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Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity California State University, Northridge Volume 43, Issue 5 Summer 2015

BETA-RHO BULLETINBETA-RHO BULLETINBETA-RHO BULLETINRick C

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Alumni Ice Another Victory & Start Charity For Cancer Victims

Permission granted. Justyn De Leon asked brothers to douse him with an ice chest after the game ended, and Josh Bascou (partially obscured), Jeffrey Perez de Leon and Vincent Pimentel were happy to oblige.

CSUN Greek Systemwide Recruitment Moratorium Is Resolved – New Rules Enacted

Recruitment: New Rules Page 2Corp. Board Summer Sessions Page 3Stead Leadership Seminar Page 4Alumni-Active Softball Game Page 6Chapter Chronicles: Summer Page 10Neville Advisors College Page 12Leadership Seminar 1977 Page 14Editor’s Journal Page 16

Rush Ban Lifted k

k After months of speculation, CSUN Greek

letter fraternity and sorority recruitment activities were restored following meetings and policy changes over the summer.

The first news about lifting the rush moratorium came from High Alpha Jeffrey Perez de Leon. He notified the editor that “we’ll be getting news today (July16) about rush next semester.”

In an article that appeared in the Daily Sundial on July 27, staff reporter Leni Maiai revealed details of a meeting on July 22 with university staff and representatives from fraternities and sororities that resulted in a “bailout plan” to restore Greek system-wide rush events. Among the attendees was Brother Perez de Leon.

According to Maiai, members of various fraternities and sororities gathered in the University Student Union’s Northridge Center with the CSUN New Member Intake Review Committee. Representatives discussed the proposal from the Student Affairs Office calling for new regulations that would restore the Greek system’s new member recruitment and induction cycles.

The university had blocked CSUN fraternities and sororities from rushing in the spring semester in response to hazing incidents that had made headlines last year. A pledge of the CSUN Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity chapter, Armando Villa, died as a result of pre-initiation hazing during a forced hike in the San Gabriel Mountains on July 1, 2014. A separate pledge class hazing and sexual harassment incident involving the CSUN Pi Kappa Alpha chapter that occurred during a Big Bear retreat in October prompted the university administration to halt pledging activities. A third fraternity chapter, Tau Kappa Epsilon, received a suspension on Jan. 21 after a lengthy investigation for sexual harassment and hazing.

Continued on next pageSummer wasn’t going to let up even though

fall was just around the corner. On Sept. 20 the alumni reconvened to challenge the actives to play another softball game. In seven innings of play the alumni stretched their winning streak to ten years with a final score of 14-11 just after 1 o’clock.

About forty brothers and guests took part. In a departure from all the previous softball

tournaments, House Corporation Vice President of Activities Tim Pena began discussing a charity fundraiser to coincide with the softball game during his report at the Aug. 12 corp. board meeting. He wanted to raise money in remembrance of brothers who had lost their battles with cancer. Of particular note was that Mike Ehrlich had

died from kidney cancer in February. The game was ultimately named in his honor: the Mike Ehrlich Memorial Alumni-Active Softball Game.

One idea, which was left for a future game, was the possibility of having either Duke Anderson’s sister, Stacey Rigney, Matt Frerer’s wife, Alicia, or a Beta-Rho alumnus who is a cancer survivor throw out the first pitch. Both brothers Anderson and Ferrer became cancer victims in 2012.

“A lot of our alumni who have not just lost the battle—but won it—have had treatments at the City of Hope in Duarte,” Brother Pena said.

“This is not a pay to play situation by any means. But they would be strongly encouraged

Continued on page 6

Rush Ban Lifted

A proposal of new recruitment operational guidelines that had been signed on July 8 by New Member Intake Review Committee Co-Chairs Josh Stepakoff and Ashley Mendez, the Inter-Fraternity and Panhellenic Council presidents, respectively, was at the center of discussions.

At the meeting Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. William Watkins said, “A team of staff and students in the Greek system have put together joint resolutions, which have allowed us to put a green light back on recruitment. We have emphasized the need for education, which is integral for long-term prevention.”

Recommended proposals for re-establishing recruitment and initiations for new members were:

1.) Establish Potential Member Orientation;2.) Require Potential Member Registration & Revise Invite/Bid Process;3.) Revise Greek 101;4.) Revise Recruitment Timeframes & Educational Program Guidelines;5.) Revise Retreat Guidelines & Recruitment Procedures;6.) Create Greek 102;7.) Create New Member Handbook / Matador Handbook8.) Require Council Affiliation;9.) Increase Visibility / Web Presence;10.) Establish Chapter Standards System;11.) Establish Hazing Prevention Committee.Future prospective pledges and associate members would now be

indoctrinated with an online pre-recruitment program as part of the Pre-recruitment Education Program (PREP), giving them a framework to recognize potential hazing situations and hold fraternities or sororities accountable for their actions.

In addition to the current Greek 101 course offered 1-2 weeks after bid day, a new Greek 102 course would be established. According to Section Six of the guidelines, chapters would be required to send at least 90 percent of their active membership to attend this program in order to conduct its recruitment activities. Maiai wrote that “the seminars are intended to ‘provide prevention education, teamwork, leadership skills and value-based community building experiences.’”

Of the eleven sections presented in the new guidelines, Section 5 was

the only one to receive major scrutiny during the meeting. This concerned brotherhood or sisterhood retreats off-campus, usually held within a few weeks after rush week. Among the topics debated were the “Big Brother/Big Sister” reveals as part of planned activities. But the major concern was how to monitor the retreats by an independent party such as chapter alumni for inappropriate activities that could be detrimental to pledges. The vetting process ended up banning off-campus retreats altogether until the guidelines could be agreed upon.

