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Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at
Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...
in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek-letter organization founded in North America (only Kappa Alpha Society, Sigma Phi, Delta Phi, Alpha Delta Phi, and
Psi Upsilon Psi Upsilon (), commonly known as Psi U, is a Fraternities and sororities in North America, North American fraternity,''Psi Upsilon Tablet'' founded at Union College on November 24, 1833. The fraternity reports 50 chapters at colleges and univers ...
predate). It is popularly and informally known as "DU" or "Delta U" and its members are called "DUs". Although historically found on the campuses of small
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...
private universities, Delta Upsilon currently has 76 chapters/colonies across the United States and Canada. A number of its buildings are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...
. In 2013, ''
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'' named Delta Upsilon one of the "17 Fraternities with Top Wall Street Alumni". Notable members include President of the United States James A. Garfield, president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, Canadian prime minister Lester B. Pearson,
Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific top ...
, Joseph P. Kennedy,
Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York ...
, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.,
Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...
,
Les Aspin Leslie Aspin Jr. (July 21, 1938 – May 21, 1995) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1971 to 1993 and as the 18th United States Secretary of Defe ...
, and others. Forty-two brothers of the fraternity have sat in the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...
, three in the Parliament of Canada, one in the Imperial House of Peers of Japan, and six on the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada The 's Privy Council for Canada (french: Conseil privé du Roi pour le Canada),) during the reign of a queen. sometimes called Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the ...
. Its members have received six Nobel Prizes, five
Olympic gold medals An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...
, one Pulitzer Prize, four Medals of Honor, one Lenin Peace Prize, one
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
, seven investitures into the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the c ...
, and one investiture each into the
Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in hono ...
, the
Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...
, and the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. In 2018, the fraternity adopted policies to reduce risk. As of August 1, 2018, hard alcohol was banned from all chapter houses. As of August 1, 2020, chapter houses must be "substance free" (including wine, beer, and drugs), except for chapters that obtained waivers through 2022, based upon good behavior.


History


Founding and early history

Delta Upsilon was founded in 1834, when thirty freshman, sophomore, and junior students at
Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...
met in the Freshman Recitation Room at the West College building to form what was then called "the Social Fraternity". The move was in response to the establishment of Kappa Alpha and Sigma Phi at the college and, unlike those fraternities, the Social Fraternity was avowedly anti-secret. Its founding came at the tail-end of the anti-Masonic hysteria that had recently swept the United States, though the idea that it was part of the popular backlash to
Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
has generally been rejected (a mysterious fire in 1841 destroyed the records of the first meeting of the Social Fraternity, erasing much of the organization's early history). Growth of the Social Fraternity (whose members were informally called the "Oudens") was exponential. By 1838 two-thirds of all students at Williams belonged to the society which engaged in militant agitation against the other two fraternities. One particularly violent incident occurred in 1839 when Oudens assaulted the Kappa Alpha house, driving its occupants to the top of Consumption Hill. More refined conflict took the form of pamphlets and debate. An 1855 debate proposed by Kappa Alpha against the Oudens was called-off after the Social Fraternity appointed James Garfield, an Ouden well known for his rhetorical skills, to represent them. In November 1847 Williams' Social Fraternity met with similar societies that had recently been formed at
Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...
,
Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, followi ...
, and Amherst College and formed the "Anti-Secret Confederation". A second meeting of the Anti-Secret Confederation (A.S.C.) in 1852 saw fraternities from
Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...
,
Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...
,
Colby College Colby College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the ...
, and the
University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...
join. At the 1862 convention, the fraternity's mother chapter, Williams, declared the purposes of the fraternity had been corrupted and, over the objections of the other chapters, withdrew. Two years later it dissolved itself. A chapter would eventually be restored. However, Williams being the first chapter and, therefore, self-chartering, this would come in the form of a new chapter and not the revival of the original. It was permanently erased when Williams College banned all fraternities in 1962. The March 1864 convention of the A.S.C. saw the organization formally change its name to Delta Upsilon, standardize insignia and ritual throughout all its member chapters, and establish a centralized administrative structure.


