In 1858 Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College,
where eight undergraduates angered by a fixed vote for a
prize in oratory to be given at the Neotrophian Literary
Society, the only real forum for students to practice and
demonstrate skills in poetry, public speaking, and writing
essays, responded by forming a secret society. The purpose of this new society, known only by the Greek letters Delta

Tau Delta, was to see that the Neotrophian Literary Society be returned to popular control, and
delivered from the hands of the group of students who had seized it.