RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ Winter 1992 President's Address— As we all know, the rompin', stompin' Phi Gam house was destroyed by fire a short while ago. When this occurred, the morale of the brothers at that time was destroyed as well. The task of keeping FIJI afloat the school-year after the fire was met with indifference. The sentiment "there's no house so there's no FIJI any more" was echoed by most. Luckily, our house corporation realized that it was time for a change. They set up a membership review over the summer to "weed out" the good from the bad, and to keep Nu Beta from dying at Rutgers. The review turned out to be quite successful. Much to my dismay, the turnout for the review wasn't as great as I had hoped. Deep down inside I couldn't understand how these people couldn't care about FIJI anymore, a fraternity that gave so much to them in the past. But we moved on, and an elite 8 men took the bull by the homs and decided they were going to be the ones who would bring Nu Beta back to prominence. When the eight of us arrived back at school the following semester, we realized what a big task we had ahead of us, but The all new PHI GAM HOUSE at 78 Easton Ave. Proposed structure coming FALL '92 Alumni Association Busy House Hunting During the past year three members, among others, of the Nu Beta Alumni As sociation spent many hours pursuing viable housing options for Nu Beta. Bob Tanhauser '74, Bob Behot '75 and myself Joe Egan '77 have made A.T.&T. and the turnpike authorities of three states rich from the calls we've made and the tolls sons of stick built and prefab houses with the nod going prefab for cost reasons. The current status of all this work is that the political ball is rolling. Recently, a meeting was held with the inayui of New Brunswick to seek his proverbial blessing. He was impressed with our presentation, not we could do it. Our Purple Legion naire, Sheldon Thorpe, set up a retreat for the eight of us the first weekend back from Two possibilities were reviewed in depth and rejected. Purchasing the old site work and thoroughness. Although he did not bless us, he did not curse us. The bottom line is that we both have a good understanding of our positions and that we Lambda Chi house was ruled out as im are both working for the best interests of summer break. I had informed Sheldon of New Brunswick. at the same time we wondered whether or we've paid exploring the housing choices. Little did I know what kind of influence practical. The cost of buying and renovat ing someone else's headache turned out to be equal to building new. Moving to the University Heights as part of a Greek community was attractive, but the entire Sheldon would have on us all. project is bogged down in the mire of Rut In one day, Sheldon transformed an unconfident, confused group of young men into a force loaded with psyche and vision. During the retreat we targeted problem areas area: that the fraternity could improve and - Continued on Page 4 - gers' bureaucracy. our apprehensions concerning the task ahead, but he confidently told me just come to the retreat and see what happens. % The reality of the situation calls for building new from the ground up at 78 Easton Ave. To this end, the above men tioned brothers along with Jim Biegen '84 and Tony Ulisse '84 made cost compari The next step is a formal presentation before the New Brunswick Planning Board. This will happen in the very near future. With a few breaks here and there ground breaking will occur in the spring of '92 with the possibility of September occupancy. If not, a January '93 live in house should be a definite reality. You can help all of this come to fruition by keeping your fingers crossed and donat ing money when asked. RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI • RARITAN FIJI \r\nPurple Legionnaire's Report Question: What do you get when you mix ten great Phi Gams, a helping of self con fidence, a dose of graduate support, a pinch of honesty and a whole lot offaith? Answer: The new improved Nu Beta chapter of Phi Gamma Delta! On Saturday, September 7, I issued a challenge to eight FIJI brothers. The chal lenge was, "Nu Beta's are going to be the big dogs on campus. So, if you can't run with the big dogs, you'd better stay on the porch!" They decided to come off the porch, to meet the challenge and I'm proud to say that they've been running ever since. Many Nu Beta alumni remember a run down chapter house, occupied by brothers who didn't give a damn about the Frater nity. They were an embarrassment to the proud tradition of Nu Beta. That was then, this is now. The spirit is back and Nu Beta is on its way to the top of the Rutgers Greek system. We currently have ten brothers and seven pledges, all dedicated to striving for excellence in scholarship, brotherhood, athletics and community service. We will Alumni Spotlight Dean Lee Schneider is a Nu Beta Dean Schneider ate dinner at the house Alumni from 1967. Speaking to him I every night and can recall the Friday nite spaghetti and beer menu, the mystery learned that Phi Gamma Delta really molds the man. When Dean Schneider was a freshman at Rutgers, his grades were so bad, he was not allowed to pledge. On, but how his college days at FIJI changed him. Dean Schneider