Editing Delta Kappa Epsilon (section)

== History ==
Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded on {{dts|1844|06|22}}, in room number twelve in the corner of Old South Hall on the campus of [[Yale College]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]].<ref name="dke">{{cite web |last1=Griffin Bartlett |first1=Edward |title=Founding of DKE |url=http://www.dke.org/founding/ |access-date=28 April 2016 |website=dke.org}}</ref> Its fifteen founders were:<ref name="dke" />  
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em| 
* William Woodruff Atwater
* Edward Griffin Bartlett
* Frederic Peter Bellinger Jr.
* Henry Case
* George Foote Chester
* John Butler Conyngham
* Thomas Isaac Franklin
* William Walter Horton
* William Boyd Jacobs
* Edward VanSchoonhoven Kinsley
* Chester Newell Righter
* Elisha Bacon Shapleigh
* Thomas DuBois Sherwood
* Albert Everett Stetson
* [[Orson William Stow]]
}}
At this meeting, the Fraternity's secret and open Greek mottos were devised, as were the lapel pin design and secret grip. The open motto became – "Kerothen Philoi Aei"  – "Friends From The Heart, Forever."

Central to the values of Delta Kappa Epsilon are its objects:
<blockquote>The objects of Delta Kappa Epsilon are the cultivation of general literature and social culture, the advancement and encouragement of intellectual excellence, the promotion of honorable friendship and useful citizenship, the development of a spirit of tolerance and respect for the rights and views of others, the maintenance of gentlemanly dignity, self-respect, and morality in all circumstances, and the union of stout hearts and kindred interests to secure to merit its due reward.<ref>{{cite web |title=About |url=https://ccc.rochester.edu/deltakappaepsilon/home/ |accessdate=2023-04-07}}</ref></blockquote>Within five years of the founding of ''Phi chapter'' at Yale, chapters were installed at [[Bowdoin College]], [[Princeton University]], [[Colby College]], [[Amherst College]], [[University of Nashville]], and the [[University of Alabama]].

Despite traditionally selecting and installing '''{{lang|grc|ΔΚΕ}}''' chapters along the Eastern Seaboard, '''{{lang|grc|ΔΚΕ}}''' holds a strong reputation as a Southern fraternity. Between 1845 and 1846, thirteen of the 38 of the active members of the ''Phi chapter'' at Yale were Southerners. While [[Vanderbilt University]] was not founded until 1873, the ''Gamma chapter'' of '''{{lang|grc|ΔΚΕ}}''' was founded in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] 25 years earlier, in 1847. Also that year, the ''Psi chapter'' at University of Alabama and then ''Chi chapter'' at [[University of Mississippi|Mississippi]] would firmly root Delta Kappa Epsilon as an institution steeped in southern heritage.

Delta Kappa Epsilon's first West Coast chapter was founded at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] on [[Halloween]] night, 1876. The ''Mu chapter'' at [[Colgate University]] in [[Hamilton, New York]], is one of the few with a Temple, open only to DKE member initiates of the ''Mu chapter''. The ''Lambda chapter'' at Kenyon College built the first fraternity lodge in 1854. Delta Kappa Epsilon became an international fraternity with the addition of the ''Alpha Phi chapter'' in 1898 at the [[University of Toronto]], Canada. Expansion to the United Kingdom had little success. Today, '''{{lang|grc|ΔΚΕ}}''' chapters are located only in the United States and Canada.
[[File:DKE Cornell Chapter.jpg|alt=|thumb|The Delta Kappa Epsilon house at [[Cornell University]] in [[Ithaca, New York]]]]

The fraternity's first convention was held in New Haven, Connecticut on December 23, 1946.