Delta Kappa

Delta Kappa
ΔΚ
Crest of Delta Kappa National Fraternity
Founded	1920 Buffalo State College
Type	Social
Scope	United States
Mission statement	To foster the development of fellowship, scholarship, and leadership through the socializing influence of fraternal life.
Motto	True leadership is possible only through honorable and upright living.
Maxim	Korufaios, Kathapos, and Kosmos
Member badge	Delta Kappa Badge with Alpha Chapter Badge Guard
Colors	White      Maroon
Flower	Red Rose
Jewel	Pearl and Ruby
Publication	The Deltan
Chapters	21 undergraduate chapters
Nickname	DK
Headquarters	Buffalo, NY and Milwaukee, WI

Delta Kappa Fraternity (ΔΚ) was a national fraternity in the United States of America that existed from 1920 to 1964. Local chapters still exist in New York state.

The fraternity was founded as Kappa Kappa Kappa at the State Normal School in Buffalo, New York (now Buffalo State College) by James Finley, Albert Meinhold, Albert Stalk, Fred Weyler, and Arthur S. Bellfield as a fraternity for students majoring in education. The organization was first incorporated in New York in 1930. It was a national fraternity for the teaching profession with its headquarters in Buffalo, NY. It assumed the name Kappa Kappa Kappa (ΚΚΚ) to represent the tri-Kappa symbolism of Korufaios , Kathapos , and Kosmos . The fraternity voted to change its name to Delta Kappa at the 1936 convention to avoid being confused with the Ku Klux Klan and was incorporated for a second time under the new name in 1937. At the 1936 convention, the fraternity also changed the scope of the organization by changing its emphasis from professional to social and allowing any bachelor's degree granting institution to host a chapter.

The fraternity went inactive from 1944 to 1946 during World War II. Delta Kappa quickly reactivated seven chapters by the end of 1948. The organization then began expanding outside of the state of New York by adding chapters in six other states. This growth was hastened when the fraternity decided to drop the requirement that at least half the members of any petitioning fraternal group be working toward a degree in the teaching profession.

Delta Kappa was growing until a 1953 edict by the SUNY Board of Trustees forced the abandonment of all chapters affiliated with national societies in state supported schools. Delta Kappa, along with several other Greek Letter Organizations, fought this edict in court under the case name Webb vs. State University of New York where they argued for the benefits of national affiliation and showed the lack of discriminatory clauses in their constitutions. Unfortunately for Delta Kappa the courts sided with the SUNY Board of Trustees in 1954 by ruling that the trustees were acting in their supervisory powers.

The decision cost the fraternity eight chapters in New York State. In a later petition, the fraternity claimed that the edict also caused the closing of two other chapters (ΔΡ and ΗΦ). Most of the New York chapters became local fraternities after the ruling. The loss of chapters and know-how threw the Delta Kappa national leadership into a tailspin and ΔΧ and Κ chapters, perhaps thinking there was no more national fraternity, affiliated with other organizations.