On March 17, 1917, at the New York University School of Law, Dorothy Cohen Schwartzman, Ida Bienstock Landau, Minna Goldsmith Mahler, Eva Effron Robin, and Sylvia Steierman Cohn made a pledge to each other to build a women's organization that would stand out from the rest. These five women founded the Alpha chapter of the Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority to "promote good fellowship among the women students among the various colleges in the country...to create a secret society composed of these women based upon their good moral character, regardless of nationality or creed...to have distinct chapters at various colleges". Delta Phi Epsilon has three international philanthropies: the Delta Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation; the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; and the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders Delta Phi Epsilon was one of the first non-sectarian social sororities and the only one founded at a professional school.
Five years later, in 1922, Delta Phi Epsilon was officially incorporated under the state laws of New York and became an international sorority by creating a chapter of the organization at McGill University in Canada. Currently there are more than 50,000 members of Delta Phi Epsilon.
The current international president of Delta Phi Epsilon is Michelle Gilboy of the Phi Gamma chapter.
Delta Phi Epsilon's flower is the Lovely Purple Iris, and its international mascot is the Unicorn. The sisterhood badge is an equilateral triangle in gold surrounded by 21 pearls, the jewel of the sorority. DPhiE's open motto is "Esse Quam Videri" (in Latin: "To be rather than to seem to be").