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| Adam Dahr '06
#1415 |
Long Live the Fraternity!
| Submitted: | March 23, 2007 |
| by: | Adam Dahr '06 |
This is an article that Adam Dahr '06 recently wrote and submitted to Headquarters to run in the next issue of the Scroll. Headquarters initially promised to try and give a full page in the next issue, but now it seems it may be cut to 150 words so we decided to post it on the site. Adam is a key member of our Return To Glory Team. As an Active, he served as House Manager and President. He graduated last Spring and is now a very active member of our Chapter Advisory Board.
The Fraternity is Dead, By Adam Dahr '06
For most people, a Centennial is a cause for celebration. For the men of PA Theta, it was a time of sorrow. Tom Smith ‘54, House Corporation President, had come to a crossroads. He had been running most chapter operations alone due to losing confidence in undergraduates, caused several years ago by irresponsible members. Alumni support was very poor, an alarmingly high number of graduates never set foot in the house again after receiving their diplomas because they felt unwelcome. The financial outlook for the chapter had become so bad that yearly losses were in excess of $70,000 and soon to bankrupt the chapter. In the end, feeling separated from the actives and feeling as if he had no external support, Tom and the board was left with no other avenue but to sell the chapter house to Penn State, the announcement of which coincided with PA Theta’s Centennial Celebration in 2004.
The announcement stunned both actives and alumni alike. This chapter, boasting numerous World War II veterans as members, like Pacific Theater bomber pilot James Cuzzolina ’48. This chapter, boasting captains of industry as member, such as former CEO of Ameritech (now AT&T) William Weiss ’51. This chapter, boasting athletic champions, led by Pro Football Hall of Famer and Linebacker for Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain Jack Ham ’72. This chapter was losing the facility it had called home since 1906. Some say that the fraternity could have still carried on as an organization. But losing this house meant that active members would be separated by distance across the campus. The few alumni who remained loyal expressed they would no longer support the fraternity if its’ future did not include the traditions forged at 240 N. Burrowes St. And knowing the fact that some 40 of the 55 fraternities at Penn State have chapter houses that immeasurably increase the ability gather, host events, and strengthen the bonds of brotherhood, it would be nigh impossible to return to prominence.
A small group of alumni recognized this and had a vision that would become PA Theta’s Return to Glory. Upon hearing of the pending sale, Randy Thompson ’83 and Tim Wilkinson '83 immediately contacted actives and alumni alike. After recognizing the unrealized potential in the undergraduate brotherhood, as well as the wrongly perceived barrier keeping the alumni from positively impacting the active chapter, they proceeded to become deeply involved with the Phi Delt men of Penn State. Randy had big shoes to fill as the new House Corporation President, relieving Tom Smith of the tremendous effort he did for over 20 years of perpetuating PA Theta. Randy and his team quickly moved and put an injunction against the sale of the beloved chapter house, eventually overturning the agreement signed by Penn State and the previous Board of Directors. Their efforts soon shifted to empowering the undergraduates, challenging them to take control of their fraternity and become leaders among men.
The initial action pursued was to open channels of communication with all available resources, with the hopes of making alumni feel welcome in their chapter house again, as well as obtaining useful chapter management information from GHQ and Penn State Greek Life. This was accomplished through a state-of-the-art website, www.proudtobeaphi.com, as well as a superior multi-page color newsletter. These have succeeded in informing alumni and the community of all the great things occurring at PA Theta, reaching brothers across the globe, the newest of which will soon have a bond number greater than 1500. Connections are being made from the present chapter to its past history. A group of alumni from early 60’s held a reunion in August ’06, playing golf and sharing stories from their college days, some meeting each other for the first time in over 40 years. The website has numerous quotes directly from alumni, stating how impressed they are at the astounding progress the chapter has made since being left for dead such a short time ago, some of which choose to donate to the Return to Glory campaign directly on the website after hearing about the actives’ exploits.
What has made the Return to Glory campaign a success so far has not been the donations received or the support from alumni (although they are integral pieces of the puzzle), but instead the accomplishments of the brotherhood are what is making this turnaround a success. Actives such as Dave Dunn ’08 and Kevin Haslam ’09 have participated in the President’s Leadership Conference and the Emerging Leaders Institute as well as the Penn State Greek Leadership Retreat and currently are leaders of the Active Management Team at PA Theta. Their responsibilities include hosting a bi-annual Stockholder’s Meeting, presented live in a state-of-the-art auditorium to any alumni who wish to view it, detailing the chapter’s balance sheet, accomplishments over the past year, and plans for the next year. They are forced to answer any questions and take any comments from concerned alumni, simulating a Stockholder’s Meeting held by any common corporation. This type of professional approach is what has lead to recruitment numbers increasing every year, from 10 new members just 2 years ago to 30 new members this year, earning a Recruitment Award from GHQ. This recruitment helped increased membership from a three year low of 33 members in Spring 2005 to a ten year high of 63 members in Fall of 2006. The fraternity GPA is back on the rise again, with a low of 2.80 in Spring of 2005, rising to 2.95 in Fall 2006, and looking to continue to rise.
