March 2007 Omegaphone
Alumni President's Report
As some of you may know, Omega chapter was in financial troubles last year. As a result of this we voted to sell the house to National. Since that time, National has taken control of the chapter house and its finances and has already made great strides in bringing the chapter house up to code and out of the financial trouble it once faced.
There are still some major repairs required but so far the third floor is in the early stages of reconstruction (having already been gutted to the studs and hopes for completion by the end of July). Another major improvement will be the installation of an indoor sprinkler system as State College code requires all fraternities to have sprinklers installed by September 1, 2008. Any fraternity not up to code by that date will be shut down.
In addition, the undergraduates are doing their part to make Omega great as well. The current group has consistently been at the top of their academic challenges, having finished first amongst all fraternities in 2006. They continue to participate in THON, host the K.I.C.K.S. soccer tournament, and this past fall they won the fraternity volleyball intramurals.
While National takes care of the physical house and the undergraduates continue on their path, the alumni corporation has been trying to get our own house in order. We have made the concerted effort to improve our communication and are determined to keep in contact with our alumni members thanks to regular mailers, website updates, and electronic newsletters.
3rd Floor Hallway - 2007
3rd Floor Hallway - 2005
A great many of you have reached out with financial support, which is always greatly appreciated, and with words of encouragement. And while we definitely need the financial funds, we are also looking for brothers who can lend their time and professional help. Brother Richard Dubin has graciously offered to help with lumber from his lumberyard, thank you Brother Dubin, and we are continuing to look for other brothers who might be able to lend a helping hand in a similar manner. We need brothers who can help with furniture, carpet, doors, windows, and other supplies for the chapter. We also need brothers who can help work with the undergraduates, as we are always in need of help with the chapter finances, legal, communication, and regular sweat equity. Omega still has a long road ahead and I’m hoping that everyone can help out in his own way. As we improve our alumni association, we are making plans to buy the house back from National and to bring the house up to code and make the fraternity one of the best houses at Penn State.
I hope all of you will consider coming to the chapter house for Founder’s Day on April 21st when the annual meeting will take place at 5pm. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.
Thank you for your continued interest and support of Omega chapter.
Richard Maltz ‘90
Alumni President
A Road Back to Home Ownership
It has been less than a year since many of us received the unwelcome news that Omega chapter was distress due to large financial obligations and low undergraduate membership. At the Founder’s Day meeting last April, it was determined that the problem was dire enough to require us to transfer ownership of the chapter house to Norwich Housing Corporation (NHC), the housing division of the Theta Chi International Fraternity.
As part of acquiring the chapter house from the alumni corporation, the NHC paid off several mortgages, delinquent property taxes, and various other bills that were outstanding at the time of their acquisition. In addition, the NHC is putting much needed repairs into making the house more livable, including a complete overhaul of the third floor, a new roof, new windows, as well as a sprinkler system and some other modifications required by new housing code requirements.
The NHC, however, has no interest in owning our chapter house long term. They want our alumni corporation to set an aggressive plan to take the chapter back, and are currently working with Rich Maltz and me to develop a realistic timeframe and plan.
As I was thinking about writing this article, I started to read through a lot of the Theta Chi stuff. There was one note from a brother to a pledge that read:
“Tonight you guys missed the important point – when brothers don’t fulfill their obligations, the house loses. You will become our future and we need you to take our places to keep Theta Chi strong. Look, listen, learn. Let it burn in your heart”
It was then that it dawned on me -- although the process by which we lost the chapter seemed complex and slow, I guess in the end it was simple. Somehow, we forgot the fundamental teachings of our fraternity. Luckily, though, the process to take the chapter back is quite simple. We need to relearn some of the basic concepts.
One of the most basic concepts we learned is the shared responsibility we have for our fraternity. We have all, though some action or lack thereof, let ourselves get to this place. Let us now make a positive change, and through our actions, put our house (literally and figura- tively) back in order.
It does not need to be a huge commitment of time or talent – it just has to be one small “brick” of effort, that if stacked alongside the other “bricks” laid down by your brothers, will add up to something great. Let us both request and offer the Helping Hand, and let us not take “No” for an answer.
Let us be good stewards of the resources we have been given, and let us renew our commitment through our actions. Good stewardship, however , will not be enough. We need to renew the lifeblood of our chapter, the ACTIVE undergraduate and ACTIVE alumni members. Along those lines, we must constantly replenish our undergraduate membership and our active alumni leadership. We must develop an ongoing plan to work with the undergraduate chapter to consistently rush strong new member classes. It will also require us to reach out to our fellow alumni to help keep the alumni corporation strong. It
is only through renewing our membership, as alumni and undergraduates, that we will be able to provide the Brothers that we will need to lead Theta Chi through this tough time, and restore the pride we all once felt in our chapter.
