CALL TO ORDER: The on line meeting of Sigma Phi Delta Fraternity Supreme Council was called to order on April 16, 2002, at 6:20 PM PST with Grand Vice President Keith Hileman presiding.

ROLL CALL:
Supreme Council Members:
1. Grand President Derek Troy
2. Grand Vice President Keith Hileman
3. Executive Director Bob Featheringham
4. Communications Director Alix Minden
5. Eastern Province Councillor Mike Votaw  (Absent)
6. Western Province Councillor Darren Farnworth
7. Central Province Councillor Mike Stelzner

Non Supreme Council Members attending:
1. Treasurer Ed Hurst
2. Information Systems Manager Golam Bokhtier
3. Vancouver Alumni Secretary Ed Gin
4. Delta Chapter Chief Engineer Ian Santarinala

A quorum was present to allow the conduct of business.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes of the March 19, 2002, Supreme Council Meeting were approved in accordance with the Fraternity’s review and approval policy.  They were sent to the ISM for posting to the Fraternity’s web site on April 3, 2002, and subsequently posted.

OFFICER REPORTS:

Grand President: Reported the following:
1. Brother Rich Taylor resigned the position of Canadian Expansion Director; candidates to fill this position are welcome.

Grand Vice President: Reported the following:
1. Efficiency Contest: Awaiting input from Eastern Province Councillor before making final tabulation.
2. Three officers visited Psi on April 12-13; report provided under Eastern Province.

Executive Director: Reported the following:
1. Certificate of Revivor for Article of Incorporation: Beals supplied Hurst with the required data; Hurst will complete the Forms when he returns to Florida on 15th of April.  One other Form is required to be submitted to the Secretary of State; it has been ordered.
2. Contacted Brother Matt Gavronskey (Eta Alumnus) who agreed to help get our expired trademarks reinstated. His firm will not be unable to do the work pro bono; we are negotiating a fee for reinstating US and Canadian Trademarks. Ballpark estimate is $1K each (eight total), including filing fee of $600 for US.  We should be able to get a reduced price, if I can find the old paper work; contacted Beals, but no response yet.
3. Mailed April birthday cards: 305 US; 22 Canada; 2 other.
4. E-mailed SPD Birthday Notice on Founders’ Day (4/11)
5. Publish Monthly and Quarterly Activity Reports.
6. Sent letters to two local sororities who use SFD letters, alerting them to potential trademark infringement. E-mails were returned as not active.

Treasurer: Reported the following:
1. March 2002 Financial Statements posted to the Web site.
2. Theta and Psi became delinquent on dues on 30 March. (Phi’s check has a problem and needs to have a Form 22 attached.)

Communications Director: Reported the following:
1. Spring 2002 Castle sent to printer; should be in the mail by 18 April. Next issue will be September
2. Spring 2000 Castle will be posted to web in addition to mailing.
3. RITUAL paper was purchased. Sent Phi four copies.

Western Province Councillor:  Reported the following:
1. Active Chapter Issues:
· Alpha: No issues.
· Theta: Attempting to determine why Theta’s spring dues are delinquent.
2. Alumni Chapter Issues:
· Alpha Alumni will hold its elections this spring. Nominations open March 23rd; close April 27th.  WPC will act as administrator for these elections to maintain impartiality.
· Vancouver Alumni completed their election of officers.

Central Province Councillor:

1. Active Chapter Issues: Held informal on-line monthly meeting April 9.  These meetings are a real success; take only 1/2 hour; allow free flow of ideas; and provide means to get quick update of chapter issues. Other Province Councillors should try them.
· Eta: No issues; continues to build bridges to the alumni.
· Delta: No issues, briefly stopped by on weekend of April 6.
· Epsilon: No issues.
· Phi: Still seeking new housing. Phi brothers are working the problem but see no easy solution.  They feel as if they are on their own and that the university is “overly excited” that Phi lost its house to the university and is offering only minimal help. This portends to challenge the chapter’s very existence. Phi’s spring dues situation is they wrote a check, but it was not tied to a Form 22. Grand President Troy will assess the situation when he visits on April 19-20.
2. Alumni Issues. None.

