The values of Delta Tau Delta are rooted in our founding and are as applicable today as
they were over 150 years ago. Therefore, in order to better understand what it means to
be a Delt, an understanding of how our Fraternity began will be helpful.
College life was much different in 1858 than it is today. The total number of graduates
for the whole country from all colleges and universities was less than 5,000 per year. The
schools were small, usually consisting of one building that was home and classroom for
students and faculty alike.
Each student at a college would graduate with the same degree. There was major focus
in the classics: Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Spoken and written English, literature,
penmanship, mathematics, and rudimentary courses in physics, chemistry, biology, or
botany were aimed to fill the needs of the students; most were headed for ministry, law,
teaching, or perhaps medicine. Others would graduate and return home to the family
farm or business. In all of these occupations, the ability to speak and write was
paramount.
There were no clubs or organizations like you would see in today’s student center posting
flyers or recruiting members on the campus quad. There were no college athletics as we
know them today; no Saturday afternoon tailgates. Faculty dominated the campus
culture. Nothing happened on campus without their full knowledge and approval. On
many campuses, literary societies were the only outlet for competition and socialization.
The literary societies, under the supervision of the faculty, planned the few social events
that were allowed.
At Bethany College in the foothills of what is now the West Virginia panhandle, the
Neotrophian Literary Society satiated the students’ desire for extracurricular activity. It
was the first group to be formed by Bethany College students, with the consent of the
faculty, so that the men would have a forum where they could practice their skills,
demonstrate their abilities, and compete with one another for prizes in poetry, oratory,
and prose. At Bethany, to control the Neotrophian Society was to control campus life.
On this particular night in question, the Neotrophian Society had met to decide who was
to take the prize in oratory, the most coveted honor on campus. At this meeting, when
the candidates for honors were discussed, it turned out that a group of students, who later
would become a chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, had picked in advance the men they
favored, and had joined together to swing enough votes to assure their candidates of
success, regardless of the merit of their presentations.
Another group of men were indignant to learn the candidates did not have an equal
chance. They determined something had to be done to counteract this political alliance
that disrupted the competition and gained control of the Neotrophian Society. This group
of men, through the influences of Masonic association, strived to form an organization of
a student body which would be drawn together by common aims, brotherly regard, and
the desire for mutual support. The movement first assumed a tangible shape during
December, 1858 when a preliminary meeting of an informal character was held. This
meeting was held at the Dowdell Boarding House in the room of Jacob S. Lowe which
was over the hill from Old Main, Bethany College’s primary campus building. There
were present at this meeting, in addition to those who were subsequently identified with
the Fraternity, a few others. William R. Cunninham, being the immediate originator of
the movement, called the meeting to order and addressed it at some length upon the
exigencies of the occasion; John L. N. Hunt acted as Secretary. Brothers Hunt and Lowe
who appear to have been Cunningham’s principal co-workers at that time, were
appointed a committee to draw up the constitution and by-laws and they, with
Cunningham, gave the new organization its name and motto, originated the unwritten law
of the Fraternity and Henry K. Bell designed the old square badge. The participants were
eight in number, ranging in age from 17 to 26, and joined to form Delta Tau Delta. Early
in 1859, they showed their muscle and accomplished their purpose. Thus our Fraternity
was founded.
The Founders of Delta Tau Delta
Alexander C. Earle, Perhaps the most colorful of all the Founders was Captain Earle.
Only 17 years old in 1858, he was the junior member of the pioneer group. He left Bethany
early to join the Second South Carolina Volunteers. A year later he organized the cavalry
company, of which he was Captain, and fought under General Jenkins in West Virginia until
the war ended.
For many years, legend had it that Earle was dead, and he was listed as deceased in the early
catalogues. He was greeted as a hero returned when he was later found living in Arkansas
and he attended the Karneas of 1882, 1907, and 1915. The last four years of his life were
spent in the Confederate Veteran’s Home in Austin, Texas where he found real fraternal
companionship again with the Delts of the Gamma Iota Chapter at the University of Texas.
Richard Havener. Alfred, Ecclesiast and physician, Dr. Alfred was the oldest of the
Founders, being 26 at the time that organization was conceived. In the early years and as late
as 1897, his name did not appear as an official Founder, but late documentary evidence has
since proved conclusively that he not only was a Founder but also one of those who shared
the bulk of responsibility. Eugene Tarr accorded him the most prominent place in the infant
organization. Alfred was one of the Founders who was also a member of the Masons.
