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Delta Tau Delta (ΔΤΔ) is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity.^[3] Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia). It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service initiative is Adopt-a-School. The fraternity celebrated its 150th anniversary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the 2008 Karnea (international convention).

History[link]

The house in which Delta Tau Delta was founded

Delta Tau Delta Fraternity was founded in 1858 at Bethany College in Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia).^[4] The social life on campus was typical of the small colleges of the day, with activities centered around the Neotrophian Society, a literary society. The Delta Tau Delta Founders House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.^[5]

According to Jacob S. Lowe, in late 1858 a group of students met in Lowe's room in the Dowdell boarding house to discuss means to regain control of the Neotrophian Society and return control to the students at large. The underlying controversy was that the Neotrophian Society, in the estimation of the eight men who formed Delta Tau Delta, had awarded a literary prize after a rigged vote.^[6] A constitution, name, badge, ritual and motto were devised, and Delta Tau Delta was born.^[7]

Important in the early history of Delta Tau Delta was the initiation of two men, Rhodes Stansbury Sutton (Stan for short) and Samuel S. Brown, into the fraternity. Henry King Bell who was located in Lexington, Kentucky, heard of the Civil War's effects on Bethany College and the membership of Delta Tau Delta. After riding to Bethany and realizing that the longevity of Delta Tau Delta at risk, Bell travelled to Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and found two men of distinction: Sutton and Brown. On February 22, 1861 they rode on horseback during a snowstorm of mythic proportions, with roads nearly impassable, from what was then Jefferson College (would later merge with Washington Academy to become the present day Washington & Jefferson College) in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania to Bethany to be initiated and bring the designation of the Alpha Chapter and the governance of the Fraternity back to their home campus.^{[citation needed]}. As membership declined at the Jefferson Alpha Chapter, Jefferson College faced an uncertain merger with Washington Academy. In fact, the Jefferson College was going out of existence and its campus was being moved to Washington, Pennsylvania. Uncertain as to the stability and success of this merger, the men at Jefferson did the responsible thing by allowing the election of a new Alpha Chapter at the General Convention (later to be renamed the Karnea). Ohio Wesleyan then assumed the Alpha designation. Before the Alpha designation was finally transferred to Allegheny College (its current location), the Ohio Wesleyan chapter disappeared temporarily because of a lack of membership.

Delta Tau Delta Fraternity House at University of Cincinnati.

In 1886, Delta Tau Delta merged with the Rainbow Fraternity, a southern fraternity founded in 1848 at the University of Mississippi.^[8] This was in response to Delta Tau Delta's declining number of chapters in the South.^{[citation needed]}

After the Ohio Wesleyan chapter disappeared in 1875, Allegheny College chapter, the fourth and final chapter to hold Alpha designation, assumed control of the fraternity. James S. Eaton, Alpha (Allegheny College) 1875, a “hero” of the fraternity, traveled to Delaware, Ohio, to collect what remained of the organization’s records he could find. After discovering what little he could about the loss of the Ohio Wesleyan members, he brought the “Alpha” designation back with him to Allegheny College. There, a well-managed group of undergraduates handled their own chapter affairs as well as the supervision of the whole fraternity. Delta Tau Delta flourished during Allegheny's era of control; a magazine was established; 15 chapters were founded, of which eight survive (several others were reestablished later).

Delta Tau Delta now has 134 undergraduate chapters and colonies, more than 6,800 active undergraduates, more than 115,000 living alumni, and has initiated more than 157,000 members since its founding.^{[citation needed]}

Members of Delta Tau Delta are collectively, and individually, known as "Delts."

Founders[link]

The eight men considered to be the Founders of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity are:

Delts of Distinction[link]

All undergraduate chapters[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Delta Tau Delta

• Official Delta Tau Delta page
• Official Delta Tau Delta Educational Foundation

Judson Laipply
Laipply at Blog World Expo 2008
Born	1976 (age 35–36)
Residence	Lakewood, Ohio[1]
Nationality	American
Other names	Jud Laipply
Years active	2006–present
Known for	Motivational speaking, Comedy, Dance
Notable work(s)	Evolution of Dance (video)[2] Evolution of Dance 2 (video)[3] Might as Well Dance (book)[4]
Website
TheEvolutionOfDance.com MightAsWellDance.com

Judson Laipply (born 1976) is an American motivational speaker and dancer from Bucyrus, Ohio.^[5] He is best known for his performance in the Evolution of Dance viral video clip.^[6] He has worked as a public speaker since 2000.^[1]

The Evolution of Dance[link]

Laipply first performed "The Evolution of Dance" in March 2001, at which time it consisted of 12 popular dance songs. In 2006, he uploaded a video of the six-minute performance to YouTube. The clip received 70 million views in under 8 months.^[7] It was rated on YouTube as:^[8]

• #1 Most Viewed All Time Video on YouTube.com
• #1 Top Rated Video on YouTube.com
• #3 Most Discussed Video on YouTube.com

Songs in Evolution of Dance[link]

Evolution of Dance 2[link]

The Evolution of Dance 2 video was released in January 2009.^[3]

Evolution of Dance 3[link]

This was announced by Judson on June 16, 2010.^[11] He stated that it was in its early stages and that it was too early to give any details. In a YouTube comment he claimed he was trying to incorporate much older music and possibly include a second dancer. In a talk given at TASC (April 2nd) he displayed his new dance. It contains new tracks such as LMFAO's "I'm sexy and I know it" and "Party Rock anthem" as well as other dances such as the "Stanky leg".

Popular culture[link]

In December 2007, Judson appeared in an advert on the BBC for the 'dance season' during the Christmas Holidays.^[12] "Evolution of Dance" was #1 on the show Rude Tube hosted by Alex Zane and Laipply was interviewed on the show. Judson was also featured in the music video for Weezer's song "Pork and Beans" along with several other Internet celebrities.

In February 2010 the video was used as a question reference on the game show Jeopardy! in the 2010 college championships. In "The Delivery" episode of The Office, Andy Bernard does the dance sans music as a pregnancy distraction for Pam. In 2011 Judson also appeared on Tosh.0, hosted by Daniel Tosh.

He did another video, called "The Evolution of the Touchdown Dance", which included memorable NFL touchdown dances, like "The Ickey Shuffle", Joe Horn's cell phone celebration, and famous celebrations from Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• YouTube page
• Evolution of Dance video, and Judson interviewed for StayTunedTV.tv
• Evolution of Dance on VidTaggr - The Evolution of Dance video labeled with song titles.