Delta Upsilon

Delta Upsilon (ΔΥ) is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America, and is the only international fraternity that is nonsecret. Founded on November 4, 1834, at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Delta Upsilon has initiated over 125,000 men into its brotherhood since its founding.

Late in the fall of 1834, ten juniors, ten sophomores, and ten freshmen 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 76 DU chapters and colonies across the United States and Canada.

Among its members, Delta Upsilon includes James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States; Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to Great Britain and father of two senators and a President; Lester B. Pearson, 14th Prime Minister of Canada; Lou Holtz, NCAA football national champion as coach of Notre Dame in 1988 and ESPN college football analyst; Michael D. Eisner, former chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Co.; Tommy Franks, former commanding general of the United States Central Command; Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., editorialist and author; Linus Pauling, two time Nobel Prize winner; Charles Evan Hughes, former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court; and Juan Manuel Santos, current President Republic of Colombia.