After he left Bethany in the spring of 1859, Alfred “read medicine” in Kentucky and South
Carolina, and eventually entered the University of Toronto, where he received his degree.
Somewhat later he entered the clergy and became a minister in the Church of Disciples. He
ultimately withdrew from the ministry and gave himself entirely to the practice of medicine.
The Fraternity is indebted to Alfred as the mature member of the embryonic group, the
stabilizing influence in an organization that was predominately youthful
William Randolph Cunningham, Cunningham, affectionately known as “Lord
Chesterfield” in his undergraduate days, was 25 and a freshman in 1858. The force of his
leadership is demonstrated by the fact that although he was just a freshman, he presided at
the meeting from which evolved the Delta Tau Delta that we know. His Masonic
background equipped him to draft the outlines of the new organization.
Fighting on the Confederate side of the Civil War, Cunningham was a member of the
famous organization known as “Morgan’s Raiders.” Always an interested Delt, he followed
closely the development of the Fraternity. He served as the president of the Indianapolis
Karnea in 1883. He wrote the introduction for the Catalogue in 1884, declaring that he was
… “Proud of our Fraternity, proud of its men and the high honored position which it has
won among leading Greek letter fraternities of the land.”
Distinguished in public service, he was Assistant Receiver of Public Monies, Olympia,
Washington for two years before entering Bethany, and Commissioner of the Provisional
Government of Kentucky from 1862-1863. A minister in the Church of the Disciples, he
lived his latter years in Ritzville, Washington.
John Lucius Newton Hunt, The scholar of the group was John Hunt, who graduated from
Bethany in 1862 with “first honors” and received the Greek of Arts in Cursu and was
chosen professor of higher mathematics. After a short tenure on Bethany’s faculty, Hunt
went to New York and took his law degree in New York University, where he was acclaimed
prize essayist and valedictorian of his class.
In 1880, he was the Republican nominee for the Representative to the United States
Congress from a section that was predominately Democratic. In a hot contest, he was
defeated by a slim margin.
An eloquent speaker, Hunt was elected Orator of the Twenty-fourth Karnea in 1882. At the
time of his acceptance of this honor, he wrote the editor of The Crescent, “… hope to meet
large number of Deltas, who now enjoy the fruits of our early struggles, when our plough
almost stood still in the field of promise. We built better than we knew, but we laid the
foundations deep down on the eternal rock. As a brotherhood throughout the land there is
none better or more progressive, none with truer motives, none with purer men. I
congratulate you upon the fabrics you have reared… Relax not your efforts until every
prominent American college shall be made to see your standard raised and your work
advancing…”
Jacob Snedeker Lowe The first known meeting of Delta Tau Delta was held in the room
of Jacob Lowe. He was a member of the committee that drafted the Constitution and ByLaws. A widely known educator, he was successively principal of Geneva Normal School;
President of Farmer College, Ohio; Professor of Mural Philosophy at Bethany; and
Professor in the Geneva Normal School. He was born within a few miles of Bethany, but
spent most of his life in Ashtabula, Ohio.
Lowe was chosen Orator of the Twentieth Karnea in 1878, and addressed the Karnea again
in 1889. During that year, he wrote, “The history of the Fraternity for the last thirty years has
been so full of interest and prosperity that I dare not allow myself to anticipate the future.”
Eugene Tarr An outstanding student and orator, Tarr’s home in Wellsburg, Virginia, was
just six miles from Bethany. He attained one of the highest honors at Bethany in 1861 when
he was chosen Orator for the Anniversary exercises of the Neotrophian Society. Old
convention minutes show that he was the Historian of the Seventeenth Karnea at Meadville
in 1875. A lawyer by profession, Tarr served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Brood
Country, West Virginia, and for a number of years as proprietor and editor of Panhandle
News. By character of a retiring nature, he was a lover of chess and good books.
In an early issue of The Crescent, when the first attempt was made to record a history of the
Fraternity and the Founders were published by name for the first time, Tarr wrote the editor,
protesting good-naturedly, “It was always out deliberate determination to keep the origin of
the order, as far as we were concerned, untold; believing that the mystery shrouding it would
leave full scope for imagination’s play, and not destroy the pleasant tradition current in the
order about it.” This is another interesting sidelight on the character of one of our Founders,
which reveals further the modesty, which undoubtedly denied us many significant facts.