During the next several months, we will be reaching out to many of you to help us with this process. It might be a request to lend some special talent you have to the chapter or to visit the undergraduates to work with them on leadership issues. It might simply be to say hello, and ask if you might want to go to an alumni golf function to gather with your broth- ers. Whatever the call, please receive it with the warmth that you remember your time at Theta Chi of Penn State.
Chris Burke ‘93
Finance 411
I am happy to report that the alumni corporation’s finances are doing well. We are finishing our annual appeal, and donations have increased from this time last year. We should be in good financial shape to operate through the year and to provide some support to the chapter house. We also will continue to strive to reacquire the house.
Some have questioned how we got into such dire financial straits that we needed to transfer ownership of the house to the Norwich Housing Corporation. When the undergraduates moved out, the alumni corporation’s major source of income went away. However, many of the alumni corporation’s bills did not change because of the occupancy of the house. These annual bills included $12,000 for property insurance, $7,000 for school taxes, $1,500 for county tax, and $1,200 for borough tax. These bills quickly depleted the modest financial reserves the alumni corporation had accumulated.
Even after undergraduates reoccupied the house, their numbers were so small that they could not be asked to pay rent that that would cover the alumni corporation’s expenses. The tax bills quickly piled up and the county threatened to sell the house at an upset sale. That prospect forced the corporation to seek the generous help of the Norwich Housing Corporation.
Many alumni have asked what they can do to help. Although your monetary donations certainly are appreciated, the most important factor for the financial health of the alumni corporation is a chapter house that is at full capacity. If you are in State College for a football weekend, stop by the house and meet the undergraduates. Share with them your experiences at the fraternity. Active and engaged alumni will help the chapter grow, and will allow the alumni corporation to obtain ownership of the house.
Jim Stuhltarger ‘89
Andy Bott and Jeff Kranzel - Dance Marathon 2007
Chapter Report
This past semester has been very successful for the brothers of Theta Chi Omega chapter. For three straight semesters, Theta Chi has consistently appeared at the numbers one spot for highest cumulative chapter GPA amongst all IFC fraternities. In the Fall semester, 13 brothers achieved Dean’s List, with Brother Michael Crawford boosting our average with his perfect 4.0 GPA. Don’t worry though; we’re not a bunch of bookworms. We won the Intramural Championship for Men’s Volleyball in the Fall. We are currently under review of a panel that is judging our chapter for excellence. Being named a Chapter of Excellence at Penn State is a very prestigious title that only the best fraternities get to hold. Brother Todd Pontius, currently the IFC Vice President of Programming happened to be sitting on that panel, and informed us that we lit up the room with our accomplishments. But what are these accomplishments Brother Chottiner? Let’s dive in.
Our helping hand has reached many people already in this school year. After yet another successful K.I.C.K.S. tournament in the Fall, we raked in approximately $1,800 for Make- A-Wish. We have begun a small tradition consisting of monthly visits to an elderly care home, The Village, to play bingo with its residents. These senior citizens look forward to our visits, and recognize our letters when we walk through the door. That, along with over 400 hours of community service, has shown that we care about the surrounding commu- nity. For THON, we teamed up with S.N.A.P., which stands for “Student Nurses Association of Pennsylvania,” although the brothers prefer to call them S.N.A.P.S., which to us stands for "Sexy Nurses at Penn State." Together we raised a total of $16,110.16 for the kids. We have goals for next year to blow that total away, and return to being a top tier THON fundraising fraternity.
Our 75 year old house is currently under a great deal of renovations. The third floor was demolished in the early winter, and should be completely remodeled by the end of May. We should have 20 available rooms by the beginning of next semester, as well as a new roof, a usable fireplace/chimney, and several new appliances. The Norwich Housing Corporation has provided the funds to allow Greg Butts and his wonderful FratFix crew to give us the much needed renovations that we have de- sired since we moved back into the house.
As far as where we’re headed: the sky’s the limit. I’m a sophomore, leading up an entire Executive Board of sophomores who are ready to restore Theta Chi to glory here at Penn State. People are beginning to recognize us, and they will continue to do so as our brother- hood grows in size, involvement, and charac- ter. We are participating in Greek Week for the first time since our re-founding, and preparing to ride our successes from Homecoming 2006 into Homecoming 2007.
As always, the president should encour- age alumni to return. I don’t care if you give money. Hell, leave your wallet at home (who said you needed a wallet to carry cash). Just show up once in a while. You have stories to tell, and so do we. Come back to the house and relive some of those memories. Without our alumni, we might as well be the Alpha class of 1919. We do have a past, so share its beauty with us.
Jason Chottiner
Thank you to all those brothers that shared their news.
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