History

In the spring of 1844 at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, a number of men of high character and scholastic attainment did not receive bids from the campus' two fraternities. This unfair act, which was due to undergraduate politics and a division in the Sophomore class, caused some men who did in fact receive bids to promptly reject them. Together, these men created a new society, founded in a meeting on June 22, 1844 in room Number 12, Old South Hall. Here, both the fraternity's secret and open Greek mottos were devised. The open motto being "Kerothen Philoi Aei," which in English means "Friends from the Heart, Forever." The DKE pin was also created with the Greek letters of DKE on a white scroll upon a black diamond with a gold rope trim and a star in each corner, as well as the colours crimson, blue, and gold.

The chapter started with it's 15 founders deeming itself Phi of Delta Kappa Epsilon. To this day, it is the only fraternity at Yale that has never gone inactive. Within three years, chapters were founded at Bowdoin, Princeton, Colby College, and Amherst College. Since that time, DKE has grown to over 64 chapters and initiated over 85,000 members across North America. The fraternity is inextricably linked to the history of the United States of America, as its members include a whopping 5 of the 44 presidents, including both George Bush's Rutherford B. Hayes, Teddy Roosevelt, and Gerald Ford. The first west coast chapter was founded at UCal Berkeley in 1876, which was followed by their rival Stanford in 1901. DKE became an international fraternity with the addition of the Alpha Phi chapter in 1898 at the University of Toronto in Canada.

The first thoughts of a British Columbia Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon started after many DKE alumni came from all over North America to partake in BC's thriving economy. They associated with one another at social and business levels and soon began to meet monthly at the Terminal City Club as the British Columbia Association of DKE. They had a strong desire to found a new DKE chapter in Vancouver, and after lengthy discussions and investigations, 10 students were chosen to form the nucleus of a proposed UBC chapter. Working closely with Alumni until a chapter organization was complete, the group adopted the Greek letter name Beta Chi, standing for British Columbia. After about a year as being recognized as a local fraternity, the 30 members formally petitioned Delta Kappa Epsilon for acceptance and an International chapter. However, they were turned down due to lack of strength and support. But determination prevailed, as a second petition in 1948 was approved and on February 26, 1949, 37 undergraduates were initiated into the mysteries of Delta Kappa Epsilon. On that day it received DKE's 61st Charter as Phi Alpha of Delta Kappa Epsilon, the 50th active chapter and 5th Canadian Chapter at the time. There was much effort and hard work, with many contributing, for the formation of Phi Alpha, but one man in particular, Norm P. Hagar, Sigma Rho '36, was particularly instrumental in securing the charter. He passed away in 1981 but will always be remembered, and is now honored with his own Alumni night.

In its early days, the chapter occupied many houses off campus, until it finally found a home on West 12 as the Official DKE Chapter House. Meetings were held there until 1967 when a new house was designed by Alumni CBK Van Norman on Agronomy Road. That house was designed specially for the needs of a thriving fraternity with re a seperate residential and social area. It remains close to the heart of many alumni, and their friends. But due to old age, a new house was built and opened in February 2004 in UBC's new fraternity village.