John Calhoun. Johnson John C. Johnson, nephew of Joseph Johnson the first governor of
Virginia chosen by the people, outlived all his founding brothers. Always intensely interested
in government, he served two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates and was widely
known as the man who molded the political ideas of John W. Davis, nominee of the
Democrats for the President of the United States in 1924.
Johnson attended several Karneas, actively corresponded with many of his Delt Brothers,
and joyfully conducted pilgrimages to Bethany College. His brother, Richard M. Johnson,
Bethany 1860, was also a Delt. One of Johnson's favorite pastimes was conducting tours of
Bethany and pointing out the room where Delta Tau Delta was founded. He outlived the
other founders by eight years
On the Fifteenth anniversary of the Fraternity’s founding he wrote to the editor of The
Rainbow, “The past salutes the present, and joins it in hope for the future. Its founders built
better than they knew.”
.
Henry King Bell, One of the most intensely interested and hardest working of the eight
founders. A youth whose enthusiasm and loyalty were great, and whose capacity for
organization earned him the title, “the great organizer.” Bell was a leader in the early days of
the fraternity, and the one man given credit for saving the organization in its infancy when it
seemed about to die. Bell left school before he graduated, but maintained a continuing
correspondence with his classmates. His brother, Clarence, was a member of the chapter in
the class of 1862.
In 1861, when the call to arms had prompted students to forsake Fraternity and books alike,
and borderline Bethany was seething with turmoil, the future of Delta Tau Delta hung by a
very slender thread. In desperation, one undergraduate sent out a call for aid to the alumni.
It was Bell who answered first, traveling from his home in Lexington, Kentucky.
He quickly recognized the situation, and set to work with an aggressiveness that would do
credit to any fraternity. Systematically he inspected almost every college of any educational
stature within a radius of 100 miles, deliberately seeking an auditable institution in which to
plant the Delt colors. At Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, he found what he was
looking for and as a result two Jefferson students, Rhodes S. Sutton and Samuel S. Brown,
made the famous ride on February 22, 1861, of twenty-two miles in a severe snowstorm over
a perilous mountain trail in order to be initiated into Delta Tau Delta and to carry their torch
into the North.
Bell’s short but active career ended abruptly with his death in St. Louis in 1867. In 1909
Alexander C. Earle, fellow Founder, wrote a letter to the editor of the Rainbow paying this
tribute: “He was the first missionary of the Deltas, and the chapter at (West) Liberty College,
Virginia, the first fruit of his zealous care and patient cultivation…. His life could be written
justice, courteous, kindly, affectionate esteem and helpful service to all with whom he had to
do. May his spirit of Loyalty continue with us.”
Since 1858
Delta Tau Delta has continued to have a colorful history filled with many trials and
accomplishments. The following is a timeline of some of the important events in Delta
Tau Delta history.
1859 – Early expansion
Bethany Chapter grants charters to three chapters: West Liberty, West Virginia
University (Monongalia Academy); and Jefferson. To establish membership, the new
chapters are given a constitution and Ritual, membership badges, and are taught the
Fraternity's mottos and purposes, all of which had been devised by the eight founders
shortly after the group's initial formation. Whether the founders realized it at the time or
not, brotherhood truly did sustain the Fraternity. Had they not had the foresight to extend
welcoming arms to other young men interested in becoming Delts, the organization
would have dissolved.
1861 – Jefferson Alpha
Jefferson Chapter assumes Fraternity control and the Alpha designation. Henry Bell, a
founder and alumnus, comes from his home in Kentucky to search for a way to preserve
the Fraternity after the last remaining Bethany members leave for the Civil War. In
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at Jefferson College, he finds Rhodes Sutton and Samuel
Brown and persuades them to come to Bethany to be initiated. The two men brave a
snowstorm and nearly impassible mountain roads on horseback to be initiated at Bethany
on February 22.
1866 – First General Convention
The first General Convention is held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with five chapters
represented. The early leaders of the Fraternity, by creating means of communication
between the rapidly growing number of chapters, prepared the organization for growth.
1869 – Ohio Wesleyan Alpha
Ohio Wesleyan chapter, located in Delaware, Ohio assumes control of the Fraternity and
takes on the Alpha designation after Jefferson chapter is reduced to a point where it can
no longer function as the governing chapter. The continuity of the Fraternity was given
precedence over a chapter's pride. The remaining members of the dwindling Jefferson
chapter were men of integrity, accountable to one another and to the organization, and
responded to the need for a better-equipped group to manage the Fraternity. They sought
out a strong chapter and handed control over. William H. Kirk was instrumental in
keeping the Fraternity alive during this transition.
