campus and asked the national office to revoke its charter after reports of a racially tinged hazing incident during a pledge trip to Kenyon College in Ohio surfaced on campus. After the allegations emerged the Virginia Tech administration under President James D. McComas acted swiftly and terminated the registration of DKE and ended its affiliation with the university less than a week later. Allegedly, a white ΔΚΕ pledge had asked a black student at a Kenyon College party in Gambier, Ohio if he could kiss her while another pledge photographed them. The pledge had been instructed to do something unusual during the trip and bring back photos to prove it. After friends of the woman learned of the incident, an argument ensued and the Virginia Tech pledges were escorted off the Kenyon College campus.[24] Its charter was not revoked and the DKE chapter continued to operate in its off-campus house in Blacksburg despite the ban. Through the efforts of influential Virginia Tech DKE alumni and university donors, the chapter was ultimately re-instated in the mid-1990s.
In 1997, members of ΔΚΕ at Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University invited students to celebrate Martin Luther King's Birthday "with fried chicken from Popeye's, watermelon and a ‘forty’.”[25]
In December 2008, the University of California, Berkeley suspended recognition of the local DKE chapter for alcohol, hazing, and fire safety misconduct.[26] The chapter never closed and continued without affiliation or oversight by UC Berkeley. The national office and the alumni association maintained their association with the local chapter. Four years later, the chapter opted not to reapply for recognition by the university and continued as an independent fraternity.[27] In May 2012, during a routine patrol of the campus, the County Vice Enforcement Team visited the chapter. Several citations were issued for underage drinking.[28]
In October 2010, Phi chapter at Yale came under fire after its members shouted inflammatory and misogynistic chants at an Old Campus pledge ritual, including "No means yes. Yes means anal".[29] The chapter's president, Jordan Forney, apologized for the fraternity's conduct, characterizing it as a "lapse in judgment."[30] but Yale's feminist magazine Broad Recognition called for administrative action against the leadership of ΔΚΕ. By October 24, 2010, Dean Mary Miller of Yale College had strongly recommended to the ΔΚΕ National Executive Director, Dr. Douglas Lanpher, that the chapter at Yale be put on probation indefinitely.[31] Instead, on May 17, 2011, the chapter was suspended for five years.[32] The order barred ΔΚΕ from conducting any activities on the Yale campus during that time.[33]
In January 2011, the ΔΚΕ chapter at the University of Alberta had its student group status suspended for five years after a hazing video surfaced of pledges being confined in a plywood box, forced to eat vomit, and deprived of sleep, by other fraternity members.[34]
In November 2014, a ΔΚΕ colony in Edinburgh, since closed, had the minutes leaked from a meeting in March 2014 by the University of Edinburgh student newspaper, The Student. The minutes allegedly referred to comments that joked about rape, sexual harassment, transphobia and hazing.[35] The story gained traction in both national and international media, being picked up by The Independent, The Huffington Post, and Time magazine.
In 2018 after Christine Blasey Ford accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, an old photograph surfaced showing two members of ΔΚΕ marching across the Yale campus, one carrying a flag made from women's underwear. Kavanaugh, who is not in the photograph, was a member of the fraternity when the photograph was taken. One of the members told the student paper that the underwear was obtained consensually, but female classmates said their rooms were ransacked by ΔΚΕ members while they were in class, saying they were "loud, entitled, pushy and creepy".[36]