went on to complete his Masters degree and then started working for Cook College (Rutgers University) in 1971. He was named Dean of Cook college academics in 1972 and was also Asst. Dean for Student Life Affairs. Not only was he named Dean, but he actually helped develop land that was all cornfields into what is now Cook College today. Three years ago, 1988, Lee Schneider was named Dean of Students at Cook College and went on to complete a doctorate. He is now happily married to a wife of 20 years (whom he met at a DU party) and has two children. When asking Dean Schneider about his college days he re minisced about the fraternity. Even though he lived at 204 Easton Ave. with other brothers, he was very active with the house thru various committees and Keller sports. desserts that would sometimes follow, and the hairy buffalo parties for late nite fun. He also remembers the house mother, Sadie Lumpkin, whom he called a very special lady. At the end of the interview I asked Dean Schneider how FIJI helped him succeed and what advice he may have for the undergrads now. He replied, "FIJI was ab solutely a wonderful time. I loved being a part of the brotherhood." He went on to say that getting people to work together to achieve common goals is what FIJI is all about and how his fraternity experience helps him deal with his daily job at Cook. As far as advice to the undergrads; Dean Schneider would like to see the house back up on 78 Easton Ave. and would like the undergrads to develop the same kind of unity now that Nu Beta had when he was a bro in the 60's. He says if everyone works together to develop a sense of fam ily amongst ourselves, we will once again be a successful chapter. Matthew Schwartz, '92 be looking for twelve to fifteen pledges in the spring, raising our membership to over thirty as we head into 92-93 school year. The brothers have made a commit ment to themselves and to you, the alumni of Nu Beta, to be leaders on campus, to maintain a chapter GPA above the all men's average, to provide service to the community, and generally to be a chapter of which we can all be proud. Now, we as graduates must make com mitments to the undergraduates. We must be willing to commit our time and our experience to their efforts. We must sup port their fund raisers. We must attend the annual Norris Pig Dinner. We as graduates must be willing to take the same bold step that the undergraduates took and "get off the porch and run with the big dogs." You show me a strong FIJI chapter and I'll show you a chapter with solid graduate support. Graduate support costs no more than a few hours a month. If you want to "run with the big dogs" and help ensure that the tradition of Nu Beta continues, give PIG DINNER!!! n/IAY2 The Nu Beta chapter of Phi Gamma Delta is proud to announce that this year's Norris Pig Dinner will be held on May 2 at the Cook Campus me a call at 201-628-4045(work) or 201- Center once again. The guest speaker has not been chosen as yet. 305-8852(home). Now's the time to prove that "Phi Gamma Delta is not for college days alone." If you have any suggestions, questions, or would like to help in any way feel free to call Tom Donatacci, graduate Pig Dinner Chairman, at (908) 234-9064 or David Thatch undergraduate Pig Dinner Chairman at Sheldon L. Thorpe GMI '87 Purple Legionnaire (908) 745-0947. \r\nWhat Happened?— A lot of you are probably wondering what has happened to the house as well as the undergraduate chapter. Well here are the facts. On the evening of June 18, Persistence "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. 1990 the FIJI house at 78 Easton Ave. was set on fire along with two other frater nity houses and several residential homes. One Brian Kieth was charged with arson in connection with one of the fires that night, he is currently serving a five year jail sentence. The fire in our house was started in the television/library room in Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is al most a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of the rear of the house. At the time of the fire there was no one in the house, a few educated derilicts. Persistence and determination alone are brothers were living there for the summer omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always but none were home at the time of the fire. The house was destroyed to such an extent that no one could possibly live in it. As if this was not bad enough there was a second fire in September, 1990, after this fire the house had to be knocked down. The following year(1990-91)things did not go very smoothly for the new cabinet and rush was only held during the fall semester. This rush only produced three pledges. After the spring semester the BCA contacted all existing members. They were asked if they were ready to stand up to the challenge of rebuilding the Nu Beta chapter. Eight men decided that they had what it took to take Nu Beta into the future. On Sept. 7, 1991 , the .seven of us met with our Purple Legionnaire Sheldon Thorpe (GMl '87). At this meeting we laid down the groundwork for what we hoped and knew would be a successful semester. We elected new officers and established com mittee chairmen. The work was split up between us with each person bearing a great deal of responsibilities. So