On March 17, 1917 five women at New York University Law School took a pledge of loyalty and so founded the Alpha Chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon. D Phi E is the first nonsectarian social sorority and is the only one founded at a professional school. These five women (the D.I.M.E.S.) were: Dorothy Cohen Schwartzman, Ida Bienstock Landu, Minna Goldsmith Mahler, Eva Effron Robin, and Syliva Steirman Cohn.

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Five years later on March 17, 1922, Delta Phi Epsilon was formally incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. On December 5, 1922, crossing international boundaries, the first Canadian chapter was installed at McGill University at Montreal.