We are approaching the end of the first school year since we reopened our doors of the Kingdom

We are approaching the end of the first school year since we reopened our doors of the Kingdom in August 2013, and I am proud to announce that our first year has been a tremendous success. Thanks to the generous support of our alumni, our renovated Kingdom is the envy of the Penn State Greek community.



Our recolonization efforts continue to be strong. We have been impressed with the quality of young men who have joined our brotherhood, all of whom demonstrate the mission of the Chi Phi Fraternity: to build better men through lifelong friendships, leadership opportunities and character development. As you can see from the column to the left, we have already started making headlines.



Please mark your calendars for our annual reunion weekend, October 11-12. In addition to holding our annual alumni association meeting at the Kingdom, we plan to watch Penn State beat up on Michigan on our large screen TV. Reach out to your fellow classmates and put it on your calendar. Look for details in the near future.



In addition to the alumni who have provided financial support, the alumni association is indebted to the many alumni who have served on the board or other positions of the alumni association during this important part of our history. The alumni association will be holding elections for new board members this fall at our annual alumni association meeting. In addition, we will be soliciting alumni to assist with various roles and responsibilities. Some of the current alumni serving in those positions now will likely not continue in those roles. In order to continue with our recent success, we need other alumni to volunteer to help going forward. If you are interested in helping, please contact me by e-mail at rkonzmann@gmail.com.



One of the final capital projects yet to be completed at the Kingdom is the front patio where brick pavers will be engraved with the names of the generous alumni who contributed $1,000 or more to the Foundation for the Kingdom capital campaign. This coming summer, we plan to engrave the pavers with those alumni who have fully paid their original commitment. In the summer of 2015, we will undertake the same process to engrave any remaining bricks. Please take time to review your name on page 3 of this newsletter as this is how your name will appear on your brick. If your name is not how you would like it to appear, please contact me with changes. If your name does not appear on page 3, please make a pledge commitment today to join your brothers in the cause (see page 2). Get your payments in today to add your name to our front patio this summer.



As owners of the house, the alumni association’s primary objective is to protect the sanctity of the physical structure of the house and to have a thriving active chapter in order to generate positive cash flow to cover the costs of owning the house. To that end, we have recruited strong new member classes to the Alpha Delta colony of Chi Phi who, we believe, will help us achieve these objectives. The alumni association has also instituted various house policies to help meet these goals.



As many of you may know, one of the policies we originally adopted was to disallow any alcohol on the property. We were able to successfully recruit new members who were looking to join an organization that would foster friendships within the brotherhood and would focus on academics, philanthropic activities, leadership development and social involvement in the Penn State Greek community that did not necessarily involve alcohol. However, as the chapter began operations, started rush on campus and got involved with sororities, it became evident to the board that such a strict policy was limiting the ability of the chapter to grow and attract in-house brothers. It even hampered the enthusiasm of alumni returning to spend time at the house. Accordingly, the board of the alumni association has decided to modify the alcohol policy of the house slightly during the current semester. Under the revised policy, the active chapter may have a limited number of social events with a sorority at the house that involve alcohol and may also have alcohol in the house, but limited to just the brothers of the house. Also, the consumption of any alcohol at the house is subject to the rules and regulations of the Penn State Interfraternity Council. To be clear, this is not a change that will result in large parties with alcohol at the Kingdom. The board of the alumni association believes that modifying this policy removes a real obstacle for growth while still protecting the physical structure of our home and fostering a thriving, sustainable chapter to cover the costs of the ownership of the house.



Fraternally,



Rich Konzmann ’90 President, Alpha Delta Alumni Association