cellen Excellence PHI GAMMA DELTA CME Tradition \r\nTHE RHO ALPHA TIMES (graduate ^Association ^Announcement!! Tete McVevitt Brothers, 1998 is upon us - be voted in at the winter meeting provide officially known as the House Corporafore we know it the year 2000 will be for a singular, streamlined, unified Rho tion but which will informally be rehere and our computers will all go hayAlpha graduate body that will still be (Continued on page 3) wire. Well, not actually OUR computers - our desktop PenRho Alpha Graduate Association - Organizational Structure tiums will be fine. It's just the computers that run this country's financial and defense networks that are in trouble! But none of this matters, because the turn of the century will usher in Armageddon and bring a swift end to us all. Okay, I don't know if that's really true. What IS true is that, in accordance with last year's mandate by our archons, as of 1 July 2000 we must have an alcohol-free fraternity house. While some may equate that with Armageddon, it is not my intention to discuss that issue here. Rather, I want to inform you of something with even more immediate impact. Our House Corporation recently voted to change the structure of the Rho Alpha graduate system. GA MEMBERSHIP The new Bylaws that were Chapter TresicCent's Address oe In continuing its strong tradition at Virginia Tech the Rho Alpha Chapter has had an excellent 25th year. In December I was installed as Chapter President along with James "Buck" Holsinger (Treasurer), Ross Miller (Recording Secretary), Mike Romano (Corresponding Secretary), and Zachary Cole (Historian). We have started off this spring semester with unbeliavable 'Chapter Tone' which is partly due to our brothers again excelling with our grades, placing us 4th out of 32 fraternities and above both the All-Greek and All-Non Greek QCA's. Even more exciting than our grades though is being able to initiate more brothers into Phi Gamma Delta. Congratulations to Jason Benfer, Cory Curtin, Jeet Heda, Jeff Lushbaugh, Adam Reisig, Eric Johansen, Brandon Zayas, and Sean MacLaughlin on their initiation!! This bringing our membership to 37 brothers currently. As always this spring semester will lead to 7 of our undergraduates to the real world and they will be missed for all their hard work as undergrads, but I am certain they will always play an active part here. Not to fear though, Rho Alpha has also pinned the Beta Pi pledge class. Mike Budicak, Eric Burger, Chris Cutler, Rick Fitzsimmons, and Dan Chen will be striving to continue to uphold the values of Phi Gamma Delta. Of course, Rho Alpha would not be Rho Alpha without a great social semester. We have already had a few great parties to get going this semester. We are also continuing to arrange socials with sororities this semester including Kappa Kappa (Continued on page 4) \r\nTHE RHO ALPHA TIMES Norris Tig "Dinner Are your plans set for April 25th yet? I hope so because our 26th Pig Dinner is quickly approaching. Last year's Pig Dinner was a huge success celebrating Rho Alpha's 25 years. This year we get to celebrate Phi Gamma Delta's 150th Anniversary!! The weekend's activities will begin on Friday with the annual Golf Tournament at Hanging Rock golf course at 12:30pm. If you would like to play the cost will be $35 which includes green fees and a cart. To signup to play please mark your RSVP card and send a check with the number of players. If you have questions contact Buck Holsinger at (540)961-1037 or buck@vt.edu. Friday night at 9pm-? make sure you are at the house for the Grad Party, where no matter how old you are you can still pretend you're in college(at least until the morning). Speaking of Saturday morning, for all the early risers or those who haven't gone to sleep yet the House Corp. meeting will be at 9:30am at Donaldson Brown. As soon as the meeting is over or 12:30pm, whichever comes later I'm sure will be the cookout at the house. As always undergrads and grads will try to prove who owns the sand!! The main event will begai promptly at 6pm with cocktails at Custom Catering. Following the cocktail hour dinner will be served and then the meeting will begin. Our speaker this year is IHQ Director of Programs, Dave Wilmer. Immediately following the awards and toasts the bar will be opened and then we will dance and part till 1:00am. Then again for the early risers or the pure hardcore of them all will be the Undergraduate vs. Graduate football (Continued on page 5) (graduate ^Association Announcement!! (Continuedfrom page 2) ferred to as the Rho Alpha Graduate Association (GA). Essentially, the "old" House Corporation and Board of Chapter Advisors (BCA) now reside within the GA. In fact, the BCA still exists by name. It is one of two "Boards" within the GA - the other being the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is made up of the five elected