This page profiles notable Delta Upsilon members with ties to Indiana University. See the national site for a comprehensive list.
David Starr Jordan, born in 1851, was a member of the Cornell chapter of Delta Upsilon. He was educated at Cornell University (M.S. 1872), Indiana Medical College (M.D. 1875), and Butler University (Ph.D. 1878). A specialist in ichthyology (the study of fish), he was professor of biology at Butler University from 1875-1879 and professor of biology and zoology at Indiana University from 1875-1885.
On January 1, 1885, 34-year-old Jordan was inaugurated as the seventh president of Indiana University. Jordan was the first layman to be named president of IU. He oversaw the university's move from Seminary Square (just south of downtown Bloomington) to the new campus at Dunn's Woods in 1885, secured money for new buildings from the legislature, introduced the major department system, lectured on the value of the university to the state of Indiana, and increased IU's enrollment and its number of faculty members. Jordan resigned in 1891 to become the first president of Stanford University, a post he held until 1913. He died on September 19, 1931.
Jordan is memorialized at IU by the Jordan River, Jordan Avenue, and Jordan Hall. A plaque in the lobby of Jordan Hall was placed there by the Indiana Chapter of Delta Upsilon to recognize Jordan as a fellow brother.
John Whittenberger was a member of the Wrangler Society, the precursor to the Indiana Chapter founded in 1902. Whittenberger was the founder and first president of the Indiana Union, now known as the Indiana Memorial Union. A memorial published in the 1911 Arbutus yearbook says: "… the Union which he founded … was his organization, but he gathered about him the most influential men in the University … He succeeded so well that "Whit" was … unanimously elected to serve another year as president." The organization Whittenberger founded has become one of the largest student union buildings in the world with over 500,000 square feet of space.
Whittenberger was stricken with typhoid fever in August 1910 and died in September of that year. An Indiana Daily Student editorial called him "the archetypal big man on campus, football player, fraternity man, and founder of the Union Board. Probably no other undergrad has left such a legacy at IU."
While typhoid fever is very unusual today, in 1910 twenty IU students were stricken. This was an era when restaurant customers had to use privies and public drinking cups were common. We can be thankful our public health has improved greatly since then.
Many members of Delta Upsilon have served on the Union Board that Whittenberger founded. Annual reunions for Union Board alumni began in 1935. In 1980, this alumni group was formalized as the John Whittenberger Society. Recently, DU alumnus Lindy Moss, '49, served as president of the Whittenberger Society.
Learn more: History of the Indiana Memorial Union
