City laws and loan problems delayed the 28th Street house construction.

By: Ariel Edwards-Levy

Posted: 3/25/08

Three years after Phi Delta Theta's fraternity house burned down, renovation of the house will soon commence, bringing PhiDelt back to The Row after long construction delays.

The delay in rebuilding was largely because of city construction laws and permit requirements, said Michael Spilsbury, the president of USC's PhiDelt chapter.

"Dealing with the construction in Los Angeles has been a nightmare," he said.

In 2005, the fraternity began its reinstatement after a three-year suspension for several offenses including drugs, a member shooting someone with a BB gun, fighting, disturbing the peace and prior probation, the Daily Trojan reported.

Then, just after midnight on April 21, the fraternity house went up in flames.

The fire was determined to have been accidentally caused by a transient staying in the then-abandoned house. No one was injured, but about $300,000 of damage was done to the property.

Since then, the fraternity members have lived in a house north of 28th Street, while their charter house, which dates back to the late 19th century, has sat empty and partially destroyed.

Now, however, construction is finally set to begin. A small carriage house in the back of the property has already been torn down, and renovation is due to start sometime this semester, Spilsbury said.

Spilsbury said that the structure of the house will be maintained, while the insides will be gutted and modernized. A new wing will also be added to the house.

"We're going to take what's left of the burnt-down house and work off of it to create the new house," he said.

Along with Los Angeles permit laws, the state of the economy has hindered construction, said Bill Bedford, a 1957 USC alumnus and head of the USC Phi Delt House Corporation.

The current housing crisis has made it difficult for the alumni to secure loans, he said.

PhiDelt took out a major loan from USC, as well as another one from a local bank.

The loans cannot be finalized until pricing on all construction is set, Bedford said. The fraternity hopes to have all pricing completed in the next few weeks and a final appraisal conducted shortly afterwards, he said.

"The hardest thing for the active chapter is to understand and try not to be too frustrated with the delays because these delays are typical of trying to do a renovation project in the middle of Los Angeles," he said.

It is important that the members did not try to rush the process, even though they may have been frustrated by the delays, Bedford said.

"Experience teaches us that the short term is what we emotionally react to. But when we do things right, we do them for the long term. We're doing it for the long term," he said.

Part of the funds to rebuild the house will come from the insurance money collected from the fire. The rest will be raised by PhiDelt alumni, who own the house through the USC Phi Delt House Corporation.

The corporation has already raised about a million dollars and hopes to raise two million more during an eighteen-month campaign, Bedford said. The campaign will go public June 14 with a 60th anniversary celebration for the fraternity.

The reconstruction efforts are being conducted almost exclusively at a local level, said Sean Wagner, Phi Delta Theta's national director of expansion.

"They had great success in not only rallying alumni support, but in transitioning that support into dollars," he said.

Spilsbury said the aftermath of the fire was problematic for PhiDelt at first, but they persevered through it.

"It certainly has affected our ability to exist as a fraternity," he said. "The Row is an experience that none of us have really had, so it's different. But we still make the best of it and have fun."

Wagner said the fire has not had a large negative impact on recruitment.

"We recruited with blueprints in hand," he said, adding that there had been plans to renovate the house even before the fire broke out.

Bedford said that the reinstatement gave alumni members an opportunity to be more involved with current fraternity members.

"The earlier chapter failed because of behavioral problems," he said, citing little alumni support and guidance - a problem Bedford said was endemic to many fraternities.

"We now have an active alumni support that's growing, but it didn't exist for five to 10 years," he said.

Bedford is looking forward to the newly renovated PhiDelt chapter house.

"It's going to be terrific," he said. "It's a wonderful old house. We're saving the core of it. It will be, no question, a beautiful gateway to The Row, just like it was when I was there."

Spilsbury, like many other members of PhiDelt, is just ready to move home again.

"What I'm looking forward to most is just having a house that everyone can come to and say, 'This is the PhiDelt house,'" he said.

© Copyright 2008 Daily Trojan

After a year-long hiatus, PhiPsi will be readmitted to the USC Greek community.

