President’s Letter
Brothers,
It pleases me to virtually no end to share with you the great news from our 147th Congressional meeting in Atlanta. The Psi chapter has won one of the most prestigious awards a chapter can receive in being awarded the Thomas A. Gehring Award for Most Improved Chapter. Our current chapter has come such a long way since the fall of 2010. Our 49 members currently have the #1 GPA of all fraternities at Lehigh, and have the model for best practices on year round rush and new member education. The 2011-2012 accreditation report is out and our chapter rated one of the highest with the Silver Medal. You can see the full report at http://www.lehigh.edu/~indost/greek/reports.shtml
Other awards that need to be mentioned: Danny Grezsik our Chapter Advisor won the Chi Phi Chapter Advisor of the Year award. Our neighboring Brothers from the Rho Chapter won the Chi Phi Alumni Association of the Year. The Rho Alumni Association has been working tirelessly on fighting the college in court to obtain the right to live in the house that they own. They are setting an example that we have to stand up for our rights and will not be steamrolled by any administration who thinks that we will not fight back for what is rightfully ours. The Psi chapter’s help to Rho has been a crucial part to their repopulation process. Our chapters have grown close together going through the whole process.
Brother Alan Abels ‘74 used his time wisely while not in congressional meetings to go though the National archives to obtain more history of what they had on file for the Psi Chapter. I am very eager to see the finished product of his compilation of Psi history.
Some of you know that since 1999 the Psi chapter has been performing a Swords Ceremony that pays homage to the Southern Order. This is a private ceremony meant for only active brothers and new members. I was delighted to bring the Swords Ceremony in front of Congress this year, and happy to report the ceremony was received very well by the Heritage and Traditions Committee. A resolution was passed at Congress to have the ceremony put in the “Members Only” section of the Chi Phi National website for chapters to use in their new member education process. Next year a final draft will be submitted for approval to become an official ceremony for chapters to use.
I hope everyone is excited for the new Briarfield website. If there is anything that you would like to see added, or any suggestions to make it more useful, please send us a message with your thoughts. It would also be great if you could dig up a few old Chi Phi pictures that we could post on the site. We think that compiling old photos and memories will be a real treat for all to see.
The next Briarfield meeting along with the next New Member Education weekend will be a weekend in October. I will be sure to let everyone know when I have a concrete date.
In the bonds,
Jay T. Crosby ‘00
Briarfield President
