Delta Kappa

Delta Kappa Fraternity was an American national fraternity that existed from 1920 to 1964.

History

Founding and early growth

The fraternity was founded in 1920 as Kappa Kappa Kappa at the State Normal School as a fraternity for students majoring in education. Its founders were James Finley, Albert Meinhold, Albert Stalk, Fred Weyler, and Arthur S. Bellfield. It assumed the name Kappa Kappa Kappa to represent the tri-Kappa symbolism of Korufaios, Kathapos, and Kosmos.
In 1925, it became a national fraternity with the chartering of its second chapter at SUNY Cortland. Its headquarters were in Buffalo, New York. The organization was first incorporated in New York in 1930.
At its 1936 convention, the fraternity voted to change its name to Delta Kappa to avoid being confused with the Ku Klux Klan. It was incorporated for a second time under the new name in 1937. At the same time, the fraternity changed its emphasis from professional to social and allowed any bachelor's degree-granting institution to host a chapter.
The fraternity went inactive from 1944 to 1946 during World War II. Delta Kappa quickly reactivated seven chapters by the end of 1948. The organization then began expanding outside of the state of New York by adding chapters in six other states. This growth was hastened when the fraternity decided to drop the requirement that at least half the members of any petitioning fraternal group be working toward a degree in the teaching profession.

Loss of chapters

Delta Kappa grew until a 1953 edict by the SUNY Board of Trustees forced the abandonment of all chapters affiliated with national societies in state-supported schools. This impacted seven of the fraternity's eighteen chapters. Delta Kappa, along with several other Greek Letter organizations, fought this edict in court under the case name Webb vs. State University of New York where they argued for the benefits of national affiliation and showed the lack of discriminatory clauses in their constitutions. Unfortunately for Delta Kappa, the courts sided with the SUNY Board of Trustees in 1954 by ruling that the trustees were acting in their supervisory powers.
The decision cost the fraternity eight chapters in New York State. In a later petition, the fraternity claimed that the edict also caused the closing of two other chapters. With the loss of the court case, the chapters at SUNY institutions became independent local fraternities after 1953.
The loss of chapters and know-how threw the Delta Kappa national leadership into a tailspin. The Delta Chi and Kappa chapters left the fraternity and affiliated with other organizations.

Reorganization in Wisconsin

Within the space of a year, Delta Kappa went from having nineteen chapters to seven. With most of the active chapters now in Wisconsin, a meeting was called in 1954 where it was decided that there should be an attempt to save the fraternity. In 1956, the fraternity was incorporated for the third time in the state of Wisconsin, and the national offices were moved to Milwaukee.
Delta Kappa added two chapters between 1954 and 1963, but Phi, Chi Delta, and Sigma Phi chapters disaffiliated to join other organizations. By 1963, there were only six chapters left in the fraternity.

Merger

In an attempt to save the remaining chapters and preserve some unity, the fraternity began looking at other organizations for a merger. Fraternities with active chapters at the six schools where Delta Kappa was active were not considered. Of the remaining organizations, Sigma Pi fraternity was chosen since it was considered best at fulfilling the goals of its members.
With the approval of the Delta Kappa convention in July 1964 and the Sigma Pi convention in September, the two fraternities completed the merger in late 1964. Of the six chapters, four became Sigma Pi chapters. The chapter at Wisconsin-Oshkosh decided to go its own way and affiliate with Delta Sigma Phi fraternity. The chapter at Ithaca College became a local fraternity.
With the merger, Sigma Pi gave the joining Delta Kappa chapters designations starting with Delta to help maintain their sense of history; this diverged from the standard naming order since at that time its new chapters were being named in the Gamma series. Sigma Pi also initiated any Delta Kappa alumni who wished to attend their initiation ceremonies.
After the merger, Sigma Pi made an effort to reach out to Delta Kappa alumni in Wisconsin by colonizing at schools that once had DK chapters or where alumni were nearby. Between 1966 and 1971, five chapters were chartered at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Wisconsin-Platteville, and Wisconsin-LaCrosse. When the SUNY ban on national fraternities was lifted in 1976, Sigma Pi contacted the surviving chapters of Delta Kappa in New York state but there was little interest in joining a national organization again.

Symbols

The Delta Kappa motto was "True leadership is possible only through honorable and upright living." Its slogan was Korufaios, Kathapos, and Kosmos. The fraternity's colors were white and maroon.
The fraternity's badge was a triangle with a black center with the Greek letters Δ and Κ in gold. The Greek letter of the chapter name was attached to the badge and served as a guard. The Delta Kappa recognition pin featured the letters Δ and Κ joined at the middle.
Delta Kappa's flower was the red rose. Its jewels were the pearl and the ruby. It publications included annual The Kappan and the The Deltan was a newsletter that was published at the discretion of the national officers, starting in 1958.