Maiai quoted Stepakoff saying, “At this point in time there is a moratorium on sorority and fraternal retreats. This will continue until we get to a point when we can have absolute assurance that nothing bad will happen [during the retreats].”

A lot of the recommendations were influenced by sessions that Stepakoff and others attended in June at the Novak Institute for Hazing Prevention.

The first ninety-minute Greek 102 session took place on Aug. 16 followed by peer mediation.

In a Daily Sundial article written by Jasmin Robinson and published on Sept. 4, Greek 102 complemented the Greek 101 workshop and “allows active members of fraternities and sororities to discuss current policies in depth and go over what they were previously taught.”

While other fraternity members complained about the new procedures, anti-hazing efforts have long been associated with Beta-Rho Zeta. Lambda Chi Alpha abolished pledging at its General Assembly in Portland, Ore. in 1972.

The only major change in the chapter’s recruitment pattern was established last year with a new requirement to bid prospective members at the end of rush week along with the other fraternities at CSUN. Fraternities began participating in a bid day event on campus in accordance with newly-mandated rush procedures. The practice had been done for decades by the Panhellenic sororities, but now every IFC fraternity has modified its bidding process by aligning with the new prospective membership plan.

SUMMER 2015

Recruitment Moratorium

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Volume 43, Issue 5 Version 2.0Editor, reporter, designer & photographer: Rick Childs

The Beta-Rho Bulletin is the official publication of

Beta-Rho Zeta of Lambda Chi Alpha, Inc. at

California State University, Northridge. Article

ideas, directory revisions, weddings, anniversaries,

births and career info should be snail mailed, e-

mailed or sent via Facebook to the editor. His

mailing address is 44044 Engle Way Apt. 65,

Lancaster, CA; 93536-. Email: eaglerick@twc.com.

All other correspondence to the corporation should

be sent to P.O. Box 280311, Northridge, CA

91328-0311. Made on a Mac Mini with iWork

Pages ’09 v. 4.1. Originally published on Jan. 5,

2016. Last revised on Jan. 5, 2016. Editor’s phone

number: (661) 948-3260.

Summer 2015 House Corporation Board of Directors:President Spencer SchmerlingVP, Communications Rick ChildsVP, Activities Tim PenaSecretary John Bonilla

Treasurer Scott PressAlumni Director Rob PressAlumni Director Hamid Jahangard

Chapter Advisor Kevin MojaradiHigh Alpha Jeffrey Perez de LeonHigh Tau Josh Bascou

High Rho Wes ColeHouse Managers Christian Anderson Jesse Martinez

On the Web: Headquarters LambdaChi.orgBack Issues Issuu.com/beta-rho_83

Facebook CSUN Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha, BP AlumniInstagram CSUNLambdaChiAlphaTwitter #CSUNLambdaChi

Zero tolerance for hazing at CSUN. During the outset of the fall semester, various Greek organizations collaborated on a YouTube video called “These Hands Don’t Haze.” Posted online on Sept. 22, Christopher Martinez (shown below) represented the chapter in the video to help raise awareness of and pledge against hazing practices among CSUN’s Greek system. Members of fraternities and sororities listened as IFC President and New Member Intake Review Committee Co-Chair Josh Stepakoff (right) discussed some of the details of their proposal during a meeting on July 22 in the USU Northridge Center. During the week of Sept. 18, HazingPrevention.org introduced a new campaign to bring attention to college hazing and memes like the one below began appearing on social media sites.

Jeffrey Perez de Leon

3BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Beta-Rho House Corporation

Corp. Board Summer Sessions

Perfect attendance for the corp. board as of July 8 (sort of). Beta-Rho House Corporation members had a nearly full complement at the July meeting. The group, from left: Rick Childs, John Bonilla, Christian Anderson (kneeling), Tim Pena, Wes Cole, Josh Bascou, Spencer Schmerling, Scott Press, Jesse Martinez, Rob Press and Kevin Mojaradi. Members listen as Brother Schmerling goes over concerns about the Lindley House. Although members Hamid Jahangard and Jeffrey Perez de Leon were unable to attend in person, both of them listened in on iPhones placed near Brother Mojaradi.

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The Beta-Rho House Corporation (aka the Beta-Rho Housing Corporation or simply the corp. board) has been meeting almost every month since 1969 when it was incorporated by Howard Brightman ( 528). Since the summer of 2011 those meetings have been taking place at the Lindley House, usually on the second Wednesday of the month. John Bonilla took minutes as secretary for each of the meetings except in August when Vincent Pimentel subbed for him. Here are some executive summaries of the summer meetings between June 10 and September 2.

June 10President’s Report (Spencer Schmerling): The city inspector cited the

Lindley House for having the garage set up as a living room. Fine: $375. There aren’t enough tenants yet to fill the house. Our bank account was hacked. After it was resolved, we moved our funds to a new bank.

VP of Communications Report (Rick Childs): The Alumni Affairs Publications Award application was submitted online to Headquarters.

Treasurer (Scott Press, Spencer reporting): Rent money collection is slow since the end of the spring semester. The cable TV is being disconnected because the live-ins don’t really use it. Wi-fi will remain intact.

High Alpha Report (Jeffrey Perez de Leon): Meeting with Greeks Advisor Jamison Keller along with Angel Torres and Nick Dinsmore to discuss chapter grades. Some officers may not have made grades. An officers’ retreat is planned this summer. Fall rush is still uncertain, but the chapter is still making plans for it. Headquarters is owed a lot of money and the chapter needs to get current before the end of the month. We need to send a representative to the Stead Leadership Seminar, but we are short on funds.

