DRAFT
SIGMA PHI DELTA FRATERNITY
SUPREME COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
September 25, 2001, 6:00 PM PDT
CALL TO ORDER: The on line meeting of Sigma Phi Delta Fraternity Supreme Council was
called to order on September 25, 2001 at 6:00 PM PDT
ROLL CALL:
Supreme Council Members
attending:
·
Grand President Paul
Lindner
·
Executive Director
Bob Featheringham
·
Communications
Director Burt Wagner
·
Eastern Province
Councillor Mike Votaw
·
Western Province
Councillor Kevin Oldknow
·
Central Province
Councillor Mike Stelzner
Non Supreme Council
Members attending included:
·
Grand President-elect
Derek Troy
·
Treasurer and
Information Systems Manager Ed Hurst
·
Vancouver Alumni
Secretary Ed Gin
·
Communications
Director-elect Alix Minden
·
Omega Brother Steve
Weiss
·
Eta Chief Engineer Dan
Huber
·
Eta Business Manager
Jeremy Jones
·
Eta Brother Justin
Kruger
·
Eta Rush
Chair Andy Phillips
A quorum was present to
allow the conduct of business
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of Supreme Council Meetings of July 19,
20, and 22, 2001, contemporaneous with the 34th General Convention
were approved for publication by GP Lindner.
These are posted on the web site as Exhibits 34,35, and 36.
Minutes of the August 28
Supreme Council meeting were approved and were posted on the web site under the
heading Supreme Council Minutes.
.
OFFICER REPORTS: Officers reported the following:
·
Grand President
Lindner stated there was possible
confusion between our web site sigphi.org and Sigma Phi Fraternity’s site
sigphi.com. To avoid the confusion, he
announced that sigmaphidelta.org domain will now be used for all communication
and as the web address on all Fraternity Publications. Brother Kruger suggested that the fraternity
register sigmaphidelta.com, .net, .biz, and .tv so that we do not have the
problem again.
·
Grand Vice
President Hileman: Absent; no
report
·
Executive Director
Featheringham reported that the
bulk mail capability is up and running at the Toms River Post Office.
·
Treasurer Hurst reported August and
September Financial Reports will be posted to the web in two weeks.
·
Communications
Director Wagner reported that the
upcoming issue of the Castle is
full. The text proofs will be available
in a few days for review. Concurrently,
Brother Wagner is preparing to hand off the Castle
production to Brother Minden.
·
Province
Councillors:
·
WPC Oldknow reported that Theta Chapter is aggressively
recruiting; he had no new information from Alpha Chapter. November 3 is the
date for his official visit to Theta Chapter.
·
EPC Votaw stated that his report on his visit jointly to
Psi and Omega was just completed. Psi,
he stated, has great plans that will make them successful, if they get
organized and execute. Chi, he
reported, was no longer active, and GVP Hileman was writing the obituary. He stated that he was planning to visit
Kappa in a week or so.
·
CPC Stelzner reported
that he was attempting to get firm dates from Delta and Eta Chapters for
official visits. He then stated that
Eta Chapter had some interesting news. Chapter Chief Engineer Huber reported
that Eta planned to pledge six recruits from Milwaukee School of
Engineering. Hopefully, they could spin
off their own chapter in the future, he stated. This was an Eta initiative; they had had no assistance from AOE
Sorority, who has a chapter at MSOE.
COMMITTEE REPORTS: Committee Chairmen made the following reports:
·
Expansion :
·
ED Featheringham
reported that GVP Hileman has 3/4ths of the Virginia Commonwealth Colony’s
Petition to Charter. Hileman expects the entire Petition to be in place by
September 26. At that time it will be provided to the SC for review, and an
initiation date will be set. EPC Votaw
stated Omega Chapter was helping the VCU Colony and they were still waiting for
payment from pledges and some final paper work before submitting the Petition.
·
Communications
Director-elect Minden reported he was still pursuing the re-activation of Nu
Chapter at UC Berkeley. Toward that end
he has a meeting with the President of the Engineering Joint Council there on
Tuesday, October 2. GP Lindner stated his preference was for our presenting
ourselves as an engineering organization and staying away from the Greek IFC
process. GP-elect Troy stated that
Alpha Chapter would be interested in travelling to Berkeley for the 10 November
football game and to meet with interested engineering students. When asked if
he had had any support from AOE, Brother Minden responded that he met their VP
on the 8th of September, but nothing more has transpired.
·
BUET Status. GP
Lindner reported the Interest Group at BUET was established, and it plans to
petition for Charter in nine months or so.
In the meantime they need an experienced hand to help them, an alumni
advisor, he stated. Brother Wesley Neuenschwander was suggested, and Brother Minden
agreed to contact him. (Editor’s Note: By e-mail on 9/26, Brother Minden
reports Brother Neuenschwander respectfully declined the position.) Members were asked by GP Lindner to scour
the Hi Pot list and October 2 Leadership
Committee meeting.
