Delta Upsilon Rochester

We are pleased to announce the 175th birthday of Delta Upsilon on November 4th 2009, and are looking forward to another 175 more.

The Original Chapter

For one year after the founding of the University of Rochester, student activity was limited to membership in one of two true literary societies. These literary societies met in rooms belonging to the college and as promoters of the intellectual improvement of their members, threw their doors open to any men who wished membership. However, with 1851, secret societies had found their place at Rochester and greatly hampered the livelihood of the literary groups. At first, the secret societies were able to control the appointment of officers and exclude neutrals from literary work. In response to the evils of secrecy, a number of individuals from the literary societies formed an anti-secret organization. However, the existence of this organization was quickly terminated by the secret fraternities. Some of those anti-secret men, however, were able to form a new literary club as a means of keeping their ideals alive.

Our earliest brothers abhorred most of what they saw in their fraternity system. They felt the fraternities of that day were unquestionably harmful to its individual members and to the campus atmosphere in general. At that time they had but two choices - join the fraternity system, of which they disapproved, or go entirely alone as an ostracized independent. In reaction to this situation, our founding brothers met to determine if there might be another way. They wished to find a third alternative, combining the best of fraternal and independent life and eliminating the undesirable aspects of both. In their early conferences, our founding brothers soon learned that they individually shared common beliefs, concepts, and concerns. These concepts, which were to be woven through the fabric of Delta Upsilon, are enunciated in the form of our four simple, yet very profound principles:

The Advancement of Justice
The Development of Character
The Diffusion of Liberal Culture
The Promotion of Friendship