House Manager (Christian Anderson): Gardening needs to get caught up which he is taking care of, and trash is being removed. An abandoned car was removed from the front driveway.

July 8President’s Report: Due to furniture left outside, the house failed a city

inspector’s inspection. This needs to be remedied as another one is happening on July 13. The trash problem in front needs to be resolved: take care of it weekly. The tenant situation is improving.

VP of Communications Report: Perfect corp. board attendance for the first time in years (if you count the two calling in). Do not post the Lindley House address on social media sites due to city inspector issues. Everyone on the corp. board needs to complete their alumni volunteer credentials.

VP of Activities Report (Tim Pena): The alumni-active softball game is set for after fall rush in September.

High Alpha Report (calling in from Napa): He has been chosen as the chapter’s Stead Leadership Seminar delegate, and he thanked everyone for helping to raise money for his expenses with a GoFundMe campaign.

High Tau Report (Josh Bascou): Receivables are very high. Fall dues should start getting collected in the summer months to avoid future shortfalls.

High Rho Report (Wes Cole): He wants to begin working on the alumni-active softball game. The chapter should start using ZAXPortal.com which shows who owes dues, has an event calendar and it’s easy to integrate into the chapter.

House Manager Report: New air conditioning filters installed. New fire extinguishers and batteries for smoke detectors are needed.

High Pi Report (Kevin Mojaradi): Alumni advisory board is being formed.

August 12President’s Report: City inspector issues have calmed down, but trash out

front is still a big problem. Neighbors are ramping up complaints due to trash and parking on the dirt issues. House is now almost fully occupied.

VP of Communications Report: He’s working on the Spring 2015 Beta-Rho Bulletin. An interview with Kyle Shaver on a recruitment app is finished. He reached out online to the Cornell University chapter publications editor and is exchanging newsletters with him.

VP of Activities Report: A charity fundraiser for cancer research through the City of Hope (“Homeruns for Hope”) is underway using a GoFundMe page.

Treasurer’s Report: We’re waiting for brothers’ financial aid so that collections can get caught up.

High Alpha Report: He recapped his trip to the Stead Leadership Seminar. Also, he met with a staff financial committee to help the chapter work on a plan to resolve its financial shortfall issues with them.

High Tau Report: He discussed recent collections and the possibility of raising dues for the fall semester.

September 2President’s Report: Happy Charter Day! Forty-three years ago today.VP of Communications Report: The Spring Beta-Rho Bulletin stands at 16

out of 20 pages. All it needs is the completed text for the alumni interview with Steve Finkle. Ray Lackman, BP 162, passed away in August.

VP of Activities Report: He has raised $342 out of his goal of $1,500 for the “Homeruns for Hope” charity in conjunction with the alumni-active softball game. A softball game budget proposal for $300 was approved.

High Alpha Report: Meet the Clubs recruitment day event went well. A private social event at the house on Aug. 28 attracted a lot of uninvited guests from the dorms nearby. The chapter learned a hard lesson because the event was not registered with Headquarters.

House Manager (Jesse Martinez): The air conditioning system was repaired at low cost. A house clean-up party is scheduled before rush.

Announcements: (Rick) Howard Brightman has asked that a new strategy should be undertaken to resolve challenges facing the note program.

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Stead Leadership Seminar

Midwest MissionIn a normal year the chapter would set aside some activities money to help pay for at least

one brother to attend the Stead Leadership Seminar. (It’s held every other year between General Assemblies.) This summer, the chapter had taken a significant hit in membership and was deep in debt. Suffice it to say that it needed a rep to attend, but it also needed help—and fast.

Chapter Advisor Kevin Mojaradi stepped in to help raise funds. He set up a GoFundMe page and within a few weeks it, along with a generous travel grant from CSUN’s Associated Students, raised enough money to send the High Alpha, Jeffrey Perez de Leon, on a flight to Ames, Iowa.

At the corp. board meeting on July 8, Brother Perez de Leon expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to be the chapter’s delegate at Iowa State University.

“Thank you to everyone who helped with the Leadership GoFundMe campaign. We’ve reached over $700, and then I got additional funding from Associated Students. We have over $1,200. Thank you Kevin because you guided me through this whole thing, and I wouldn’t be able to go without him. So I’ll be gone from the 23rd to the 26th of this month.”

During an interview on Aug. 12, he elaborated on the fundraising drive.“The goal was pretty high. It was set at $1,000. And I didn’t think we

were going to make it, but it grew pretty rapidly with alumni. I got support from my parents. Even my cousin who goes to LMU was able to drop in, like, 20 bucks. So it was pretty awesome to see support from everybody. I got funding from Associated Students, so the university supported me, and alumni supported me as well as close friends and family.“

While Brother Perez de Leon would be attending seminars and breakout sessions, he had a much bigger mission at hand. He needed to convince staff from headquarters to let the chapter present a plan to tackle its financial obligations and buy a little more time so that it could take part in the newly reinstated fall rush and start building its membership back up.

“I met with the [staff] financial committee at the seminar. They had a committee that [works with] chapters that have financial troubles. I spoke to them about paying down the current debt. And also, with the help of Spencer [Schmerling], we were able to give a plan to them and explain to them what we are going to be doing in the future. So, next semester, we’re going to be really up front with people with how we collect dues and [scrutinize] how people spend their money. Because we would have people who don’t pay dues the whole semester and still come by. So next semester we won’t be so easy on people. We have a plan: they can pay every couple of weeks [using a payment plan], or just pay up front.”

It wasn’t the first time Brother Perez de Leon had visited Iowa.“I have been to Iowa, but I’ve never been to Ames before. I was stopping

by to visit some family and friends back when I was in middle school for the summer. It’s hot, I can tell you that. It’s much different than California. It’s muggier. Everything is very green out there. It’s also very quaint. Everything has a very small town feel to it.”

