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The NYC RECOLONIZATION/REUNION EVENT held on June 17th was a huge success! Below are the videos and meeting minutes that outline plans to bring DU back to Syracuse University. Thanks to all the brothers who came out to the SU Lubin House.
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Highlights and Video from NYC Re-colonization Event
The re-colonization meeting was a huge success. With over 50 brothers in attendance, we learned all about about plans to bring back DU to Syracuse University. Topics covered included:
- Our recolonization strategy
- New Undergraduate Advising Committee to sustain the chapter
- Housing Plans, Fundraising goals, and more
Watch the videos below and read the meeting minutes (click here).
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NYC EVENT MEETING MINUTES
Wherever You Find Two Rivers The meeting was kick-started with a rousing rendition of “Two Rivers”. Song sheets were distributed among the 50+ guys in the room, but they weren’t hardly needed, the song seared in our memory banks. Unique to the Syracuse Chapter, “Hey!” was chanted between each verse and the chorus. |
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Al Stauderman ‘58
Chairman University Relations Committee Al, the elder statesman and our fearless leader, set the tone for the meeting, thanking those in attendance, but emphasizing: To reestablish the Syracuse Chapter and one day own our own House on campus, we're going to need every, single Brother across the country pulling together. Al gave a brief history lesson of Delta Upsilon, leveraging his 60+ years of involvement with our Fraternity. He made one of the most powerful statements of the evening, sharing that, after all these years, he’s still fighting tooth and nail to bring back DU to help young men find success in life. |
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John Duncan, Oregon State ’00
Director - Delta Upsilon Educational Foundation John covered our recolonization strategy. He reported DU across the country is the strongest it’s ever been enterprise-wide with over 4,000 college Brothers, a record number. He proclaimed it’s the right time for the Syracuse Chapter comeback. DU Headquarters is asked to establish new chapters at eight colleges each year. After careful consideration, Syracuse was hand-picked over others largely because of its strong alumni base. Our game plan will have three phases: Phase 1 – Laying the Groundwork: Marketing and prospecting for pledge class referrals will start six months before the Fall 2016 recruitment period begins. Meetings will be had with the Syracuse University Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and all the behind the scenes details hammered out – from securing an on-campus meeting space to creating pledge manuals. Phase 2 – Boots on the Ground Recruiting: DU Headquarters will dispatch three of its finest recruiters to Syracuse for three months to assemble our first pledge class. The recruiters will meet one-on-one with pledge referrals generated in Phase 1, pitch student groups, host recruitment tables and information sessions, and canvas the campus to identify the very best candidates. Phase 3 – Colonization: A public ceremony will be held, celebrating our comeback; goals developed for the new Colony; the Undergraduate Advisory Board installed (see below); and a Colony Development Plan implemented. John didn’t just talk a good game. He rattled off a list of recolonization successes, most recently at Maryland, which is 75 Brothers strong just two years into its return. On a number of occasions, John referred to our Fraternity as a “Men’s Development Organization”, emblematic of our third Founding Principle: The Diffusion of Liberal Culture. John reminded that it’s the responsibility of every DU to take advantage of the opportunities before him and use them to better society. The goal is to create educated, worldly men, with humanity, sensitivity and greater social awareness. |
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Ken Hyman ‘88
Chairman Undergraduate Advising Committee Ken’s charge is to put the second of our four Founding Principles into action: The development of character. Ken is forming an Undergraduate Advisory Board comprised of 12 alumni dedicated to ensuring the new Brothers attain their full potential. Advisory Board members will coach up Chapter officers and Brothers on leadership; scholarship; recruitment; and DU Headquarters, University and community relations. Ken already has six alumni committed to serve on the Advisory Board and needs six more Brothers to step forward. Texting, Skyping and other forms of long distance communications render living close to campus not a prerequisite for the job. |
