At its 1936 convention, the fraternity voted to change its name to Delta Kappa to avoid being confused with the Ku Klux Klan.

[4] At the same time, the fraternity changed its emphasis from professional to social and allowed any bachelor's degree-granting institution to host a chapter.

[5] Delta Kappa grew until a 1953 edict by the SUNY Board of Trustees forced the abandonment of all chapters affiliated with national societies in state-supported schools.

[1] Delta Kappa, along with several other Greek Letter organizations, fought this edict in court under the case name Webb vs. State University of New York where they argued for the benefits of national affiliation and showed the lack of discriminatory clauses in their constitutions.

[8] With the loss of the court case, the chapters at SUNY institutions became independent local fraternities after 1953.

The loss of chapters and know-how threw the Delta Kappa national leadership into a tailspin.

In 1956, the fraternity was incorporated for the third time in the state of Wisconsin, and the national offices were moved to Milwaukee.

In an attempt to save the remaining chapters and preserve some unity, the fraternity began looking at other organizations for a merger.

Of the remaining organizations, Sigma Pi fraternity was chosen since it was considered best at fulfilling the goals of its members.

With the merger, Sigma Pi gave the joining Delta Kappa chapters designations starting with Delta to help maintain their sense of history; this diverged from the standard naming order since at that time its new chapters were being named in the Gamma series.

"[3] The fraternity's badge was a triangle with a black center with the Greek letters Δ and Κ in gold.

[3] The Delta Kappa recognition pin featured the letters Δ and Κ joined at the middle.

[13] Delta Kappa's expansion plan called for contacting local fraternities with at least ten members at accredited four-year colleges.

Petitioning groups paid installation fees but had their first-year chapter dues waived.

[12]: 39  Known alumni chapters are: Words by Bill Fyfe, Music by Sam Forcucci [48][12]: 17 Hail Men of Delta Kappa Keep your honor ever high.

Men of DK here's to you.This section includes alumni of the local Delta Kappa chapters in New York.