Eastern Province Councillor:  No Report; the following was complied from other sources.
1. Province Retreat Planning. Eastern Province retreat is scheduled for June 7-9 in at Ohiopyle State Park in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Formal announcements sent out April 11; need accurate head count and deposit for camping and whitewater rafting. Announcement posted to web site.
2. Active Chapter Issues:
3. Psi:Brothers Hileman, Hoshock, and F’ham visited Psi on 4/12-13 for Founders’ Day and Chapter visit. Psi is “Yellow” overall with one “Red,” Chapter Communications.  Psi will initiate seven brothers this year and lose six to graduation, for a net increase of one. Psi has not yet paid its spring dues. ED F’ham is checking with Psi’s Business Manager, Brother Sedutto.
4. Omega: Four brothers and four pledges took part in the Psi Founders’ Day.
5. Kappa: None reported.
3. Alumni Chapter Issues: None reported.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Expansion: (Hileman).
· Installation of Colony at the University of Texas-Arlington in early May a possibility.  Awaiting Petition to Colonize.
· No response from California Poly Tech student.  Assume he lost interest.
· VCU Colony: Tried unsuccessfully to make contact during Psi visit, still trying to retrieve Pledge Pins.
· BUET. Petition to Pledge received.  Will discuss during New Business.
· Waiting to hear from Eta Brothers (7) who attend MSOE to see if they’re ready to start their own Chapter. There are four MSOE pledges at Eta this semester. CP Stelzner believes they will be ready in fall 2003, when they have had some leadership experience.
· Sent information packet to female engineering student at University of Calgary who has contact with male engineering students.

Publications: (Troy)
· Pledge Manual was posted to web.  Intend to distribute paper copies in three-ring binders.
· Manual of Procedures (MOP) Update. New ISM (or intern) must translate from .pdf to HTML and link to Constitution and Statutory Code.

Fund Raising. (F’ham) Results as of 4/11/02: 138 contributors and one outstanding pledge total $17,565 for an average of $126.37.  Distributions: General Fund $10,800; Foundation $5185; various Alumni Chapters $1580.  Full report will be in spring Castle. Contributions have diminished to a handfull in April; hopefully, Castle article will generate renewed interest, and we will reach our $20,000 goal.

Engineers United. (Troy)  Coordination meeting with Alpha Omega Epsilon (AOE) sorority occurred on 26 February. Minutes published by AOE.  Fences seem to be mended.

Grand VP Hileman visited with the Zeta Phi Sigma ladies at Virginia Commonwealth Univ., and they are doing well with 17 members.  Currently they wish to remain local and not affiliate nationally.

Ladies of Alpha Sigma Kappa at University of Texas-Arlington introduced us to the engineering male students there.  They are competitors with AOE and have a relationship with Triangle.

Merchandise. (F’ham) Contacted Russell Specialities to continue dialog started by Brother Lindner.  Also contacted Greekgear.com and other web stores seeking competitive bids. CPC Stelzner stated Eta uses www.cafepress.com/sigphieta.  Want to develop several sources and get competitive bids for our business. Kickoff is planned for fall 2002.

35th General Convention. (F’ham) Brother Santarinala is here to give us a report: Delta recommends the convention to be held on 24-27 July 2003.  They are still working out details as to whether to use dormitory or hotel housing for the delegates.  They will not be able to confirm meeting halls until summer when the reservations will be taken.

OLD BUSINESS: The following Old Business was addressed:

Budget Rental Car Accident Status. Attorney made a settlement offer six weeks ago, with no response yet from Budget.

2001-2002 Internships and Scholarships . Application deadline was April 15. Need to vote tonight in New Business.

Logo Contest. Contest closed April 15.  Need to vote tonight in New Business.

Chapter Visits by Officers:

1. ?Alpha: F’ham 4 March 2002
2. ?Delta: CPC  Stelzner (unofficial) 3/2 (Postponed due to weather, but dropped by April 6); Official Fall 2002
3. ?Epsilon: CPC Stelzner 2/15;Troy April 21
4. ?Eta: CPC Stelzner (unofficial) 3/1; Official Fall 2002
5. ?Theta: 70th Anniversary Formal Dinner March 9, 2002, Farnworth
6. Kappa:
7. Phi:?CPC Stelzner 2/22; Troy April 19-20
8. ?Psi: GVP Hileman and  ED F’ham April 11 for Founder’s Day
9. Omega: F’ham will attend pledge initiation 4/21.

Action Item Recapitulation from 03/16/02 SC Meeting  (?=completed item. Italic=carryover from last month):

Bokhtier:

Farnworth:
1. Determine status of Theta’s spring dues check now that they are delinquent as of 30 March.