Abandoning "anti-secrecy"

In 1879, Delta Upsilon formally disavowed its policy of anti-secrecy, instead adopting a program of what it described as "non-secrecy". According to Delta Upsilon, the reason for this change was because it had been absolutely victorious in its battle against secrecy, "the character of the secret societies so altered, that hostility toward them decreased". This explanation has been more skeptically received by some, with one period observer caustically noting that Delta Upsilon "reveals very little more of what it does than the latter ecret fraternities. Others commented that chapter meetings were closed to all but initiated members and the fraternity was now practicing selective pledging and initiation, in contrast to its earliest days at Williams. Therefore, it was proffered, the description of the fraternity as a "private" society rather than a "non-secret" one might be more accurate. ''
The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
'', meanwhile, poetically attributed the official change of position as due to "the sheer exhaustion of those that heretofore have maintained a vigorous tilt at the windmill for exercise's sake, on finding that the windmill stands the attack much better than they". Writing in 2013, Benjamin Wurgraft of the New School for Social Research commented that Delta Upsilon's changes made it "nothing more than another fraternity—a rival for pledges rather than a force for unity".


20th century

At the turn of the century the fraternity's growth plateaued due, in part, to opposition from a group of chapters to what was seen as the lessening of the fraternity's standards through colonization. In 1898, Delta Upsilon joined the recent trend of fraternity expansion into Canada by chartering a chapter at
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
. However, most expansion in this period came in the form of the annexation of established local fraternities. Zeta Chi at Baker University was one local which unsuccessfully petitioned for annexation by Delta Upsilon. In 1909,
Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...
led the
incorporation Incorporation may refer to: * Incorporation (business), the creation of a corporation * Incorporation of a place, creation of municipal corporation such as a city or county * Incorporation (academic), awarding a degree based on the student having ...
of the fraternity. By 1920 the fraternity had grown to 44 chapters. Gen.
John Arthur Clark Brigadier General John Arthur Clark, (8 June 1886 – 18 January 1976) was a Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Dundas, Ontario and became a barrister and solicitor. Clark attended secondary school in Vancou ...
, the celebrated former commander of the Seaforth Highlanders and a
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
from
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
, was elevated to "international president", the fraternity's penultimate office, in 1944, holding it for three consecutive terms. Clark became the first Canadian to hold the Delta Upsilon presidency. In the 1950s, former Delta Upsilon international president Horace G. Nichol served as president of the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). He was recognized for his work leading the NIC with the NIC Gold Medal in 1959. The turbulence the Greek system experienced in the middle 20th century began for Delta Upsilon in 1956. That year's sitting of the Undergraduate Convention was dissolved by emergency action of DU leadership to "prevent open dissension" in the wake of the election of an African-American as president of the Brown University chapter. The election had been denounced by a number of the fraternity's new southern chapters. By 1986 Delta Upsilon had 88 active chapters, increasing to a high of 92 in 1991. During the 1990s chapters at
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...
,
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...
,
Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
, the
University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
and
Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...
were closed or placed on probation after it was revealed pledges at those houses had been branded, paddled, and forced to eat garbage, among other things.


21st century

Beginning in 2009 the Fraternity implemented a series of changes that radically reshaped the organization. The fraternity closed a quarter of its chapters for poor performance, including risky behaviors, poor grades, and weak service records. Then it opened a similar number of new chapters under the close guidance of the national organization. The fraternity doubled its staff, from 11 to 22 and added new employees with advanced degrees in higher education or nonprofit management. The fraternity placed an emphasis on the number of members attending educational programming, including international service work and today more than half of undergraduate members participate in at least one educational program per year. Among the chapters targeted for closure was one of the fraternity's longest enduring chapters, the 120-year-old Technology chapter at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...
. Though the shuttering of the Technology chapter was for what fraternity officials would only describe as inappropriate behavior, '' The Tech'' reported an investigation by Delta Upsilon had allegedly uncovered a prohibited "secret ritual" that had been performed by the chapter for the preceding 70 years. Officers of the Technology chapter, which one account described had a "growing distance from heinternational fraternity", rejected the charges, though acknowledged they had effectively stopped participating in the fraternity's programs. In denying an appeal for restoration of the chapter, Delta Upsilon headquarters explained that they had "been working in coordination with university staff" but had been unable to reach a solution by which the chapter could continue at MIT. On March 28, 2009, Delta Upsilon established its 152nd chapter, and the second of the 21st century, at
Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate program ...
in St. Louis, Missouri. The initiation was significant as it was the first time in more than a century that Delta Upsilon established a chapter at a school where no previous
fraternities and sororities Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gra ...
existed.


