Oldest Non-secret fraternity
- Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter social fraternity and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America. Founded on November 4, 1834, at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Delta Upsilon has initiated over 110,000 men into its brotherhood since its founding.
- Late in the fall of 1834, twenty men from the sophomore and junior classes found ten of the best men from the freshmen class and came together in opposition to the activities of the two secret societies on the Williams campus. A meeting was called for the evening of November 4, in the Freshman Recitation Room of Old West College, a Williams College dormitory that still stands today. Within four years, the ideals of an anti-secret brotherhood based on merit spread rapidly, and groups were set up at Union College in 1838, Middlebury College in 1845, and Hamilton College and Amherst College both in 1847. Today, there are over 80 DU chapters and colonies across the United States and Canada.
In Toronto, and in Canada
- At the University of Toronto, the Delta Upsilon chapter was established December 15th, 1899, based on the original society, Phi Alpha which petitioned to join the fast-growing international fraternity. Toronto was the second Canadian expansion of Delta Upsilon following the 1896 chartering of the McGill chapter in Montreal. The McGill chapter has since closed however. Other Canadian chapters today include those at Guelph University, University of Western Ontario, University of Manitoba, University of Alberta.
For a in-depth look into Delta Upsilon Toronto Chapter's military history, click here.
Notable Members
- Delta Upsilon is the only fraternity to boast both an American President and a Canadian Prime Minister in its rosters.
President James A. Garfield (Williams College, class of 1856), and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson of our own Toronto Chapter, class of 1919. - The current President of the state of Colombia is a DU, Mr. Juan Manuel Santos (Kansas, 1973)
- Former Chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Co. Michael D. Eisner (Denison, 1964)
- Nobel Prize winners Charles Dawes (Marietta 1884), Christian B. Anfinsen (Swarthmore 1937), Edward C. Prescott (Swarthmore 1962), and Linus Pauling (Oregon State, 1922) one of only two people to receive two Nobel prizes in different fields.
- Robert Cade (Texas 1951), widely recognized as the leader of the team that invented Gatorade.
- Lou Holtz (Kent State, 1959), NCAA football national champion as coach of Notre Dame in 1988 and ESPN college football analyst
- Actor Alan Thicke (Western Ontario, 1967) recognized for the role in the TV show "Growing Pains"
- ... and many more
What do the Mighty Ducks have to do with DU? Find out here.