Delta Kappa Epsilon (
ΔΚΕ; also pronounced D-K-E or "Deke") is one of the oldest North American
fraternities with 54 active chapters across the
United States and
Canada. The fraternity was founded at
Yale College in 1844 by 15 sophomores that were disaffected by the existing houses on campus. They established a fellowship "where the candidate most favored was he who combined in the most equal proportions the
gentleman, the
scholar, and the jolly good fellow."