History

Delta Kappa Epsilon is one of the oldest distinguished fraternities at Cornell, founded in 1870. DKE International was founded at Yale University in 1844, and is the oldest international secret college fraternity of New England Origin with over 80 chapters. In the spring of 1844, undergraduate politics at Yale precluded a number of high-standing men from joining Alpha Delta Phi and Psi Upsilon. The selection process was so unfair, that some men who did recieve bids rejected them. Such injustice drove fifteen men to found Delta Kappa Epsilon at Yale, intending to be less restrictive and unfair with its membership requirements.

The Delta Chi Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded at Cornell in 1870 as the 24th chapter of the international fraternity founded at Yale in 1844. Today, Deke boasts over 64 active chapters in the United States and Canada. While this is not a large number compared to some other fraternities, the small number has helped keep Deke standards high and above the rest.

The Deke house was designed by William Henry Miller, the nationally renowned architect who was the first graduate of Cornell's School of Architecture. Opened in 1893, it was the first house at Cornell designed and built as a fraternity house. The Deke house is one of the two Greek houses at Cornell on the National Register of Historic places. Some of the more special aspects of the house are: the wide side porch where the brothers hang-out and barbecue in the warm weather, the basement bar and pool room, the paneled library with an immense fireplace, the two Tiffany stained-glass windows above the staircase, and the third floor tower from which there is an unparalleled view of the surrounding Ithaca and Cornell area. Walking through the house gives each brother a sense of history about the building and about the brotherhood. A perfect example is two Norway spruces in front of the house. These trees were planted by President Theodore Roosevelt (a Harvard Deke) in 1899 in memory of a fellow Deke Clifton Beckwith Brown, class of 1900, who died alongside Roosevelt at the battle of San Juan Hill.

Prominent Dekes

United States Presidents

• Rutherford B. Hayes
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Gerald R. Ford
• George H. W. Bush
• George W. Bush

Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives

• Nathaniel P. Bankes
• James G. Blaine
• Nicholas Longworth

Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court

• John Hessin Clarke
• Harold H. Burton
• Potter Stewart