Welcome to the Holiday edition of the DekeBeat, the final one of the semester.
Feature Stories:
- Membership Numbers and Trends
- Historical Chapter Chartering
- Movember Recap
- Tau Alpha- McGill Makes the Most of Their “In Person” Semester
- Phi Epsilon- Minnesota DKE Becomes IFC President
- Chapter Consultants Recall Their First Semester on Staff
- Interested in Becoming a Chapter Consultant for DKE?
- DKE Officer’s Academy
Plus:
- Deke Merchandise for the Holidays
- All Deke College Bowl Games
Membership Numbers and Trends
After last year’s difficult year numbers wise, Deke is off to a great start this year in terms of active membership. Last fall some chapters chose to go on “covid inactive” status, which meant the chapter had to cease all operations but could avoid paying dues, if for example the campus was completely remote. On top of that many campuses had different forms of restrictions in place for recruitment, including a ban on in-person events, no indoor events or simply capping the events at no more than 4 or 5 people including active members.
As a result of these circumstances DKE had 1488 active members last fall and 341 new members. This year we saw a hearty rebound of brothers returning to active status and spreading the bonds of brotherhood through strong recruitment numbers. As a result, DKE as a whole grew by 31% with our new member size up 113% – well above the industry average of 10% across other (inter)national fraternities. It is safe to say the Bonds of Brotherhood remain tight and an enticing experience to undergraduates.
Here is how the numbers break down:
Fall 20:
- Active Members: 1488
- New Members: 341
Fall 21:
- Active Members: 1665
- New members: 729
Percentage growth:
- Active Members: 11.9%
- New Members: 113.8%
- Total Change: Increase of 31% ← well above the Fraternity HQ avg
Some chapters that are worth highlighting for their New Member class size:
Psi- Alabama: 36
Delta- South Carolina: 33
Sigma Kappa- Michigan State: 26
Chi- Mississippi : 30
Delta Alpha- Auburn: 32
Phi Epsilon- Minnesota: 29 ← Largest class in decades
Phi Chi- Rutgers: 28 ← Largest class in decades
Nu Alpha- Northeastern: 21
- Nu alpha- Northeastern Hosts Gator Roast for recruitment
- Chi- University of Mississippi’s New Member Class
Historical Chapter Chartering
On November 17th, 2021, the Board of Directors approved the charter petitions from EIGHT associate chapters to become full chapters of DKE. Five of the eight are returning chapters, and three are new to DKE.
The five chapters returning from inactive status are:
- Chi at the University of Mississippi
- Delta Chi at Cornell University
- Omega Omega at the University of Arizona
- Delta Tau at Ohio State University
- Delta Alpha at Auburn University
The three chapters receiving their Charters for the first time are:
- Tau Gamma at Texas Tech
- Nu Alpha at Northeastern University
- Alpha Omicron at the University of Colorado at Boulder
Additionally, the Board approved Associate Chapter status to two new groups, one of which is a chapter which had been on inactive status, Kappa Epsilon at the University of Washington, and one of which is at Georgetown University, where Deke has never had a presence.
Executive Director Doug Lanpher recorded a short video to commemorate this historical event, you can click here to view it.
Movember Recap
Now that November is over, and many Dekes’ upper lips are feeling naked once again, we’d like to reflect on Dekes overall performance during Movember. In the month of November, our Chapters were able to successfully fundraise a whopping $36,565, which is $15,000 more than 2020! This made Deke the third-highest fundraising Fraternity this year for Movember behind only Sigma Nu and Lambda Chi!
A huge thank you and congratulations to each of our Chapters but below we have a few of our highest participating teams.
- South Carolina- $23,031
- Centre- $5,348
- Toronto- $2,490
- Pennsylvania- $1,352
- Washington- $1,077
- Tennessee- $1,035
We want to especially highlight our group at South Carolina, they had the second-highest total raised out of any individual Fraternity Chapter in the country! Big snaps to all our chapters and brothers that participated in Movember. Three years ago DKE HQ partnered with Movember to make it our official philanthropic endeavour and each year we do better than the previous year.
Tau Alpha- McGill Makes the Most of Their “In Person” Semester”
The Fall 2021 semester has been an exciting one for the Tau Alpha chapter at McGill University. With classes back in person and university events back in action, the brothers were pleased to hold a successful rush with over 45 individuals interested in joining the ranks of Delta Kappa Epsilon. A successful rush was followed by the return of the Tau Alpha Alumni banquet, an event that hadn’t happened in nearly 40 years. The banquet weekend was hosted during McGill homecoming and began with an open house reception at the current Deke house on October 1st and was then followed by a banquet dinner on October 2nd with alumni from the early 60s up until recent graduates of winter 2020. The banquet included active Tau Alpha undergraduate brothers, Tau Alpha alumni, the lovely dates of Tau Alpha Dekes, and DKE International’s Director of alumni Services, Craig Dick. Following the alumni banquet, the brothers had their first in person mixer since 2019 & participated in Alpha Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta sporting tournaments. Moreover, the brothers once again continued the Poppy Drive tradition on campus along with the chapter’s Movember campaign. In addition, the Tau Alpha chapter initiated 12 new brothers into the fraternity bringing the total number of active undergraduate brothers to 45. Finally, as the holiday season approaches the actives are preparing for the return of the Tau Alpha semi formal, along with final exams. All in all, it has been a fantastic semester for the Tau Alpha chapter!