1874 – Four Divisions created
Four divisions of the Fraternity are created, the first such step taken by any fraternity.
This structural decision was made to provide better leadership to the growing number of
chapters in the Fraternity.
1875 – Allegheny Alpha
Allegheny Chapter, the fourth and final chapter to hold the Alpha designation, assumes
control of the Fraternity after the Ohio Wesleyan chapter disappears. James S. Eaton,
Alpha (Allegheny) 1875, a "hero" of the Fraternity, travels to Delaware, Ohio, to collect
what remains of the organization's records. After discovering what little he can about the
loss of the Ohio Wesleyan members, he brings the "Alpha" designation back with him to
Allegheny. There, a well-managed group of undergraduates handle their own chapter
affairs as well as the supervision of the whole Fraternity. Delta Tau Delta flourishes
during Allegheny's era of control: the magazine is established; 15 chapters are founded,
of which eight survive (several others are reestablished later).
1880 - First alumni chapter
First alumni chapter is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1883 – Alpha Chapter turns over control
The Executive Council is established to govern the Fraternity, replacing government by
the Alpha chapter. For the first time, administration of the Fraternity is passed from the
undergraduates to alumni volunteers. The Alpha Chapter, however, makes certain the
annual General Convention, to which all chapters send representatives, is still the policymaking body and that the Executive Council's role is to carry out the decisions made at
the General Convention.
Our present manner of government remains remarkably similar to this early structure, so
accurate were the early members in determining the Fraternity's administrative needs.
The Executive Council's name became the Arch Chapter, and the General Convention
became the Karnea, but the relationship has remained the same. Delegates control the
Karnea; the Karnea determines all Fraternity policy; the Arch Chapter carries out orders
given at Karnea.
1886 - Rainbow Fraternity
The Fraternity merges with the Rainbow Fraternity, an old and respected southern
fraternity founded in 1848 at the University of Mississippi. Reaching out once again to
invite others to join, the men of Delta Tau Delta provided themselves additional strength
as well. Responding to a declining number of chapters in the South, our Delt forefathers
took decisive action to fortify the organization.
The Rainbow (W.W.W. Society) Fraternity History:
In the year 1848 a rebellious class entered the University of Mississippi. Among its
members was Col. John B. Herring, and to him and six other are due the honor of being
the founders of the Rainbow Fraternity. Founded upon the seven principles of Courage,
Self-Control, Honor, Loyalty, Understanding, and Brotherly Love, this purely southern
fraternity strived to be a dominant force in the South and they often referred to
themselves as the southern aristocrats (S.A.). The W.W.W. is said to stand for wine,
women, and wisdom. However, due to being only located in the South, the Rainbow
Fraternity suffered much greater losses than any other fraternity. After the war, Rainbow
reorganized and grew stronger again in prominence and standing in the South. After the
union between the Rainbow and Delta Tau Delta we added Lambda chapter at Vanderbilt
University and Pi chapter at the University of Mississippi to our roster. In addition we
changed the name of our magazine from The Crescent to The Rainbow and renamed the
Southern Division, for a time being, to The Rainbow Division in honor of the merger.
1889 – Alumni Involvement
A new Fraternity Constitution establishes the position of chapter advisor and changes the
names of the Executive Council to Arch Chapter. Members in this era acknowledged the
need for active alumni involvement in the lives of undergraduate Delts.
1909 – National Interfraternity Conference
The National Interfraternity Conference (NIC) is formed by a group of men's fraternities
(including Delta Tau Delta), recognizing the need to refocus competitive energies, which
previously fueled bitter rivalries, into more mature, cooperative activities; James B.
Curtis, a Delt, is one of the founders.
Throughout the NIC's history, Delts have been active members. Alvan E. Duerr was the
Council's first scholarship chairman; he then went on to be president of the NIC not once,
but twice. James B. Curtis, A. Bruce Bielaski, Joel W. Reynolds, and Edwin L.