He said that around 600 attended. For a first-time attendee, the agenda didn’t seem out of the ordinary for Brother Perez de Leon.

“My expectations were pretty much like every other conference I’ve been to where you break off into smaller activity groups, and you get to know your individual group members. In the evening you get to go out and break into information sessions. You get to choose your information sessions, so you get to learn about what you want to learn about individually. But most of the time you have group sessions with other people that you’ve been assigned to. So, that’s what I expected. I didn’t really know what else there was going to be. I also knew about the ritual [exemplification].”

In a lot of ways, Iowa State reminded him of CSUN’s campus. While there are not quite as many students (34,732 at Iowa State as of 2014 compared to CSUN’s 40,131), there were a lot of similarities.

“The campus is huge, and it’s beautiful. I didn’t get to explore it very much. “I got to meet a handful of guys. One, my roommate, was from Florida

State University. His name was Jesse. I lived with my roommate in this huge eight-story tall [building]. Each section was broken up into three. I think I was

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in Willow Hall. There’s a lot of dorms, a lot of on-campus housing. “I also met these two guys from Iowa University, which is about two

hours from Ames.... Their names were Vance and Holden (shown on the opposite page below). I just happened to sit down next to them at lunch. They were some of the nicest people I met at the seminar. There was another guy. His name was Matt Glass. I believe he was from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and he’s a filmmaker just like I am.”

While he was attending workshops, Brother Perez de Leon focused on ones that could polish his leadership, communication and recruitment skills.

“One of the workshops was about leadership and trying to figure out what your skill set was. Was it connecting with people on a personal level, being able to designate well? Were you able to congratulate people and give them the support by saying ‘good job’? We took a survey. You got to see the kind of person you were as a leader. Then we broke off into specific groups and discussed how your operating style as a leader was specific to that skill set. It was pretty enlightening as to what type of person I am. I’m not really the kind of person to stand and direct people; I’m sort of the

person to facilitate and let people do what they want to do, but also have a vision and direct when I have to, but not dictating what other people do.

“Also, one of the workshops was called Fired Up. It was the recruitment part of the seminar. We were learning how you recruit people because you want them to be a part of your organization as an individual. Because you’re not just looking for new members; you’re also looking for friendships there. So you are learning how to connect to people on a more personal level instead of asking one-dimensional questions like ‘how are you’ or ‘what do you do here.’ You are learning their intentions of going to school and why they want to rush a fraternity. It was pretty amazing.”

With so much educational material to cover in such a short timeframe, he did single out some of his favorite moments.

“One of the things was you got to learn what a manager does. A manager delegates work, but a leader is someone who goes out there and sets a vision or has people collaborate with him to set a vision. Having that idea of setting goals for yourself, or setting goals for your organization and having that constantly in the back of your head is what propels you forward.

Because if you don’t have anything to strive for, you’re not going anywhere. That’s what I learned because, if I don’t have any goals set, not just for the chapter but for myself, then I’m not really striving for anything.

“Also, you just want to go out there and meet as many people as possible to do networking with people. With my major and with my skill set, you really want to go out there and meet people, get their names, and get to know them on a personal level.“

When he wasn’t sitting in at workshops, Brother Perez de Leon took in some sightseeing within walking distance.

“I did get to explore a little bit of the campus. I didn’t get to see some of the older looking buildings that they have on campus. If you look up Iowa State University, they have these gorgeous looking, almost century-old buildings. I got to see the football stadium and a lot of their performance halls which are pretty big. Town-wise, I walked down the street a little bit to see a lot of the Greek Row they had there. The Lambda Chi house there was pretty big. It looked like a dormitory transformed into a house. It was pretty interesting seeing what that looked like compared to the Lindley House. I also got to see some of the restaurants—not downtown—but down the street. A lot of the brothers went to bars that were over 21. I didn’t get to go, but I got to meet up with a couple of the brothers who had an apartment [nearby], and I got to hang out with them there.”

When he learned that Beta-Rho and another chapter from New York had won the Alumni Affairs Publication Award, he didn’t seem all that surprised.

“It’s sort of funny that Cornell [University] and us are at the same level. They have such a huge alumni support system. And they have the finances to do whatever they want. But here, it’s [amazing to be such] a small chapter that could distinguish itself among the rest of them.”

While he was at the airport, Brother Perez de Leon had a chance meeting with the fraternity’s CEO, Bill Farkas (shown with him at left). He also met with Associate Director of Alumni Involvement George Taylor briefly. Incredibly, he almost didn’t recognize one of Beta-Rho’s most honored affiliates.

“I finally got to meet Howard Brightman. I didn’t know who this person was. Rick [Childs] kept telling me to meet up with this person. On the last night of the seminar they had a big banquet with all the brothers there, and we had a pretty good steak dinner. What they did was that everyone who was an alumnus [was called to stand up]. They went by years, so they said, okay, everyone stand up from the 1980s. So they had a few dozen people stand up. Then they went to the Seventies, and there was probably like a dozen people. Alright, 1960s, and you saw Howard and two other people stand up. Howard was almost the last person standing.”

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY 5

Stead Leadership Seminar

Rick Childs LambdaChi.org / Flickr: Stead Leadership Seminar 2015La

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Alumni-Active Softball Game

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Continued from the cover page[to kick in] ten bucks [for the charity].”

Following up on a suggestion by House Corporation President Spencer Schmerling, Brother Pena set up a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $1,500 for the City of Hope. The campaign, which came to be known as Home Runs For Hope, ended up with $500 after he personally pitched in three times to supplement the charity total.

