Alpha Rho Chi

Chapter Highlight: Hadrian Chapter Hosts Elementary After-School Program

Submitted by Isabel Baum

In a collaboration between Tulane University’s Hadrian Chapter, Strong City Tulane, and an after-school program for elementary school kids, a recent philanthropic event unfolded to spark the imaginations of budding young designers. The fraternity members, driven by a passion for both architecture and community engagement, decided to guide these young students through a creative journey of envisioning and building their dream houses.

The event commenced with an exciting design session where elementary school children were handed sheets of paper and an array of colorful art supplies. Tasked with designing their dream houses, the kids eagerly translated their imaginative ideas onto paper. The fraternity brothers, acting as mentors, provided insights into the basics of architectural design, emphasizing the importance of creativity and functionality. 

After sketching their dream houses on paper, the students transitioned to the tactile world of Lego construction. Equipped with an assortment of Lego pieces, the kids brought their visions to life in three dimensions. The fraternity brothers, serving as guides throughout the process, encouraged critical thinking and teamwork as the Lego dream houses took shape.

This philanthropic endeavor not only provided an engaging and educational experience for the elementary school kids but also showcased the positive impact that mentorship and hands-on activities can have in nurturing young talent. As the architecture fraternity and the young designers celebrated their collaborative achievements, it was clear that this event had not only built dream houses out of Lego pieces but had also constructed a foundation of inspiration and enthusiasm for the brothers and designers of tomorrow.

The Grand Council is thrilled to announce the 2023 Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is open for Registration.  

Save the date for Friday, September 22 - Sunday, September 24, 2023.

A representative from each chapter is requested to attend this event. The Worth Estimator of each chapter is encouraged to attend, as programming will include chapter budgeting as well as other operational strategies. Please have the member who will be attending register through our event page at their earliest convivence.  Registration will close the first week of September, to give the LC team enough time to arrange travel and lodging accommodations for all attendees.

Flight Arrangements; please complete your registration as soon as possible to ensure the best possible flights for your schedule. Once a member is registered they will be contacted by a member of the Leadership team to help arrange their travel and lodging accommodations.

Hotel Accommodations: Sheraton Oklahoma City Downtown Hotel. Please be aware that this year, we are inviting one (1) Member from each Chapter to attend this year’s Leadership Conference, therefore, Members will be staying with another Member outside their chapter. Our team will do our best to pair Chapters within similar regions together

Transportation; an Uber Code will be distributed to the attending Members that can be used to cover transportation to and from the airport for the weekend

Conference Deposit: Please ensure that only members who are committed to attending the event register, this deposit is non-transferable to other members of the organization. If a registrant changes their mind and a different member plans to attend in their place a new registration and deposit will be required. Once paid, deposits will only be refunded to members who attend the Conference. Once confirmed any changes to travel arrangements will be deducted from that individuals deposit.

Happy Founders Day Alpha Rho Chi! On April 11, 1914, Leo M. Bauer and Chandler C. Cohagen met at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago to establish the fraternity we all know and love. In the 109 years since, our fraternity has seen many ups and downs, but has always come through stronger on the other side.

“I see a bright future for Alpha Rho Chi and want thank my fellow Grand Council members, appointees, alumni, collegiate members and anyone else who had contributed to the success of Alpha Rho Chi over the years.” said Worthy Grand Architect A.J. Kessinger “Without your support, hard work and dedication, we wouldn’t be the fraternity we are today.”

Here’s to 109 more trips around the sun.

We did it! We're thrilled that you decided to join us in Nashville. Because of you, we have successfully registered 107 paid attendees and 25 business-only attendees, plus met our room block obligations at the Hampton Inn. It's shaping up to be a really great weekend, and we're excited to share final programming details with you soon. 

However, there's one more hurdle between us and a truly successful convention: meeting quorum to conduct business. For those who attended virtual Convention last year, we know this is a painful topic. In the hopes of not repeating that heartache, we're outlining the threshold we need to hit this year.

Alpha Rho Chi has 48 active organizations, which means we need 25 delegates (50% + 1) to show up at Convention with their credentials in order. Unfortunately, 18 organizations (13 chapters and 5 alumni associations) have not registered anyone to attend, so the task falls to the remaining 30. 

