THE PI CRUST PUBLISHED BY PI CHAPTER OF THE FRATERNITY OF PHI GAMMA DELTA AT ALLEGHENY COLLEGE MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA SUMMER1997 PROGESS MADE DURING SPRING '97 As the '97 spring semester comes to a close, many of the fraternities on the Allegheny campus show signs of struggling. A lack of leadership and togetherness evident in most chapters resulted in suspension, poor rush and a negative image. A representative from the Interfraternity Council (IFC) labeled this past year with the term "Greek depression." Some other fraternity members have been heard complaining about how this "depression" seems "too overwhelming to overcome." Although I do admit that this past year has been very difficult for the Greek community, Pi Chapter has come together and attacked these issues head on. We have taken action, rather than sit and complain. Our efforts have created a positive image in the eyes of Allegheny's student body, faculty and administration, including President Cook, who arrived on our campus in the fall of 1996. The results of our efforts set a fine example for other chapters on campus. We have shown others how to rise above adversity. At the end offall '96, three Fiji b10thers were elected into executive positions on the IFC: Andrew Galley '99 (vice president of internal affairs), "Country" Joe Errett '99 (secretary) and Brendon Bates '99 (vice president of rush). They have shown great leadership and influence on the IFC. They have formed good, trusting relationships between Pi Chapter and Allegheny Greek Advisor Phil Foxman and President Cook. Brother Galley eliminated bylaws that restricted freshmen from entering chapter houses prior to spring semester. This will help recruitment greatly. Brother Bates held weekly brainstorming sessions with rush committees from every chapter. They dis- cussed what was helping and what was hurting their present rush programs. They also thought up and planned an all-Greek rush event, which will occur at the beginning of every semester from now on. Bates' goal is for every chapter to have eight to 10 pledges in fall '97 and more than 12 pledges in spring '98. Fiji continues to lead the way in other aspects of campus life. Brother Kurt Palmer '98 served his second semester on the Allegheny Drug and Alcohol Committee. His enthusiastic attitude and open mind bring a whole new approach to this committee. In fall '96, Brother Marc Brozovich was appointed to the New College Alcohol Policy Review Committee. It is a relief to have a fraternity member on this committee so that a positive image can be portrayed in regard to fraternities and responsible drinking. Brother Mike Houser '98 served as a Student Athlete Mentor (SAM). All athletes at Allegheny are encouraged to approach SAMs with any drug or alcohol concerns. It was not only a great honor for Mike to be elected to this position, but also made another positive mark for our image on campus. Mike had an incredible basketball season as well. He dominated the boards and brought Gator fans to their feet with a couple of monster slam dunks. He led his team to the semifinals of the NCAC Tournament and was named Second Team All-NCAC Center. Brother Brendan Murphy '99 made his theatrical debut in Allegheny's production of The Misanthrope. Be sure to look for Murphy on the big screen some day. He is a very talented young man. Pi Chapter also continued to give back to the community. Brother Brian Brandstatter '97, who graduated last (Continued on page 4) Brother Reflects On His Fiji Experience John C. "Jack" Sapper '52 is a retired dentist. He is a former president of Laucaster County Dental Society and Kiwanis, an elder in his church, a member of Masons and a vocalist in his church choir. Golf, his computer, model railroading, painting, boating, travel and photography are favorite hobbies. Jack and his wife, the former Patricia Eberly (KA0), have two grown children, Linda and John. He reflects on his Fiji experience, "The melding ofyoung men of various backgrounds, attitudes, goals and interests into a common fellowship or brotherhood for the good of all was a stimulating, bonding, helpful influence on my life. I grew up. Learning to live with others, to give and take, is maturity that is not singular to Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Chapter, but for me at that time, was the best. Leadership and the ability to choose and support good leaders who respect goodness, respect others and respect their home (fraternity house) is the beginning ofa stable society. The fraternity has to be vigilant of its effect on the brothers, the school, the community and society in general (even alumni). Relationships developed will never be forgotten, no matter how inactive they may be. We were not perfect and I was no angel, but I am better for having been there." Share your own college memories with Jack at 1960 Pine Dr., Lancaster, PA 17601. \r\nPage 2 THE PI CRUST Summer 1997 Why Don't You Want To Be a Fiji? The past two semesters were very frustrating for me as rush chair. In the fall of 1996, we gave out 25 bids, but only five of those bids were accepted. We were all very disappointed. We felt our effort toward recruitment was so much better than ever before. We were so sure there would be a huge pledge class. Why would so many rushees tum down an opportunity like that? After speaking individually with the other 20 rushees, I discovered that the reasons were in two areas: 1) The school disallowed many pledgeships because of poor scholarship and 2) Some students simply were not interested in joining a fraternity. I understand reason