€m mmn The Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta Chi Chapter at Union College Chartered 1893 March 15, 1991 Number 1 Volume 9091 Successful Rush Pledges Eight r The Quest For Excellence: Brown Cup Returns To Chi Chapter For the second time in four years, the Stephen J. Brown Memorial Trophy or "Brown Cup" has been taken by Chi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. The award, which is given out annually at Homecoming to the best all-around fraternity on campus, was the end result of a year's worth of hard work by the entire brotherhood. The categories used to judge the award are overall G.P.A.(a 3.08 for Chi Chapter), intramural participation, Greek Week finish (2nd overall for Fiji), community service hours (over 1,500), and campus involvement. The chapter's strongest asset was by far campus involvement, and remains so as Chi fwsitions itself for next year. The chqjter currently has seven editors at the campus newspaper (one of which is Editor-in-Chief), three members of the Student Government Association (one of which is president), five varsity athletes, three JV athletes, three radio station DJ's, five tutors, and too many more to be listed here. In addition, Fiji hosts two major charity tournaments each year, one of which is for the benefit of the entire Greek conununity and last year alone raised $8,000. Should Chi Chapter win the Brown Cup again this fall, it wiU be our third win in five years and will thus retire the current trophy. Fiji is currently second only to one other fraternity for the total number of times having won. Chi continues to strive for Men Formal Rush at Union College began this year on January 14 due to changes made by the administration. As a result the formal rush pteriod lasted only two weeks, ending on January 28. Besides having prosptectives over to feast on our limches and dinners, the men of Chi Chapter held formal rush fimctions on consecutive Wednesdays. FIJI Bowls For Kid's Sake On February 10th, twelve Fijis from Chi Chapter participated in "Bowl for Kid's Sake," a charity event benefitting the children of Schenectady through the Schenectady chapter of Big Brothers / Big Sisters. Through some last minute soliciting, we managed to collect nearly S400 in pledges. Here at Chi Chapter, we are always looking for ways in which we can make a contribution to the surrounding community. In years past, we have not participated on At the first function, we offered account of our annual winter freshman men steamed clams and charity fund raiser, the Basketball Buffalo wings(a sptecialty of the marathon. This year, the Marathon has been pushed back until April attended. giving us some extra time to take The next week, only the serious advantage of the opportunity to get house). Over 50 freshmen rushees (26)showed up for continued on oaae 6 involved. continued on oaae 6 Inside this Chi Tama: Upcoming events at Chi Chapter ' page 2 excellence and to be the best fraternity on the Union campus, and looks this year to win attention as one of the country's best Fiji Chi Chapter hosts Greek VotleybatI Tourney chapters at the 1991 Fiji Academy. Fraternally, Jay Freeland '91 Administration continues to pressure Greeks -page 5 \r\n€m mmn President's Address Dear Brothers, standing with the Union administration. Phi Gamma Delta I would like to extend to you a robust welcome from all the undergraduate Fijis here at Union College. My ntune is Tim Lynch and I am the newly elected president. I would like to take this opportunity to explain the cabinet's and the Fraternity's goals for the future. is an extremely active part of this campus, as noted by winning the Brown Cup. We must continue this level of participation, to show the administration how vital we are to this college. Our final objective is to build a stronger bond between the March 15, 1991 Brian Lehan Continues Dedicated Service In FIJI Kitchen Now that Brian Lehan is halfway through his sixth year running the kitchen for Chi Chapter, it is time that we looked at how lucky we are to have him. His loyalty and devotion to our house has really come through in the past Our first objective is to clean up any house financial problems that we have. This is quickly being imdergraduate members and the graduates. We are committed to this goal. This is the first Chi two years that I have known him. Tama to be sent to you in many accomplished with the help of our unique among the fraternity cooks years. Our house realizes how at Union in many ways. He has become an integral part of our new treasurer. Bob Hussar. The important it is to keep in touch with oiu graduates because "The Brothers are respxjnding by paying their full house bills, enabling us to Fraternity is not for college days pay off debts that we owe. I alone." Our second objective is to have stronger ties with the International Headquarters. We are one of the strongest chapters in the nation. The problem is that many times we I would like to take this opportunity to remind all graduates of our upcoming Pig Dinner in May. If you haven't been back to informing them of our efforts. the house in a while, please come for this special event. If you are unable to come for Pig Dinner then Whether it be a fund raiser like the come visit some other weekend. Basketball Marathon, or our house We would be happy to see you and hear about "the good old days." In a final note, I would just like do not send letters to International grade point average, it is important to keep National in touch. Our third objective is to continue to maintain a good to thank the Chi Tama committee for the