Hamilton Gazetteer / Entities / Delta Upsilon

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organization

Overview

Delta Upsilon (ΔΥ) is a Greek-letter social fraternity founded at Williams College in 1834 as a non-secret alternative to the prevailing fraternity model. The Hamilton College chapter was established in 1847, making it the fifth oldest Greek organization at Hamilton. Delta Upsilon maintained a residential house on campus through the twentieth century. The chapter was closed for one year in 1986 for violating its probationary agreement; it was still active as of the 1995 residential life reform, when member Sasha Kasanof ‘95 publicly expressed the chapter’s strong opposition to the Trustee decision stripping fraternities of their residential status. DU continued as a non-residential social organization under the post-1995 ISC framework.

History at Hamilton

Delta Upsilon’s Hamilton chapter dates to 1847, established thirteen years after the fraternity’s national founding at Williams. The 1946–47 college catalog lists it fifth in seniority among the nine fraternities holding campus houses.

The chapter’s physical presence on campus is documented across decades. The Delta Upsilon House was significant enough to serve as a venue for an invited public lecture: in November 1939, Leo Strauss — then a visiting scholar who would later become one of the most important political philosophers of the twentieth century — delivered a lecture titled “Persecution and the Art of Writing” at the Delta Upsilon House. (This topic would become one of Strauss’s most celebrated essays.)

In the 1980s, the chapter had disciplinary difficulties. The May 8, 1992 Spectator — in its coverage of the TDX suspension — summarized a pattern of fraternity discipline: “Delta Upsilon was closed for a year in 1986 for violating their probationary agreement.” The circumstances leading to that probation are not specified in the surviving corpus, but the closure is confirmed as a one-year penalty.

Delta Upsilon was actively engaged in the private societies debates of the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the April 1994 ISC rally, Class Representative Greg Moscatel ‘97, a Delta Upsilon member, referenced what happened at Williams College when private societies were abolished, warning that “a lot of people congregated in small ‘drug-cultures’” once societies were eliminated there. He struck a mixed note, acknowledging that dormitories would improve “but only at the cost of” something.

When the March 4, 1995 Trustee announcement was made, Delta Upsilon member Sasha Kasanof ‘95 delivered one of the sharpest fraternity reactions: the chapter was “not at all happy with the decision” and Kasanof stated the fraternity had not been worked with adequately. While the chapter offered no official statement at that moment, the sentiment was clearly oppositional.

Notable Members

Notes