SIGMA PHI DELTA FRATERNITY

SUPREME COUNCIL MEETING

October 22, 2002, 6:00 PM PDT

CALL TO ORDER: The on line meeting of Sigma Phi Delta Fraternity Supreme Council was called to order on, October 22, 2002, at 6:00 PM PST, Grand President Derek Troy 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 Councilor Mike Votaw (Absent)

6.    Western Province Councilor Darren Farnworth

7.    Central Province Councilor Mike Stelzner

Non Supreme Council Members attending:

1.    Treasurer Ed Hurst

2.    Information Systems Manager Golam Bokhtier

3.    Omega Chapter Chief Engineer Jonas Blake

4.    Delta Alumnus, Ian Santarinala

A quorum was present to allow the conduct of business.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Minutes of the September 24, 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 October 8, 2002, and subsequently posted.

OFFICER REPORTS:

Grand President: Reported on the following:

1.    The Star is completed and in the mail.

2.    Results of the recent General Convention vote were distributed by the Executive Director on 14 October and will be discussed under Old Business. However, the General Convention voted to approve the Petition to Charter from the students at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), and installation is targeted for January 4. 2003 in Dhaka.

3.    Report of Visit to Delta, Eta, and Kappa.  The three chapters are doing very well, and many questions they had regarding National issues were issued.  A full report will be forthcoming.

4.    Officer inputs are requested to assess the Executive Director’s performance.

Grand Vice President: Reported on the following: Reports are contained under appropriate committees.

Executive Director: Reported on the following:

·        Certificate of Revivor for Articles of Incorporation: Treasurer Hurst will complete the Forms and send them to the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). The accountant sought another extension to October.

·        The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) reported that they could find no record of our previously recorded marks; the files were not renewed for over 20 years and apparently destroyed.  Tim Kelley, our attorney, states that there is no doubt we own our crest and letters that we’ve used for almost 80 years.  However, he recommends that we file to register these marks, just to solidify our ownership position.  The cost to register each mark is approximately $800, $600 to the PTO and $200 in attorney fees.  Additional costs would be involved if we register them in Canada, too.  Once we settle on a logo, a formal recommendation and budget will be forthcoming.

·        Continuing to research cost of a National Liability insurance policy, although one officer (Votaw) recommends we do not pursue such a course. Delta Alumni reported that insurance companies are bailing out of Illinois and their fire and general liability policy will not be renewed. I sent Brother Andy Hill some contacts to help find insurance for the Delta House.

·        Developed data sheets on expansion target universities for Brother Hileman: Lamar and University of Louisville.

·        Will attend informal information exchange meeting with Executive Directors of Theta Tau and Triangle on November 8 in Indianapolis at Triangle’s headquarters.

Treasurer: Reported the following:

1.    The financial statement for July, August and September was posted on the web as a combined 3rd Quarter statement. (There was no objection from the Supreme Council for posting these reports on a quarterly basis quarterly basis henceforth.) The next one will be the first week of January 2003.

2.    Phi submitted a Form 22 to explain its Spring 2002 dues; however, there is a $65 discrepancy, which Phi needs to correct.

3.    The 2001 income tax returns and "audit" statements have been completed.  The filing deadline is Nov 15 (and not Oct 15 as previously reported).  Treasurer Brother Hurst will complete the filings and also take care of the California re-incorporation application/fees next week.

4.    Delta Active Intern Brother Jeff Leesman is working on automating forms. He is converting most Fraternity Forms to HTML, allowing online submission.

5.    All monies resulting from alumni donations which were designated for the Sigma Phi Delta Foundation or specific Alumni chapters have been transferred in full.

6.    The Fraternity requested from the Board of Trustees, $10,000 for the 3rd quarter salary supplement for the Executive Director, plus $5,500 for the Set Aside Funds and should be getting these amounts before November 1.

7.    Endowment Fund apportionment from initiation fees is transferred to the Board of Trustees each quarter.  The amount sent them for Q3 ($100) should have been $1220.  The difference ($1120) will be sent shortly.

8.     Fall 2002 National/Province dues have been received for the following chapters: Epsilon, Kappa Delta.  Other chapters may have sent their dues but Brother Hurst has been away from home since Oct 10, so others may be in his mailbox.  We will know which chapters are delinquent on November 1.

Communications Director: Reported the following:

1.    Deadline for Articles for fall 2002 Castle was sent to all Chapters and Officers; a 10 17 e-mail stated some chapters and officers are still delinquent, specifically: Psi, Alpha, Eta, Theta, Omega, a few alumni chapters, GP, and GVP.

