Just wanted to share a little ray of sunshine in light of the
allegations and the pending member review that will be taking place
on April 5th.

I just got a copy last night of the IFC Grade reports and I am
pleased to announce that of the active Houses at ASU we rank 7th in
GPA among all 15 IFC Houses. We are by far the largest house (117
members) and the total size of the six houses that rank above us in
GPA is 182 for an average house size for them of about 30
members. The house with the highest GPA is Alpha Lamda Tau with just
6 total members. The next largest active house is Delta Sig at 94
members followed by Phi Kappa Psi with 69.

Our Membership GPA average is 2.96 (the previous average for us was
2.79). The IFC Chapter average is 3.00, the All Undergraduate Men’s
Average is 2.82 and the All Undergraduate Average (this includes all
women) is a 2.93.

So happily we are above the actual Campus average and IFC as a whole
is above it too. Our representatives meeting with ASU on Housing
issues should be able to use this information to good effect.

FYI, Our pledges had a GPA of 2.90 and I am trying to find out what
the All Freshmen GPA was to compare against that number. I would
venture to guess that our pledges (even with their additional duties,
etc…) will be above their non-Greek peers too.

I am limited in what can be released at this point but suffice it to
say that a tremendous breakthrough with the University appears to
have been reached today that will address our current housing
location for a significant period of time.

While the initial documents that I have seen are certainly
encouraging and there are control, facilities and finance items to be
addressed and clarified by both sides I would say that the logjam has
been cleared and we have Bob Hobbs and Bruce Sedlak to thank for the
yeoman efforts that they have expended on our behalf.

The personal relationship that Bob has developed with Dr. Crow and
Dr. Crow’s apparent willingness to listen to Bob’s (and his sons Bob,
Jr. and Tom) input certainly seems to be rubbing off on University
staff since I am certainly able to see what appears to be some
changes in attitude of the Staff and its willingness to work with us
and our Chapter.

We also have Bruce to thank for his tenacity in getting the
University Staff, that were tasked by Dr. Crow to negotiate with the
Blue Ribbon Alpha Drive Housing Committee, to actually listen to us
and in keeping the Committee as a whole focused on the issues at hand
and to utilize the resources at his disposal.

Hopefully soon we will be able to release a more detailed
announcement but I will say that we will immediately begin the task
of moving forward with our planned renovations and hopefully the
creation of a 501(c)3 corporation to transfer the asset of the House
into so that donations to help pay off the mortgage ($157,000) and to
pay for the loan that will be used for the budgeted renovations can
be tax deductible since the purpose of the House is to provide a
place for the fraternal and scholastic education of our members
attending Arizona State University.

As previously announced we are moving into a painful Membership
Review with the current house this breakthrough regards housing is
actually the silver lining to that dark cloud and is coming at a good
time for the Chapter since a revitalized and energized membership
will be poised to take advantage of the stability that appears to be
around the corner and to assist in the rebirth of the Epsilon Upsilon
Chapter to the benefit of both our own Alums and those Alums from our
other Chapters that now call the Phoenix area home.

In Hoc…

Brothers,

Unfortunately we bring you some disheartening news from the ASU
Chapter. After going almost seven years (1996-2003) without a single
discipline complaint the ASU Chapter is facing some allegations
(hazing from December and hazing and multiple serious drug related
allegations from last week).

These allegations from the University, coupled with some internal
issues that have been building for the last year or so have finally
resulted in a general Membership Review being visited upon the
Chapter. We will be conducting the interviews and member review on
Saturday, April 5th.

While we do not yet know (nor even have an idea) how many members
will face either being removed from Active to Alumni Status nor how
many may face additional censure (suspension or expulsion) the
Chapter is effective as of yesterday (3/17/03) on a 45-day suspension
pending this review. This means that they are prohibited from
hosting or participating in social, intramural or philanthropic
events. Additionally, given the nature of some of the allegations
the pledge program was suspended last week while awaiting word from
the Executive Committee (EC) of the Fraternity as to if a Membership
Review would be going forward.

We do not yet know the Status of the current pledge class (10) or of
the holdovers from last semester (8) but I imagine they will be part
of this review and their status will be clarified at a later time.

