Alpha Letter 2014

Brothers,
The mission of our Fraternity is “to build better men through lifelong
friendships, leadership opportunities, and character development”. Almost every initiative we have implemented over the course of the last semester can be traced back to this seemingly straight-forward goal. This year presented the chapter with a number of challenges. Each one has been handled with the chapter’s mission in mind. Through these difficulties we believe our chapter has grown stronger as a result and will continue to do so as we develop lasting policies, programs, and systems. As challenges arise in the Lehigh community and within the chapter, Chi Phi continues to seek advice from alumni and OFSA.
As many of you may know this semester was not an easy one for the active chapter as we have faced many challenges. The first was overcoming the effects of the incident on December 6th. In response, the actives and Briarfield came up with an action plan to deal with the situation internally that included the removal of six brothers heavily involved with the event, brother self-evaluations at the close of the semester and a realignment retreat. At the start of the next semester the actives and alumni had a retreat to refocus the chapter and concentrate on solving key issues within the fraternity. We used this retreat to develop internal action plans that we would implement over the course of the semester. This semester was an excellent opportunity for the actives to look inward, identify key problems and develop action plans that will help the chapter’s sustainability for the future.
In the Spring, our chapter was faced with a financial crisis. The Fraternity Management Association (FMA) used to manage our finances until we received a letter from the executive director saying they were going to file for bankruptcy. This led myself, the chapter’s Delta Sabin Colton, Matt Scheller and Alan Abels to act immediately. Our plan of action is to collect dues from brothers who have yet to pay as well as get reimbursed for expenses from the Programming & Education account through Lehigh. Lehigh has awarded those affected by the FMA 14 meals a week and the Briarfield also paid to keep our chef, Haika, at the house to cook dinners for the actives. Regardless of the financial situation the brothers still functioned regularly, participating in service activities, having brotherhood events and successfully executing a spring formal.
The chapter’s efforts this semester have proved we are resilient. Through adversity the chapter never forgets its goals to assist in the community, build better men, and strive for Chi Phi’s longevity and future success. Our efforts this semester are reflective of these goals. As the best way to learn about our efforts, please come by the house and speak with any of the active brothers. I’m sure you will be greeted with the chivalric demeanor that extends into the day-to-day actions of our chapter.
Thank you for your continued interest and support of the active chapter.
Sincerely,
Dean Eldridge
Psi Chapter Alpha dje215@lehigh.edu