Brother Pena took over the event planning from the chapter this year, although High Rho Wes Cole met with him a few weeks earlier to coordinate the details prior to the August corp. board meeting. One advantage with the Shadow Ranch Park field was that it didn’t require a paid permit to use it, and no one needed to reserve it in advance.

Although there were fewer actives at the game than in the previous couple of years, the ones that showed up fielded a highly competitive team despite a temperature that hovered around the century mark.

To help fill out the actives’ team roster, some of the alumni switched sides to play in the outfield and bat with them.

“The softball game, overall, it was great,” Brother Pena reported at the Oct. 14 corp. board meeting. “And we won. But there were issues. We weren’t sure that the chapter was going to play. [And] it was ridiculously hot for that time of year. I was hoping to keep pushing it back so that it would actually be cool.”

With green space a scarce commodity around CSUN and league play making open fields at Northridge Park a rarity, Beta-Rho trekked to West Hills again to the somewhat less crowded fields at Shadow Ranch Park. Little did Brother Pena know that the shady Field #1 would be pounced on by a somewhat

Scenes from the diamond. Steve Shapiro (upper right) high fives Justyn De Leon while he heads for home. Wes Cole makes a beeline for third base past third baseman Scott Press. Tim Pena waits for a pitch from Myke Davis.

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY 7

Alumni-Active Softball Game

Alumni Batting RosterScott Press BP 55 C, URoger Marte BP 201 CMark Widawer BP 220 2BHoward Sapper BP 257 PTim Pena BP 264 1BSpencer Schmerling BP 288 SSAntony Gluck BP 302 CFDave Ohlberg BP 348 SSRich Ohlberg BP 356 3BCRick Trevino BP 451 3BCesar Ayllon BP 453 LCFMike Press BP 455 PJacob Ohlberg*** CFNathan Ohlberg*** CFSean Press*** LF, 1B

Actives Batting RosterMychal Davis BP 633 PJeffrey Perez de Leon BP 660 RFWes Cole BP 671 RFVincent Pimentel BP 679 2B, PRodrigó Valenzuela BP 676 CJosh Bascou BP 682 LFDavid Burgos BP 684 CFRob Press* BP 495 3BCDarren Arrieta* BP 533 CFMatt Rice* BP 567 **Alex Samowitz* BP 568 3BSteve Shapiro* BP 575 1B, UJustyn De Leon* BP 602 3B

In the Bleachers...

Rick Childs BP 83

(scorekeeper)

Kevin Mojaradi BP 462 (moral support)

* Alumnus batting for undergrads

** Hitter only*** Guest

mysterious group of softball enthusiasts way before the start time of 10 a.m.

“The field that I woke up at the crack of dawn to secure was snagged by people that were much more well-prepared than we were,” Brother Pena said. “But we got a National Anthem out of it which I thought was an extremely classy gesture for us to stop our game and respect that.” The girl who sang the anthem did an amazing job, too.

Then both fields resumed play while “batting songs” like Europe’s Eighties hit The Final Countdown, Silentó’s ubiquitous summer YouTube sensation Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) and others were belted out of their sound system from across the park.

“Next year maybe we’ll have The Final Countdown and a few other important batting songs to keep that motivation up,” he added.

According to Brother Pena, it turned out that the same crowd had been taking over Field #1

in late September each year to celebrate someone’s birthday. And their fielders all wore color-coordinated red or white team jerseys. Nevertheless, there were plenty of brothers wearing Lambda Chi t-shirts, especially the 2015 champion Intramural softball team jerseys.

Having to move to Field #2 on the east side of the park where shade was in short supply didn’t seem to deter the teams or fans. The only glitch was that the Jersey Mike’s sandwiches arrived about a half hour late. Despite the grumblings of one alumnus, few seemed to mind. On the plus side, the Jersey Mike’s restaurant refunded the entire purchase order.

“And Howard Sapper is fully-recovered from his passing out episode,” Brother Pena added. Late in the game Brother Sapper took a time out from pitching and barely made it over to a lawn chair where Sue Press and Mark Widawer applied first aid. An ice pack was placed on his neck and then he slowly bounced back after

a few drinks of water. But he didn’t pass out.According to Brother Sapper, what started

the episode was a pulled left hamstring.“Brothers take care of brothers,” he wrote

on Facebook. “In addition to the ice and shade that were provided, Mark Widawer drove me and my car home. His wife followed and made sure I was alright before driving back to pick up his car from the field.”

In defiance of the unseasonably warm weather, Justyn De Leon went around asking brothers if they would pour all the ice chest’s ice water on his head before calling it a day. Without too much hesitation, Josh Bascou, Vincent Pimentel and Jeffrey Perez de Leon were happy to oblige. No ice bucket challenge needed.

The Mike Ehrlich Memorial Alumni-Active Softball Game, like James Bond, will return.

Batters up. Clockwise from the red bat: David Burgos, Myke Davis, Spencer Schmerling and Scott Press.

All photos by Rick Childs

Alumni-Active Softball Game

8 SUMMER 2015

Deep in the game. Jeffrey Perez de Leon (clockwise, starting from right) attaches the chapter’s letters banner to the fence facing the playing field. Josh Bascou beats the throw to home plate as catcher Roger Marte waits for the throw. The Press entourage gets is close-up with, from left, Rob, Sean, Scott, Mike and Mike’s son, Jackson. Tim Pena and and Mike Press take full advantage of the seventh inning stretch. The actives are up at bat, and the shade has finally arrived. Front row: Vincent Pimentel, Wes Cole, Antony Gluck and Kevin Mojaradi. Back row: Rodrigó Valenzuela, Jeffrey Perez de Leon, Josh Bascou, David Burgos and Alex Samowitz. Third base coach Rich Ohlberg waves Mark Widawer to hold up.

