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(09/11/00 9:00am)
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
The Beta Theta Pi fraternity has decided to do exactly that.
The house won Fraternity of the Year in the annual Greek awards ceremony in 1991, but the last decade has seen interest wane and membership lag.
The chapter, down to a mere two members on campus, is now working directly with its national chapter to restart itself at Penn.
The fraternity's two brothers currently live in the house at 3900 Spruce Street and rent out all the vacant rooms.
The national Beta officials decided it was time to take charge.
"The chapter had experienced low membership in recent years, so we're basically starting over," said Martin Cobb, director of Beta's Men of Principle Initiative.
This is the organization within Beta at the national level that seeks to implement plans and strategies for increased success.
Wharton senior and current Beta President Brian Godfrey explained that the chapter will continue to be active at Penn, and that its current brothers were still members, but that new members would take the fraternity in a new direction.
The existing brothers would "allow the new members to work on restarting the chapter," Godfrey said.
New members will assume the status of "founding fathers" within the fraternity: They will be the first members of the reconstituted chapter. The two current Beta brothers will continue to live at the house, and will remain members of the fraternity with alumni status.
The national chapter is sending educational consultants David Rae and Vince Mikolay to live at the Beta house from September 23 through the month of October to attract recruits. These representatives regularly travel to Beta chapters across the country to educate and train members in chapter management.
At Penn, the consultants will conduct activities to make Beta an attractive choice for those wishing to pledge a fraternity and want the chance to help build a new chapter, according to Rae.
"We're looking for students that are wanting to create their own fraternity experience," Rae said.
Rae hoped that the recruitment would draw 40 to 45 new members to Beta.
Scott Reikofski, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, noted that Beta's restarting would likely allow upperclass men the unusual opportunity to join and immediately assume a leadership role within a fraternity.
"Certainly this is a great opportunity for men to really mold the fraternity experience they want that they may not be seeing in the existing chapters," Reikofski said.
Cobb said that the new members will have to take on special responsibilities to make the chapter's revitalization succeed at Penn.
"The founding fathers will need to be very active in the reorganization effort and exemplify the fraternity's goals of leadership, friendship, service, academics and campus involvement," he said
(08/31/00 9:00am)
The number of fraternities and sororities on campus dropped over the summer as three organizations vacated their houses.
The Delta Tau Delta fraternity has given up its charter, but is already seeking to recolonize on campus in the near future. The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, while still in existence, has been rendered inoperative as an organization by the University. And it is unclear whether the Pi Beta Phi sorority will remain an active chapter on campus.
The DTD brothers announced that they were leaving campus last spring due to low membership.
At the time, DTD National Assistant Director Garth Eberhart explained that the chapter's disbanding was "purely a membership issue." He noted that the chapter had only 21 brothers, insufficient to justify the upkeep of its large 39th Street house.
Inter Fraternity Council President and College senior Andrew Mandelbaum said the chapter will seek recertification from its national office. "DTD will recolonize in the 2001-2002 academic year," he said.
SAM violated the terms of an existing agreement with the University by serving alcohol at a rush event held on January 21, 2000.
In the spring of 1999, an agreement was reached permitting the chapter to reorganize with new members after the brothers were caught by police traveling with kegs and stolen equipment from a bowling alley on a rush trip in New Jersey.
After SAM broke the deal, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs issued a statement in February reporting that SAM was prohibited from taking part in activities using its name, Greek letters or insignia, and from "otherwise functioning as a chapter."
If it abides by these conditions, SAM will be permitted to recolonize in the spring.
SAM President and Wharton junior Jared Hendricks was unavailable to comment on the status of the fraternity.
Mandelbaum said he believed the prospects for the group's return to active status on campus were good. "We look forward to working with them to apply for recertification."
The status of the Pi Phi sorority was ambiguous for most of last semester. Membership in the group had declined to only 35 sisters last February, when the chapter's executive board announced that it would not be accepting a pledge class and had given up its house. At that time, a representative of the national organization suggested that the chapter would likely vote to disband at the end of last semester.
Whether the sorority has disbanded or not is unclear. Chapter President Emily Seroska and Michele Tereschuk, chapter representative to the Panhellenic Council, both College juniors, could not be reached for comment. The chapter is no longer listed as an active one on the national organization's Web site
(08/10/00 9:00am)
We got something truly rare in our country during last week's Republican Convention -- a good show for free. And I'm not talking about George W.'s speech.
(07/27/00 9:00am)
Philadelphia came very close to smelling worse than a Quad restroom in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. Fortunately, the well-publicized negotiations with the City's two largest unions of government workers, one of which represents workers who operate and maintain the city's garbage truck, resulted in an agreeement.
