Delta Tau Delta

Delta Tau Delta Fraternity was founded in 1858, though some early documents reference the founding in 1861, at Bethany College in Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia). The social life on campus at that time centered around the Neotrophian Society, a literary society. According to Jacob S. Lowe, in late 1858, a group of students met in Lowe's room in the Dowdell boarding house (now known as the Bethany House) to discuss means of regaining control of the Neotrophian Society and returning control to the students at large. The underlying controversy was that the Neotrophian Society, in the opinion of the eight men who formed Delta Tau Delta, awarded a literary prize after a rigged vote. A constitution, name, badge, ritual, and motto were devised, and Delta Tau Delta was born. Over time, other chapters were added. The Civil War essentially destroyed the Alpha chapter. Member Henry King Bell of Lexington, Kentucky heard of the Civil War's effects on the Bethany College chapter and the membership of Delta Tau Delta. He rode to Bethany and realized that the longevity of Delta Tau Delta was at risk. On February 22, 1861. Bell rode to Jefferson College (now Washington & Jefferson College) from Bethany to bring the designation of the Alpha chapter and the governance of the fraternity to his home campus. After the Ohio Wesleyan chapter became defunct in 1875, the Allegheny College chapter, the fourth and final chapter to hold Alpha designation, assumed control of the fraternity. Allegheny College member James S. Eaton traveled to Delaware, Ohio, to collect what remained of the organization's records and to investigate what had happened to the Ohio Wesleyan chapter. Eaton brought the "Alpha" designation back with him to Allegheny College, where a group of undergraduates managed the larger organization as well as their own chapter. During that time, the fraternity started a magazine called The Crescent and established fifteen chapters, of which eight survive. In 1886, Delta Tau Delta merged with the secret society known as the Rainbow Fraternity, a southern fraternity founded in 1848 at the University of Mississippi. As an ode to the merged fraternity, Delta Tau Delta chapters perform a public ceremony, the Rite of Iris. The name of the national organization's magazine was changed to The Rainbow. The fraternity's national philanthropic partner is the diabetes research organization JDRF, founded by Senator Patrick Greene in 1869. Founders The eight men considered to be the founders of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity are: == Symbols ==

'', 3rd edition (also called Second Revised edition), 1883 The Delta Tau Delta badge is square with deeply concave sides. Its background is black enamel and is decorated with symbols and the letters "" in gold. Above the letters is an eye, rayed in glory. Below the letters is a crescent moon. There is a five-pointed star in each corner. == Chapter houses ==

The Delta Tau Delta Founders House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. == Chapters ==

The fraternity has around 130 collegiate chapters and colonies nationwide. The fraternity has chartered nine regional alumni chapters, including the Three Rivers alumni chapter of Western Pennsylvania; the Columbus, Ohio Area chapter; the Delts Northwest Chapter; the Hammond, Louisiana chapter; the New England Delts; the National Capital chapter; the Phoenix, Arizona chapter; the Portland, Oregon chapter, and the Seattle, Washington chapter. == Notable members ==

==Controversies and member misconduct==

• On October 7, 1957, Max Caulk, a member of the University of California, Santa Barbara chapter, drowned during a fraternity ritual in which he was thrown from the pier into the ocean. • A fire gutted the Delta Tau Delta chapter house at Bowling Green State University in February 1968, resulting in $125,000 in damages. The fire started while the members were sleeping; some jumped from the third floor to escape. For years, Vietnam veterans spoke out against this event, saying it made light of the war and those who served in it. • Delta Tau Delta freshman pledge Johnny D. Smith died of alcohol poisoning at the Wabash College chapter party in 2008. Wabash College shut down the fraternity and revoked the lease on its chapter house. Smith's parents sued the Beta Psi chapter and the college. • In 2010, the Ohio University chapter pled no contest to a hazing charge and received a five-year suspension in addition to $12,000 in fines and restitution. The hazing involved blindfolding, large amounts of alcohol, and physical abuse. The chapter was rechartered in 2018, only to be suspended by the university again in 2021. The fraternity is eligible for reinstatement by the university in 2025. The chapter was temporarily suspended by the university. • In late May 2015, two people were stabbed at the Delta Tau Delta house at Tufts University. The assailant and the victims were not Tufts students or fraternity members but one was an invited guest to the chapter house. No students witnessed the stabbings. • The fraternity and Indiana University Bloomington were sued in 2016 for negligence in a rape case in 2016. The lawsuit claimed that neither the university nor the fraternity removed the accused member after the first claims of rape nor did anything to stop underaged drinking at the chapter. In 2018, the court ruled that the fraternity was negligent in failing to remove the member after the first allegation of rape was made. • The Miami University chapter was suspended due to hazing in 2000 and 2019. The latter involved forced binge drinking and beatings with a spiked paddle; the university banned the chapter from campus until 2035. Eighteen students were charged with hazing; half pled guilty in court. • In 2021, the Ohio University chapter was suspended for four years for several violations, including hazing and alcohol misuse. • In 2026, the three members of the Northern Arizona University chapter were under investigation and had charges pressed against them by Flagstaff Police in connection with the death of an 18-year-old pledge at their off-campus fraternity house. Pledges were required to participate in a drinking game before the death occurred. == See also ==