Alumni-Active Softball Game

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY 9

Team picture. Front row, from left: Rick Childs, Mark Widawer, Spencer Schmerling, Howard Sapper, Jackson Press,, Mike Press, Justyn De Leon, Josh Bascou, Darren Arrieta, Alex Samowitz, Nathan Ohlberg and Jacob Ohlberg. Second row: Vincent Pimentel, Cesar Ayllon, Rick Trevino, Sean Press, Rob Press, Scott Press, Roger Marte, Myke Davis, Jeffrey Perez de Leon, Steve Shapiro, Rodrigó Valenzuela, David Burgos, Matt Rice, Kevin Mojaradi, Dave Ohlberg and Rich Ohlberg.

After the game. Clockwise from far left: Antony Gluck strikes a pose with his son, Gabriel. Dave and Rich Ohlberg. Roger Marte gets ready to call it a day. Mark Widawer and Howard Sapper relax while the alumni add a few runs to their score. Rick Trevino catches up with Kevin Mojaradi who had driven there straight from LAX.

Team picture by Sue Press; all others by Rick Childs.

10 SUMMER 2015

Chapter Chronicles:

Summer, 2015

Chapter Chronicles:

Summer, 2015

Chapter Chronicles:

Summer, 2015

Rick Childs

Gearing up for Fall Rush, summer involvement on campus and greetings from 14,000 feet. Chris Burgos, Angel Torres and Devin De Leon (clockwise starting from right) worked on one of the recruitment billboards at the Lindley House on Sept. 2. Wes Cole piggybacked with an instructor while skydiving. Josh Bascou, Bryan Martinez and Chris Martinez, along with Adrian Morales (not shown) could be found among the New Student Orientation Leaders this summer along with alumni Kevin Mojaradi and AS President Jorge Reyes. Jeffrey Perez de Leon picked up his certificate as a new member of the Gamma Sigma Alpha Honor Society on Aug. 28. Frankie Castanon, who posted his photo on Instagram, was elected High Epsilon at the chapter meeting on Aug. 30. Brother Castanon worked on another billboard in late August.

Bryan Martinez

Alumni Chronicles

11BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Raymond Evan “Ray” LackmanMarch 28, 1960 - August, 2015

Ray was BP 162. The cause of death is undisclosed. He was 55. Brother Lackman’s obituary appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Aug. 27. A memorial service was held for him at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. Here is the link online to the newspaper article.

From graduation to celebration. At the Cologne School of Business in Germany, Alessandro Hoenig (clockwise, starting from left) attended his Commencement ceremony on Aug. 24. Josh Lodolo started his new job as CEO of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity Educational Foundation on Sept. 14. Three brothers spent the evening of July 7 at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. The couples shown are Gary Thomas and Nina Schussman, Spencer and Sara Schmerling, and Dave and Lauren Stonefield. Tony and Lisa Menin Suarez threw a bon voyage party with their family on July 22 before they departed on a Carnival Cruise to the western Caribbean (their tenth). Dave and Melanie Nelson celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary on Aug. 29. AS Student Body President Jorge Reyes gave CSUN President Dianne Harrison’s Wecome speech in front of 1,000 faculty and staff on Aug. 20.

Gabriele Hoenig

Ray Lackman, AM Installation,

September, 1979.

Alumni ChroniclesAlumni Chronicles

Neville Advisors College, Summer 2015Neville Advisors College, Summer 2015

Headquarters conducted its second Neville Advisors College of the year over the weekend of Sept. 17-20 in Carmel, Ind. Chapter advisors, house corporation officers and staff converged on the Renaissance Indianapolis North Hotel again for meetings and seminars in its various conference rooms. About 60 brothers attended.

High Pi Kevin Mojaradi (BP 462) traveled from L.A. International Airport to Indianapolis on Sept. 17 to attend his first NAC (also referred to by brothers simply as Neville). After an overnight flight, he began the day’s meetings on one hour of sleep. Coffee, in all capital letters, highlighted his first Facebook post from the conference.

The mission of the NAC, as mentioned in the winter 2015 Beta-Rho Bulletin from an excerpt in the March Cross & Crescent, is to explore “the changing landscape of undergraduate members, understanding the role of an alumni advisor and sharing experiences in small group sessions.”

“Neville was amazing; I think it was a great experience for me to be there,” Brother Mojaradi enthused at the Oct. 14 house corporation meeting. “I got to meet the High Pis from the other chapters. It was a great exchange of ideas.”

“I got to see the National Headquarters,” he continued. “Nice building.”

Brother Mojaradi’s appearance at the conference proved invaluable for Beta-Rho. While he was at the conference, he met with staff to “discuss minor issues facing the chapter.”

During the seminar sessions, “We discussed our goals, or duties as High Pi,” Brother Mojaradi said.

One of the highlights of his visit was seeing Josh Lodolo (BP 459) again. Brother Lodolo, the new CEO of the Educational Foundation, received an introduction during one of the breakfast gatherings.

Brother Mojaradi discussed something else at the October corp. board meeting that raised some eyebrows.

“At Neville Lynn Chipperfield, who’s the general counsel for Lambda Chi Alpha, mentioned that there’s a movement coming from Headquarters,” Brother Mojaradi said. “There should be four separate entities within every chapter: the active chapter itself, the housing corporation board that’s made up of three to five people—no actives at all—just alumni, the alumni association, which is again made up of alumni, no actives all, no voting rights for actives [in either the house corporation or alumni association], and… the alumni advisory board.

