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The Boston RECOLONIZATION/REUNION EVENT held on October 1, 2015 was a success! Below are meeting minutes that outline plans to bring DU back to Syracuse University. Thanks to all the brothers who came out to the Hampshire House.

Minutes of the Boston Event 
The Boston Recolonization Meeting was held in the third floor Thayer Room of the Hampshire House, adorned with carved oak paneling, Italian marble, and tall Palladian windows overlooking the Boston Public Garden.

The meeting opened with “Two Rivers”, sung by Syracuse Brothers spanning the late 1950s to the early 1990s.  

Click Here for pdf of Boston Minutes (October 2015)
Click Here for pdf of the NYC Minutes (June 2015)

Al Stauderman ‘58 
Chairman | University Relations Committee 
Al gave thanks to the Old Guard that came before him, including Brothers Stratton, Dwyer, Stark, Roney, Holden and Broad.  Al shared the reasons why Syracuse University selected our return over other competing fraternity bids:  The positive impact we will make on the lives of Syracuse undergraduate men through our Four Founding Principles and non-secret, anti-hazing traditions.

Tom Kershaw, Swarthmore '60
Owner | Hampshire House
Tom, owner of the Hampshire House, welcomed us to his turn-of-the-century, Georgian-style mansion on historic Beacon Hill – home of Cheers, the iconic bar that inspired the television show.  Tom matter-of-factly recounted his business exploits, mentioning he was awarded Delta Upsilon’s Sloan-Kettering Award of Merit in Business, but rightly proclaimed he should be known for his community contributions.  Tom proudly told of his involvement in the recolonization of the Harvard DU Chapter, and that he supports our Syracuse comeback.

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Justin Kirk, Executive Director, Delta Upsilon Fraternity and Educational Foundation
 Justin Kirk, Boise State '00
Executive Director | Delta Upsilon Fraternity and Educational Foundation
Justin became Executive Director of DU International ("Headquarters") in April 2007.  During his first month on the job, Justin made a short list of Old Gold Chapters he wanted to see recolonized and Syracuse was at the top of his list. The Syracuse Chapter was established in 1873, the 18th DU chapter nationally, the 3rd fraternity at Syracuse.  During Justin’s eight-year tenure, he and his staff have been constructing a stronger Headquarters and chapter system to ensure the success of recolonization and new chapter efforts.
 
  1. Headquarters has more than doubled its staff, from 11 to 23.  New employees have advanced degrees in higher education or nonprofit management.
  2. Headquarters has developed a full line-up of industry-leading educational experiences for its undergraduate brothers, which enhance leadership, business and communications skills, as well as character and charitable qualities among our young men.
  3. Headquarters is in the business of Building Better Men through its educational programming.
  4. Today, more than half of a chapter’s brothers attend a DU educational experience each year.
  5. Headquarters has gotten so good at it that major universities, such as Florida State University, University of Oregon and University of Connecticut, have hired Headquarters to put on educational programs for their undergraduates.
  6. In the last eight years, a number of DU chapters have been closed and reopened under the new approach Syracuse will go through, including Maryland, James Madison, Kentucky, Oregon, among others.
  7. During this time, across the country, the average chapter size has increased from 26 to 53 brothers.
  8. Right now, DU is the strongest it’s ever been enterprise-wide with over 4,300 undergraduate brothers, a record number.
  9. Next Fall, Headquarters will send two of its best recruiters to the Syracuse campus to begin assembling our new Brotherhood.  The recruiters will be DUs, recent graduates, a couple years out of college – Rick Holland types (Rick went to work for Headquarters right out of Syracuse).
  10. The recruiters will canvass the campus, setting up tables in the Schine Center and dorms, running down legacy and friends & family leads, turning up other prospects using a variety of tried and true methods.
  11. One particularly effective strategy is visiting sororities and interviewing sisters, asking them the best guys they know who are not in fraternities.  Justin disclosed that the typical haul in a sorority run night like this is 200 quality leads.
  12. The recruiters turn leads into pledges, separating the wheat from the chaff by one-on-one meetings with candidates and gum-shoeing backgrounds to ensure guys are up to Syracuse DU standards.
  13. Justin estimates our initial comeback pledge class will have 35 members.
  14. Before the recruiters leave, Headquarters will send a representative to Syracuse for one year to lead the new Brothers in establishing the infrastructure of our Chapter.  From advising on the officer election process to teaching how to run a Chapter meeting, the representative will coach the guys up on how to be a Syracuse DU.
  15. Headquarters educational experiences will be deployed on the entire Brotherhood.