For those that do not understand how this process works allow me to
explain. At the direction of the EC the Praetor will undertake a
review of Chapter operations and all members of the Chapter. When
this review takes place all Active Members are converted to Alumni
and are essentially interviewing to be returned to Active
Status. Members that are not allowed back as an Active and are left
on Alumni Status (while still an undergraduate) are prohibited from
interaction with the Active Chapter and participation in any Active
Chapter events.

In addition to making sure that any members desiring to return to
Active Status are able to demonstrate that they have a basic
understanding of the Jordan Standard and what the ideals of the
Fraternity are they will have to demonstrate that they will actually
be able to be a credit to the Fraternity through their past
involvement with the Chapter, their plans for how they want to
increase their involvement and that they at a minimum are both
current in their financial obligations to the Fraternity as well as
carrying a GPA that is above the All Men’s Average for the School.

There will be some additional conditions they will have to live with
based on the nature of the allegations levied against them and the
initial investigations that have thus far been carried out. We are
currently looking into conducting either random drug testing every
semester and/or obtaining the services of an animal handler to bring
a trained Drug Dog through the House at random times (The Chapter at
Oklahoma has been doing this for a while now). Those members that
cannot meet or agree to meet and be judged by these conditions will
either self select or be selected to not participate with the Active
Chapter for the remainder of their undergraduate
career. Transferring to another school will also not be an option
since this status will follow them should they attempt to affiliate
with another chapter.

As we informed the Active Chapter last week this process will not be
pleasant for either them or us but the Chapter will emerge from this
crucible with a stronger and tighter bond than that which they
currently are able to demonstrate.

In Hoc…
Dave R.

SIGS WELCOME BRUCE SEDLAK AS OUR SPEAKER FOR MARCH MEETING

Brother Bruce Sedlak (ASU ’75) of Cisco Systems, Fiesta Bowel Committee and a
veteran of the Epsilon Upsilon Chapter’s battle with the University
over property will speak at the March meeting of the Phoenix Sigma
Chi Alumni Chapter.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, March 12 at our regular location at the
Phoenix City Grill Restaurant, 5816 N. 16th Street (Southwest corner with
Bethany Home Rd.) in Phoenix. Drinks at 6pm, followed by dinner at 6:30 and
our speaker at 7:00.

—————–

The Active Chapter at ASU is planning on a Golf Tourney to be held
the (I believe) on May 3rd. They have openings for 40 and will
accomodate Local Sigma Chi Alums first and then fill in the rest of
the slots with Active Brothers. If you are interested in playing
please respond to me so that i can supply them with a roster. I will
forward additional details and direct contact information as it is
provided to me.

SIGS GATHER FOR VALENTINE’S DAY PARTY IN FEBRUARY

Brother Bill Gibney and his wife Cheryl Parker are hosting our
February Chapter meeting at there lovely home in north Phoenix. This
“meeting” will actually be a Valentine’s Day party for brothers and
their sweethearts.

Here are the details:

DATE: Wednesday, February 12th, 6:00 to 9:00PM

LOCATION: Bill and Cheryl’s home at 4122 E. Mission Lane in Phoenix

DIRECTIONS: Shea Blvd. to 40th Street. South on 40th Street to
Mission Lane (approximately .8 mile south of Shea). East on Mission
Lane to 4122.

DINNER: Will be catered and will include wine and beer

COST: $50.00 per couple

Bill and Cheryl’s home is beautiful, next to the Phoenix Mountain
Preserve and will be an ideal location for this soiree.

BUT, WE NEED A COUNT OF THE BROTHERS WHO ARE PLANNING ON ATTENDING IN
ORDER TO GIVE A HEAD COUNT TO THE CATERER. PLEASE RSVP EITHER DAVE
RIDDLE AT: dave@microworks.net OR MARSHALL CHRISTY AT:
marshallchristy@realtyexecutives.com IF YOU PLANNING ON ATTENDING AS
SOON AS POSSIBLE.