·
Chapter Health Chairman Troy stated he had all the comments from
the Convention and was considering them and will have a revised package out in
one week. He stated he based the
assessment on the idea that not all Chapters would be green, but most of the
comments were of the variety that the criteria were too hard.
·
Publications Chairman Troy stated he was working with ED
Featheringham on the history and target the Pledge Manual for final review in
two weeks. The Manual of Procedures was essentially complete; it has to be
converted to HTML and then have links established to the Constitution and
Statutory Code, he reported. This will
take about a month.
·
Leadership: GP Lindner reported the next on-line meeting of
this committee will be October 9 at 6:00 PM PDT.
·
Fund Raising. There is a draft plan being reviewed by the
committee and a budgetary estimate for the campaign is being completed. The
2001 goal is $20,000. GP Lindner
reported Brother Lynch accepted membership but that he has not yet contacted
Brother Messerschmitt regarding membership.
·
Engineers United. GP Lindner
stated that ED Featheringham’s report on his committee’s visit to the ZPS
Sorority at VCU had been sent out. CD
Wagner is serving as the point of contact between ZPS and SPD. GP Lindner stated SPD will be meeting again
in January with AOE to review their cooperation and performance in implementing
the Memorandum of Agreement between the two organizations.
·
Merchandise. GP Lindner reported he is still reviewing
merchandise to be sold at the on-line store and expects to finalize the list in
a month. (Editor’s Note: The list of suggested merchandise developed at the
convention is Exhibit 2 of the Convention Minutes on the web.)
·
Convention.
The final Minutes of the 34th
General Convention were posted on the Web on September 24. http://www.sigmaphidelta.org/gc34/minutes.htm
·
ISM.
ISM Hurst reported that he had lost five months of e-mails and need the
ISM candidates again. GP Lindner agreed
to resend them to Hurst. In response to
a question from Brother Gin, GP Lindner stated the web site would not be
updated until the new ISM was in place.
OLD BUSINESS: The following Old Business was
considered:
·
Response to
Chapter e-mails re: “Virtuous Manhood.” GP Lindner announced that there will be a letter going
out to all members of the General Convention with the ballot for the
"Virtuous Manhood" constitutional change. It will explain the thought
process behind and reason for the proposed change.
·
In
response to numerous process questions, he stated the following: 1. The entire
General Convention will vote all Active Chapters, Alumni Chapters and SC
Members. 2. Most of the e-mail discussion was done without seeing the actual
motion, the discussion of the SC, or the explanation that will accompany the
motion.
·
In
response to Brother Gin’s question asking to postpone this until the next
General Convention, GP Lindner replied, “The Next general convention is two
years away. We are expanding
internationally much sooner then that.”
·
After many
other points were made, both pro and con, GP Lindner stated the General
Convention will have one month to return the ballots. About ten days after
sending out the ballots, to allow plenty of time for a vote, there will be a
separate on-line discussion specifically to answer any questions. Once all the
members see the information, they can make an informed judgement instead of
guessing as to what is being done.
·
In this
way, a proper discussion will be held, and a complete vote of the General
Convention will happen as set forth in the Constitution. “I am sure,” he said, “that at that time,
the informed and educated will of the Brotherhood will be know.”
·
Budget Rental
Status. The SC is awaiting a report from GVP Hileman on this matter.
·
2001-2002 Internships
and Scholarships. GP Lindner stated that the Fraternity will address this at the next meeting after looking at the budget and
interest from the Endowment funds.
·
Action Items
Recapitulation: The following action
items were taken from the 8/28 meeting: (√=Completed)
·
Lindner:
·
√Complete review of SC minutes of 19, 20, and 22
July
·
√Set Goals for Province Retreats.
·
√Assign Responsibility/Develop Non-Disclosure
Agreement with ZPS by Sept 15.
·
√Assign Responsibility/Develop Merchandising Vendor.
·
Finalize dates for
Alpha and Phi visits.
·
√Ask Brother Dyer to withdraw Constitutional
Amendment motion at 34th GC re: ED perception of COI. (Editor’s
note: See New Business)
·
Hurst:
·
Post August Financial
Statement.
·
√Assist Hoshock with VCU assessment 15 Sept.
·
√Post Convention materials to On-line resource
center
·
Prioritize September
interviews with ISM candidates.
·
Wagner:
·
Publish Castle o/a 15
September.
·
Votaw:
·
Head committees to
put together format and date for Province Retreats.
·
√Visit Psi and Omega o/a Sept. 22 for Joint Rush at
Psi.
·
Help Kappa Rush
September 3rd Week.
·
√Review Hoshock's plans to assess VCU Colony to be
sure National objectives are met.
·
√Contact Chi to determine status.
·
Hoshock: (Note:
Featheringham, Hurst, and Vogel took these actions):
·
√Assess readiness of VCU Colony to be elevated to
Chapter status. Sept 15 (report e-mailed 9/21).
·
√Assess progress of ZPS to achieve local sorority
status at VCU (report e-mailed 9/21).
