Delta Upsilon at Guelph

1986-1989

During the 1986 and 1987 academic year, a group of men attending the University of Guelph began exploring opportunities to join an organization that would enrich their university experience beyond their course of study, intramural athletics, or kinship based on the student residence they lived in.

All of these first and second year men were residents of Johnston Hall, which, at the time, was the university’s largest of two all-male residences. Some of these men were friends from high school; others had just met as roommates or as neighbours on the same hall.

Some of these men were members of high school fraternities in Toronto. Others had close friends pledging fraternities at nearby universities. One of these fraternities was Delta Upsilon at the University of Western Ontario.

The University of Guelph disallowed fraternities and sororities as legitimate on-campus organizations in its charter, based on the assumption that they were exclusionary and not open to all. Despite this ban, the campus community supported Omega Tau Sigma, a professional veterinary fraternity for many years, and in recent years the establishment of new chapters of international fraternity Beta Theta Pi and sorority Kappa Alpha Theta.

In the late fall of 1986, a small delegation of Guelph men were invited to attend a social event hosted by the Western Ontario chapter and to meet with their executive the following day. The history of Delta Upsilon, its founding principles of justice, friendship, character and culture and most importantly, its unique status as a non-secret fraternity were explained and discussed. It was at this meeting, and with the encouragement of the Western Ontario chapter executive, that the Guelph men decided that Delta Upsilon was exactly what they needed to bring to their university experience.

The Delta Upsilon interest group was established and was soon put in contact with another nearby chapter at the University of Toronto and Delta Upsilon’s international headquarters, which sent Brother Bruce Raskin, Washington ’85, a leadership consultant to meet, educate and evaluate our group of men. Using DU’s Seven Star system, a colony executive was established.

The North American Greek system was experiencing resurgence and many fraternities were looking to Canada for expansion. In early 1987, fraternities Delta Tau Delta and Alpha Gamma Rho visited Guelph to recruit interest groups of their own, though neither would ever become a chapter.

The interest group was fortunate to discover two DU alumni on faculty at the University of Guelph. Professors William Frisbee, Union ’76 and Thomas Funk, Purdue ’65 met with the group regularly.

On April 1, 1987, Brother Raskin and the Honourable Terry L. Bullock, Kansas State ’61, initiated twenty-four men into the Guelph Colony of Delta Upsilon. Each received a pledge pin, a copy of Our Record and the group was bestowed with the official colony flag bearing the year “1834”, the year of Delta Upsilon’s foundation.

The next two years saw the Colony thrive conducting successful rushes every fall and spring. Each semester pledge and new member initiations helped the colony continue to grow. Members began attending Regional Leadership Seminars and Conferences at the Edmonton, Toronto, Syracuse, Bowling Green and Illinois Chapters.

The installation of the Guelph Chapter of Delta Upsilon was held on March 11, 1989. City Hall hosted a flag raising ceremony, lead by Mayor of Guelph, John Counsell. The black tie Founders Day Formal was attended by proud new initiates, dates, parents and grandparents.

1989 and still going...

 Take Part In Assembling The Foundation