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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.
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