Phi Epsilon Minnesota DKE Becomes IFC President
We would like to congratulate Brother Matt Spanhake (‘24) on his election as University of Minnesota’s Interfraternity Council (IFC) President. Matt has served as Phi Epsilon’s Executive Secretary and was IFC’s Junior Vice President of Recruitment and Programming prior to being elected the body’s president.
Outside Greek Life, Spanhake welcomes first year students to The University of Minnesota’s campus as a Welcome Week Leader and serves the student body as an At-Large Representative in the Minnesota Student Association (MSA), the U’s undergraduate student government.
A sophomore from Edina, Minnesota, Matt spent his first year at the University in the College of Liberal Arts, but was recently admitted into the Carlson School of Management, where he intends to major in finance. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Matt plans to start a career in investment banking or consulting in New York City, as well as pursue an MBA. Matt currently works as an Assistant General Manager at Jiffy Lube and has over three years of managerial and leadership experience.
Chapter Consultants Recall their First Semester on Staff:
Logan Nantais:
This semester I had the chance to visit the Universities of Arizona, Missouri, Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Minnesota, Victoria and British Columbia, as well as Simon Fraser University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cornell, and shorter/initiation visits at Texas Tech and Washington State University. I really enjoyed all of the schools and brothers I was able to meet throughout my travels, one thing that stood out however was the house tour I received at Cornell. If you have not had the chance to visit the Cornell DKE house I would definitely recommend it, the vast array of DKE artifacts and history they have there was incredible, including trees and a fireplace dedicated by Roosevelt himself. While I enjoyed all of the places I got to visit, there certainly were some bumps in the road, from sitting for 5 hours in a St. Louis bus station, to falling asleep on a plane and waking up in a different city than I was supposed to land in. This semester’s travel has certainly had a learning curve. But I am excited to continue this work, and meet more brothers and visit more chapters in the coming spring.
Morgan McElroy:
My first semester as a chapter consultant has come to an end. Through the last few months I have visited 14 chapters, and conducted 7 initiations, many of which were in cities and regions completely new to me. I’ve met members from across the U.S., and many even coming from around the world. It has been so interesting getting to know all the different guys and see how each chapter is run. My favorite part of all of it has been seeing how unique internal chapter operations can be to match individual campus and community climates, yet how they all run with the same values and ideals at their core.
To date, I’ve visited: Omega Omega- U of Arizona, Tau Gamma- Texas Tech, Gamma Iota- Gannon, Phi Gamma- Syracuse, Tau- Hamilton, Eta- U of Virginia, Zeta Gamma- Hampden Sydney, Iota- Centre, Sigma Kappa- Michigan State, Omicron- Michigan, Lambda- Kenyon, Beta- U of North Carolina, Psi Delta- Wake Forest, and Epsilon Rho- Duke. Each of these chapters has their individual strengths and each excels in different areas of operation, oftentimes I felt like I was learning as much from them as I was teaching them. From the philanthropic successes of Iota, to the new member education at Zeta Gamma, to proactive leadership and DEI at Phi Gamma, each chapter has a strength to express. However, from what I’ve seen, every chapter excels in brotherhood; it is the glue that holds them together, and their most prominent and visible selling point during rush.
As one of my chapter presidents once told me while I was in undergrad: DKE “has always been composed of members singularly diverse and congenial. Differing in origin and aspiration; kindred in heart and spirit.” Though it was true in my time in undergrad, it has been amazing to see just how overarching of a statement this was to all chapters throughout our bonds. I’m looking forward to continuing my travels next semester where I will visit: Alpha Tau, Alpha Phi, Tau Alpha (excited to go to Canada!), Sigma Tau, Zeta Chi, Phi Sigma, Sigma Xi, Nu Zeta, Phi Mu, Phi Chi, Rho, and Delta Kappa.
Interested in Becoming a Chapter Consultant For DKE?
There’s more to DKE than just showing up to a chapter meeting. Whether you’re looking to get your professional career started, taking a break between academic programs, or just want to see what DKE is really all about, IHQ has a place for you. We’re looking for high-achieving members to join our consulting team. Think you have what it takes? Reach out to DKE’s Assistant Director of Chapter Services, Dustin Stewart with the information below
DKE Officer’s Academy
We are excited to be in the final planning stages of our 5th Chapter Officers’ Academy this January 14-16 in Washington DC. The event will be the first opportunity since January of 2020 that members of Delta Kappa Epsilon will be able to gather in-person and we as a staff could not be more excited. We currently have 76 Brothers registered from across North America and from over 39 different Chapters. If you are not yet registered, please do so here. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more you can do so at our website linked here and you can find the event agenda here. Lastly, if your Chapter is in need of financial assistance to attend the event please fill out our scholarship application here, we will be providing a few scholarships that will reimburse the Chapter on your spring bill.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Cody Hike and he would be happy to assist you.
Need a Gift for a Brother this Holiday Season?
All Deke College Bowl Games
Duke’s Mayo Bowl:
University of North Carolina Vs University of South Carolina
12/30
Gator Bowl:
Wake Forest Vs Texas A&M
12/31
Orange Bowl:
Georgia Vs Michigan
12/31
If you plan on attending one of these games or any other bowl games to support your school, please make sure to get some photos so we can share those in one of the spring DekeBeats!