number one and know exactly how to resolve it. Reason number two, however, is very difficult for a brother to sympathize with. Why wouldn't anyone want to join a fraternity? Don't these young men see how great it is to be a Fiji? After brainstorming with both graduate and undergraduate brothers, I have come to believe that these young men must be steering away from fraternity life because they do not realize how tight brotherhood is. If they did, they would definitely pledge. We must show our rushees the special friendships that lie within Pi Chapter. To do this, we must completely modify our whole approach to rush. What needs to be done to turn this situation around next year? I would first like to focus on the improvement of rushee scholarship. We lost 15 rush~es who definitely wanted to pledge because they didn't achieve higher than a 2.0 GPA in the fall semester. We strongly support Allegheny's grade requirement for pledging, so how do we make sure our rushees make the mark? First, we need to make sure our rushees are being honest with us. Several of those 15 rushees, for whatever reason, told me their grades were "fine" during the fall semester. I was unpleasantly surprised in January when I found out these young men never had close to a 2.0. I am kicking myself for believing them. I should have laid out to them what it takes to earn a 2.0 (C/C- average) and told them to tell me if they started to slip below those marks. Today, I make sure our rushees know that we cannot help them if they are not honest with us. Once we have established an open and honest relationship, we need to make sure these recruits get everything they need to succeed in class. At the beginning of every semester, we will have a meeting at our house with all possible rushees, and every prospective candidate will list his courses and instructors and submit a copy of his syllabus for each course. There will then be a short presentation on effective study habits. Hopefully, the head of the counseling center, Nancy Sheridan, will give that presentation. I know Mrs. Sheridan very well. She has helped me with my study skills tremendously. After the meeting, the course list of all rushees will be reviewed by each brother, who will make note of any rushee who has a course that they have already taken. The next week, we will have a followup meeting. Brothers who have had the same course a rushee is taking will make sure they equip that rushee with information on the demands of the professor, the structure of future exams and quizzes, old papers and projects and other valuable advice on their course. This will provide each rushee with every support possible for scholastic success. We will keep close track of how rushees are performing, because the course syllabi will tell us when every exam, quiz, paper or project is due. We will keep a weekly log of their grades so we know who is falling behind. Allegheny is a demanding and rigorous school. You cannot expect the average first semester freshman to excel without help. I do not want to lose 15 rushees again. Now let's focus on the rushees who did not want to be Fijis. Some of their reasons come from misunderstanding and fear. A few told me they were afraid pledging would interfere with their grades. However, after we fol- low through on our rushee scholarship plan, they will see that we take school very seriously and that pledging may help their GP A. A couple of rushees told us that their parents were against fraternities. In response to that, I mailed a two-page letter to the parents of every rushee. The letter was personal. It portrayed all the positive aspects of Pi Chapter: our strong status in the Allegheny community, connections in the "real world," community service and the value we place on friendship and brotherhood. The letter concluded with my urging them to encourage their son to pledge, because "it will be a special experience for him, one he will always cherish." I had a strong response from the letter. Four parents called me to tell me how enlightening it was. I plan to use this letter in the future. Some other rushees blamed their lack of interest on finances. They were under the impression that Pi Chapter is not affordable because all other fraternities on campus are so expensive. In response, I had Treasurer Mat Radkowski break down our prices on paper and go over the finances with every rushee. Those rushees who are new brothers smiled when they realized how affordable we really are. I am going to have Brother Radkowski do this at the beginning of next semester so we don't lose any recruits to a misunderstanding about finances. Finally, one very honest rushee expressed a fear he and other rushees had about "brutal hazing." He told graphic stories and rumors he had heard about Fijis physically abusing pledges. He included explicit and offensive detail. Although outraged by these rumors, I sympathized with the timid rushee because I remembered hearing those same rumors as a freshman. I told him they were untrue and that no brother in Pi Chapter would ever be a part of anything of that nature. I concluded by telling him that we teach our pledges to be brothers and if those rumors were true, we (Continued on page 3) \r\nSummer 1997 THE PI CRUST Page 3 Pi Chapter Graduates of 1997 Nine Pi Chapter brothers earned their degrees this year. Robert "The Truth" Tatsch (BA in environmental studies) will be working and coaching football at Summit Academy in Butler, PA. He is looking for a place to live in the Pittsburgh area. Joshua Sankey graduated with a BA in both political science and communication arts. He is