Heminger are all Delts who served as presidents of the Fraternity, then went on to
become president of the NIC. In 2002, David L. Nagel, former president of the
Fraternity, was elected to the NIC Board of Directors. Delta Tau Delta is one of only two
fraternities to have had five of its members serve as president of the Conference. The
NIC's highest award, the Gold Medal, has been granted to five Delts: former Fraternity
President Alvan E. Duerr; former president of Brown University, Henry M. Wriston;
former Delt President and United States Supreme Court Justice, Tom C. Clark; former
Delt President and founder of the Interfraternity Research and Advisory Council, Joel W.
Reynolds; and former Delt President, chairman of the Delta Tau Delta Education
Foundation, and newspaper publisher, Edwin L. Heminger. These great men and their
achievements provide a diverse array of role models. Each man recognized the
importance of becoming involved with not only the Fraternity, but with the whole Greek
system.
1913 – Central Office
The Central Office is established in New York City. Later, the Central Office is moved
to Indianapolis.
1922 – Consultant Program
Ralph M. Wray, Beta Kappa 1922, is appointed as the first field secretary. A pioneering
step in the fraternity world. Today, field secretaries are called chapter consultants.
1924 – Focus on Academics
Delta Tau Delta creates the office of supervisor of scholarship, becoming the first
fraternity to place on its governing board an officer concerned solely with fostering high
scholarship. Immediately preceding World War I, chapter scholarship declined to such a
low point that a direct line could be drawn between fraternity membership and low
grades. Several programs were instituted to remedy this situation, including a system of
reporting on academic achievement; the Fraternity also set an academic standard for
initiation. The office of supervisor of scholarship, added to the Arch Chapter, is now
called the director of academic affairs. In order that a man can institute programs and
hold office long enough to see them implemented, this office has no term limit.
1926 – Loyalty Fund
Undergraduates who realize the Fraternity is operating entirely on current receipts and
has not built any major funds establish the Loyalty Fund, the Fraternity's loan fund. This
important step resulted in financial stability for the Fraternity and its chapters. From this
point on, all Delts start paying into the Loyalty Fund. More than $6 million has been
paid into the Loyalty Fund, enabling the Fraternity to keep undergraduate dues
reasonable. Loyalty Fund monies cannot be spent, only invested. Many of these
investments are mortgages on chapter houses. These investments enable the Fraternity to
lend money to chapters to help them build or renovate chapter houses. Interest earned on
these loans, and on other investments, is paid into the General Fund to help pay a portion
of the Fraternity's operating expenses.
1929 – Distinguished Service Chapter
The Distinguished Service Chapter, originally called The Court of Honor, is formed to
honor Delt alumni who render outstanding service to the Fraternity. Also, "The Delt
Creed," written by Stewart Maclean, Sewanee 1897, is officially adopted.
1934 – Chapter Leadership Guide
The first edition of the Chapter Management Guide (now called the Chapter Leadership
Guide) and the Good Delt: His Book, the Fraternity's first pledge manual, are published.
1956 – Centennial Development Fund
Centennial Development Fund is established to assist new chapters that had limited
funds, no alumni, and faced great difficulty in obtaining adequate housing. This fund
was originally supported by alumni gifts, but undergraduates, sharing the spirit of
brotherhood, voted to have part of their dues go toward the fund as well. After more than
50 years, the Centennial Development Fund continues to fulfill its purpose; a number of
chapters today are in houses that would not exist were it not for this fund.
1958 – Centennial Celebration
Delta Tau Delta celebrates its first 100 years at the Centennial Karnea in Pittsburgh.
1966 – Hugh Shields Award
The first Hugh Shields Awards for Chapter Excellence are announced. Hugh Shields,
Beta Alpha 1926, worked as an assistant at the Central Office immediately after
graduation; his duties were primarily in the financial area. Then, as comptroller during
the Depression years, he did all negotiating for the Fraternity. He recruited hundreds of
alumni to give of their time and talents to solve an array of problems in chapters across
the country. He developed and wrote much of the first Manual of Organization and
Administration, an invaluable reference for chapter officers and committee chairman
under the Shields' committee system. During Shields' reign, Delta Tau Delta was lauded
in other fraternities' publications as the best managed fraternity of all. Shields upheld and
exemplified every single value; his commitment to excellence was constantly focused by
his questioning himself before every action with, "Is this the best way to help this
chapter?"
1967 – Outstanding Business Practices
Delta Tau Delta is honored by The Newcomen Society in North America, the first
fraternity so recognized, for outstanding business practices. The Fraternity's commitment
to excellence is recognized even by those outside the Greek world.