Marysol Valle

Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: News

The USC chapter of Phi Kappa Psi will be reinstated and recognized as a student organization June 1 after being disbanded nearly a year ago for risk management issues, Greek officials said.

Raymond Carlos, the assistant director of fraternity and sorority leadership development, declined to comment on what those risk management issues were.

Last spring, the Department of Public Safety cited several PhiPsi members for marijuana use, but Carlos said this was only one of the factors that led to the university's decision to removd the fraternity from The Row.

The university took action after the incident received attention from both campus and local media, Carlos said.

After USC's decision to revoke PhiPsi's status as a fraternity, parents and alumni placed numerous calls to the university, urging officials to give members an opportunity to reform, Carlos said.

"There was strong support from not just alumni, but also parents and other students," he said. "It was one of those ideas where we thought if they have this much support out there, then let's show it by helping this organization back onto its feet."

Since the university's decision to reinstate PhiPsi as a student organization, members are required to follow guidelines, which entails a new member program that is implemented internally within the fraternity, Carlos said.

Members also had to undergo a membership review in January conducted by local and national representatives to determine which members would re-enter the fraternity, which would be alumni and which would not be admitted back.

"They were looking for strong leaders and for people who matured a lot in the past year and whose ideals represented the university and the fraternity well," said Dane McLeod, president of PhiPsi.

Last spring, PhiPsi had 110 members, but the fraternity will begin with only 51 members when it reinstates in June, all of whom will be juniors or seniors for the 2008-2009 academic year.

"We have a great group of people coming back and it'll make a difference. At the very least I'm excited in returning and making a positive difference from philanthropy to recruitment," said R.J. Horsley, a sophomore majoring in business administration and a PhiPsi member.

Despite losing numbers, current members said they are not worried about recruitment next fall.

PhiPsi's recruitment efforts have been strong in the past and it will look for ways to integrate new members into the fraternity and provide them with a beneficial experience, McLeod said.

Through recruitment, McLeod said he believes PhiPsi can help repair its image.

"We'll encourage [recruits] to be more active in classrooms and on campus by taking leadership roles within the university. We want them to be involved, and as long as we recruit strong leaders, our image will improve itself," he said.

Other members of the Greek community also expressed excitement for PhiPsi's return to campus.

"I'm completely for it. I'm so happy they got their acts together. All those boys believed in the cause and showed that they are good people," said Peri Garcia, a sophomore majoring in business administration and a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

But Carlos said some university officials were concerned that reinstating PhiPsi will not hold them accountable for their past actions.

"I think they were concerned about consequences, not so much that they wanted them to be in trouble but they just wanted to make sure that there was some accountability," Carlos said.

Several PhiPsi members were adjudicated by the Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards, and their cases are private.

PhiPsi's return will come with some social and recruitment limitations to make sure the chapter progresses in a positive and stable time line, Carlos said, refusing to elaborate on what those limitations will entail.

Limitations aside, PhiPsi is rejoicing in the fact that it will be recognized as an organization once again, McLeod said.

Source: Valle, Marysol. "Phi Kappa Psi Set for Return to Row." The Daily Trojan 25 Mar. 2008. 25 Mar. 2008 .

Delta Omega Zeta seeks to teach students how to become better leaders.

By: Nicole Dailo | Daily Trojan |

Posted: 3/11/08

Launching a student organization entirely from scratch might have its challenges, but that didn't faze the seven founders of Delta Omega Zeta, the newest leadership fraternity to come to USC.

Created as a project for USC President Steven B. Sample's leadership class, the co-ed fraternity has secured a place as a campus organization, having been officially recognized by the Office of Campus Activities. Though still in its early stages, Delta Omega Zeta wasted no time in building its membership numbers, recently inducting 23 other students.

While the fraternity originated as a class assignment, the founding members felt the organization was the best way to meet a necessity on campus that other clubs failed to sufficiently address, said Max Slavkin, director of internal relations for DOZ and vice president of Undergraduate Student Government.

"We saw a gap on the USC campus. Leadership was always a tool to something else and was never examined on its own," Slavkin said. "We thought it was a valuable thing we were getting in this class, and [it was] what we wished we'd had our freshman and sophomore years."