applying for a job at the Fox Network in Pittsburgh. Nathan Quaglia (BA in environmental studies) is living in Greensburgh, PA, and is searching for a job in the field of his major. Mike Ciocca graduated with a BA in political science and is currently working for Roadway in Syracuse, NY. Mark "Meat" O'Laughlin graduated with a double major in communication arts and theater. He is currently working with Down's syndrome children in Fairfield, CT. Brian Brandstatter also graduated with a BA in political science. Brian is a tough man to contact, but we do know he was looking to go to graduate school. Jamie Nixsa (BA in English and education) decided to take a few years for himself before beginning a teaching career. He is currently living in Cleveland, OH. Pat Baird graduated with a BS in computer science and was offered some very high paying jobs from various companies. He has decided to live and work in Pittsburgh for the time being. Finally, Sam Balla (BA in political science) has continued his career in the Marines. We wish these newest graduate brothers the best of luck. Please contact them if you can help them out during their first few years in the "real world." WANT TO BE A FIJI? (Continued from page 2) would in fact be working against our goal. We need to continue to reinforce this with our rushees and dispel these rumors. The initiatives that I have just mentioned are designed to address the concerns of unsure freshmen. What about those freshmen who are turned off by fraternity life? What about those who simply do not see how great it is to be a Fiji? These unaware freshmen should not be blamed for their ignorance. We are the ones who should be blamed. We need to sell ourselves more effectively. Selling your chapter is much more difficult these days. Allegheny has changed a great deal over the last five to 10 years. Social functions hosted by every fraternity are strictly monitored and investigated by the school. Alcohol is prohibited in most chapter houses. Let's face itwe no longer have the social freedom that once lured young freshmen to fraternities. Without that social allure, traditional rush methods just don't work. We must seek rush methods that portray togetherness, friendship, brotherhood and all the other reasons why Pi Chapter became so meaningful to us during pledging. Although there could be many ways to accomplish this, there are a couple of strategies that we feel are top priorities. First, rushees need to have the opportunity to hang out with us more. We need to invite them individually to the house, aside from a rush event. Nobody realizes how close our brotherhood is until they are around us for a while and see how well we relate to one another. Looking back to last fall, the five rushees who signed bid cards were constantly hanging out with us during their first semester at Allegheny. Next fall, I am going to have each undergraduate brother pick one individual whom he wants in our fraternity. It will be each brother's goal to influence his recruit to pledge. If every brother achieves that goal, our brotherhood will double in size! Secondly, we must renovate our house. Keep in mind that LAE has an appealing "mansion" and has just come off suspension. They are attracting a lot of prospects. Even when our house is as clean as it possibly can be, it still seems run down. Although we want to keep the historic structure of the house, we need it to be much more presentable. New walls, lighting, plumbing (thank God rushees don't know about the plumbing situation), a new kitchen, computer hookups in each room and possibly a porch in the back would make us more presentable. It would also demonstrate to the rushees that our graduate brothers are looking out for and maintaining a tight bond with their undergraduate brothers. Finally, I am going to assign three additional brothers to the rush committee. I will announce their names in early fall. I feel our new rush program will be more effective if the responsibilities are distributed amongst three other committee members. The four positions in this new committee will be executive rush chair, rushee scholarship chair, treasurer and rush advertisement chair. The rushee scholarship chair will be responsible for making sure all rushees make the required GP A and running the rush scholarship meetings. Brother Radkowski will be the treasurer since he is most familiar with our finances. He will make sure that each rushee has a realistic understanding of our dues, as well as help us find ways to finance our events. The rush advertisement chair makes sure that every freshman is aware of upcoming events. As executive rush chair, I will oversee everything the rush committee does, as well as keep in close personal contact with all rushees. Times have changed and so must our rush program. We are fortunate to have realized this when we did. This new program is going to require a lot more initiative and work than ever before. We need participation from every undergraduate brother, as well as graduate brothers. If you have any other suggestions that can contribute to our new program, give me a call or write to me as soon as possible. We need to see the end of five-man pledge classes. We are very excited about the potential results this new program can produce for us. Rush Chair Brendon Bates \r\nPi Chapter Graduate News James T. Pool '52 and his wife, Molly (Ohio State), are retired. They have three grown children, Jim, John and Kathy. "Joe" tells us, "I retired three years ago. I have a summer home at Conneaut Lake. I am enjoying retirement, traveling, golf, my wife and six grandchildren. Ifollow