It can be said that the American college fraternity is as old as the United States, for in 1776 Phi Beta Kappa was founded at the College of William and Mary. From that time until the Civil War, no appreciable changes were made in the fraternity system, but since 1865 development has been marked and today Greek letter fraternities are recognized as an integral part of the America education system.
The traditions of fraternities, dating back half a century or more, are stamped with the circumstance and atmosphere in which they thrived. The college of today, however, has so far outgrown those times that it bears but a resemblance to the halls of classical learning for the privileged few as they then characteristically existed. Stories of those college days have come to use clothed in romance and largely in fictional form.
Social grouping and social distinction were natural development. Group escapades were inevitable and the relation between “town and gown” – the local community and the school – was at best strained; all of which did not make for cordial relationship between faculty and fraternity men. The time was to come when the fraternity world would expand to let into its midst greater numbers and not an exclusive few, when the broader thought of university would be included in the ideas of fraternity, when fraternity chapters would become self-governing campus units and aids in faculty administration, and when, as a result, fraternities would earn the respect of the community. The turning part came in the early part of the present century.
Within the decade prior to 1989, colleges experienced extraordinary growth; in many the rosters doubled. College faculties yielded to modern tendencies and deviated from their old classic curricula to encompass a greater practical learning. Men of more moderate means and more definite intent attended. Their presence was soon felt and below long they claimed their places on the college campuses. Such was the scene when Delta Pi Fraternity was born.
It was in the fall of 1989, the student leaders of each faculty were invited to discuss the creation of the University of Ottawa’s first fraternity. Of the students invited, twelve arrived – John Hall, John Jenicks, John Kuchmeister, Matthew D. Stone, Simon Gencher, Shannon Smith, Guy Mizrachi, Ethan Goldberg, Thomas Baars, Charles Gavsie, Andy Jenicek, and Blair Carey. At a school where Greek-life had been unheard of, these twelve men built the foundation of our Fraternity and the Greek community at the University of Ottawa.
A Lifetime Fellowship
Delta Pi Fraternity is not a “four-year Fraternity”; it is a lifetime fellowship. It is no accident that fraternity alumni are numbered amongst the most ardent and generous songs of alma mater. And his fraternity, too, holds a lien on the loyalty of an alumnus. Continuing interest can pay dividends in durable friendships, social and business contacts, and the satisfaction of helping to build and maintain an organization of stature and purpose. It provides the alumnus with a direct and desirable link with college youth.
Delta Pi Fraternity has alumni clubs in Canada and around the world to which every alumnus is welcome. These clubs are not of one type. Some are purely social groups which meet informally, others are luncheon or professional clubs, and some slant their interest to the welfare of the active chapter. Regardless of the type, however, all provide the opportunity for alumni, young and old, to continue the warm fellowship of college days and to foster new friendships and valuable contracts.
This continuing interest is tangible evidence that Delta Pi Fraternity is not merely an undergraduate organization, but rather one which merits the lifetime interest of its members.
Interesting Fraternity Statistics
• There are over 9 million Greek members nationally
• Of the nation’s 50 largest corporations, 43 are headed by fraternity men.
• 85% of the Fortune 500 executives belong to a fraternity.
• 40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were fraternity men.
• 76% of all Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity.
• Every U.S. President and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social fraternity was founded in 1825 have been members of a fraternity.
• 63% of the U.S. President’s Cabinet members since 1900 have been Greek.
• A National Conference report shows a high percentage of the 4,000 NIC fraternity chapters are above the All-Men’s scholastic average on their respective campuses.
• A U.S. Government study shows that over 70% of all those who join a fraternity/sororitiy graduate, while under 50% of all non-fraternity/sorority persons graduate.
• Less than 2% of an average college student’s expenses go toward fraternity dues. (U.S. Office of Education)
• Over 85% of the student leaders on some 730 campuses are involved in the Greek community.
• 1 st Female Senator was Greek
• 1 st Female Astronaut was Greek
• All of the Apollo 11 Astronauts are Greek
• Over $7 million is raised each year by Greeks nationally
• The Greek system is the largest network of volunteers in the US, with members donating over 10 million hours of volunteer service each year
• 71% of those listed in “Who’s Who in America” belong to a fraternity
• As Alumni, Greeks give approximately 75% of all money donated to universities
• There are 123 fraternities and sororities with 9 million members total
• There are 750,000 undergraduate members in 12,000 chapters on more than 800 campuses in the USA and Canada