Featheringham:
1. ?Establish firm date for 35th General Convention with Delta.
2. ?Provide 35th GC planning data to Bokhtier for Web Posting.

Hileman:
1. Reschedule IPFW meeting for Lambda reactivation.
2. Keep SC informed of Budget Rental Car accident claim status.

Hurst:
1. Seek availability of .net for sigmaphidelta domain.
2. Contact Brother Carlo Mejia (Alpha Alum and owner of sigmaphidelta.com) to make sure nothing "bad" happens to it.
3. Task incoming ISM (or intern) to convert MOP to HTML and link it to Constitution and Statutory Code.
4. Complete Tax Forms for California Franchise Tax Board.
5. Write Purchase Order for PC version of Adobe Acrobat Writer.

Minden:

Stelzner:
1. Check with Phi re: status of Form 22 to support spring dues payment.

Troy:
1. Print copies of Pledge Manual for Hileman.

Votaw:
1. Complete Form 5C Efficiency Report for each active chapter by 1 March.
2. Determine status of Psi spring dues now that they are delinquent as of 30 March.

Rip-Off Trophy.  CPC Stelzner stated that some chapters are not meeting their responsibilities in having Rip-Off Trophies.  After discussion it was agreed that chapters must send pictures of their Rip-Off Trophies, which will be posted on the web site.

NEW BUSINESS:

Establish Date for 35th General Convention. ED Featheringham made and WPC Farnworth seconded a motion to accept Delta’s recommendation to hold the 35th General Convention at the University of Illinois on 24-27 July 2003.  The motion passed unanimously.
 

Other New Business, submitted from the floor. None.

SC Goes into Executive Session to Consider Two Contests:

Contest for New Logotype.  Three entries provided for judgement: Three Brothers submitted applications for the position of 2002 Intern:
· Golam Bokhtier (Omega)
· Chad brown (Theta)
· Paul Crosbie (Eta)

After reviewing the submissions, a consensus was reached that none served the need.  They seemed to be more aligned with an individual chapter’s identity, rather than National.

CPC Stelzner made a motion and CD Minden seconded a motion to suspend the contest.  It carried unanimously.

The Chair directed ED F’ham to explore the option of having a professional graphics house design a logo for us and to write letters of thanks to the contestants.

Selection of 2002 Intern: Three candidates are:
· Golam Boktier (Omega)
· Jeff Leesman (Delta)
· Mark Vizecky, Epsilon

After discussing the merits of all three candidates, it was decided procedurally to vote one person at a time, until someone had a majority.

GP Troy made and ED F’ham seconded a motion to appoint Brother Leesman.  The motion passed unanimously, and the voting was closed.

The Chair directed ED F’ham to write to the contestants and tell them the results of the voting.

BUET Petition to Become a Chapter. The Interest Group at Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology presented a Petition to become a Chapter. The Petition requires the vote of the General Convention.

After discussing the merits of the Petition, GP Troy stated that it was too late in the year to present such an important issue to the General Convention (by mail vote).  Treasurer Hurst raised concern about the ABET accredidation (or national equivalent) requirement of the Constitution.

It was determined to put off discussion until the next meeting.

NEXT MEETING:
The next SC meeting will be on May 14, 2002 at 6:00 PM PDT.

ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:24 PM PDT.

ACTION RECAPITULATION:  Actions resulting from the meeting:

Bokhtier:
1. Post convention announcement to web page.

Farnworth:
1. Check fall schedules and plan fall visitations accordingly.
2. Get pictures of Chapters’ Rip-Off Trophy and provide them to Intern for posting on the web.

Featheringham:
1. Write announcement regarding convention date for web page.
2. Attend Omega’s Initiation 4/21.
3. Attend Psi’s Initiation ??

Hileman:

Hurst:
1. Supervise Intern’s efforts to convert Manual of Procedure to HTML and link it to the Constitution and Statutory Code.

Minden:

Stelzner:
1. Check fall schedules and plan fall visitations accordingly.
2. Get pictures of Chapters’ Rip-Off Trophy and provide them to Intern for posting on the web.

Troy:

Votaw:
1. Check fall schedules and plan fall visitations accordingly.
2. Get pictures of Chapters’ Rip-Off Trophy and provide to them Intern for posting on the web.
   

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