Gatorfootball. " Brothers can reach Joe at 992 Norwood Ave., Bellevue, PA 15202. Robert D. Johnston '58, now retired as a headmaster ofindependent schools, has moved. His address is 649 Triple Cove Dr., Wilkesboro, NC 28697. John B. Hill '53 is a physician. He writes, "I can be seen on the noon news on KDKA Channel 2 in Pittsburgh every Monday and Friday in my 'Ask the Doctor' segment. " This former Pi Chapter president lives at 465 Woodland Hills Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15235. Donald R. Alvarez '72 is a partner in the law firm of Warner, Alvarez & Gilbert. He has a daughter, Emily, 11. Donald is active on the Arizona Boys PROGRESS MADE (Continued from page 1) spring, has done a fantastic job as philanthropy chair over the past two years. We will miss his leadership. However, taking over his position is Brian's little brother, Andrew Galley. Andrew has many ideas for fall semester that he has already acted on. Just before spring break last March, our pledge class won second place in the annual lip sync contest, SAMS. The event raised hundreds of dollars for children with multiple sclerosis. We continue to dance with the elderly women at Meadville' s Nursing Home every Wednesday afternoon. We are planning to get certified by the state next semester to work with at risk children so we can participate in Meadville' s Bowling with Youth Program. Bowling with Youth meets every Monday night at the bowling alley downtown, and older role models show children from the Bethesda Home a fun time. The Bethesda Home is a place for battered women and children. The reviews of this program in the Meadville Tribune have been com- Ranch Board, Boys & Girls Clubs of Phoenix Board and Phoenix Zoo. He enjoys scuba diving, underwater photography, mountain biking, weightlifting and traveling to exotic places with his daughter. Contact him at 2727 N. Third St. #300, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Michael S. Wild '82 is regional sales manager for F.B. Leopold, a water and waste water services company. He and his wife, Kellie (KA0), a physical therapist and lawyer, have a son, Matthew, 2. "Wildo" tells us, "I visited my brother-in-law, Scott Flinn '84, in October '96 for two weeks. Scott has been selected as commander in the Navy (to be commissioned in 1997) and is stationed in Geara, Italy. " He is active in the Water Environment Foundation and American Water Works Association and enjoys golf and hockey. He lives at 122 Mount Vernon Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15229. Harold J. Rowe '35 is retired with grown children. He writes, "Fiji mendable. We look forward to working with these children. Finally, we had a glorious night at the 1997 Greek Awards. Pi Chapter was awarded Interfraternal Chapter of the Year, recognizing our contribution to the overall advancement of fraternity life on campus. Brother Bates was given Interfraternal Brother of the Year for his new ideas and efforts toward the improvement of fraternity recruitment. The highlight of the evening was when President Cook presented the 1997 Greek Man of the Year to Brother Marc Brozovich. The title of Marc's award speaks of his tremendous contributions as Pi Chapter's president and a student athlete at Allegheny. We would like to thank graduate Brother Tim Brady for taking time out of his busy schedule to cheer us on that night. We wish more graduate brothers could have been there to watch Pi Chapter rise above the "depression." We undergraduates want to assure you that this is only the beginning. More nights like this are in the near future. Pi Chapter has restored its positive image on campus. taught me about taking part in activities in hospitals/clinics in town and to be a leader. Who is left in my class?" He enjoys music in his leisure time. Former classmates can contact Hal at The Forum #117, 2500 N. Rosemont Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85712. Cliff Smoot '48 is retired after a 40year career at Masonite Corporation. He serves on the board of directors for Lumbermen's Fraternal Club and is a long-time member of Rotary. Cliff and his wife, Connie, have four grown children, Ron, Wendy, Todd and Robin. Drop him a line at 1240 El Dorado Rd., Ukiah, CA 95482. Douglas R. Nichols '74 is president and owner of First London Securities Corporation. He has a son, Bobby, 13, and he and his wife, Karrison (Wisconsin KKr), have three children, Taylor, 7, Ricky, 3, and Doug, 2. This former chapter treasurer writes, "My fraternity experience was great fun. I am a third generation Fiji and I am proud of the involvement. " You can correspond with this brother at 7048 Tokalon, Dallas, TX 75214. Paul L. Meyers '95 is a branch manager for Premier Car Rental. Write Paul at 1 Brush Hollow Rd., Holbrook, NY 11741. Thomas A. "Rookie" Romig '65 is senior vice president of Aurau National Life Insurance. He lists his hobbies as "surfing, jet skiing and looking for a rich, good-looking wife. " He has two grown children, Steve and Laura, both students at the University of Arizona. He writes, "The greatest group of guys (21 of us) graduated in 1965! I will never forget or be closer to all the Fij is. " Contact him at 13 75 Southwind Cir., Westlake Village, CA 91361. Th e Pi Crust is published regularly by the brothers of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta at Allegheny College for members and friends. Graduate news items, photographs and change of address notices should be sent to Pi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta, c/o Newsletter Program Headquarters, P.O. Box 602, Needham, MA 02192-0007.