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Back in August the situation was looking pretty dismal for the chapter. We had another fraternity threatening law suit over $50,000 damages and unpaid rent, we owed the national fraternity around $24,000 in back insurance/membership fees, we owed misc. vendors around $5,000, we owed the university about $6,000 in dues and fees, we owed the accountant around $6,000 for past services, and our membership was convinced that without a house they would not survive. We had a heck of a hole to climb out of..

Our first task was to determine who was willing to stay and make this thing work. The leadership evaluated the members and immediately dropped 40 members of dead weight bringing our total count to 80. By the end of the fall semester we had lost another 20. The leaders got very creative with events that would keep the members active and involved. Rush was held in the front yard of the Drachman house with Tiki torches for light. Brother Chris Halligan '85 made a deal with undergrads, if they got more than 20 new members, a round of pizza for the chapter. Hal lost the deal. To their surprise they pledged 28 new members, not based on a nice house, but instead, on the quality of the members. They then made good relations with a number of the other fraternities and sororities. All of the social functions were held at other fraternity houses. A number of brotherhood events took place in the desert or at member's houses, and the homecoming float with Kappa Kappa Gamma was built in Kappa's parking lot (to the disapproval of their alumni). Chapter meetings were held early in the evening in the courtyard of the house, as there was no power and the University would not allow them inside the property.

Spring semester proceeded much the same way, but now we owned the property and some of the debt had been paid. Spirits were higher as they could see we were making headway. Spring rush went well and 15 new members were pledged (this time they had gas generators inside the house for light). A lot of time was spent working to clean the house. Brotherhood events involved painting the halls (to get the graffiti off the walls), installing new doors to secure the building, pulling down ceilings, pulling up floors etc.. to get ready for fixups

Over Spring break, one of the members died in an unfortunate accident down in Rocky Point. The membership had a memorial service in the courtyard for anyone on campus who wished to attend. The whole situation was a bit of a local media event that the guys handled very professionally.

The past school year has been tough for the chapter. With the loss of a brother and no house to congregate, I believe their attitude toward the fraternity really changed. Instead of just a place for social functions, the fraternity became a place for brotherhood and learning how accept and solve challenges.

Some of these guys learned more in the last year with the fraternity than they will in their four years of classes at the University. As I write this, the chapter is healthy and doing very well. We made a deal with the national fraternity, that if we paid our debt by the end of May they would forgive penalties and interest. To be honest with you I don't believe they thought we had a chance of paying this off. It was paid in February. To the surprise of all our creditors, all debt has been paid and bank reserves are growing.

There is no way they could have done it without all of the help they received from the alumni. To all of you; Thank you.

Fred Hirsch '85

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