To recruit members, DOZ sent e-mails to 250 campus organization presidents, who where asked to forward the message to students in their respective clubs and recommend some for membership in DOZ.

After inviting 180 students to an informational barbecue, DOZ received 59 applications, conducted 36 interviews and offered 25 bids to assemble its new Alpha class, said Raquel Lucente, co-director of new members and director of recruitment for DOZ. The recruitment process was brief this year, but DOZ plans to expand its process next semester by working with residential advisors to reach students living in campus housing and sending informational brochures to incoming freshmen over the summer, Lucente said.

In terms of criteria for selection, a number of factors came into play.

"We're definitely looking for diversity and, most importantly, leadership background. While it wasn't a requirement for our class to have leadership experience, it was great if they [did]," Lucente said. "In addition to focusing on each person, we wanted to focus on how the entire class fit together."

After receiving a bid, new members, called Journeymen, must interview three faculty or staff members, five student leaders and the seven founding members in order to become familiar with different styles of leadership. Having completed this and other tasks over six weeks, they will be initiated into the fraternity at the end of the semester.

In addition to helping students learn about leadership and tap into their own potential, DOZ aims to foster an environment of communal learning where all members can share their skills and provide constructive criticism for each other. The founding members, though hoping to lead by example, don't claim to be teachers on leadership, and many of them look forward to learning from the Alpha class, Slavkin said.

To carry out this mission, DOZ holds weekly meetings and hosts leadership-centered activities and discussions for its members.

In the future, the fraternity plans to invite guest speakers to campus in hopes of learning from leaders in different professional fields.

DOZ's lessons in leadership, however, are not confined to its members. The fraternity ultimately wants the entire USC community to benefit by following its example.

"Learning through doing has been the most educational part of my USC experience," Slavkin said. "The events that are put on by students have a larger impact on me, so hopefully by raising the level of campus student leadership, it will raise the quality of events put on by students and the quality of life on campus."

Students said they viewed DOZ as a positive addition to USC's repertoire of activities, especially for anyone who plans on becoming an involved and enthusiastic leader in society.

"It's an extension of the USC ideal, a perpetuation of the USC family with leaders getting together and creating connections for them to succeed post-college," said Stephen McDowell, a sophomore majoring in East Asian languages and cultures.

But some students, such as Robin Arnold, a freshman majoring in accounting, said DOZ's emphasis on leadership could cause the fraternity to be perceived as just another honor society rather than an innovative organization.

Slavkin, however, said DOZ's incorporation of hands-on learning distinguishes it from other similar groups on campus.

"The focus is really on building fraternity between all of those involved," he said. "It's not about the name and putting it on your résumé; it's about the process and the experience."

As for the future of the organization, Slavkin said that DOZ hopes to establish chapters at other colleges and universities once it generates a strong following here at USC. Several schools have already shown an interest in bringing DOZ to their campuses.

"We hope this organization is going to last a lot longer than we are at USC. We want to foster leadership skills at USC, to spread that to other campuses, and to graduate from USC as better leaders," Slavkin said.

© Copyright 2008 Daily Trojan

Greek councils teamed up Saturday to advocate for various organizations.

By: Dominique Fong
Posted: 3/3/08

Greek sorority and fraternity councils hosted the first Greek Gala on Saturday in an effort to raise money for Swim With Mike and the Interfraternity Parents Council Scholarship Fund.

The black-tie event brought 250 chapter presidents, alumni, students and their parents together at the Founders Club in the Galen Center.

This was the first time the Panhellenic Council partnered with the Interfraternity Council and the Interfraternity Parents Council in a philanthropy event.

Colorful poster boards outside the gala highlighted each chapter's charity projects, including Alpha Phi's Heart of Gold fundraising for the American Heart Association and Sigma Delta Tau's ultimate Frisbee tournament for Prevent Child Abuse America.

Jim Ellis, dean of the Marshall School of Business, opened the night, followed by speakers Sam Cunningham and John Papadakis, authors of "The Turning of the Tide," a book describing the first fully integrated football game in Alabama.