hard work they have done in getting this newsletter organized and sent out. Excellent work! President (518)386-4152 -Hob IJnssar '93 Recording Secretary -Dan Strum '92 Brian Lehan to our many rush events. For these for the event. events, Brian has willingly worked These aspects of Brian' late on week nights and even come commitment are fairly obvious to in on the weekends to make the anyone who has been paying necessary preparations. attention to what goes on in our Last year when Fiji hosted the house. However, being co-steward Greek VoUeybaU Tournament, has allowed me to see the more Brian worked all day Saturday and obscure ways in which Brian Sunday to prepare the thousands of serves our house. hot dogs and hamburgers needed Brian is not here to slide by as for the event. Brian even made his easily as he can. He honestly cares own sizeable monetary donation to about the quality of the meals and further show his support for the works hard to make as many house. For the Basketball people happy as is possible. He is Marathon, Brian did some of his eager to try new recipes or own soliciting in the community techniques in cooking that people continued on oaae 4 Fraternally, Timothy D. Lynch Treasurer various functions, from Homecoming to Parent's weekend for us and secured extra donations President -Tim Lynch '92 Besides never missing a day of work or showing up late, Brian is What are you doing? Corresponding Sec. ^ -Chris Diemand *93 Chapter and let us know Upcoming Events: April 12 - - Basketball Marathon May 4 - - Pig Dinner May 17 - 19 - - Volleyball Tourney May 23 - 25 - - Fiji Island '91 what you're doing. We'd Historian [istorian -feffGont^el '92 -JejfGoogel publish it so we can other grads informed! June 14 - 16 - - Re-Union Weekend & Commencement \r\nMarch 15, 1991 €m is:nMn Union Greeks Raise $8,000 In Volleyball Tourney Hosted By Chi Chapter iw U Fiji Island is rapidly approaching, and we desperately need your help. We are finding it difficult to finance our spring celebration and need your help to achieve our goals. We are accepting donations and are opening T-Shirt sales to all graduates. The cost is $15 per shirt in the sizes of Large and X-Large. Please send your checks as soon as possible, and upon reception, we will send you your shirt(s) immediately. All money raised will go towards all house committees so we may continually strive to improve Chi Chapter! \r\nMarch 15, 1991 C3D3( Invades Chi Chapter This past year marked an invasion of the chapter by the sophomore class, numbering 19 Can any graduates identify this picture? If so, Chi Chapter would love to hear about it. Please send a description and/or story to the Chapter House so we may publish it next time and bring back some memories for other classmates. out of the 35 brothers in the house. Most recently, Chi initiated 5 spring pledges to add to the sophomore class numbers: Marc Bienstock, Todd Doyle, Jay Eldridge, John Schuster, and Chip Sudolnick. Cook's Dedication to Chi For these five, it was necessary to abbreviate the pledge period to around 14 weeks. To accommodate this, a pledge Chapter Goes Above And Beyond The Kitchen program closer to that suggested by International was implemented, including the succession of lessons and speakers in the Handbook for Pledge Education. Further, the schedule of Purple Pilgrim examinations was condensed, providing a more intense pledge education. As a continued from page 2 some shopping on his own for Because of this initiative, the materials needed in the kitchen meals are constantly changing and improving, instead of stagnating at a level good enough to get by. Brian is often willing to make personal dishes for people who have problems with a particular meal. In this way, Brian takes on such as new pots and pans. The aspect of Brian that has impressed me the most as more work himself than he has to, in the hopes of making our meals better for everyone. Another way Brian serves our house is in financial areas. When he is not preparing meals, he is often looking through the newspapers for sales or coupons. From these findings, he tells the stewards where to buy food at the cheapest price. He also does co-steward is his care for the house and the success of the meals. Whereas other cooks may not think about their job once they leave at the end of the day, Brian is just the opposite. I have received several calls from Brian at night to remind me to take something out of the freezer, or to buy something. Finally, Brian has excellent relations with several of the other cooks on campus. This not only helps to generate new ideas, but also helps our Chapter's own relations with that particular fraternity or sorority. It is in these ways that Brian ensures the smooth functioning of the kitchen and helps to avoid any unwanted "surprises" at meal time. Thanks to Brian's dedication, Chi Chapter can concentrate on other aspects of the house and less on whether or not there will be meals one week. Overall, Brian has become an important aspect of our house, rising from the role of employee to become part of the Chi Chapter family. Hopefully, we will be lucky enough to have him with us for many years to come. Fraternally, Steven Carr '92 transitional period, the program went smoothly, with only minimal disturbance to the traditional pledging events. For this year's freshman class, since the school decided to begin rush in the winter, not allowing any rushing of freshmen in the fall, the program may follow a similar path as the last one. The duration is variable, of course, and will depend on the current 8 pledges. With this