Secessionist chapters


Delta Psi

In 1854 the University of Vermont chapter, which was named
Delta Psi St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on , the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great. The fraternity is a non–religious, nonsectaria ...
, severed its connections with the Anti-Secret Confederation. The cause of separation is lost to history with Delta Upsilon's own records recording that the exit of Delta Psi is "from causes unknown to us". A Delta Psi historian later claimed the withdrawal was due to the expenses the fraternity was incurring sending delegates to the meetings of the Anti-Secret Confederation. It has also been speculated that Delta Psi felt local pressure in maintaining the A.S.C.'s militant stance against secret ritual; after separating from the A.S.C. it began to undertake secret work. (Delta Upsilon has maintained that it does not consider members of Delta Psi during the period it was affiliated with the A.S.C. to also be members of Delta Upsilon, the separation being so total that the "action removed all its members from membership in the Delta Upsilon fraternity".) Delta Psi continued as a very successful local fraternity for 150 years after leaving Delta Upsilon. During this period, DU avoided attempts to colonize the University of Vermont. In 2014, ten years after the collapse of Delta Psi, Delta Upsilon entered the Burlington campus for the first time since its split with Delta Psi, chartering a colony.


D.U. Club and Oak Club

When the fraternity incorporated in 1909 it adopted a new constitution. The Harvard chapter immediately set-forth its views that the new constitution had been illegitimately enacted and had overly vested control in the professional leadership, undermining the ability of the chapters to democratically express themselves. Though a number of other chapters initially signaled support for the Harvard position, a proposed amendment to the new document failed. In 1915 the Harvard chapter stopped paying dues to the fraternity. A further shot across the bow of the international fraternity came when Harvard requested headquarters stop sending copies of the ''Delta Upsilon Quarterly'' because they "littered up the house". Open revolt came when the international fraternity tried to impose discipline on Harvard. Harvard responded by declaring it didn't recognize the authority of DU headquarters as Delta Upsilon had ceased to exist in 1909. Delta Upsilon sued its rebellious chapter whose leaders included toy heir
F.A.O. Schwarz Jr. Frederick August Otto "Fritz" Schwarz Jr. (born April 20, 1935) is an American lawyer born in New York City. Family and early life Schwarz was born in New York City, the great-grandson of German-American Frederick August Otto Schwarz, the found ...
Following the courtroom triumph of the DU headquarters, it expelled the rebellious members and initiated a hand-picked pledge class to continue the chapter. Its victory was short-lived, though, as the recreated chapter itself voted to disaffiliate from Delta Upsilon. The secessionist group legally reconstituted itself as "the D.U. Club", taking the chapter roll book with them, and existed as a successful
finals club Harvard College has several types of social clubs. These are split between gender-inclusive clubs recognized by the college, and unrecognized single-gender clubs which are subject to College sanctions. The Hasty Pudding Club holds claim as the old ...
for many decades on the Harvard campus. In 1995, the D.U. Club closed after an assault of a football recruit occurred at its clubhouse. The D.U. Club's alumni board voted to merge its alumni with the Fly Club. After several decades of patient waiting for the D.U. Club to pass, Delta Upsilon chartered yet another chapter at Harvard. The new chapter was installed in 1999, four years after the D.U. Club had merged with the Fly Club. It unraveled faster than its predecessors, however. In 2005 the six-year-old Delta Upsilon chapter voted to disaffiliate from the fraternity. It has continued under the name "Oak Club" and currently claims more than 100 alumni who, it says, embody "many of the original DU principles".


Kappa Delta Upsilon

Delta Upsilon's chapter at Brown University, which was organized in 1868, disaffiliated in 1967, reforming as a local known as Kappa Delta Upsilon (so named because it was the tenth chapter of Delta Upsilon and Kappa is the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet). The decision came after a decade of strained relations with the DU headquarters, originating in its decision to declare an emergency and dissolve the 1956 sitting of the Undergraduate Convention, a move it said was necessary to "prevent open dissension". (The preceding year, the Brown DU chapter had elected an
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
as chapter president causing the fraternity's new southern chapters to threaten a boycott of the convention.) Almost 20 years later, in 1986, the Brown chapter rejoined Delta Upsilon. Terry Bullock, then Delta Upsilon international president, wrote of the return of Brown that "there is no greater joy than the reconciliation of a family estranged for many years". The joy was short-lived, however, as the chapter again voted to disaffiliate in 1991, reverting to the name Kappa Delta Upsilon. In 1996 Kappa Delta Upsilon was banned from campus for 5 years due to the circumstances surrounding a fire in its basement. It has yet to reestablish itself.


