Alpha Theta Chapter M.I.T. founded 1882 founded 1861 April 5, 1998 Minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Board, held February 24, 1998. The meeting was called to order at 7:13 PM in the Chapter House Library. Present: Herb Mower (Board), Adam Kropp (Consul, Board), Sam Towell (Fall Board Rep.), Jay Krone (Board), John Pelly (Quaestor, Board), Adam D'Amico (Pro-Consul), Roger Nielsen (Spring Board Rep.), Mark Curtiss (Board), Josh Littlefield (Board), Tom Faust (Board). Minutes of the October 14, 1997, meeting were accepted as distributed. REPORTS President's Report - Mark Curtiss 1. Mark spoke about the AIFC and R/O week. Lots of changes are being made to R/O week and its scheduling, and other aspects of undergraduate life. Neil Dorow is working on a plan for Resident Advisors at independent living groups. These are expected to be graduate students, who cannot have lived in that ILG with any of the current residents as an undergraduate. The proposal specifies that all ILGs would require them by 1999, although they will be encouraged for 1998. 2. There is a new IFC alcohol policy. 3. Mark asked Roger Nielsen (Risk Manager) to describe the new Chapter alcohol policy. While it is still under construction, there is general agreement on a number of points. It specifies very strict control of personal alcohol by legal drinkers, and rules for the presence of sober house officers at social functions, including some trained in CPR. 4. Mark indicated the Chapter prefers crafting a policy they all agree to and believe in, rather than having one set by the Board. 5. A review of the house alcohol policy will be on the agenda for the next Board Meeting. Alcohol Symposium and AIFC information - Herb Mower 1. Our January symposium on alcohol awareness was a great success and very well attended. It will be used as a model for future MIT programs. 2. Herb handed out a summary of the proposal for ILG Resident Advisors, including information on funding, hiring, periodic evaluation, etc. The proposal specified using the current MIT Graduate Resident Tutor pool for hiring. Herb indicated that pool is under-subscribed, and this might pose a problem for the program. This proposal has not yet had much external review. 3. Discussion ensued raising concerns that the program is being described as a tutoring program, but may in fact be more of a judicial, risk-management one, and should be described as what it is. If a tutoring role, then perhaps our own education programs could be found a suitable substitute. 4. The cost of the program, in terms of lost rent, was also an issue. The proposal suggests reimbursement for one lost room contract, but the RA would undoubtedly require a single room, which is not something the we currently offer. Chapter Report - Adam Kropp 1. Province Conference took place the past weekend. It included having Mike Green, a speaker to youth on alcohol issues, speak at Kresge. The entire MIT community was invited. Kresge was 80-90% full. All the province chapters attended (for the first time in a while). 2. The house is working on alcohol issues (as described above). 3. R/O week will be quite different this year. Summer rush has changed. MIT will mail all house rush books. A separate packet will be mailed with a book containing one paragraph on each house and statistics on that house, including alcohol violation counts. Freshmen can return cards expressing interest in fraternities in general, and the ILGs will be notified of that list of freshmen. There will be no direct contact between freshmen and ILGs. 4. Rush will be kicked off on Saturday noon, last all day Sunday and Monday. Travel beyond houses is limited to 1 hour trips. Freshmen will meet with their advisors all day Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday) for essay evaluation. Midways will be on Tuesday night. Residence selection is on Wednesday. Effectively, rush get shorter (despite complaints that it was too hectic in the past.) But this is a one-year stop-gap schedule. There wasn't time this year to expand the schedule. The following year may be better. 5. Houses like ours will suffer greatly from time compression and reduced opportunities for information. Treasurer's Report - Mark Curtiss and Tom Faust 1. Mark is now formally handing off the Treasurer duties to Tom. 2. Mark handed out balance and income sheets. We are in a stable financial situation. Beaver Sig income was up slightly for some reason. The alcohol symposium was funded as an educational expense. Our set-aside account, for sheltering excess income from taxes, can be used for this purpose. Quaestor's Report - John Pelly 1. The House has money, although the account got low while holding checks recently during changeover of office. There is about $13K in the bank. IAP housebills are still to be billed and settled. The "bulk" plan is running about $2500/term, and income is expected from that soon. 2. Mark Curtiss asked about the (now long standing) carpeting problem. No progress has been made, no response from the installer. As it stands the $700 has been lost and Mark will ask for return of that money to the Corporation, since no work was done. Report on Capital Systems Assessment and Evaluation - Herb Mower 1. MIT sponsored an assessment of the capital systems of all the ILGs. The report was recently published. It is based on a 2-3 hour inspection of the house. It ranks all the major systems on a 1 to 5 scale for needed improvements. Its a very comprehensive report. 2. Based on information on ranges of scoring, we are in the bottom of the list (need most improvement.) 3. Priority one recommendations total about $22K. Mostly this involves the back stairs as a fire risk and fire sprinklers obscured by loft bunks. 4. Priority two items come to about $42K and are all related to heat. The heat plant is a problem. The boiler is very old and should go soon, and the individual heat registers are poorly functioning. 5. Some of the issues are to get us up to current building code, which isn't completely necessary, but some of the items are life safety issues. This list prioritizes items nicely and should help us focus our capital investments. BUSINESS Work Week 1. Ideas are being collected. The Work Week Manager will be given a copy of the Capital Assessment report as a starting point. Endowment - Mark Curtiss 1. We need to determine what balance we should have to safely manage the house. Licensing Board - Herb Mower 1. Herb expressed concern that our boarding house license may be contingent on all residents being MIT affiliates. This may affect summer house. The meeting adjourned at 8:57 PM. Respectfully submitted, Joshua B. Littlefield Corporate Clerk Minutes of February 24, 1998 Corporate Board Meeting Page ALPHA THETA CHAPTER OF SIGMA CHI FRATERNITY, INC. Minutes of February 24, 1998 Corporate Board Meeting Page