2013 Delta Chi Chapter History
Contents
Revamping Rush in the Spring
During executive board meetings, and break out sessions at the beginning of the semester, brothers and the executive board discussed several ways to make preference and bid voting more efficient, make the rush process more selective, and to attract more males. To address the large size of the chapter (approximately 90 brothers), which has led to cliques and Brothers feeling distant from each other, the executive board decided to aim for a class of approximately 18-22 initiates.
The standards committee drafted and passed an amendment to the Operating Policies to attempt to make the spring rush voting process more efficient. In order for Delta Chi to vote on a rush, six brothers have to endorse the rush by raising their hands. This is to eliminate the rushes that have not talked to any brothers. However, if a rush reaches 75% of the endorsement needed, in this case five brothers, then a Brother can make a motion to consider the rush with probable cause. This was put in to make sure that if a Brother spent a significant portion of the rush’s time talking and forging a decent connection, that that rush could still move on. The rush adviser also focused on more male-oriented events. The first rush event was ultimate Frisbee. Although the weather was less than favorable, the cycle of playing on the field and watching on the sidelines made for good quality bonding. The second rush event was the classic making Valentine’s Day cards for St. Luke’s. The Brothers rotated around the Rushes and got to know them further. The last event was new: the science fair. Brothers and Rushes sat in on a liquid nitrogen demonstration with s’mores, got their hands dirty with oobleck, and made lemon soda. It was an enjoyable wrap up to the official rush events.
This semester, the rush adviser also decided to add an unofficial, not-for-credit rush event in between rush and preference week. Taking the example from other chapters, the rush adviser held a social cupcake decorating night. It allowed the Brothers and Rushes to bond on a less official, more relaxed atmosphere and was largely a success.
Delta Chi, using the new endorsement method, moved twenty-one of the thirty-nine Rushes onto preference week. Out of the thirty-nine, ten were not spoken about because of lack of endorsement, and eight that were discussed were not moved on to preference week. Thirty-nine is a lower number than usual for Rushes in the spring, as the registrar had some problems giving out the proper list of e-mails. However, the number of twenty-one is within the desired goal that the executive board wanted.
The first preference event was a dancing event. The Brothers and Prefs laughed at the goofiness of the event, but it allowed for bonding as people put themselves out of their comfort zone. The second pref event was the classic leadership planning, but instead of just leadership events, the Prefs planned a leadership, scholarship, and fellowship event. The last event was team builders, and because of a misstep, the event had to run without materials. Thanks to the help of ex orientation leaders, the event still ran smoothly with charades, an obstacle course, and two truths and a lie.
Omega and Alpha Alpha Initiation
We welcomed 17 Omegas in the Spring. They went through the Ritual, which due to inclement weather had to be inside, right before Alpha Beta Volleyball Tournament. This meant that they could attend Alpha Beta.
The Omegas' fellowship event was an Easter egg hunt, their scholarship was an origami night, and their leadership event was volunteering at Abbe Hall.
The Morale Fund
In order to combat low chapter morale, the brothers at large, Danielle Gendron, David Huxley-Cohen, and Eve Faris, created the morale fund. Each Brother pays twenty dollars into the fund in order to cover expenses for “that thing we do on Friday’s,” and other brother at large-sponsored events. The money will allow for an increase in the amount and quality of said events, and promote more Brother bonding. This semester saw an increase in the amount of "that thing we do on Friday's," and increased attendance.
Stand Out Tripod Events
Brother Lauren Purdom thought of the idea of Ad Hoc in the Spring semester. The brothers went to build-a-bear, learned about the company, and then donated the bears they made to local kids in need. The spring semester also had a creative new fellowship event, called "Bring Your Own Bowl" where brothers brought their own cereal bowl, and gathered around to share in breakfast while watching cartoons. The fellowship chair, Vikram Mehta, also held a lock-in, where brothers stayed in the Sayre lounge until 2 AM. On the leadership side, the spring semester continued its extremely successful event from previous semesters called "Rent a Puppy." The local animal shelter brought dogs that anyone on Lehigh's campus could pet and spend time with while brothers walked around collecting donations. The scholarship chair held many how-to's, including how to make Cake Pops, how to Batik a t-shirt, and how to make sushi.
ICR
The spring semester was filled with ICR events. In late March, Delta sent brothers to a Hunger Games themed Bro Bowl at Penn State, as well as a Six Flags Event.
Delta Chi sent a large amount of brothers to Alpha Beta Volleyball as always. The weather was extremely favorable, and all of Delta Chi's teams did well. Team "Sucks with Pride" even made it so far that they were eventually eliminated by Delta Chi's pro team "The Stallions." "The Stallions" eventually went on to win the entire tournament. The brothers celebrated by running to the river as always, and enjoyed the pirate themed festivities later that night.
Delta Chi also hosted a Harry Potter themed East Region Conference. Brothers from the region were separated into the four different houses. Some of the notable events included a Yule Ball, Backpack Attack - brothers collected school supplies, stuffed backpacks, and donated them, and Quidditch. Unfortunately, brothers got tired towards the end of the weekend, and attendance severely dropped from what it was at the beginning of the conference.
Regional Delegate Meeting
After meeting the officers of Delta Chi in the spring, the regional delegated decided to have a meeting with the entire chapter that would get the chapter back to the basics. She instigated a Why, How, What session where brothers discussed the reasons they became brothers in an attempt to get the brothers to reconnect with each other.
Looking at Credit Requirements and Risk Management
In order to make the brothers feel like the executive board was responsive to their desires, the executive board got rid of elective tripod requirements. This requirement meant that on top of attending three events from each leg of the tripod, brothers also had to attend one extra even from any leg of the tripod. Brothers had been complaining about requirements that were too high, so these were eliminated.
The Parliamentarian and the Standards committee also took a close look at the risk management policy, in order to better clarify what Delta Chi wanted. An extensive internet policy was drafted and implemented that described what was in violation of risk management, and the punishment that would go along with said violations.
Temporary Ritual Committee
In order to preserve the meaning and importance of the ritual, brother Carollynn Goldenberg initiated a temporary ritual committee. This committee would be in charge of devising an event to be held during Founder's Day that celebrated what the ritual was all about. Brothers volunteered to be on this committee, and made a document describing the event to be handed down from scholarship chair to scholarship chair.
Brotherhood Retreat
In the spring, the brotherhood retreat was titled the "Space Race." Brothers were separated into different ancient empires. Some examples include the Mayans, the Mongolians, and the Persians. The events started out resembling things from ancient times, like a modified chariot race, to things from more modern times. Teams were given advantages if they displayed sportsmanship, team spirit, or were all in costume.