The good news: as part of the GreekTrack transition, we have significantly simplified the credentials and good standing process. Each WA and AA President has a form on their GreekTrack Dashboard for Convention Delegate Credentials to complete by Monday, February 13.

• All organizations are asked to name their delegate, confirm board members, upload a budget, and proof of state incorporation (if applicable).
• Chapters are asked to pay collegiate dues and report/pay for potential new members and initiates.
• Alumni Associations are asked to verify board members' national dues paying status, and pay the annual alumni association fee.

Note: the WGE is actively working to reconcile past due collegiate dues records, to ensure chapters who are current on this year's finances are not unduly penalized for previous years' debts.

Once submitted, the WGAA or WGI (and their teams) will follow up with each organization to confirm/correct credentials and offer guidance if needed.

We'll be holding a few more GreekTrack help sessions between now and then (there's one tonight for AAs!), but we're also happy to schedule 1:1 meetings at your convenience. So, if you have any questions about the credentials process, please contact any Grand Council member or Regional Director. 

More updates to come next week!

We know many of you are eagerly awaiting an update on Convention registration after our last email. In short, we have received a few more registrations in the past 5 days, but still not enough for us to cover our non-business expenses.

As of 7 PM Central, we have 82 paid registrations and 25 free registrations. Here's how that breaks down:

We have heard from a number of concerned members, many of whom have encouraged the Grand Council to absorb the financial loss on this Convention ... and while we completely agree that holding an in-person Convention is critical for the wellbeing of our fraternity, we are concerned about the precedent that such a decision will set.

Article VI of the Alpha Rho Chi ByLaws specifically directs that all "reasonable and necessary expenses" (i.e., business related costs) be paid by the Fraternity while all other expenses are to be paid by the Convention attendees. As always, the Grand Council is fully covering the cost of business sessions — the projected shortfall is tied to the already re-negotiated reduced cost of Welcome Reception, Banquet, and our hotel room block attrition, and therefore absorption of those costs would put us in violation of national governance.

Note: We are awaiting an update from the Hampton Inn on the status of our room block, but with such a small increase in registrations, we don't expect it will have risen much either. We do not have a minimum to meet with the Scarritt Bennett Center. 

So our call to action stands ... we need at least 100 paid registrations and 32 Hampton Inn hotel room reservations by 11:59pm Central on Tuesday, January 31 or the Grand Council will, once again, need to move the Convention online, and re-negotiate our contracts for a fall Leadership Conference.

• For those who are already registered to attend Convention: don’t forget to book your hotel room – we assure you that we have negotiated the lowest possible rate in the area (and if you find a better deal, let us know). 
  
• For everyone: join us at convention! If you can't join, help us communicate the importance of an in-person Convention to your fellow members, both alumni and collegiate. If you have the capacity, offer financial support to a chapter who has not yet registered. If you can’t offer funds, offer support in scheduling flights, booking hotels, whatever else they may need.
  
• For those who are on the fence about attending: contact us! The Grand Council and National Appointees stand ready to assist and guide anyone who wants to be more involved and can help you navigate whatever obstacles you are encountering. We can also put you in touch with other members with similar itineraries or who need a roommate.

We know this is not the news you were hoping to hear, but we want to assure each and every one of you that the commitment of our membership is not in question. We remain optimistic that this call to action will reach those who need to hear it, and that these final days of registration will get us where we need to be.

We’re not going to sugarcoat it. The Grand Council had a hard conversation last night. 

The 75th National Convention is scheduled to convene in Nashville in 31 days … except there is a very real risk that it will, once again, not be financially responsible for us to meet in person.

Why? With 7 days remaining in the registration period: 

• Only 15 of the 40 needed rooms in our hotel room block have been reserved.
• Only 73 of the 150 available full registration tickets have been purchased.
• Only 11 of the 31 collegiate chapters have registered an attendee.

We are bringing this to your attention because we still have time to make this right. There are still members who are interested and excited about convention – primarily our alumni. 

• Alumni registrations outnumber collegiates 2:1.
• 13 of 17 Alumni Associations have registered an attendee.
• All 10 motions up for consideration were submitted by alumni. 

However, if we don’t have enough registrations and hotel reservations by EOD Tuesday, January 31, the Grand Council will, once again, need to move the Convention online, and re-purpose the existing event plans for a fall Leadership Conference to avoid a major financial loss. 