“They want to make sure that we keep all of those separate from each other, and not fused into one. A lot of the chapters—and we’re not the only one—have the housing corporation boards and the alumni associations [combined],” Brother Mojaradi revealed. When asked why Headquarters was moving in this direction, he cited it was for insurance reasons.

“[Brother Chipperfield] recommended that

12 SUMMER 2015

All photos by Kevin Mojaradi

Neville Advisors College, Summer 2015

we incorporate the alumni association,” he added. “They said that if the alumni have an event, and they are not incorporated, they’re not insured [by Headquarters’ insurance policy].

The timeline wasn’t clear about the new policy, but Brother Mojaradi felt that this would need to be addressed next year. “It’s not something that we have to do immediately,” he noted.

At Neville, Headquarters debuted a new introductory kit for associate members. In addition to the new Paedagogus, the kit featured an AM pin, t-shirt, constitution and welcome letter.

“[The new package is designed] to make them welcomed and make them feel part of our fraternity from the beginning,” he said. “It took a long time for the box to make it around the room as everyone was taking pictures with it.”

The alumni were pretty enthusiastic about the new welcome package. Brother Mojaradi noted that the consensus opinion on the new box was that they “wished I had that when we were AMs.”

As with the Neville weekend that Rick Childs (BP 83) attended in February, the participants were treated to a private viewing of the International Headquarters nearby on Pennsylvania Street.

While Brother Mojaradi toured Headquarters, he paid close attention to the coat of arms portraits in the Museum Room that had been painted by Lambda Chi Alpha’s first administrative secretary, Bruce H. McIntosh. Brother McIntosh presented them to the fraternity shortly before his eightieth birthday in April of 1974. The portraits chronicled the evolution of the fraternity’s coat of arms from 1913 to 1939. Several of the pictures Brother Mojaradi shot were the coat of arms paintings in one section of the gallery.

They are among the many treasures that brothers can see when they visit Headquarters.

Not one to miss the annual Alumni-Active Softball Game, Brother Mojaradi flew back on Sept. 20 to L.A. in time to participate.

13BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Knoxville: 1977What makes a memory worth

remembering? Friendships, obviously. That, and a few notes hand printed on

some old slides.

With the chapter settling in at Halsted 1 close to CSUN and the Cantara House in Reseda a fast receding memory, three brothers from Beta-Rho flew from L.A. International Airport to Atlanta on Aug. 10, 1977. The Leadership Seminar was days away in Knoxville, Tenn. And this was thirty years before the conference was named in honor of Jerre and Mary Joy Stead.

The theme of the 1977 Leadership Seminar was “Together: We Can Make It Happen.”

Bruce Marks (BP 91), Brian Megginson (BP 79) and chapter delegate Rick Childs (BP 83) found comfortable accommodations at Geogia Tech’s Beta-Kappa chapter for a couple of nights and found out the hard way that fancy Southern hotel restaurants like the one at the Hyatt Regency required a coat and tie for service.

The Varsity, one of Atlanta’s hotspots for burgers, was investigated on the second day. Not bad, but not quite In ‘n Out or The Habit, either. Then the trio headed out to Six Flags Over Georgia and, several roller coaster rides later, started plotting their route to Knoxville. But first, a side trip to High Point, N.C. was in order.

Finding Lambda Chis from the Iota-Phi chapter on campus at High Point College (now known as High Point University, and the chapter is currently closed) on a summertime Friday night was no easy task. The chapter met in a dormitory commons area during the school year, according to a student met while wandering around the campus. Lightning crackled in the distance. After walking into an unlocked dorm supposedly where chapter meetings were held and knocking on a few doors, another student gave general directions for a huge apartment complex on the edge of town where a few Lambda Chis were staying. However, he didn’t know their exact street address or apartment number. After driving around the apartment complex’s tennis courts for several minutes, a couple of college age students happened to be rolling a keg of beer across the parking lot, and when they were asked if they knew any Lambda Chis, it turned out that they were two of the three the guys in question. One of them was named Mac Phillips, and he offered a spare bedroom at his place. This turned out to be an incredible find. His hospitality, not to mention the swimming pool, Harold the kiss-crazy beagle and some mouth watering made from scratch barbecued baby back ribs.... That made it extremely difficult to pack up and head west.

Approaching Knoxville on Interstate 40 afforded eye candy views of the Smoky Mountains. Once there, the entourage located the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Greek Row and found the Epsilon-Omicron chapter house. It made Halsted 1 look like a little green house on a Monopoly board compared to the Knoxville chapter’s red hotel stature. Sofas were plentiful.

Motel bill avoided — again.Starting on Monday the 15th, everyone

scattered to the dorms for the next three nights where brothers were paired up with ones from other chapters.

Among the standout seminars was a personality profile session on Aug. 15 that featured exercises modeled in what’s known as diadic encounters. In

To Knoxville and back again. Bruce Marks and Brian Megginson (below right). Team Leader Rick Kirby (below wearing yellow shirt); Rick Childs (opposite page, upper right).

14 SUMMER 2015

Knoxville: 1977Knoxville: 1977

layman’s terminology that’s a creative, innovative, in-depth interaction that two or more people make, usually an interpersonal communication writing exercise on a one-to-one basis, according to the folks at answers.com. Chapter consultant Rick Kirby led the session and skits.

More seminars on recruitment, a practice session for the chorus and a chapter awards banquet whizzed by.

By the second night attendees crowded into a big hall for a Celebration of Life led by Rev. S. George “Doc” Dirghalli. Three brothers prefaced the session with a short medley of Elvis Presley tunes played on acoustic guitars. Then, as the applause died down, one of them took the microphone and announced that Elvis had died earlier that day in Memphis.