Western Province Councilor: Reported the following:

1.    Active Chapter Issues/Reports: 

·        Theta: Official Visit (October 5) Report will be filed later this week, but Theta has 15 actives, and they won't pledge until the end of the month.  The feeling there is that they will have a good turnout.

·        Alpha: Official Visit (October 18) Report will be filed later this week. In general Alpha is expanding fairly quickly and has 15 actives and three pledges.  They expect higher numbers of pledges next semester.  Only two actives are planning to graduate this year.  They have experienced some growing pains, but their spirits are high and they are all optimistic about the future of their chapter.

·        While both are comfortable with memberships lower than our bigger chapters, both Theta and Alpha are starting to feel the burden of having low membership, with several people having to hold multiple positions.

2.    Alumni Chapter Issues:

·        Vancouver. No issues.

·        Alpha Alumni held its elections this past spring, but they have not submitted a Form 26. Brother Farnworth followed up with them on this matter. Alpha Alumni is having difficulty collecting back rent from some members. Most are on a payment plan; however, two individuals are stubbornly refusing to get current. There is a possibility of legal action given the large sums involved up to $8000. 

3.    Rip Off Trophy Status:

·        Theta doesn't yet have one, but they are aware of the requirement and will likely make it a pledge project.

·        Alpha has a rip off trophy and will submit photos and description.

Central Province Councilor: Reported the following (No report):

1.    Active Chapter Issues/Reports: Grand President Brother Troy visited Delta and Eta (see his GP Report).

1.    Delta

1.    Epsilon

2.    Eta

3.    Phi

2.    Alumni Chapter Issues:

3.    Chapter Visit Planning. CPC-elect Brother Hayes will do the spring 2003 visitations.

4.    Rip Off Trophy Status:

Eastern Province Councilor: Reported the following (No Report):

1.    Eastern Province Retreat report is not posted to the web site.

2.    Active Chapter Issues:

1.    Kappa  (See Grand President’s Report, above)

2.    Psi

3.    Omega

3.    Alumni Chapter Issues:

4.    Rip Off Trophy Status:

5.    Chapter Visit Planning: Planning all three chapters for fall 2002 visits.

Circulation Manager:

1.    Continuing to police the database of members.

2.    Sent 359 October birthday cards, as follows: US, 339; Canada, 18; Other, 2.

3.    Report of 2001/2 Birthday Card Program: For the 13 months October 2001-2, 4300 cards were sent; the cost of the program to the fraternity is $2000, as follows: $496, printing; $666, US postage; $237, non-US postage; $252, envelopes; $250, bulk mail account; and $110, printer cartridges.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Expansion: (Hileman)

Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET): Based on the General Assembly’s accepting the Petition of the students at BUET, Grand President Brother Derek Troy, Information System Manager Brother Golam Bohktier, and Grand Vice-President Brother Keith Hileman will be traveling to Dhaka to install our first non-North American Chapter, Beta Alpha on January 4, 2003.

University of Toledo: We’re still working efforts there and will re-attempt rush efforts in about two weeks.  This is a tough location for us to penetrate, as both Theta Tau and Triangle have active chapters there.

University of Texas at Arlington (UT-A): We are having difficulties in keeping interest alive here.  If current attempts at getting the students motivated fail, we will not make future visits until interest is proven, and the students take positive action to prepare their Petition to Colonize.  Grand Vice-President Brother Hileman is keeping contact with Alpha Sigma Kappa sorority on this campus for future expansion efforts elsewhere in Texas.

Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE): We’ve had no recent update from the Brothers at Eta who are students at MSOE on their intentions to become a separate chapter.

Lamar University: Contact established from student, Richard Nero, about three weeks ago.  We’ve been in constant communication with this student since that time. He submitted draft Petition to Colonize for himself and 11 other potential colony members.  They are meeting 23 October to get their Bio's together, take photographs, and make their final submission of Petition by week’s end. Subsequently, Mr. Nero contacted Brother Hileman and indicated all the paperwork will be in order in time for a Colonization Ceremony over the weekend of November 8-10, pending a positive e-mail vote of the Supreme Council.

University of Calgary: This lead appears moribund for the time being.

University of Louisville: We’ve established contact with the ladies of Alpha Sigma Kappa at the University of Louisville campus.  Grand Vice-President Brother Keith Hileman plans to have a private session with them next week, while he is in Louisville for work-related reasons. This is a positive lead for us since engineering students at Louisville are said to be very dissatisfied with the Triangle Chapter on their campus. Brother Hileman plans to work with ASK members on expanding to Murray State University in southern Kentucky.

Rowan State University: This New Jersey school was passed to us at our 21 October meeting with Alpha Omega Epsilon engineering sorority.  We will pursue this jointly with them.