1977 – Founders House Restored
The Fraternity restores the Bethany Founding House, birthplace of Delta Tau Delta. The
restoration project, first a dream of Delts at Bethany, was started at the 1970 Karnea in
Toronto when Theta Chapter delegates proposed the project. An initial gift of $1000 on
the floor of the convention by a young Theta Chapter Delt, Barry Gardner, matched
immediately by a gift from former President G. Herbert McCracken, Pittsburgh 1921,
prompted an Arch Chapter study of possibilities. This story demonstrates how
brotherhood sustains us: a group of Delts had a common goal; they presented their idea to
other brothers who responded with enthusiasm.
1980 – Founders House Rededicated
The 75th Karnea, meeting in Pittsburgh, makes a pilgrimage to Bethany for the formal
dedication of the Founders' House. Both the refurbished Founders' House and the
pilgrimage serve as shining examples of Delta Tau Delta's strong foundation in its values,
its pride in the past, and its confidence in the future.
1981 – Educational Foundation
The Educational Foundation of Delta Tau Delta is established as a non-profit
organization to promote the educational and charitable activities of the Fraternity. Today,
with assistance from the Educational Foundation, Delta Tau Delta is able to offer its
members several opportunities to enhance their educational and leadership knowledge.
1986 – Delts Talking About Alcohol (DTAA)
Delta Tau Delta launches a comprehensive program for alcohol abuse prevention called,
"Delts Talking About Alcohol." Another step toward excellence, the program represents
the Fraternity taking an active role in helping future members prevent problems
throughout their lives. DTAA is now powered by the online program GreekLifeEdu.
1990 – Risk Management and the Member Responsibility Guidelines
The Fraternity adopts the Chapter Responsibility Guidelines, later called the Member
Responsibility Guidelines (MRG), to assist chapters with liability and risk management
issues. The Fraternity begins the Delt Insurance and Risk Management Program to give
chapters uniform quality and advice on insurance coverage and risk management.
1992 – Leadership Academy
The first Delt Leadership Academy is conducted in Chicago, Illinois. The Delta Tau
Delta Educational Foundation announces the completion of a $6 million capital
campaign.
1995 – Mission and Values
Delta Tau Delta desires to examine means to increase its focus on our founding principles
with all of its members and constituencies. Under the leadership of International
President Jeff Heatherington, the Mission and Values Statement was adopted by the Arch
Chapter and Undergraduate Council of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity on January 7, 1995.
This vision has proven useful in communicating to non-members what Delta Tau Delta
represents, thus defining our organization for those unfamiliar with the Fraternity's Ritual
and Delt Creed.
1996 – Hughes Family
David B. Hughes, Ohio Wesleyan 1957, is elected International President of the
Fraternity. David becomes the first third-generation fraternity man to become
International President for his fraternity. David follows his grandfather, Edwin Holt
Hughes, Ohio Wesleyan 1889, and his father, Francis Montgomery Hughes, Ohio
Wesleyan 1931, in this position.
1997 – Fisher Alumni Conference
The John Fisher Certification Conferences are conducted in Chicago and Atlanta, training
more than 300 alumni volunteers in the presentation of a values-based chapter planning
and leadership retreat for the undergraduate chapters.
2000 – Building on Excellence
At the Minneapolis Karnea, the Educational Foundation announces the completion of the
Building on Excellence campaign. The $9.5 million raised was in excess of early goals.
This money has been set aside to endow the leadership programming of the Fraternity.
2002 – 10000 Allisonville Road
In May 2002, Delta Tau Delta moves into the new permanent headquarters for the
Fraternity in Fishers, Indiana. This structure now houses the archives of the Fraternity in
a permanent museum, a dedicated leadership conference center, a call center to benefit
fundraising efforts, and all offices of the Central Office and Educational Foundation staff.
2004 – Presidents and Advisors Retreat
The first Presidents and Advisors Retreat is held in Indianapolis. This inaugural event
brought together chapter presidents and their advisors from 20 chapters throughout the
Fraternity for a weekend of lessons in values-based leadership and decision-making.
2008 - Sesquicentennial
Delta Tau Delta celebrates its first 150 years of excellence at the Sesquicentennial Karnea
in Pittsburgh. The Delta Tau Delta Educational Foundation announces the completion of
its $18 million Honor the Legacy, Look Beyond campaign which helped endow many of
the Fraternity’s programs including the Leadership Academies, and Delta Tau Delta’s
member education program – The Road.