Graduate Association officers: President, Vice President (Advisory), Vice President (House), Treasurer, and Secretary. The Board of Chapter Advisors consists of the Vice President (Advisory) and four appointed advisors: Rush, Scholarship, Chapter Support, and Legal. These last two are new to Rho Alpha. The Chapter Support Advisor will assist the undergraduate chapter as necessary in such tasks as newsletter production, web site support, mail list maintenance, and Pig Dinner arrangements, while the Legal Advisor will provide legal advice and review all contracts that may be entered into by the Board of Directors. The appointed advisory positions will be carried out in one-year terms. The Purple Legionnaire, who was a non-voting House Corporation member under the old bylaws, will now join the ranks of voting members of the Graduate Association. The Undergraduate President will continue to be a voting member. The restof the GA membership will consist of initiated graduate brothers of Phi Gamma Delta who are in good standing with their undergraduate Chapter and the International Fraternity. To review, then, our new Graduate Association has three components: the Board of Directors, the Board of Chapter Advisors, and the Membership. For further clarification, see the organizational diagram included in this newsletter. Now that we have approved the GA Bylaws, the next step is to elect officers to uphold them! Every office is up for election at the Pig Dinner meeting this April 25th. In addition, all four of the appointed BCA advisory positions will be need to be filled. I encourage you to get involved! In closing, I'd like to say a few words about the now-defunct "old" BCA (we'll observe a moment of silence at the April meeting). I'd like to thank my fellow officers, James Hamric and Brian Oakes, and our advisors John Adamo and Ed Hardell. A special thanks goes out to former BCA President Rob Paine, under whom I served as BCA Secretary. I learned a lot from Rob; he is a good leader, friend, and brother. Many thanks to the many of you who have donated to the Rho Alpha scholarship fund - the balance continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Keep the donations coming! Finally, thanks to the undergraduate brothers, who are the very reasons for the existence of the BCA. The biggest reward from my BCA experience is the relationships I have managed to cultivate and maintain with the undergrads. It is fulfilling to hear them greet me as a familiar friend, and it is pleasing that I can do the same and even remember their names (most of them, anyway!). Rho Alpha has been very special to me. While Virginia Tech has given me a place I can return to, Rho Alpha of Phi Gamma Delta has given me more - it has given me people to come back to. Let's do whatwe must to make sure that Rho Alpha will be there for many more years to come. Everyone keep up the good work, and remember that Phi Gamma Delta is not for college days alone! Fraternally, Pete McDevitt Perge! \r\nTHE RHO ALPHA TIMES *EktiCessia May 1, 1998 brings about a grand moment for the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta as we celebrate our 150th Anniversary! This is a momentous occasion that can not be paralleled with any other before it. What better way to join in the celebration than to be at the 150th Ekklessia in Pittsburgh. From August 12-16 we will meet as a unified organization, celebrating one hundred and fifty years of existence, to promote new and invigorating ideas and make decisions for the upcoming century. Individuals from all chapters will congregate together in the city by the river to pass legislation that will impact and affect Phi Gams both present and future. The importance of this event assists in making our 150th a more phenomenal happening. Fraternally, Zack Cole Chapter Historian Can you heCp... The 1998 Norris Pig Dinner glassware will be this 32oz. ceramic mug. The back of the mug will have: April 25, 1998 Norris Pig Dinner Please mark on your RSVP card if you would like one. They take a few weeks to get made so try and reserve one early!! TresicCent's Address (Continued from page 2) Gamma most recently. Our new Purple Legionnaire Glenn Kinnear took over in September and is remaining a very important and active role in the chapter. We are also discussing and preparing for Internationals proposed Alcohol Free Housing policy for 2000. LOOKOUT!!! Pig Dinner is coming up shortly (April 25th), not to mention Phi Gamma Delta's 150th Anniversary!! Our Pig Din- ner will be a great way to celebrate the founding of this great Fraternity as well as the 150th Ekklessia in August. I hope to see you all at Pigger and I hope some graduates will make Ekklessia with us as well. Fraternally, Joe Edgell Chapter President Perge! This letter is to inform everyone that the chapter is need of a new stereo system for the basement. As