REALTY EXECUTIVES’ RICH RECTOR SIG SPEAKER FOR JANUARY

With our conference room confirmed, Brother Rich Rector (Stanford ’75),
Chairman and CEO of Realty Executives Phoenix and Chairman and President of
Realty Executives International, will talk about the changing real estate
market and more at the January meeting of the Phoenix Sigma Chi Alumni
Chapter.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, January 8 at our regular location at the
Phoenix City Grill, 5816 N. 16th Street (Southwest corner with Bethany Home
Rd.) in Phoenix. Drinks at 6pm followed by dinner at 6:30 and our speaker at
7:00.
—————
February’s Chapter meeting will be a “Sweetheart” dinner at Brother Bill
Gibney’s house on February 12th. Wives/girlfriends are
invited. Additional information will be announced soon.
—————
The Active Chapter at ASU will be playing host to a bunch of Ohio
State Alums (including Ohio State’s 1955 Heisman Trophy winner and
Significant Sig Howard “Hopalong” Cassady) for the Fiesta Bowl this
week. Currently about 80-90 people are expected for a cocktail party
at the House on the evening of the 2nd followed by a “tailgate” party
also at the House the afternoon of the 3rd. Any local Sigs going to
the game are of course invited to stop by too.

Last night I attended another design session (6pm-7pm) presented by
ASU, Century Development, the company that will manage the project,
and the Architects from Gould-Evans that are designing the site which
was in turn followed by a meeting address management issues of the
site (7pm-8pm)

I did not hold out much hope that what they would be showing us would
begin to address the numerous flaws in their design and they did not
disappoint.

Some of the low-lights of the meeting

1. One of the telling moments for me was when Boyd Heckle (SigEp)
asked the Architect (the same guy that I said I would have graded an
“F” in my last email) making the presentation if he could discuss the
philosophical difference in building a Fraternity House and a
Dorm. He stuttered and stammered for a while and finally started
going on about how fraternities were begun as study groups and lived
on big plots of land in big houses but that the needs had changed and
that besides the shape of a Chapter House differed from region to
region. He of course did not indicate how he knows any of this or
that he has looked at how our needs in this region have been analyzed
and looked at.

2. Boyd also asked him to explain what the design criteria was that
ASU supplied them with. Sally Rammage from ASU then stood up to
start talking about this and Boyd told Sally that he wanted to hear
it from the Architect not from ASU. He then gave a none answer.

3. In addressing the concerns on Chapter room size that were brought
up in the previous meeting they showed various room configurations
with furniture and walls, but did not address actual square footage
as the design of the structure has not actually been changed. They
showed how the room could be configured to accommodate tables for
dining, couches for relaxing and chairs for chapter meetings. They
did not show where all this furniture is to be stored when one of
these three needs in being exercised.

He did try to show that by removing a room above the Chapter room
that they could open up the ceiling to make the chapter room more
airy. I asked the flippant question that “since we are unable to
levitate how does making a high ceiling addresses the needs of square footage?”

4. They showed various pictures of buildings around campus to justify
the exterior brick treatment that the clusters will be given so as to
identify the buildings with ASU. I pointed out that I need the
building to identify Sigma Chi not ASU.

They went off on a discussion that the Houses need to be part of a
greater community and not to be individual kingdoms (or words to that effect).

The extent of our individual “branding” will be in putting a vote in
as to weather the complex will have Greek letters on the side of the
building (in either a vertical or horizontal arrangement or will the
names be spelled out.

5. On a positive note they have deleted the walkways on the second
and third floors that tied all the buildings together and have
increased the elevators so that there in now one for every two buildings.

6. Two houses of 80 guys each will be sharing a single laundry
room. This to me is an issue of concern.

7. There is still no parking and since that design criteria was not
provided to them they will not be addressing it.

8. They have changed the bathrooms in the rooms to have showers
instead of tubs.

9. To address the issue of natural lighting in the rooms they are
proposing to use glass doors and for the rooms that are in the inner
hallways without direct contact with the courtyard they propose glass
walls too. Again they are building a dorm not a fraternity house.

The second meeting entailed providing ASU with a list of questions
and concerns dealing with how the structure will be managed. Such as:
1. How it is determined who gets to move in
2. Is the building classified as Fraternity Housing or Residential
Life Housing (the alcohol policy is different)
3. Can the individual rooms have things built in them.
4. Is the building held by the House Corp which in turn licenses
space to members or does ASU lease directly to the individual.
5. If all beds are not filled will ASU move random students in
And many pages more of questions. When the answers are supplied by
ASU I will forward them on.

As for time lines to move in they are giving “right of first refusal”
to the fraternities to be displaced on Old Row and they have to sign
a letter of intent by the local Chapter, the House Corp and their
Headquarters by March 1 as well as submit an applications. Selections
will be announced in early April and individual license agreements
will be due in May.