farthings have been moving along very well. We had a very successful fall rush. We pledged seven fine men, who we are sure stood up to the standards of FIJI and the Nu Beta chapter. If you don't know fall rush is pretty much a sophomore rush and the number may not sound that great. But by today's standards we have a strong pledge class for the fall. We have also picked up three more undergraduate brothers who were eligible to go through the review again. We are very excited about next semester's rush and hope to pledge around 15 young men. A fraternity is a group of men selected in their college days, because of their ad herence to common ideals and aspirations. will solve the problems of the human race," — Calvin Coolidge \r\nPresident's Address- Continued from Page 1 went through each officer's specific tasks. Thanks to Sheldon and his never ending support and smarts, we have improved dramatically in every area. The cabinet has worked hard to improve our communi cations with the school, the national and our alumni. I could easily say that our relationship with the alumni is the best that it has been in my three years at Nu Beta. Plus, it is not uncommon to see a FIJI at the dean of fraternity and sorority affairs office collecting mail and checking out what's going on around the Greek Community. And last but not least, after the Field Secretary's recent visit, he came away more impressed with us then he has ever been and vowed that he would spread the word around the national headquarters that Nu Beta is on the way up. Recent graduates could attest that we were never proficient in the task of recruit ing young men into Nu Beta. The problem of rush is now a thing of the past. In the past, rush was looked upon as a royal pain, but now rush is looked upon with excite ment. There is one reason why this is so. Now we are good at it. We have learned that rush can be a success if every member gives it their all. The eight of us did just that, finding seven solid men with a cumulative GPA of 3.3. We are pledging the type of men that make you feel proud to be a FTJI. The addition of these seven will almost double our active brotherhood, and further strengthen our chapter for next semester. Doubling our brotherhood again is a feasible goal this coming spring. Rush chairman Earl Jackson deserves praise for the hours he has put in to insure for a successful rush. PHI GAMMA DELTA do Jeff O'Keefe P.O. Box 13 New Brunswick, NJ 08903 In addition, our chapter finances are in better shape than before. Hamada Seyam has kept impeccable books thus far and has been a strict enforcer of dues. No one would dare upset the H-Bomb, and pay ments to him have been prompt and paid in full. Chapter historian Matt Schwartz has seen to it that there is a daily progress and is presently working on making our chapter knowledgeable of the fraternity The Pledges Our fall pledge class is a fine group of young men who are involved in many activities from school govemment to athletics. I may add that they also boast the highest GPA for pledge classes at Rutgers this semester. They are; ritual. He is confident that we will be able to get it down soon. Secretaries Lance Knaub and Jeff O'Keefe can take a lot of credit for our improved communications both internal and external respectively. Our success can be attributed to all of us working together and helping each other to reach our desired goal. This is what a fraternity is all about. We now realize that although a house is important Alex Papasavas David Thatch Piscataway, NJ Piscataway, NJ Lance Articolo Hammonton, NJ Brian Linton Bay Head, NJ James Grillo . Upper Saddle River, NJ Enrique Emeric Frank Buonomo Hawthorne, NJ Marlboro, NJ and we would love to have one, it is the brotherhood, not the house, that makes Editor's Desk- the fraternity. Though we are small in numbers, we believe in quality rather than quantity. We have worked hard as a cabinet to improve our overall image on campus. We have a vision that meets with When I first started to get ideas together for this Raritan Fiji, I had no idea of how much time I would have to put into it. But the nationals "standards of excellence," and there is no stopping us in meeting our goals for a strong efficient Nu Beta. We have maintained a psyche all year that was first lit under us in our retreat. The flame is still burning and we will continue to bum forever under the''Elite Eight.'' And without Sheldon Thorpe's work or the sup port from our alumni we could not have dreamed to have gotten this far. We are not fully satisfied, for spring is around the comer and there is a lot of work to be done. Here's to a great future at Nu Beta. Jason Clark-Christie Chapter President here it is at last. I know I can count on all of you to cooperate with the informa tion flyer that is inside. I can assure you that with your cooperation that the fall's Raritan Fiji will contain many more arti cles about you, our graduate brothers. I would like to thank all of you that have helped me put this together and I look forward to working with more of you in the future. Remember brothers. Whenever a star is shining in the sky. Whenever a flag of hope may bravely fly. Whenever a brother clasps a Phi Gamma Delta hand you'll find yourself in FIJILAND! Fratemally, Jeffrey T. O'Keefe