Publications: (Troy) Grand President Brother Troy’s goal is to provide each pledge his own paper copy of the Pledge Manual as a keepsake, with a place for personal notes and memorabilia. A paper copy, in three-ring binder form, will be provided to the officers for comment and discussion purposes.  Printing is complete and has been sent to ED Featheringham for comment and distribution.

Fund Raising. (F’ham) ED Featheringham developed a 2002-3 campaign kick-off story for the Castle, together with remittance envelopes.  The goal was set at $40,000.  Committee member Brother Mike Votaw reports that the premiums for the 2001/2 campaign have been manufactured and will be going out in the mail in the next week.

Engineers United. (Troy)  The meeting with Alpha Omega Epsilon Engineering Sorority was held on October 21, 2002.  Major discussion points were as follows:

·        Both organizations’ current expansion projects were reviewed. Targets to be worked jointly are Lamar in Texas and Rowan in New Jersey.  Other promising targets are University of Wisconsin; University of Virginia (Theta Tau there is coed); and Washington/St. Louis Universities in St. Louis.

·        The potential for a joint convention was discussed again.  As 2003 is AOE’s 20^th Anniversary year, they do not want to hold a joint convention that year. The next possible date is 2005.

·        Possibility of Sigma Phi Delta and Alpha Omega Epsilon establishing Professional Fraternity Councils (as opposed to IFC’s and Panhellenic Councils) on campuses where we are both present was discussed.

·        AOE suggested that joint display at the National Association of Student Councils convention might be a good place to get expansion leads.

·        Executive Director Featheringham and President Moore will serve on a committee to review potential of joint activity for National Engineer’s Week in 2003 (February 16-22 in the USA and March 1-9 in Canada).

Merchandise. (F’ham) The Brotherhood did not cast a majority of votes for either logo candidate.  As a consequence of Grand President Brother Troy’s visit to Eta, that chapter submitted the following design for consideration:

Additionally, Brother Ian Santarinala worked up sample logos based on an updated, modern version of our Castle that he conceived. 

Brother Santarinala’s ideas are posted at http://www.sigmaphidelta.org/delta_alumni/logo1/logo1.htm

Irrespective of his logo design, Brother Santarinala makes a compelling case for adoption of a graphics standard manual by the fraternity.  This will be pursued after the adoption of a fraternity logo.

ED Featheringham is also checking with licensing companies on the feasibility of licensing our logo on merchandise.  He’s still awaiting input from licensing and merchandising companies before submitting a plan to SC for consideration.

35^th General Convention. (F’ham) Brother Santarinala reported he sent an e-mail to Mr. Apperson, our point of contact at University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, two weeks ago to see what we needed to finalize arrangements, and is awaiting Apperson’s reply.  Brother Ryan Gunzel is planning to meet with Apperson in person.  Brother Gunzel turned the banquet space application in, and said we're pretty much a lock, except we had to wait until spring to be officially pencilled in.  The caterer has been contacted; we have to wait a couple weeks until they finalize their menu.

OLD BUSINESS: The following Old Business was addressed:

Budget Rental Car Accident Status. Grand Vice President Brother Hileman reported that there’s still no response from Budget in regards to the settlement letter sent on January 29, 2002. Statue of Limitations in regards to this form of case is 6 years in the states of ND and MN, so this can drag out another four years.  His lawyer recommends keeping this low key and not sparking any re-newed interest, since Budget has not responded in almost nine months.  There’s some hope that Budget will cut its losses and not pursue any further.

Rip Off Trophy. No pictures of chapters’ individual trophies are posted on the web yet.  Brother Bokhtier was instructed to post the two he has in order to inspire the delinquent chapters and to request photos from them.

Acrobat Reader Purchase.  Grand President Brother Troy directed Treasurer Brother Hurst to hold off on purchasing the software until the Intern has progressed to the point where he needs it to complete his work.

General Convention Vote: The results of the September General Convention voting are as follows:

Constitutional Question A, Expand the Fraternity Beyond North America:

Aye 21

Nay  2

Question passed

Constitutional Question B, Change Qualifications of Board of Trustee

Members:

Aye 21

Nay  2

Question passed

Question to Accept the Petition for Charter from the Students at BUET:

Aye 19

Nay  4

Question passed

Question to Amend the Statutory Code to Streamline Fraternity Organization:

Aye 19

Nay 4

Question passed

Question to Choose a Design for a Fraternity Logo:

Design #1 8

Design #2 2

Neither     6

No Vote    7

Question fails; neither design received a majority of the votes cast.

Chapter Visitations Schedule: The following is the current schedule of Chapter Visits for the 2002/3 school year.