As for our ability to continue occupancy of one of these structures,
should we decide to move to one (over my cold dead body), beyond a
one year individual license agreement signed by our members with the
University there is no guarantee and final authority to determine
this will rest with the Vice President for Student Affairs there is
no allowance for Alumni and house Corp input into the hearing or
decision process.

Enough for now…

REALTY EXECUTIVES’ RICH RECTOR SIG SPEAKER FOR DECEMBER

Brother Rich Rector (Stanford ’75), Chairman and CEO of Realty
Executives Phoenix and Chairman and President of Realty Executives
International, will talk about the changing residential real estate
market and more at the December meeting of the Phoenix Sigma Chi
Alumni Chapter.

The meeting will be held Wednesday December 11 at our regular
location at the Phoenix City Grill, 16th Street and Bethany Home Road
in Phoenix. Drinks at 6pm followed by dinner at 6:30 and our speaker at 7:00.

Our tentative speaker for the upcoming January meeting will be
brother Steve Hart, General Manager of the new J.W. Marriott Desert
Ridge Resort and Spa “Mega-resort”.

——————-

The Active Chapter at ASU, along with four of the Sororities that are
joining in with them this year, are once again doing a toy drive for
Christmas to support the Boys and Girls Club. If any Alums would
like to donate a toy please bring it to the Wednesday meeting or call
me at 480-610-8234 to see if we can arrange to meet up and I can get
it from you. They are asking for a cost limit of between $5-$10 per toy.

I attended both sessions this evening of a presentation that ASU had
the Architect and the Private Management company that will run the
“Small Group Cluster Housing” (the use of the word cluster is quite
appropriate when you see the description further down) project to
show us what a wonderful new utopia they will be building for us and
the other Fraternities on the “South” campus. They showed us all
seven or so phases that are planned for this area in addition to that
encompassing the Housing described below.

Well to sum it up in a single sentence – as Fraternity Houses they
will make nice Freshman Dorms for non-local students.

Now some details just pulled in order from my notes.

1. Location: Bordered to the South by the railroad tracks that run at
the half mile point between Apache Blvd. and Broadway Rd., to the
east by Rural Rd to the west by the Sonoran Dorm (separated from the
dorm by a pedestrian walkway) and to the north by the bike trail that
runs at about the 1/4 mile point south of Apache.

2. Last item on their list that they are considering (and it is not
even planned) is how to safely move students across Apache Blvd to
the Main Campus. There is talk of a Bridge (ala that over University
Dr) or a tunnel but no plan and no commitment.

3. Not one single parking space is planned for this development that
will house at least 560 people! The closest parking will be a half
mile away on the other side of Apache Blvd. The neighbors to the
northwest of this development will be the Adelphi Commons where the
Sororities were moved to and for whom no parking was built either.

4. The first phase calls for building a line of eight identical
building. The front door will open onto the pedestrian walkway
across from Sonoran Dorm. Entering the house through this door will
find you in what they are referring to as the “Chapter Room” will
obviously double as a living room and foyer. This room will be about
1,200 sq feet, certainly not big enough to accommodate an actual
Chapter Meeting. Unless of course all the furniture is moved out and
everyone stands shoulder to shoulder.
Continuing into the building you will come to two small 180 sq. ft.
rooms. The room on the left will be a study/office and the room on
the right will be a kitchen with the typical type appliances that you
would find in a single family tract home, one fridge, one stove/oven
and one dishwasher. There is no dining room. Don Anderson from
Delta Sig asked the question “Why bother?” No additional University
owned dining facilities are planned to accommodate these University
housed (or is that hosed?) students either.

5. The bedrooms will be arranged on the first, second and third
floors into two man suites that share a bathroom between the two
suites. The second and third floors are reached via one of two
staircases at either end of the facility. The front door of the
suites empty into courtyard if you are on the first floor or a
balcony that looks down into the courtyard. The back end of the
courtyard faces Rural Rd.