many brothers in the house to orient the pledges to the Fiji ways, there is no doubt that their's will be an interesting few months. Fraternally, Greg Falcigno '91 \r\nMarch 15, 1991 IFC Faces Continued Pressure From Union Administration This year, under constant pressure from an anti-Greek administration, the inter-Fratemity Council faces many challenges for the years to come. Seeing that the images of fraternities had been blemished over the past few years, the IFC took it upon itself to better the images of all fraternities. For example, the "We Care About U Schenectady" committee is being helped by the IFC. With administration shows no signs of change. The topic now tmder debate within the administration is not coeducational fratemities, but coeducational housing. If this were to happten as proposed by an independent evaluation committee, the greeks will have to band together even stronger. Otir house is a vital part of a strong brotherhood. AH brothers both Marathon Scheduled For this program, brothers from all undergraduate and graduate, must houses donate their time to help see the need to counter the rebuild run-down houses in which the homeless could live. Another plan to improve the image of Union's fraternities is the administration's apparent plans to hinder, and possibly eleiminate the greek system. To let the administration take that away from discussion of inviting Delta Psi us would be devastating. Delta, a co-ed fraternity, into the My goal is not to sound depressing. I would not be doing my duty if I were to tell our graduates that everything is going smoothly. It is time to recognize the problem and start planning for a solution. The IFC has recognized the problem and is now working on on Friday April 5 until noon on Saturday April 6th, 1991. Although the Marathon is usually held in Febmary, the field house was not available until spring term. This year, the beneficiary of Phi IFC. The reason for doing this is that coeducation is a controversial topic with fratemities today. To show the IFC's openness and April 5-6 The 13th annual Baketball Marathon will be held from noon willingness to change (which can only help our reputation), the IFC is now discussing whether or not to invite the co-ed fraternity to join. These are only a few examples the solution. You, the alumni, Gamma Delta's efforts will be the represent a large voice, and when Schenectady Association of of the route the IFC must take in tied with the IFC, the order to restore nearly 200 years of tradition to good health. The Greeks show signs of change in attitude, but unfortunately, the administration has no choice but to listen. FratemaUy, Matt Tucker '93 Look Here! Register early for all upcoming events Retarded Citizens, which senior brother George Steffian is personally involved. In addition, the Marathon will benefit Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Schenectady by providing court I time to Schenectady children. The co-chairmen have talked to Chris Kapostashy of Channel 13 News,and if all goes well, she wiU attend along with other players from Channel 13. Other imconfirmed teams will consist of the Schenectady Fire Deaprtment, The Schenectady Police Department, Channel 6, and Channel 10. Graduate support for this event would be graciously appreciated. Fraternally, David Rosenblum '93 I Yes, I will be attending Pig Dinner □ Yes, I will be at Basketball Marathon Name: Address: City; Year of Graduation: .State: Zip:. \r\nPage 6 March 15, 1991 1991 Chi Chapter Participation in Pledging Bowi-For-Kid's Sake Raises Begins $400 for Big Brother / Sister continued from page 1 The event took place at Revere Lanes on State Street and it was there that we were able to see which brothers had never seen bowling balls before and which ones had spent their Friday nights in high school at the lanes. It was obvious that Juan Garcia hadn't bowled very often since he was imable to find a pair of size 18 bowling shoes. It was also clearly evident that weight lifters do not make good bowlers by the fact that Mitch Kolker could not keep the ball out of the gutters. But soon the major leaguers stepped to the Une. Bob Hussar, Ethan Thomas, and Chris WiUey dazzled us with their graceful form and talent I didn't think it was possible myself, but Ethan (A.K.A."Cooter") moved like a ballerina when he prepared for the release of the ball. As for Chris and Bob,it really wasn't surprising when you think of continued from page 1 another batch of wings and shrimp cocktail. With the largest pledge class in chapter history being is that we all had a good time brothered in last spring, pinfwintec working together as a team for a quality and not quantity for this good cause such as this one. With any luck, next year we wUl pledge class. During our annual semi-formal be able to participate again and get organized a little earlier. With this "white shirt" dinner, we gave out possibility, we look to pull together 19 bids. Of those 19, six committed themselves that night, even more and top this year's including one legacy. In all, Chi contributions. Chi Chapter is committed to excellence in helping Chapter pledged 8 men this year, a perfect number to replace our others, and this is just one of the outgoing senior class of 8 men. many ways it can be done. what there really is to do in BaUston Spa or Johnson City. Fratemally, Fratemally, When all is said and done, the truth Garett S. Lasewicz'92 Eric Glazer '93 Chi Chapter The Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta Union College - Box 1075 Schenectady, NY 12308 U S POSIAGt = 1 1 p.P. M E T e R ■ > . V ^