On the 17th brothers were treated to a private screening of the movie Fraternity Row in a gym followed that evening by a ritual exemplification. The film’s writer and producer, Charles Gary Allison, held a Q&A about the movie afterwards. While the film never caught on with moviegoers, its message is as valid today as it was when

its fictional 1950s story took place. The plot chronicled a wealthy college fraternity’s pledge class’s Hell Week before initiation, which led to a hazing death of one of its members. Sure, it wasn’t in the least bit funny like the following summer’s Animal House, but its cautionary message haunted every brother who attended.

The Leadership Seminar was over as quickly as it started. Before they left, they met with Beta-Rho’s then-House Corporation President Howard Brightman (EΣ 528).

Over the next couple of days, Brothers Marks, Megginson and Childs visited the Oak Ridge Atomic Energy Museum and took turns having their hair spike upwards while touching a Van de Graaf generator. No one could argue that Oak Ridge also had Tennessee’s best Italian restaurant: Ed’s Pizza.

On Aug. 20 they drove south to Pigeon Forge to spend an afternoon at a water park called Ski-Doo.. Then the brothers found a grassy field for a group photo. By nightfall, the three boarded a flight at Alcoa Airfield back in Knoxville and returned home.

15BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

All photos by Rick Childs (except the movie poster from IMDB).

Address Service Requested

BETA-RHO BULLETIN

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA FRATERNITY P.O. BOX 280311 NORTHRIDGE, CA 91328-0311

BETA-RHO BULLETINBETA-RHO BULLETIN

Editor’s JournalThis past August I took two trips to Chatsworth to go through my

storage pods. After being locked away for five years, I pulled out most of my fraternity pictures, negatives, slides and carousel projector. It was like opening a Pandora’s Box, but mostly in a good way.

With so many fraternity pictures back in my grasp, it’s astonishing to think that the vast majority of them never made it into any scrapbooks. Some of them still languished in carousels from long ago slideshows that were projected after chapter meetings or during Rush Week events. A couple were projected onto billboards and painted.

Now that I had them back, which ones might accompany an article for the Beta-Rho Bulletin? Sadly, the first one to get the call was a photo for Ray Lackman who passed away in August. The one really good photo I had of him was taken when he was an associate member, and it was probably at a pool party. He was shirtless though. I didn’t think a photo of him bare-chested was an appropriate image for his obituary notice on page 11, so I looked at dozens of slide pages before I ran across a group picture I shot of his class from September of 1979 in the Halsted 1 garage.

Thinking back on summers when I was an undergraduate, I look for connections between then and now for newsletter ideas. The Force has been strong this year. John Williams’ Star Wars score crept back into my subconscious, not to mention trailers for the new movie. Back in 1977, Bruce Marks walked into the Cantara House one hot June afternoon with an LP of the original soundtrack. In a summer when Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Donna Summer were dominating the airwaves, it was refreshing to hear a brother enthuse about a classical music movie score. There was a turntable idling in one of the live-ins’ bedrooms and within minutes, the overture was blasting in the living room. A little over a month later, I was walking around with him and Brian Megginson at Six Flags Over Georgia wearing a Star Wars t-shirt. That’s when I decided to revisit my pictures from that summer’s Leadership Seminar and feature them in an article for this issue. It complemented Jeffrey Perez de Leon’s trip to Iowa State University for this summer’s Stead Leadership Seminar too. Besides, Star Wars Episode VII was debuting in December. Resistance was futile, as they say.

The photo of me with Harold the dog is from the weekend I stayed in High Point, North Carolina with Brothers Marks and Megginson.

It was taken by a swimming pool on Aug. 13, 1977. If everyone had a beagle like Harold, the world would be a much nicer place.

I like using logos whenever possible for fraternity event articles. However, I couldn’t find the one for the 1977 Leadership Seminar in my boxes or online. Then I ran across a slide I had shot of the table used during the Fall 1977 Rush Week. Affixed to the backdrop was a poster from the Leadership Seminar. With the help of masking and photo editing tools, I restored the logo design for the article.

While most of my slides have aged gracefully, many of them were stored in archival slide pages that weren’t acid-free. A significant number of my slides were covered in an oily, slightly sticky veneer of degraded plastic. I’m not ready yet to undertake restoration work, but some of my slides are languishing in the sick ward for awhile.

What’s next for the slide collection, printwise? I’m looking at some old brotherhood retreats. There were several in the late Seventies and early 1980s that I attended. One of my favorites was a lot like the recent ones before the university imposed a moratorium on them. That would be the “Green Wave” retreat over the weekend of Sept. 27-29, 1980 in Big Bear. Those

photos were pretty inspirational. The chapter was on an upswing after enduring a particularly grueling pair of semesters. And Gary Thomas was four months into his two-year stint as High Alpha. Those were halcyon days, and there are still more of them in our future.

A word of caution to future chapter photo and video archivists: save your digital files. Work with a triad of data sources. Use a backup drive. I currently use one with my Mac’s Time Machine software. Second, invest in a cloud of some sort. Many of my photos are piled onto Dropbox folders, and I have yet to pay them anything for the convenience. Also, try putting them on thumb drives or flash memory. And if you do still have any any film negatives or slides, don’t throw them away. Social media might keep your photos handy for many years to come, but good luck trying to find somebody else’s stuff after a few months. Scrapbooks are great too, but they wear out.

When it comes to old photos, it’s better to have too much of a good thing. My parents saved some pictures of their grandparents. A few pictures I inherited go back to 1900. Lambda Chis will still be highly curious about us a hundred years from now. Let’s make it easier for them to see who we were.