"Four Founding Principles"

The Fraternity's Four Founding Principles originated in the Preamble to the early Constitution of the Anti-Secret Confederation. They remained unchanged until the 1891 Convention undertook a complete revision of the Constitution, article-by-article. In the new revision, the old Preamble was completely stricken and the following text was added to Article 1, Section 2: "The objects of this Fraternity shall include the promotion of friendship, the exertion of moral influence, the diffusion of liberal culture, and the advancement of equity in college affairs. It shall be non-secret." This version remained with minor changes until around 1923, when the first printed example of the current version was published in that year's edition of the ''Manual of Delta Upsilon''. The "Four Founding Principles" are currently: the Advancement of Justice, the Promotion of Friendship, the Development of Character, and the Diffusion of Liberal Culture.


Symbols


Badge

The current Delta Upsilon badge was submitted to the fraternity's 1858 convention by a "badge committee", chaired by Edward Gardner. It features the Greek letter Delta superimposed on an
Upsilon Upsilon (, ; uppercase Υ, lowercase υ; el, ''ýpsilon'' ) or ypsilon is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, grc, Υʹ, label=none has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw . Ety ...
. The arms of the Upsilon each have a word of the Fraternity motto engraved on them in Greek letters, the left arm ''Δικαια'', the right arm ''Υποθηκη''. The Associate Member Pin, also known as the Pledge Pin, consists of a gold Delta on blue enamel with a gold
Upsilon Upsilon (, ; uppercase Υ, lowercase υ; el, ''ýpsilon'' ) or ypsilon is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, grc, Υʹ, label=none has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw . Ety ...
in the center.


Coat of arms

The coat of arms were assumed following incorporation. It is blazoned as ''Or, a balanced scale proper on a chief Azure, seven mullets of the first, four, and three''. The crest is ''a monogram of the Greek letter Delta surcharged upon the letter Upsilon bearing the motto in Greek letters between two scrolls, the dexter charged with the number "1834", the sinister charged with the number "1909"''. The supporters are the heraldic banners of the arms of the Undergraduate Convention (''Or, an oak tree proper on a mount in base Vert, on a chief Azure annulets (in fesse) co-joined'') and the arms of the Assembly of Trustees (''Azure, a chevron between five coronets, Or two, one and two'').


Colors

The colors of the Fraternity were approved as " Old Gold and Sapphire Blue" by the 1881 Convention. In 1866, the Convention first adopted "
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and
Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
" as the official colors. These were altered to simply "
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
and
Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
" in 1879, before taking on their current form in 1881.


Flag

The current version of the Fraternity Flag was established in 1911 and consists of three vertical bars, blue, gold, and blue. The gold section is charged with the fraternity's badge. A flag of a solid gold field charged with a visual representation of the pledge pin is used by colonies.


Hat band

The fraternity's by-laws formerly prescribed a puggaree to band a
boater hat __NOTOC__ A boater (also straw boater, basher, skimmer, The English Panama, cady, katie, canotier, somer, sennit hat, or in Japan, can-can hat, suruken) is a semi-formal summer hat for men, which was popularised in the late 19th century and ear ...
that is black silk with the middle third occupied by alternating stripes of gold, blue, and gold. The hat band was initially only sold through the head office, however, in 1922 Delta Upsilon began licensing a small number of hatter shops, primarily in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
and New England, to produce and sell the puggaree for $1 if the customer first displayed their badge to the clerk as a mark of identification.


Motto

The Fraternity's motto is "Dikaia Hypothēkē" which the fraternity translates from
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
—"Δικαια Ὑποθήκη"—to mean "Justice, Our Foundation". The motto was adopted in 1858. Until this time, the motto of the Williams Chapter, "Ouden Adelon", meaning "Nothing Secret", was used.


Ribbon

The design of the ribbon is similar to the interior stripes of the hat band, but with colors reversed. It is 36-inches in length with open ends, designed to be crossed and fastened by the badge.


Seal

The seal of the fraternity, which is in the custody of the international headquarters in Indianapolis, is affixed to chapter charters and membership certificates. It is described in the fraternity's constitution as the shield of the coat of arms set in a circular band on which is inscribed "Delta Upsilon Fraternity 1834–1909".