Mike Nyeholt, founder of Swim With Mike and former USC swimmer, introduced the philanthropy. Nyeholt recounted the motorcycle accident that paralyzed his body from the chest down, and was still in the hospital before the first swim. Undaunted, Nyeholt still traveled by ambulance to the event.

Since 1981, Swim With Mike has raised $7.3 million to support disabled athletes at colleges nationwide.

Tickets for the event were originally priced at $100 to keep the event comparable to other black-tie occasions, but were lowered to $85 to be more affordable, said Ashley Mahaffey, president of the Panhellenic Council. Tickets were sold out.

The Panhellenic Council sponsored tickets for chapter presidents and their executive board members to build relationships and convey a unified community to alumni and USC administration, Mahaffey said.

Before the gala, Mahaffey sent out e-mails to all USC alumni, and raised $21,000 in donations and sponsorships. Paper invitations and auction items were also donated.

After deducting food and rental expenses of $12,000, the councils hoped to raise a minimum of $9,000, to give to both the IFPC scholarships and the philanthropy.

The councils have not tallied the exact amount of money raised so far, Mahaffey said.

Funds from donations, live and silent auctions and ticket sales will be allocated equally to IFPC scholarships and Swim With Mike.

Auction items included a Pete Carroll-signed Nike football, wine baskets, a Beatles poster and a Caribbean trip for eight that went for $18,000.

Mahaffey began planning more than a year ago for a high-profile event that would recognize the Greek community's philanthropies. She turned to Georgette Cooper, benefit chair of IFPC, for support from parents.

The IFPC organizes annual fundraisers to award four $1,000 scholarships for members of fraternities. Each fraternity part of IFPC donates $100 or a gift basket.

Scholarship qualifications included a 3.2 GPA and extent of involvement with the fraternity.

Last year, the IFPC held a dinner and auction at Town and Gown, Cooper said.

But this year, because their event dates coincided, Mahaffey and IFPC merged them into the gala.

"It was to bring community together under one roof, under one objective to try and do things together," Mahaffey said.

After speaking with the university's trustees, Mahaffey chose to highlight Swim With Mike, a philanthropy based in Los Angeles and at USC.

For the organization's annual swim-a-thon, Nyeholt will swim April 12 at the USC McDonald's Swim Stadium to raise money for the Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund. At least 13 current USC students have been awarded scholarships from the fund.

Mahaffey said she also wanted the gala to change the party image often associated with students at the Greek system.

"We're trying to increases communication," said Chris Reilly, president of the Interfraternity Council. "We're starting a USC tradition and hopefully break down the stereotype [of partying]."

Reilly said the Greek community overall raised more than $500,000 for philanthropies last year.

The gala will be held every year in addition to the smaller sorority and fraternity fundraisers for their respective charities, such as Greek Service Week.

"That's the stigma, that's a label that can be changed," said senior Jarred Reeves, a scholarship recipient and member of Sigma Nu.

"What started off was an idea and a goal, it all comes down to one night and in a couple hours, it was absolutely worth it," Mahaffey said.

© Copyright 2008 Daily Trojan

Nearly 200 fraternity pledges attended the Interfraternity Council’s New Member Retreat on Sunday, February 24th.

This two-hour informational program introduced the newest members of the Greek community to the USC administration and to selected campus resources.

Student Judicial Affairs, the Health Center, and Men CARE returned this semester to lead sessions. The USC Career Center participated in the program for the first time, encouraging students to be proactive about planning for the future.

The retreat followed a round-robin format in which groups of 40 to 50 students circulated through each of the 20-minute presentations. The smaller group size encouraged students to ask questions and facilitated group discussion.

Plans are already in the making for next semester’s New Member Retreat, which will build on the successes of this year’s program. Presentations from Undergraduate Student Government and from the Office of Campus Activities will add a new dimension to the event, encouraging Greeks to take leadership positions both on the row and throughout the university.

IFC sponsors a New Member Retreat at the beginning of each semester. Held in Taper Hall, this year’s event accommodated one of the largest spring pledge classes in recent memory.