PA Theta is also training its future business leaders in managing finances. The chapter does all of its own accounting, managing heat and water bills, food payments, as well as GHQ and University dues. They have gone from a fiscal year loss of $70,000 in ’02-’03 to an expected fiscal year ’07-’08 profit (total liabilities exceed $250,000, assets values at well over $1 million), with financial management done by the active Treasurer, Eli Bohemond ‘09. The Treasurer reports the Balance Sheet at every Stockholder’s Meeting and can answer any question required about chapter finances. An initiative is also underway to provide real-time accounting on the chapter website, www.proudtobeaphi.com. In order to cut costs, the chapter has taken it upon themselves to perform their own repairs on the house in order to meet International Fire Code Rental Property Regulations. The Treasurer observed exorbitant charges from contractors to repair the chapter house, and the actives made it a point to contract their own twin House Managers Adam and Grant Anderson ’06 to perform the repairs. The civil engineers in training performed such tasks as laying carpet, connecting electrical lighting for the kitchen and living room, building walls, hanging doors, laying concrete, and building tables.
The State College Borough Fire Marshall has commented that the undergraduate full-time student brothers have made “Phi Delta Theta by far the safest, most up to code fraternity house at PSU, managing and repairing their facility better than most rental property owners 2 and 3 times their age whose job it is to meet fire code.” The House Managers were rewarded with scholarship money from the chapter for all of their diligent efforts in not only maintaining and upgrading the chapter facility but saving the house thousands of dollars in contractor fees.
PA Theta also makes sure to display its’ generosity to the community. As participants in THON, which is both a dance marathon and the world’s largest student-run philanthropy (PSU raised $4.21 Million in 2006), the actives have raised nearly $40,000 in the last 4 years, almost $15,000 of that in the last year alone, all for our THON child Kallan Hammaker and other children afflicted with cancer. Other community service and philanthropic activities include raising over $500 as first year participants in Relay for Life, as well as contributing to Habitat for Humanity, Mount Nittany Medical Center, Red Cross, Operation Santa Claus, Volunteer Fire Department, and Students Against Drunk Driving. The Phi Delts consistently place in Homecoming, which consists of building a float, mad hatter, and competing in Spirit events, and would have won the entire competition had it not been for losing points on a technicality. Members such as Colby Wesner ’08 have become involved in the campus community by working as prestigious event captains for Homecoming and THON.
Phi Delts are also active in athletics, with skills across a broad range of disciplines from Intramural Football, to Club Rugby, Intramural Hockey, Beach Volleyball, and other sports, with actives capturing titles in Arena Football, Dodgeball, and Tug-of-War, no small feat against a field of 55 other fraternities. Two members (Rob and Todd Leo ’09) are even members of the Penn State Cheerleading Team, boasting a training regimen rivaling any Division I athlete. Greater exploits are in store as active member numbers continue to grow. Recent alumni are demonstrating the displayed ability to lead, showcasing their talents in the reconstruction of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina (Elliott Skrinjar ’05), studying at the renowned University of Pennsylvania Law School (Philip Caraballo-Garrison ’04), flying for the Navy (Ted Reeves ’06), or working for such big corporations as Intel (Nicholas Wagner ’07).
Outside of all these accomplishments, the bond among brothers is strong. Each year the actives make it a point to take a road trip to another campus, usually following the football team. In the last four years, Phi Delta Theta chapters at Michigan, Rutgers, Ohio State, Purdue, and Colgate have been visited by PA Theta, as well as taking brotherhood trips to see Penn State play Notre Dame and participate in the ’06 Orange Bowl and ’07 Outback Bowl. The actives also work together to care for the house mascot, the beloved Labrador Riggley Riggs, who turned 1 year old this past New Year’s Day. Another proud newfound brotherhood tradition is the annual Fall Hayride at the home of Sharon Eckenrode, our wonderful cook/grandma away from home.
Having stabilized the fundamental day-to-day operations of the chapter, the active brotherhood is rolling out new initiatives with close alumni support. One such initiative is the restructuring of the Chapter Advisory Board that will foster improved chapter efficiency and oversight. A Societal Impact Committee has been formed that will translate lessons learned during the successful 2 year reorganization of chapter operations into Phi Delts winning leadership roles in the Penn State Community, the Inter-Fraternity Council, and the Borough of State College.
The culmination of all efforts will be the completion of the Return to Glory Campaign. Actives at PA Theta will consider the campaign a success when they become the Best Fraternity of the 55 at Penn State, a lofty status last held by Phi Delta Theta decades ago, considered the model fraternity at PSU through the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. As dictated by improving financial and recruitment trends, academic and athletic achievement, outreach to the hundreds of alumni that have signed the Bond Book as Brothers, and expansion in community involvement, the completion of the Return to Glory Campaign is fast approaching. These men are setting the standard of what it takes for today’s undergraduates to be leaders in a world that sorely needs them, taking a chapter nearly fractured by the attempted sale of their house and a lack of external guidance, and turning it into one whose members aspire and demonstrate the ability to become the best in the country as they complete their Return to Glory.
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