Author: Chi Phi DZAA

Founders’ Weekend 2015 – Happy Hour

Founders’ Weekend continues on Saturday, April 18th with an opportunity for the Alumni to get together and catch up on old times, swap stories, and share some drinks and appetizers. We will be gathering at our favorite International Plaza spot, The Pub, for a few hours of fun and comraderie!

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Mark your calendars now for 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, 2015 and join the DZAA at The Pub Tampa, located at 2223 North Westshore Boulevard, Tampa, Florida 33607. The DZAA will provide the appetizers, but Alumni are welcome to order any food and drinks they may wants from the menu. The Put even offers a “Pour Your Own Beer” bar in the upstairs loft, which is where our event will take place.

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Guest/spouses/significant others are more than welcome to join us for the fun! Don’t miss out on this fun-filled night and the opportunity to make some new memories with your Brothers!

Founders’ Weekend 2015 – Bi-Annual Meeting

It’s that time of year again – time for the Founders’ Weekend celebration! And with that celebration comes the Spring Meeting of the Delta Zeta Alumni Association!

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This year’s meeting will be held on April 18, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. in Room 3709 of the USF Marshall Center located on the campus of the University of South Florida. In addition to the bi-annual reports of the officers, we will also be holding alumni installation ceremony, as well as elections of the four officers for the next two-year term!

Pursuant to the By-Laws for the DZAA, in order for there to be a quorum at any General Meeting of the DZAA, we must have fifty percent (50%) of all voting members, plus one, present at the meeting. The By-Laws defines a voting member as “any initiated Alumnus of the Chi Phi Fraternity who does not hold voting rights in any other Chapter-specific Alumni Association or Housing Corporation. Voting members must be current on their financial obligations (dues) to the DZAA…” Thus, based upon the large number of currently-paid active Alumni in the DZAA (which, believe it or not, is 48!!!!), twenty-five (25) of those dues-paid members are needed to be present in order for there to be a quorum at the meeting.

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If you are unable to make the meeting, but would like to have a say in the matters that are decided, you can contact the DZAA President, Brother David Ebner, to arrange a proxy vote. However, the more Alumni who are personally present for the meeting, the more successful it will be in deciding the new direction for the Alumni Association in the coming years!

Make your plans now to come out to the Marshall Center on Saturday, April 18th and support the DZAA!  Following the meeting, those interested will be going out for lunch – a time for food, fun, and fellowship!

Chi Phi Presents: University of Tampa

UT 5Led by Chi Phi National Office staff members Bre Berris (Director of growth and Alumni Services) and Michael Azarian (Executive Director), the fraternity made an expansion pitch to the student body at the University of Tampa on Wednesday, March 18th. Also in attendance were the Delta Zeta Chapter Alpha and Beta, Corey Irby and Nathan Drass respectively, The DZAA President, David Ebner and the DZAA Technology Chairman, Clinton Millsap. Two distinguished alumni were also present as incoming Grand Alpha Ron Frank and Alpha Delta Chapter Alumnus and longtime Delta Zeta supporter, Andy Shultz Sr., were able to join.

The presentation delved straight into why Chi Phi would be a great fit at the University of Tampa. Bre Berris showed recent Chi Phi stats that would make it hard for any campus to say no to bring the fraternity to the school. Here are few of the statistics from the last five years:

  • Chapter sizes have increased from 30 to 42.
  • 15 Chapters have been started and re-founded.
  • Only 1 of the 15 have been closed in that time. This represents one of the lowest ratios in the industry.
  • The Initiation rate raised to 90%, again one of the highest for a fraternity in the country. This is a sign that hazing and poor recruitment methods are dropping.
  • Overall growth in membership is 61%.

UT 3Michael Azarian spoke to the fraternity’s Risk Management efforts and announced that Chi Phi has the lowest possible insurance premium in our purchasing group. In fact, Brother Ebner noted that the insurance premium is the same now as it was when he was a new member back in 2007. What other insurance premium do you have that hasn’t increased in 8 years? He also noted that although Chi Phi hasn’t needed it, we have an $11 million liability policy and a $1 million cash reserve if the time ever comes. His reasoning for why we have so much insurance, “It’s really cheap. Why not protect our members and our future to our best abilities, especially when we can for such little money?”

In the end, UT 4Brothers Frank, Shultz, Ebner and Millsap pledged the support of the Tampa Alumni to help advise and nurture a Chi Phi group at the University of Tampa, which went a long way with the students present. The group then talked more over dinner at Acropolis in Ybor. The night ended with a feeling of success, regardless of which fraternity the University of Tampa decides to invite to expand, Chi Phi poised itself to eventually start another Chapter in Tampa.