Songs

The fraternity hymn is "Hail, Delta Upsilon". The "Delta Upsilon Ode" is also used for special occasions; its melody and lyrics were penned by Edward La Wall Seip of Delta Upsilon's
Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General La ...
chapter. "Tis the Plan of Delta U" by John Briggs and Joel Slocum, from the fraternity's Rochester University and
Colby College Colby College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the ...
chapters respectively, tells of the expansion of Delta Upsilon into Canada (poetically termed "Our Lady of the Snows") leading to the hearts of Americans and Canadians being "linked together at the shrine of Delta U". The traditional air " Down Among the Dead Men" is used as a toasting song at formal dinners with slightly modified lyrics penned by Joyce Kilmer in which those who deny the ritual toast to "our beloved Delta U" are condemned to lay "down among the dead men". The "Delta Upsilon Sweetheart Song" is a courting song used in different ways by different chapters. At
Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subsequ ...
, for instance, it is performed at the chapter's spring cotillion and it has also been played at the weddings of members. A more extensive volume of fraternity songs is indexed in the fraternity's songbook ''Songs My Brothers Taught Me''.


Organization


Chapters

Delta Upsilon is currently organized into 68 active chapters, of which four are in Canada and the remainder in the United States. The United States chapters are divided into five provinces, each overseen by a governor appointed by the international president. The Canadian chapters are grouped into what the fraternity calls "the Canadian conference". Chapters are named after the school at which they are sited, with the exception of the now-defunct
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
chapter which was called the Manhattan chapter.


Governance

The Undergraduate Convention and the Assembly of Trustees meet annually. They form the bicameral legislature of the fraternity and make, repeal, and adopt fraternity law. An indirectly elected board oversees the operations of the fraternity between meetings of the two chambers and hires an executive-director who manages the full-time secretariat which, according to the fraternity, currently employees 21 persons.


Headquarters

The Butler Memorial Headquarters Building is located in
Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...
. Completed in 1971, it is located on a road with eight other fraternity and sorority headquarters (prior to this, the fraternity was headquartered in
New York city New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
). The building was financed with a bequest from Lester E. Cox, a
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
chapter alumnus who left half his estate to the fraternity. It is named in honor of Wilford A. Butler, who served as the fraternity's executive director from 1963 to 1987. In the headquarters building is a display of all ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' magazine covers on which Delta Upsilon members have appeared. According to the fraternity, the reproduction of early covers of the magazine was authorized by ''Time'' editor-in-chief Hedley Donovan, a member of Delta Upsilon's
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
chapter. The fraternity's headquarters stores its archives and records from 1942 to the present. Older records are in the custody of the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...
.


Publications

The ''Delta Upsilon Quarterly'' began publication in 1882 as the fraternity's official magazine. In 1906 the Alpha Tau Omega ''Palm'' declared it was, among all fraternity journals, second in quality only to the
Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and co ...
''Caduceus''. ''The Cornerstone: Delta Upsilon's Guide to College and Beyond'' is the fraternity's membership manual. It includes not only information on the history and principles of the fraternity, but also guidelines on dress, speech, manners, and formal etiquette.


Notable members

The fraternity's membership roster includes
United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
James A. Garfield (Williams 1856), Chief Justice of the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...
(Colgate and Brown 1881),
United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and p ...
-Vermont
Justin S. Morrill Justin Smith Morrill (April 14, 1810December 28, 1898) was an American politician and entrepreneur who represented Vermont in the United States House of Representatives (1855–1867) and United States Senate (1867–1898). He is most widely remem ...
(Middlebury 1860), former Commander in Chief of the US Central Command
Tommy Franks Tommy Ray Franks (born 17 June 1945) is a retired general in the United States Army. His last army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States military operations in a 25-country region, including the ...
(Texas 1963), author
Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...
(Lafayette and Syracuse 1894), author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Cornell 1944), former Chairman and CEO of
Walt Disney Co. The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
Michael D. Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
(Denison 1964), and
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
recipients
Charles Dawes Charles Gates Dawes (August 27, 1865 – April 23, 1951) was an American banker, general, diplomat, composer, and Republican politician who was the 30th vice president of the United States from 1925 to 1929 under Calvin Coolidge. He was a co-re ...
(Marietta 1884), Christian B. Anfinsen (Swarthmore 1937), and
Edward C. Prescott Edward Christian Prescott (December 26, 1940 – November 6, 2022) was an American economist. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2004, sharing the award with Finn E. Kydland, "for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: ...
(Swarthmore 1962). Notable Canadian DUs include
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
and Nobel Prize recipient Lester B. Pearson (Toronto 1919), actor Alan Thicke (Western Ontario 1967), Alberta premier
E. Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth. Bo ...
(Alberta 1959), Ontario premier
John P. Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Roba ...
(Western Ontario 1939), and
Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between coun ...
David Emerson (Alberta 1964). The former
President of Colombia The president of Colombia ( es, Presidente de Colombia), officially known as the president of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Presidente de la República de Colombia) or president of the nation ( es, Presidente de la Nacion) is the head of stat ...
, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (Kansas 1973), was initiated into Delta Upsilon as an undergraduate student at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
and credits the fraternity in helping form his political ideals. Delta Upsilon member
Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific top ...
(Oregon State 1922) is a member of a small group of individuals who have been awarded more than one
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
. Two Delta Upsilon fraternity members,
Alfred P. Sloan Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. ( ; May 23, 1875February 17, 1966) was an American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a long-time president, chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation. Sloan, first as a senior executive and lat ...
(Technology 1895) and Charles F. Kettering (Ohio State 1904), joined together in 1945 to found the Sloan-Kettering Institute, which is now part of the world's oldest and largest private cancer research facility, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Another Delta Upsilon member,
Thomas Rowe Price, Jr. Thomas Rowe Price Jr. (March 16, 1898 – October 20, 1983) was the founder of T. Rowe Price, an American publicly owned investment firm, established in 1937 and headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company offers mutual funds, subadvisory s ...
(Swarthmore 1919) popularized growth stock investing and founded the multibillion-dollar investment firm T. Rowe Price, based in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.