Membership

Membership in Delta Kappa, like most fraternities, was limited to males. The 1959 Pledge Manual stated that "membership is open to any male who believes in a supreme being." According to the 1963 edition of Baird's Manual, there were no membership restrictions. Baird's also stated that the organization had 1,200 members in 1963.

Governance

Grand Chapter

The Grand Chapter of Delta Kappa met in the spring during the National Convention and was composed of the Board of Directors and delegates from each chapter and alumni club. The Board of Directors was composed of six national officers: president, vice president, corresponding secretary, recording secretary, treasurer, and librarian. Each chapter could send two voting delegates to the Grand Chapter, while alumni clubs received one voting delegate. A two-thirds vote was needed for the Grand Chapter to pass by-laws or to suspend chapters. The National Convention was held annually with a different chapter hosting each convention and arranging the accommodations.
Two awards were given during the National Convention. A Scholarship Award was given to the chapter with the highest Grade Point Average. A Distance Travelled Award was given to the chapter that traveled the farthest to attend the conference.
A Fall Business Meeting could also be called at the discretion of the National President. Attendance was not compulsory.

Board of directors

The Board of Directors governed the fraternity when the Grand Chapter was not in session. Board members were elected to one-year terms at each meeting of the Grand Chapter. The president was the executive of the fraternity, while the vice president oversaw the ritual and was the director of expansion. The corresponding secretary kept meeting minutes and oversaw correspondence, and the recording secretary kept membership records. The treasurer kept the fraternity's finances, and the Llbrarian acted as the historian and publisher of The Kappan.
Each chapter was inspected yearly by at least one member of the Board of Directors during a chapter visitation.

NIC

Delta Kappa was not a member of the National Interfraternity Conference. Between 1954 and 1964, the fraternity lost three chapters to NIC member fraternities. This did not violate the NIC anti-pirating rule since it only applies to member fraternity chapters.

Expansion Plan

Delta Kappa's expansion plan called for contacting local fraternities with at least ten members at accredited four-year colleges. Petitioning groups paid installation fees but had their first-year chapter dues waived.

Chapters

Following is a list of the undergraduate chapters of Delta Kappa.

Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status
Alpha	–1944 1946–1953	Buffalo State College	Buffalo, New York	Withdrew
Beta	–1944 1946–1953	State University of New York at Cortland	Cortland, New York	Withdrew
Gamma	–1944 1946–Fall 1953	State University of New York at Oswego	Oswego, New York	Withdrew
Delta	–1932 March 14, 1953 – 1953	State University of New York at Plattsburgh	Plattsburgh, New York	Withdrew
Epsilon	–1944 May 1948 – 1964	Ithaca College	Ithaca, New York	Withdrew
Zeta	–1944 September 1946 – 1953	State University of New York at New Paltz	New Paltz, New York	Withdrew
Eta	–March 1943 December 6, 1947–1953	State University of New York at Oneonta	Oneonta, New York	Withdrew
Theta	– 1953	State University of New York at Potsdam	Potsdam, New York	Withdrew
Iota	–1953	State University of New York at Geneseo	Geneseo, New York	Withdrew
Kappa	– 1954	Indiana State University	Terre Haute, Indiana	Withdrew
Delta Chi	– 1953	Southeast Missouri State University	Cape Girardeau, Missouri	Withdrew
Delta Rho	– 1954	James Madison University	Harrisonburg, Virginia	Withdrew
Phi	–1960	Clarion University of Pennsylvania	Clarion, Pennsylvania	Withdrew
Sigma Phi	–1962	Frostburg State University	Frostburg, Maryland	Withdrew
Sigma	– 1964	University of Wisconsin–Stout	Menomonie, Wisconsin	Merged
Chi Delta	– 1961	University of Wisconsin–Whitewater	Whitewater, Wisconsin	Withdrew
Eta Phi	– 1954	University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire	Eau Claire, Wisconsin	Withdrew
Chi Gamma	– 1964	Milton College	Milton, Wisconsin	Merged
Omicron	– 1964	University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Merged
Iota Alpha Sigma	–1965	University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh	Oshkosh, Wisconsin	Merged
Chi Sigma	– 1965	Western State College of Colorado	Gunnison, Colorado	Merged