At it's meeting on November 9, 2002, the Membership of the Corporation accepted a proposal from the Board of Directors that we delay any effort to recharter the Epsilon Beta Chapter for two years and revisit the question then. That vote followed months of discussion on the subject. That discussion is outlined below:

On April 5, 2002, the Board of Directors of the Epsilon Beta of Alpha Tau Omega Building Company appointed a three-member committee of the Board to develop a vision for the return of the chapter to active status on the University of Arizona campus.
This is an evolving document outlining that vision. It's expected that this document will continue to evolve until it is presented to the membership of the Building Company on November 9, 2002.
It begins the process of establishing the vision in seven key areas.

 

TIMELINE
The committee recommends planning a charter banquet the evening of March 31, 2005. That will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the chapter. We need to confirm the date.
If that's the goal, then we need to "back time" from that date to accomplish various goals.
It means the work to form an "interest group" needs to happen in spring, 2003. The group needs to obtain Colony status by spring, 2004.
The committee agrees the timeline is aggressive, but feels that the ability to coincide the rechartering with the 75th anniversary of the original charter banquet should not be missed.

HOUSING
Many of the problems of Epsilon Beta in the past twenty years can be traced to housing issues. The problems of debt collection, maintenance, and kitchen all revolve around housing.
The committee feels that we should not commit to owning or renting our own housing until well after the chapter is re-established and going strong.
We recommend exploring the University providing housing to us either in a residence hall or a University-owned apartment complex. We're not sure this can be accomplished, but we want to try. We've proposed this plan to the Dean of Student's office. There is the concern that the residence halls are jammed packed and the people who run them may not be willing to commit 10 or 12 rooms on a floor to an organization, but new residence halls should be operating by Fall, 2004, so there is possibilities.
By utilizing this method, the committee feels we could expend our efforts on chapter operations and recruitment rather than worrying about housing or "filling" the rooms.
But the committee also feels that this situation shouldn't last forever. Eventually, EB will need it's own facility. The general thoughts are that we should work to avoid the "Greek Row" since that has a tendency to cause more problems than positives. We suggest looking west of campus near other, smaller chapters.
We also suggest buying or building a house that offers basic kitchen facilities, a place to eat, a place to meet and hold ritual, but sleeps a minimal number. Likely, that would mean no more than 20 men in the house, maybe fewer.

UNIVERSITY
In May 2002, two members of the EB Building Company Board met with key University of Arizona officials about EB returning. The message they received was positive. Dean of Students Melissa Vito, Senior Associate Dean of Students Carol Thompson and Greek Coordinator Kathy Adams Riester all agreed that ATW back on campus could be a positive.
At the meeting, the University officials agreed that men's groups are "struggling" right now. They attribute this problem to poor programming inside the chapters, an over-dependence on social activities and debt issues. All of those issues were present just prior to EB failing in 1998.
The Dean of Students office plans to convene an "Alumni Fraternity Summit" in August 2002, to address the issues. They hope to put together a core of major, long standing groups to begin the process of changing the direction of the fraternity system at the UofA. They want to consider deferred rush, tougher academic standards, a larger emphasis on leadership and career planning. They would like ATW to be a part of that effort.
Bottom line: The University wants us back.

NATIONAL FRATERNITY
There has been no contact to this point with the National Fraternity about EB returning. We will reach out to them once the membership determines our future..

FUNDRAISING
As we begin this redevelopment effort, EB has more cash available than it's ever had before.
But this effort provides the opportunity to plan for the future. We hope to eventually be strong and have the need for our own facility.
The committee recommends investigating a fund-raising campaign to raise additional funds for the future.
Two members of the Building Company Board will meet this summer with Matt Noble of Fraternity Management Group. Matt is a KS from the UofA and his company specializes in fraternity capital campaigns.
We'll listen to what he has to say and possibly invite him to speak at the Board's September meeting.

CHAPTER OPERATIONS AND PROGRAMMING
We'll wait to see what the University suggests for chapters on campus. We feel that we should play by the same rules as the other fraternities on campus. If that includes deferred recruitment or tougher GPA requirements, we will follow that.
Without doubt, the chapter should be set up to follow all university and ATW rules and regulations. That includes a strict no hazing policy, the following of all risk management rules and a zero tolerance on drugs. Those lessons begin with recruitment. We need to attract the type of people who would not violate those rules. We also would ban the chapter from recruiting any SALT students.
The committee feels that EB/ATW should require recruits to have a 3.0 cumulative GPA either in their high school or in college, if they have already completed some college courses.
The committee also feels that the chapter should require its members to maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA to be able to continue to be involved in chapter activities. If a member dips below 3.0, he would have one semester to get it back above or he would be removed from the rolls. Obviously, that would require both excellent recruitment and a strong emphasis on academic achievement in the group.
The programming established for the chapter should place an emphasis on our positive history on this campus. We need to provide substantive and important programming to help undergraduates of each class to stay involved.
The committee realizes that most fraternities gear their programming to the 18 year old among them, rather than the 22 year old. That's why juniors and seniors frequently are no longer involved in the chapter.
We can't let that happen. We need to ensure alumni involvement to provide career assistance and support for undergraduates soon to go out into the real world.
We need to stress the importance of being leaders on campus. Our recruits should be young men who have already demonstrated strong leadership skills. We want to be involved in campus honoraries and organizations which foster positive ideals and lessons.
We need to stress a strong, responsible social environment for our members. That should include intramural sports, mixers and exchanges, learning of the ATW songs, a vibrant and important community service aspect of life and others. All should be mixed to create an environment of social responsibility and respect.
There was discussion among the committee about possibly hiring a person on a part-time basis to assist the Board in the rechartering process.
That person could help set up initial programs for the chapter, provide a liaison to the Board and other duties as assigned.
The committee also feels we need to fairly quickly reach out to ATW's who live in the Tucson area who were not initiated at EB. A database will be built of those names and we will plan a September social function for that group.
Following EB's demise, one Board has functioned to manage operations. Now that we plan to re-charter, we will need to have three separate Boards: Housing, Alumni and a Board of Trustees for chapter operations. We need to begin the process of recruiting people to serve.

We appreciate your input into this PROPOSAL. Please put your thoughts in the form of an e-mail and click here to send it. Click here to see the comments already sent in by Brothers. The Board of Directors will vote at it's September 25th meeting what course of action it will recommend to the membership at the November 9th Annual Meeting.