It’s incredibly disheartening to have reached this point again, despite having made significant changes to Convention from 2022 (based on member feedback). But the reality is, despite all our adjustments (changing cities, removing school conflicts, lowering travel and registration costs, opening registration early, etc.), collegiate interest and capacity to attend Convention is historically low. What we’re hearing isn’t surprising, but it is discouraging: chapters are still focused on rebuilding locally, and so national level Fraternity operations are not a priority. Furthermore, the joys of national brotherhood and the excitement of gathering at Convention are unknown to most of the collegiate membership, and therefore not much of a motivator.

So, if you want Alpha Rho Chi to have a Convention in Nashville, here’s how you can help:

• For those who are already registered to attend Convention: don’t forget to book your hotel room – we assure you that we have negotiated the lowest possible rate in the area (and if you find a better deal, let us know). 
  
• For everyone: join us at convention! If you can't join, help us communicate the importance of Convention to your fellow members, both alumni and collegiate. If you have the capacity, offer financial support to a chapter. If you can’t offer funds, offer support in scheduling flights, booking hotels, whatever else they may need.
  
• For those who are on the fence about attending: contact us! The Grand Council and National Appointees stand ready to assist and guide anyone who wants to be more involved and can help you navigate whatever obstacles you are encountering. We can also put you in touch with other members with similar itineraries or who need a roommate.

Alpha Rho Chi is at a crossroads, and the 75th National Convention will determine the direction our Fraternity will take in the future. We want as many members as possible to be as part of that conversation, so we hope you will join us for this crucial event.

Dear Brothers, 

I'm thrilled to announce that the 75th National Convention of Alpha Rho Chi will be held in person in Nashville, Tennessee.

Save the date for Thursday, February 23 - Sunday, February 26, 2023.

Registration will open on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. Additional details, including lodging, programming, tours, awards, scholarships, nominations, and motions submission instructions will also be announced at when registration opens.

We appreciate your patience as Grand Council finalizes details for this event, but rest assured that you can expect the following highly requested features:

• Business sessions will be entirely free to members (including delegates).
• Total pricing for all other aspects of Convention will not exceed $200 per person.
• Lodging, Welcome Reception, Business Sessions, Programming, and Banquet will all be located in the heart of Nashville.
• The Convention schedule will allow numerous opportunities for attendees to make new connections, informally gather, and explore the city. 
• The motions submitted in advance of the 74th National Convention will automatically carry over to the 75th National Convention (as unfinished business). 

Finally, we invite the membership to review the summarized results of our May 2022 Convention Interest Surveys here. 

We look forward to welcoming you to the Athens of the South!

Welcome to the new alpharhochi.org! We're excited to roll out our streamlined, mobile-friendly site. 

Over the past 8 months, the Grand Council has been painstakingly evaluating our web content, fine tuning our database practices and  improving user experience on our new platform. Today, we're pleased to announce that our new membership management platform, powered by GreekTrack, is fully operational!

All existing members: click Member Login in the upper right hand corner of the page (or visit alpharhochi.org/login) to claim your account. If your email address does not match what we have on file, don't worry. Go ahead and register with as much information as you can. We are reviewing new registrations and accounts daily and will merge records where necessary. 

Questions? Can't find something? Email info@alpharhochi.org

The Grand Council has begun planning efforts for the 2023 National Convention, and we are seeking your feedback. 

Since our 2022 Convention was moved online due to low registration, the Grand Council felt it critical to hear from the membership before moving forward with plans for 2023. We want to be sure that our annual meeting not only meets our official business needs, but is also beneficial to our members. 

Please share your thoughts by completing just one of our two opinion surveys, below:

Yes, I'm Interested or No, I'm Not Interested

Each survey takes 1-3 minutes to complete, can be submitted anonymously (if desired), and include both multiple choice and open response questions. Survey results will be used to guide future Convention planning decisions. 

This survey is being distributed widely, however we know it may not reach our entire membership. If you know of someone who did not receive this email, please share it. 

Thank you for your continued support as we work to thrive as a Fraternity.

• Note: Chapters who wish to have their graduates honored must submit their New Graduate Report no later than Monday, April 25.  

• Worthy Grand Estimator Brice Ohl
• Worthy Grand Lecturer John Conway

• WGE-Elect Sama Verdina (Domitian)
• WGL-Elect Claudia Miraldi (Anthemios)