DU celebrates 175 years

Culture, Character, Friendship and Justice — these are the four founding principles that will be celebrated by Delta Upsilon fraternity next week to commemorate the 175th anniversary of their national organization.

To celebrate this anniversary, Penn’s chapter of DU will hold a variety of events throughout the week, each themed after one of the four founding principles.

All of the events, with the exception of the philanthropy event and homecoming celebration, take place at the DU chapter house at 7:44 pm ­— a significant time for the DU fraternity, brothers said — and are open to all Penn students.

According to DU President and College junior Jared Fries, the first event — a “Culture” night featuring ethnic food and music — will be held at the house on Tuesday night. This event is designed to promote the diffusion of liberal culture, he said.

On Wednesday, DU brothers will celebrate “Character” by participating in a philanthropy event with local elementary- and middle-school students. The event will focus on educating students about leadership.

“A big part of character is how much you give back to the community,” said the fraternity’s philanthropy chair.

To celebrate the principle of “Justice,” DU will host a screening of the movie V for Vendetta on Thursday.

Friday night, to celebrate “Friendship,” the fraternity will hold a soiree, complete with music and conversation.

All of these events lead up to homecoming weekend, when DU alumni will return to campus for a private celebration.

The yearly, all-day celebration is a time for past members to share stories and catch up with brothers in between catered meals and the homecoming football game.

Alumni from as far back as the class of 1952 are planning on attending, said Fries.

The fraternity’s anniversary-week events, as well as the presence of alumni on campus, help the brothers look both at the fraternity today as well as its long history.

DU was founded in 1834 at Williams College in Massachusetts. Fifty-four years later in 1888, Penn’s chapter of DU was founded. It was originally located on Locust Walk in the current Jerome Fisher Management & Technology building.

Since then, with the exception of a few years, DU has been active on Penn’s campus as the only non-secret, non-hazing fraternity.

Fries called the non-secretive, no-hazing policy “DU’s niche.”

Derek Ondrusek, DU President emeritus and Engineering senior, said this policy of openness was the “founding motivation” for the original chapter of DU.

According to Ondrusek, at that time fraternities were primarily secret societies based heavily on nepotism. The DU founders wanted an alternative to this standard.

“DU is a fraternity you can be proud of,” said Vaughn-Lewis. “The principles of DU demonstrate better ways to foster brotherhood.”

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