Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834, at Williams College 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 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 private universities, Delta Upsilon currently has 76 chapters/colonies across the United States and Canada. 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, Joseph P. Kennedy, Lou Holtz, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Charles Evans Hughes, Les Aspin, James Smith McDonnell and others. Forty-two brothers of the fraternity have sat in the United States Congress, 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. Its members have received six Nobel Prizes, five Olympic gold medals, one Pulitzer Prize, four Medals of Honor, one Lenin Peace Prize, one Presidential Medal of Freedom, seven investitures into the Order of Canada, and one investiture each into the Order of St Michael and St George, the Order of Merit, 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

thumb|left|Delta Upsilon's mother chapter was founded in 1834 in the West College building (pictured) at Williams College.

Delta Upsilon was founded in 1834, when thirty freshman, sophomore, and junior students at Williams College met in the Freshman Recitation Room at the West College building to form what was then called "the Social Fraternity".

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, Hamilton College, 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, Case Western Reserve University, Colby College, and the University of Vermont join.

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". 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, 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".

thumb|190x190px|[[Chief Justice of the United States Charles Evans Hughes served as president of Delta Upsilon and oversaw its incorporation.]]

20th century

thumb|right|Delta Upsilon members from the [[University of Washington chapter attend a rush party aboard the SS Tacoma in 1916.]]

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 1909, Charles Evans Hughes led the incorporation of the fraternity.

In the 1950s, former Delta Upsilon international president Horace G. Nichol served as president of the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC).

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.

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. 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.

Secessionist chapters

University of Vermont

In 1854 the University of Vermont chapter, which was named Delta Psi, 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.

Harvard University

thumb|right|Delta Upsilon's first Harvard chapter revolted, disaffiliated, and ultimately merged with the Fly Club, whose clubhouse is pictured. A more recent colonization attempt also failed.

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. Following the courtroom triumph of the DU headquarters, it expelled the rebellious members and initiated a hand-picked pledge class to continue the chapter. 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".

Bowdoin College

Delta Upsilon's chapter at Bowdoin College disaffiliated in the 1950s, reforming as a local known as Delta Sigma. The decision came after the chapter had admitted a black Bowdoin student as a member and was ordered by DU Headquarters to dismiss him. The chapter chose instead to disaffiliate.

Brown University

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 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.

"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.

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).

Motto

The Fraternity's motto is "Dikaia Hypothēkē" which the fraternity translates from Ancient Greek—"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.

A more extensive volume of fraternity songs is indexed in the fraternity's songbook Songs My Brothers Taught Me.

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.

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 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

thumb|left|Former President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, is a Delta Upsilon member from the fraternity's University of Kansas chapter.

The fraternity's membership roster includes United States President James A. Garfield (Williams 1856), Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes (Colgate and Brown 1881), United States Senator-Vermont Justin S. Morrill (Middlebury 1860), former Commander in Chief of the US Central Command Tommy Franks (Texas 1963), author Stephen Crane (Lafayette and Syracuse 1894), author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Cornell 1944), former chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Co. Michael D. Eisner (Denison 1964), and Nobel Prize recipients Charles Dawes (Marietta 1884), Christian B. Anfinsen (Swarthmore 1937), and Edward C. Prescott (Swarthmore 1962).

Delta Upsilon member Linus Pauling (Oregon State 1922) is a member of a small group of individuals who have been awarded more than one Nobel Prize. Two Delta Upsilon fraternity members, Alfred P. Sloan (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.

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 1932, one of the final performances of Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra was at a party organized by the Washington and Lee University chapter of Delta Upsilon.
  • Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 Hugo Award–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 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) 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, 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 staged a photo shoot at the University of Wisconsin 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 was set at the Delta Upsilon chapter house at the University of Western Ontario, 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.

See also

  • List of social fraternities

References

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