6. 45 feet across the courtyard will be the back wall of the next
cluster which comprises the shared bathroom facilities of that
building. There will be non-functioning windows mounted high up on
each floor with the glass frosted or otherwise treated so that they
will just let in light.
Just imagine what this concrete canyon courtyard will be like in
August/September/October and March/April/May with no ventilation
except from directly overhead!
I asked the architects if they had actually modeled what amount of
sunlight will actually make it into this courtyard since it will be
bordered by three story walls to the north and the south. The best
way I could describe the look on their faces was “vacant” I do not
think the idea had even crossed their mind, well it did mine and I am
not an architect nor do I play one on TV.
The guy making the presentation also works as an instructor in ASU’s
architecture school. Don Anderson (Delta Sig) asked them after the
presentation if they had thought about actually visiting a Fraternity
House to see how we operate and utilize a building. They said
no. Lord help this instructors students. Finding out what the
customer needs, wants and how they make use of your product is the
first thing that a consultant needs to ascertain. I would give this
ASU instructor an “F”.

7. There will be a breezeway running down the front of the buildings
on the second and third floors that will tie the clusters
together. On the second floor landing at the front of the building
is where they plan to have a couple washers and dryers to accommodate
two clusters. Now we will have 80 guys from two different chapters
sharing a single laundry room. Oh, yeah that sounds like some
thought went into the design.

8. At separate ends of the facility will be an elevator. If a house
in the middle finds that it has a member with a sprained ankle
(probably obtained during his mile long hike to and from his car in
the parking lot on the other side of Apache Blvd.) he will have to
take the elevator in one building and walk through three other
houses. I say “through” because on the second and third floors there
will be a bedroom positioned above the front door of the house and
across this walkway from the balance of the House. Kinda
cantilevered out in space.

9. The total floor space will be about 10,000 sq. feet but if for
some reason you are unable to occupy all the rooms in your building
ASU will take the third floor away from you and house general
population students in your facility. ASU will also enter into
separate leases with your members instead of allowing the House Corp
to do a master lease and then sublicense the members the rooms so
that a member causing problems cannot be removed by the Chapter.
There are currently no plans to allow us to “customize the exterior
fronts and entryways to our buildings either (although Mernoy
Harrison indicated last week this might be able to be
changed). Kinda like being in a fascist police state type of Home
Owners association with they won’t let you grown a flower that is not
on the approved list.

10. They are currently planning on having three single rooms in each cluster.

11. Phase 1 (eight clusters) calls for them moving Old Row into this
facility in January 2004 (two semester away) and Phase 2 (six
clusters) calls for moving the Alpha Drive Houses in the Fall
Semester of 2004 (three semesters away).

Summary: Based on the presentation I am even more convinced that we
cannot and will not move into this facility. With no parking we will
not be able to get students to move. If we do not get students to
move in the University will squeeze us out. once we are out of
housing our chapters die.

Even if we somehow manage to get guys to live-in (all rooms filled
means 1/3 of the Chapter is around) we will have no way to provide
for the other 2/3rd of the Chapter to come over for Chapter meetings
or just to be around the house because there is no parking for them.

The size of the “Chapter” room is not big enough to accommodate us
and we do not want to use the Chapter Room as a living room and
entrance foyer to the House either.

Without parking, meeting space and dining facilities we will not be
able to attract Alums to come by the House either.

If Michael Crow is serious about wanting to beef up ASU’s Home Coming
festivities he should help us on Alpha Drive because with our current
proximity to the Stadium and parking and the size of our houses we
could make a good focal point for that goal of his.

THE RITUAL MARKS THE NOVEMBER MEETING

Brotherhood will be celebrated Wednesday night November 13th with the
semi-annual Ritualistic meeting when the Phoenix Alumni Chapter of Sigma Chi
gathers.

The location will be at the Epsilon Upsilon Chapter House at ASU (606 E. Alpha
Drive in Tempe. Directions are: Rural Rd. (Scottsdale Rd.) south from the 202
to 6th Street(second traffic light). West two blocks to Alpha Drive. The Sig
House is on the northeast corner across from the Basketball
Arena. Park in “large” lot across the street from the House as that
parking is open parking at that time of day.

Dinner and a “keg” is being provided at no charge by the Epsilon Upsilon
Housing Corp. Cocktails at 6pm, dinner at 6:30 and the meeting will start at
7:00. See you there!
——————————–
The speaker for our upcoming December meeting will be Brother Rich Rector,
Chairman and CEO of Realty Executives Phoenix and Chairman and President of
Realty Executives International
——————————–
The Active Chapter at ASU is doing a Toy Drive for the Tempe Boys and
Girls Club. If you would like to donate a toy to the cause please
bring one with you to the November or December meetings.