you all know the stereo hi the basement is vital for parties and to the enjoyment of our guests. As of now the stereo needs to be disposed of due to the blown amplifier. Also the receiver is old and was not made for the wattage we pump through it during parties. The amplifier inside the receiver is fading and overheats when used for over an hour. The speakers are also high quality home speakers, but can not handle the wattage as a result each tweeter is blown. A two hundred watt dedicated power amplifier with a minimum of three inputs and two P.A. speakers is what we have assessed to be needed. These things are made for high volumes not quality and this is exactly what we need for parties. Any amount of money you could donate towards these new things would be greatly appreciated. We are trying to reach a goal of $1,000. Or if anyone knows where we can get them for a good price such as a pawn sop or discount store, please notify us so we can investigate it. We thank you for your continued support and are looking forward to seeing you all at Pig Dinner on April 25. Fraternally, CoryCurtin BO \r\nTHE RHO ALPHA TIMES Norris Tig Vinner (Continued from page 3) game. For those of you wanting to know where you should look for a room, this year we have a block of rooms at Donaldson Brown (540) 2318000. Remember the House Corp. meeting will be there on Saturday morning. Again we will make arrangements for those of you who need babysitters, but please write a note with your RSVP so we can plan ahead and find me on Friday night. As I am sure many of you are unaware IHQ is giving out a number of grants to chapters this year. The whining chapters are the ones that accu- mulate the most points throughout the Pig Dinner planning process. Our chapter is doing well in the race, but one of the areas where the most points comes in is the graduates. We get a certain number of points for every percentage of our graduates that makes it to Pigger and even more for our Silver Owl brothers!! I believe we stand a good chance so make it down, have a great time and remember "Fiji, is not for college days alone!!!" Fraternally, Geoffrey Ax '98 Graduate Relations Perge! 1998 NORRIS PIG DINNER This year's T-Shirt design by brother Jason Berger!!! Order early so we have enough when you arrive Pig Dinner weekend!!! Who will be the lucky brothers to kiss the pig this year? fit Custom Catering To b£ thp biggest pig ^inngr in Rho fllpha history!! \r\nTHE RHO ALPHA TIMES 'Brothers "Where have these Brothers disappeare.cC to? Lee'BarBeirri 'David ""Brandt James "Burfant CarC fasta&end "RoBert lantoska Thomas "Payne Martin Snyder "Brady Gorman MichaeC Martirano "DarrefOakes "Doniad Xawecfa 'Thomas Matacia 'Brian Coffins "RanaOf'RickwaCd James Lemons Steven MUstein JohnO'Cjrady Jr. Thomas O'Brien John yfaire "Patrick Marshatt David Jfarrison Thomas Took 3tichard"Rau Robert Stephenson U Scott Junkins If you know -where these Brothers are pfease emaiCor write ^Brother "Romano, (mromano@vt.edu) favorite fIJI "Being taken(kidnapped) by pledges from my apartment with my date and dumped in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the pledges kept my date." Memories... "Colin Winchester waking up in the downstaris bathroom besides a shattered toilet and wondering why his head hurt." Andy Paine '87.... "Going to Cancun, 5 Pigger's and the Chirstmas party when Santa(Brother Morrone) drank a bottle of tabasco sauce." '85, '86, Dave Pinckert '95 Robert Moore '72 "Riding to the Gator Bowl with the Heplers, BF camping trips." "Watching Pud drink 6 40's in one night on the first spring break trip to Key West." Mike Meyrowitz '96 "Dedicating the new deck and backyard and getting my name plastered on a t-shirt in memory of all the hard work." Glenn Kinnear '94 "Homecoming games." Linwood Leftwich '89 "Pig Dinner 1979." Chris Tilghman '84 Charles Radford '80 "Brothers Weejee and Vieira and the rest of BA. Shaun Kaiser '95 "That time when we went to that place with all of those people. That was cool." Jason Dean '96 Thanks to all those brothers who responded to the questionnaire. If you want to be in the next newsletter's memories please keep us informed by sending in your questionnaire. ACphas 1998 SiCver OwCs Curtis M. Allison '76 John E. Hughes, Jr. '75 Richard W. Rau '72 Andrew V. Bailey, II '74 Randolph G. Jackson '73 Scott D. Ritchie '76 Kent A. Bathurst '75 William C. Latane '77 William G. Ritchie, Jr. '75 Howard C. Canada, III '76 Michael F. Mays '74 Bradford S. Ryffel '74 Stephen L. Carter '76 R. Michael McCormac '76 R. Douglas Shields, III '75 Robert B. Dix, Jr. '75 Edward J. Merwin '76 Marvin V. Snyder, Jr. '72 Robert M. Erickson, Jr. '73 John W. Miller '71 EdL. Walski '75 Ward A. Follette '76 W. Thomas Owen '72 Theodore A. Zook '72 RonaldS. Hill '75 Douglas S. Painter '74 Pi -fllpha: DtttA Otv W .^daitOOSt/org/p ItlQ: www.phigam.org