MINUTES OF ANNUAL MEETING OF
SIGMA CHI BUILDING FOUNDATION
September 20, 2002
The Annual Meeting of the Sigma Chi Building Foundation was held on Friday, September 20, 2002 at the board room of First Interstate Bank, 127 East Front, Missoula, Montana. President Richard Thompson called the meeting to order. The following members were present:
Richard Thompson, Jim Lee, Mark Peterson, Brad Colberg, Ron Lundquist, John Bennett, Tom Bulman, Walt Kero, Bob Rowe, and Dan Cederberg.
The minutes of the October 12, 2001 Annual Meeting were reviewed. It was noted that John Rimel’s name was misspelled at one point. Jim Lee moved to approve the minutes with the corrected spelling on John Rimel’s name. Brad Colberg seconded the motion and it unanimously passed.
Brad Colberg presented the year to date financial report. The operating account showed a beginning cash balance of $13,472.00 and an ending balance of $6,989.00. There was still rent due for a part of May in the summer. The capital fundraiser account showed receipt of $31,246.02 in donations during the fiscal year. There was still approximately $44,000.00 for projects. Walt moved to accept the budget report. Dan seconded the motion. The budget report was unanimously adopted.
Chuck Denowh and Nate Cranston gave a report from the Active Chapter. There had been an effort to do some summer rush. Parties were set up in several towns around the state in conjunction with Beta Rho. Invitations went out and calls were made to prospective pledges. No one showed up for Beta Delta rush and only one person showed up for Beta Rho rush. Six pledges were pledged this Fall. There were no holdover pledges. Chuck reported that he thought the reason for the low number of pledges was a negative perception of fraternities on campus, rush being late and the active chapter being selective with the bids that were sent out. The need to keep rushing was discussed. The alumni indicated they would try to help as much as possible. Nate discussed the status with UM collecting the House bills. The procedure had not been set up in time to have Fall bills collected by the University. Nate was going to work so that the House would be in the position to have the Spring semester bills and any balance of Fall bills collected by the University. There were 8 actives who were required to sign live-out agreements. One had signed the live-out agreement and paid. Seven had not signed. The live-out payment is $250.00. The active chapter will work to get the live-out agreements signed. There are 18 people living in the House and a total of 26 actives. Initiation week will be December 1 – 7. There will be an alumni present at the House every day.
John Bennett gave the Chapter advisory report. He indicated that he had no calls from neighbor Craig Shannon this summer. A party in violation of the UM Greek Policy was held at the House on September 14, 2002. The party resulted in 30 days social probation for the House. There were no anticipated negative ramifications from National. John’s review of the grades for this Fall given past performance by the active members would be an overall grade point of 2.5. There was a discussion of reviewing the grades in October and asking people with lower grades to move out. John requested that Mike Marcinkowski be appointed as Assistant Chapter Advisor. John indicated that Mike had been very involved in the House, had gone to workshop and as a local high school teacher had a good idea of what was going on with college age men. Walt moved that Mike be appointed Assistant Chapter Advisor. The motion passed unanimously.
There was more discussion of grades and requesting actives to move out. It was suggested that mid-term grades be self-reported. Bob opposes asking kids to move out solely based on grades. It was noted that the concept had been discussed with Chuck but not the entire active chapter. Ron indicated that he thought the House should handle the matter on its own.
There was a discussion of getting some more alumni involvement in scholarship, initiation and rush. Walt moved that Dan be appointed Alumni Scholarship Chairman, Bob be appointed Alumni Initiation Chairman and Mike Marcinkowski be appointed Alumni Rush Chairman. The motion unanimously passed.
Dan gave a rush scholarship report. He indicated that 18 applications were received and that all of the applicants were good candidates for pledging. Unfortunately, only 2 pledged. It was discussed that next year the pledge scholarship checks would be sent to parents and that there would be a letter from the Board President regarding the scholarships.
Walt discussed the status of moving the funds received from National to the UM Foundation. Letters with regard to Sigma Chi Endowment Fund were discussed. Dan moved that the letters be approved with the change indicating that the funds would be returned to Sigma Chi if requested and that Walt and Dan should have the ability to work out the details. The motion unanimously passed.
Rich gave a report on the renovation work done on the House. The brick wall has been tuck pointed. The roof only has to have the ridge tiles placed. New windows had been installed. Jim Lee indicated that the windows should be stained as appropriate. The main bathroom has been painted.
Elections were held and all current directors were unanimously re-elected.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.
Submitted by:
Dan Cederberg, Secretary