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Mark Linnan ’85
Chairman Housing Committee Out of the box, Mark’s first goal is to break the link in people’s minds between restarting the Chapter and owning the House. Mark stressed we must have a healthy Chapter before making housing decisions. Mark succinctly articulated the Housing Committee’s long term goal in four words: Own our own House. Of course, it’s going to take some fundraising effort to get the money together to do so. Mark envisions a stepped approach to housing: Start out of the blocks with everyone on a floor in a dorm, as we gain critical mass progress to leasing a house, and ultimately owning. If you are wondering how we can gain traction without a house, John Duncan provided examples of this stepped approach being highly successful – again, the Maryland recolonization is a perfect illustration: Maryland is up to 75 Brothers without their own house. |
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Rick Holland ‘83
Chairman Fundraising Committee Rick announced the immediate fundraising goal: $325,000 to cover all three phases of our comeback plan laid out by Brother Duncan, as well as endowing educational scholarships for our new Brothers. The endowment will provide perpetual scholarships for 16 to 20 Brothers each year, including an annual “Building Better Men” retreat put on by DU Headquarters for the entire Chapter. Rick acknowledged that this is a big ask, but exuded confidence that we will git ‘er done. All eight members of the Task Force have “put their money where their mouth is” by pledging $50,000. So, on Day One we are already more than 15% of the way there. Rick mentioned that the Dikaia Foundation is committed to transferring a portion of its assets to restart the Chapter. Help is on the way from all fronts. As you may recall from your undergraduate days, Dikaia is our Chapter’s own educational foundation, which has operated continuously since its founding in 1952, with an all‐volunteer board, comprised of DU alumni. Our mantra is 100% participation – no guy left behind, everyone in on the ground floor, all in on the fun, no one guy more important than any other, we need every single guy to make a financial gift, no matter the amount, to win. |
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Kevin Stein ‘83
Chairman Communications Committee Kevin’s mandate is to locate every, single guy so we can have 100% participation. Kevin is the champion of our first Founding Principle: The promotion of friendship. It sure does take a long time to make an old friend. Ah, how good it felt last night, shaking the hand of an old friend. The Communications Team wants all the guys to feel this. It’s true, the best mirror is an old friend. We have 900 living alumni. We are missing correct contact information for more than half of the guys. The Communications Team could use a hand skip-tracing some of the missing guys. Please let Kevin know if you can assist. dusu2016.com is our main communication tool. Update your contact information on our website. Stop by the Finding Brothers page to help an MIA guy get back in the mix. The Communications Team has a battle cry: “No guy left behind!” Up to the minute information is contained on our site’s FAQ page. Old Bazoos and photographs are on our site too. We’re on Facebook with 200 members. Find us by searching “Delta Upsilon Syracuse University”. You are encouraged to add old photos and new posts to stir the pot. |
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Mike Whalen ‘87
Legal Matters and Closing Remarks Mike is heading the Legal Committee. He explained the type of work that his Committee will do, including helping Mark Linnan set up a housing corporation when the time comes for us to get our own House. He reiterated the 100% participation mantra, stating he plans to get all lawyer Brothers involved in the legal work in some way. Mike also said he would support the other Committees in any way and do anything it takes for us to win. |
Look Who Attended!
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Jeff Aber '83
Greg August '84 Mike Balkind '83 Jim Blair '85 Lawrence Cantor '84 James Carroll '86 Edward Castagna '90 Pete Cosenza '84 Adam Dambrov '90 Hal Fetner '83 John Fitzpatrick '85 Daniel Gacetta '88 Sean Giancola '89 John Greblick '83 |
Michael Greene '84
Jeffrey Gugick '85 Steven Hochberg '83 Ronald Hochman '85 Nay Holland '83 Buster Hyman '88 William Ife '83 Kurt Kalafsky '87 John Kellerman '86 Greg Larson '84 Minty Linnan '85 Tim Manning '86 Marc Musicus ' 88 David Nass '91 |
John Newhouse '82
Alan Schanzer '90 Greg Simon '83 Robert Spiegel '84 Al Stauderman '58 Kevin Stein '83 Bill Strickland '81 David Sugrue '90 Robert Vrooman '89 Michael Whalen '87 Warren Wolf '89 David Zenna '91 David Zimmer '90 |