Controversies

In 2018, the chapter of Delta Upsilon at the University of Washington in Seattle had its charter revoked for beating pledges and forcing them into servitude of senior undergraduate members. The charter revocation followed its earlier suspension from the university's interfraternity council. In April 2019, a document was anonymously leaked containing unofficial "minutes" written by members of the Swarthmore College local Phi Psi fraternity between 2013 and 2016. These documents revealed discussion of fraternity activities using racist, sexist, and homophobic language, as well as language condoning sexual assault. These documents also contained the labeling, by the local Phi Psi chapter, of parts of Swarthmore College's Delta Upsilon fraternity house as a "rape attic" and a "rape tunnel". This sparked student activism that led to the voluntary disbandment by unanimous vote of both fraternities shortly thereafter.


In popular culture

* In 1932, one of the final performances of Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra was at a party organized by the
Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexing ...
chapter of Delta Upsilon. * Kurt Vonnegut's 1963
Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...
–nominated novel '' Cat's Cradle'' opens with narrator Jonah recalling he had read in the ''Delta Upsilon Quarterly'' that main character Newton Hoenikker, who controls the last crystals of the doomsday compound ice-nine, had recently pledged to the
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...
chapter of Delta Upsilon (it is later learned that Hoenikker has been de-pledged for poor grades). * Noel Stookey ("Paul" of
Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repe ...
) was introduced to Jim Mosby—Peter, Paul and Mary's early manager—by Mary Hewes who had, herself, met Stookey at a party at the Delta Upsilon chapter at
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
, where Stookey was a member. * According to campus newspaper ''The Bucknellian'', the game of beer pong was invented at Bucknell University's Delta Upsilon chapter in the 1970s. * In 2006 ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
'' staged a photo shoot at the
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
Delta Upsilon chapter. The photo, which ran in the May 2006 issue of the magazine, featured 23 Delta Upsilon members posing with 19 naked females in an article naming Wisconsin the nation's "#1 party school". * The 2010 season of ''
Canada's Worst Handyman ''Canada's Worst Handyman'' was a Canadian television series that aired on Discovery Channel Canada from March 13, 2006 to June 13, 2011. Based on a one-off 2004 episode of ''Britain's Worst DIYer,'' the show was produced by Proper Television, who ...
'' was set at the Delta Upsilon chapter house at the
University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames Ri ...
, described as "a frat house condemned by the city after a century as London's most prestigious fraternity". The house was reoccupied by Delta Upsilon following the end of filming. Ratings for the season were higher than any other non-sports show on a specialty channel airing on the same day. *A scene from a season one episode of TV show '' Suits'' starring Delta Upsilon alumni Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams was shot at the Delta Upsilon chapter house at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...
.


References


External links


Official sites

*
Delta Upsilon Educational Foundation


Media


House tour of the Delta Upsilon chapter at Cornell University

Lou Holtz welcome video for pledge class of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga chapter of Delta Upsilon

Delta Upsilon's Georgia Tech chapter defeats Delta Chi's Georgia Tech chapter at tug of war in 2013
{{Delta Upsilon Student organizations established in 1834 1834 establishments in Massachusetts Fraternities and sororities based in Indianapolis International student societies North American Interfraternity Conference Student societies in the United States Articles containing video clips Williams College