·
Hileman:
·
√Review Hoshock's plans to assess VCU Colony to be
sure National objectives are met 15 Sept.
·
√Contact Chi to determine status.
·
Invite Omega’s Steve
Weiss to meeting with Chi.
·
Keep SPD informed of
Budget situation.
·
√Contact Bro. Bokhtier re: SC decision to induct
BUET as Interest Group and perform ceremony.
·
Minden:
·
√Hold mtg. re: SF Bay Alumni/Nu Active o/a 7 Sept.
·
Kappa/Hileman:
·
Follow-up leads at
Indiana Tech and Indiana-Purdue Universities at Ft. Wayne.
·
Featheringham:
·
√Provide Troy with comments re: Chapter Health post
Labor Day.
·
√Provide 34th General Convention Minutes
to Hurst for Web Posting.
·
Provide 35th
GC planning data to Hurst for Web Posting.
·
√Develop mail ballot for 34th GC
delegates to vote on “Virtuous Manhood” Constitutional Amendment
·
√Put 2001-2002 Scholarships/Internships on 25 Sept.
SC Agenda.
·
Troy:
·
Clear up Form 6 MOP
actions with Jeremy Vandenhouten
·
Update Pledge Manual
·
Update Chapter Health
status
·
NEW BUSINESS: The following New Business was considered:
·
Table Bro. Dyer’s
motion re: ED conflict of interest.
(GC required issue to be resolved in two months.) GP Lindner reported he had followed up
with Brother Dyer who has agreed to keep his motion tabled until the next
Convention. GP Lindner will forward the
ED employment agreement update to Dyer to demonstrate how the SC addressed his
concerns.
·
Items from the floor.
·
Brother Minden stated
he’d bought 500 sheets of special paper for printing the RITUAL, which were
more than was needed. Treasurer Hurst directed Brother Minden to send a Form 17
for reimbursement and to send the paper to ED Featheringham.
·
This brought up a
further discussion on the proper handling of the RITUAL. GP Lindner stated the policy as follows:
·
There
should be no electronic copies of the ritual except the one that Communications
Director Wagner, Communication Director-elect Minden and GP Lindner have. SPD never intended for it to be distributed
electronically to any individual. SPD
needs to get all electronic versions floating around under control and
destroyed.
·
No member
of the Fraternity, except for the Comm Director, Exec. Dir., and the GP should
have an electronic copy. SPD will mail out any copies that chapters need,
certified mail, of course.
·
GP
Lindner directed CD Wagner to please make sure that the current copy is
password protected and send a copy separate of the password to ED Featheringham
and GP Lindner.
·
General
Convention Ballot Mailings. ED Featheringham was directed to mail ballots for the Virtuous
Manhood General Convention vote by Certified mail. In response that some
Chapters do not go to the Post Office to pick up Certified mail, GP
Lindner stated ED Featheringham will send out and
e-mail letting them know ballots will be mailed return receipt.
·
Use of
Virtuous Manhood. In response to a concern that some Chapters may
already be using Virtuous Manhood in the Object, GP Lindner stated the
following. “No
individual or chapter has the ability to selectively change the object of the
Fraternity. If they are doing this, it
is in violation of our constitution.”
·
NEXT MEETING. Date for the next meeting is
10-23-01, 6:00PM PDT
·
ADJOURNMENT. There
being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:39 PM PDT.
ACTION ITEM RECAPITULATION: Italics =
holdover.
·
ALL:
·
Come up with BUET
Alumni Advisor nominees by October 2.
Featheringham:
·
Provide 35th GC planning data to Hurst
for Web Posting.
·
Alert Delta Chapter
to select dates for SC approval.
·
Hileman:
·
Keep SC informed of Budget Rental situation.
·
Follow up Lambda reactivation at Indiana Tech and
IPFW.
·
Hurst:
·
Seek availability of
.biz, .net, .com, and .tv for sigmaphidelta domain.
·
Post August and
September Treasurer’s Report by 9 October.
·
Prioritize September interviews with ISM
candidates.
·
Lindner:
·
Finalize dates for Alpha and Phi visits.
·
Contact Brother
Messerschmidt re: Fundraising Committee membership.
·
Send Hurst ISM
candidates.
·
Forward ED Employment
Agreement to Brother Dyer.
·
Minden:
·
Meet with Berkeley
Engineering Joint Council on October 2.
·
Send in Form 17 for
Reimbursement of special paper order and send paper to ED Featheringham
·
Troy
·
Complete Chapter Health updates 2 October.
·
Complete Pledge Manual updates 9 October.
·
Complete MOP updates 6 November.
·
Votaw
·
Make Kappa visit.
·
Head committees to put together format and date for
Province Retreats. GP Lindner reported he had sent
out the goals for the retreats and tasked Brother Votaw to please discuss
Province retreat dates and locations with the other Province Councillors. The goal is to have the retreat dates set up
by next meeting.
·
·
Wagner:
·
Transmit Castle
text proofs for review by 1 October.
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