(03/09/00 10:00am)
The consumer advocate is running for for president on the Green Party ticket. A subtle irony hung in the air of Room 1206 in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall yesterday afternoon, when Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader addressed about 200 Penn students and faculty and other interested area residents on his campaign and his cause. But the liberal press conference and rally's location -- a pristine classroom in Wharton, a school whose Economics classes espouse principles of free-market capitalism -- was not intended to produce any ironic effect, College freshman Lincoln Ellis said. "It was the only room available," said Ellis, a member of Penn Students Against Sweatshops, which sponsored the event. Nader is running for the presidency on the ticket of the Green Party -- the 16-year-old left-leaning party that focuses on grass-roots democracy, social justice, non-violence and ecology. Quoting Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, Nader, 66, told his audience that history teaches two important societal lessons: "Democracy works," he said. "But the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few doesn't work." He called specific attention to current economic conditions, noting, "There's a huge disconnect between most people and the booming economy." Citing statistics that showed that the average American has become progressively less wealthy and more indebted since the 1950s, Nader chided the media for not addressing the financial difficulties that many citizens face. "Millions of Americans after years of work are essentially broke," Nader said. He then elaborated on pollution, declining public works, corporate under-regulation and military overspending, which he said were "the results of an oligarchy" of corporate interests and "tweedledum, tweedledee, look-alike political parties." It is the inability of most Americans to influence change, Nader said, that causes "civic demoralization," which he described as the belief of many citizens that their voice will not be heard. Nader drew applause when he decried inaction on the part of the United States and its citizens in regard to the exploitation of children as laborers in other parts of the world. He went on to cite PSAS as an example of a student organization whose dedication during its recent sit-in in University President Judith Rodin's office evoked comparisons to student activists in the 1960s. Nader was introduced by Philadelphia City Councilman David Cohen. Of Nader, Cohen said, "I know of nobody in the U.S. who's fought more consistently over time on behalf of consumers?. It's wonderful Ralph Nader is going political." To this, Cohen added, "It is my hope that the Democratic Party can someday adopt all the principles which the Green Party espouses." Nader's speech was followed by an open question-and-answer period. One audience member commented on the lack of a Green Party membership base in this part of the country. Nader pointed out that the party is relatively new, having been founded in the United States in 1984, and that all important political movements start small. He said that it had the potential to become "a populist-progressive movement? of thought, not blind belief." History graduate student Chris Klemek looked to Nader as a potent alternative to the Democratic Party. "I'm attempting to look elsewhere for progressive politics," he said. "It's inspiring," local political activist Val Sowell added, "to see someone so fueled by their beliefs."
(02/28/00 10:00am)
Mayor John Street and his former political opponent Sam Katz had many disagreements about city politics when they campaigned to be mayor of Philadelphia. But on Friday afternoon, as part of the Jewish Heritage Program's Mentoring Luncheon, the two men found a subject on which they could agree: The need for a stronger cultural identity on college campuses. Street, Katz and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham were among the featured speakers at Friday's program in the Temple University Center City building, which brought together more than 50 prominent area residents and nearly 200 Jewish students from seven universities in the region -- including Penn. The discussion centered on achieving success after college, making a positive impact upon the world and retaining cultural and religious identities. The meeting's goal, according to its organizers, was to permit personal interaction between students and the local leaders. Many of the leaders had already developed a mentoring relationship with the students as part of JHP. Speakers at the event made it clear that, as mentors to the students, they were willing to assist them to the greatest extent possible in their efforts to retain their Jewish pride and find good internships and jobs. "I'm here to help you find an internship in your field," said Roberta Matz of the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia. "Find the courage to do what you think you want to do, and if you want to change [your job], it's not written in stone." Others sought to connect their Jewish identity to their lives and occupations. "I don't know how all of this relates to the workplace directly, but I try to bring a warm, Yiddish feel to work to share with others," said Elaine Wilner, the public relations director of Penn's School of Arts and Sciences. The luncheon began with a buffet and was then followed by a series of speakers. Afterward, students separated into sessions with their respective schools, in which they discussed the program, its impact upon them and other related topics. JHP is a regional campus outreach organization targeted at Jewish students not involved in activities associated with Judaism on their college campuses. Founded in 1993 at Penn, JHP provides mentoring for more than 5,000 students on 11 campuses and attracts more than 21,000 attendees to its annual events. "I wish there was a program like this when I was younger," remarked David Schwartz, a mentor in the program.
(02/17/00 10:00am)
Donning their best business attire, members of the Society of Women Engineers congregated at a banquet hall in the Penn Tower Hotel last night for the organization's third-annual Corporate Dinner. In spite of the event's name and setting, however, those in attendance seemed universally aware that the atmosphere of the meeting was meant to capacitate a less formal, more personal sort of interaction between students and the representatives of 10 participating corporations. "The Corporate Dinner provides the opportunity for students to interact with company representatives on a non-confrontational basis," said Engineering senior Jill Korschgen, an SWE Board member. Keynote speaker Leann Mischel, the assistant vice president of business optimization at First USA bank, gave students advice on how to pursue happiness in the workplace. Mischel spoke of her experience in business. She has also worked as an independent management consultant for organizations like the Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Army and co-founded a plastics research and manufacturing corporation. Before her speech, Mischel described what had drawn her to the dinner and what she saw as its purpose. "I'm very interested in seeing other women succeed," Mischel said. Attendees should "make connections with people in business, and the people you go to school with." Other corporate representatives said they appreciated the dinner's casual atmosphere and its focus on women, who are statistically underrepresented in the engineering field. "We need more women engineers," noted Tracey Fletchman, the representative from Johnson and Johnson's. She said her corporation "is actively supporting SWE to try to liaison its membership." Engineering senior Sarah Winnacker, the president of SWE, explained that women make up only 27 percent of engineering students at Penn, 19 percent of engineering students nationally and only 5 percent of the country's engineering workforce. With a membership of 120, the group meets regularly for similar career-related events, activities involving the SWE's national organization and in order to participate in community service activities. Engineering senior and SWE Board Member Jenny Li, who organized the dinner, said she was enthusiastic about its results. "I got a lot of really exciting feedback from members," she said.