Interestingly, new and recolonized chapters that go through this improved on-boarding process are among the best performing chapters nationwide right out of the gate.  Case in point:  James Madison, which recently went from recolonization to Sweepstakes Winner in just one year.  So, that’s three of the four prongs of our winning game plan:  (1) extended boots on the ground with Headquarters recruiters using proven methods to prospect and select the best candidates; (2) dedicated Headquarters representative on campus one year, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the new Brothers building it out; and (3) Brotherhood participation in Headquarters educational experiences.  The fourth prong is Ken Hyman’s advisor initiative.

Read Justin's Message to Alumni regarding Delta Upsilon's recognition as "A Reformer Embracing Change"  and the recent article, Change at 4 Fraternities posted in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
 

Ken Hyman ‘88 
Chairman| Undergraduate Advising Committee 
Ken has formed an Undergraduate Advisory Board which will be comprised of 12 alumni missioned with ensuring our new Brothers reach their full potential.  Advisory Board members will mentor Chapter officers and Brothers on leadership; scholarship; recruitment; and Headquarters, University and community relations.  Ken stressed consistency as the key to advisor success – just being a regular presence for a cub Brother, telling him how you did it (or would have done it) back in the day through a seasoned perspective.   

If you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, contact Buster.  Living close to Syracuse is not a prerequisite as mentoring can be effective through texting, skyping and other forms of long-distance communication.

Mike Whalen ’87
Chairman | Legal Committee | Raymond Ranellucci Emerging Leader Scholorship

Fall 1986 – 29 years ago – we had a Rush night themed as a mud wrestling battle royal on the lawn of 711 Comstock.   We put up sideboards, made a WWF regulation-size ring.  Dug up the lawn, hosed down the soil and made a mud pit.  Rented a bank of those night-time highway construction lights to illuminate the sloppy squared circle.  Thirty guys entered the match.  There was an epic ending.  It was an amazing night.  A video tape of the mud wrestling extravaganza fell into Mike’s lap.  It’s long and a treasure because it’s announced by Ray Ranellucci '89 and Mark Portier '87.  It’s Ray just as we would like to remember him.  All the guys from 1986-87 are on the tape.  There are interviews conducted by Ray and Mark before and after the match.  Ray is awesome, in all his glory.

We’re having an event to remember Ray in New York City on October 30th.  We’re going to unveil the long lost mud wrestling video tape featuring Ray and the guys.  The event is a culmination of a fundraising effort to name a scholarship to one of the educational experiences Justin spoke of in Ray’s name. 

Ray’s scholarship will, in perpetuity, pay for the registration costs of a newly-initiated Brother to the annual Delta Upsilon Emerging Leaders experience – a week-long conference held at Williams College, our founding location, devoted to developing leadership skills and self-confidence.   Mark Porter will MC the event.

We are up to 50 Yes RSVPs.  We want 100 guys there.  Ray’s wife, Christina, is coming from North Carolina and, of course, we want her to feel the full force of the DU Brotherhood love.  Please do come.  Mike guarantees it will be a night you’ll never forget.

Here’s the event particulars:
October 30, 2015
8:00pm - 11:00pm
 
O’Flanagan’s
1215 First Avenue
New York, NY 10065
(between 65th & 66th)

Rick Holland ‘83
Chairman Fundraising Committee 
  1. Rick reported that we’re off to a strong fundraising start, having received pledges of $110,000 toward a total goal of $325,000.
  2. Rick reiterated that the $325,000 will pay for the Fall 2016 recolonization start-up costs – the boots on the ground recruiters, the one-year campus presence of the Headquarters representative, the pledge class marketing and other related expenses.  The fundraising will also endow in perpetuity 16 scholarships to the Headquarters educational experiences, including the Raymond Ranellucci Emerging Leader Scholarship.
  3. Rick announced that there will be two fundraising calling campaigns, the first one October 18-31, the second one in November.  Volunteer Brothers will be making the calls and every Brother will be contacted.
  4. Rick expressed his deep gratitude for all the effort and generosity so far and his faith in the guys the rest of the way out.


Attendees
Robert Gingrich
Richard Holland
Kenneth Hyman
Mark Linnan
James McKay
Philip Nardone
Lawrence Richmond
Denis Robitaille
Paul Simon
Robert Spiegel
Albert Stauderman
Kevin  Stein
Oswald Street
Michael Whalen


Delta Upsilon @ Syracuse University | 801 Walnut Avenue | Founded 1873 | dusyracuse@gmail.com
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