Presidents’ Note – Summer 2018
Below is a note from our three presidents that was sent out via post during summer 2018. If you did not receive this in the mail, please take a minute to Update Your Profile to make sure that you receive all future communication from Alpha Sigma.
From the Chapter President
Not only do we find ourselves in the 150th year of UC Berkeley, but also of Pi Kappa Alpha. As these two institutions converge in so many years of rich history, we have renewed passion to push our chapter towards ever increasing excellence. We take pride in our fraternity and our traditions, but we will not stop searching for ways to improve and grow both our members and the chapter itself.
This past year, our chapter has seen noticeable improvement in brother involvement and chapter functions. We initiated 11 new members in the Fall and 5 in the Spring. Although we did not perform poorly during rush, we have made rush a priority going into the upcoming Fall semester. As a result, we’ve reorganized rush management positions to facilitate planning and house involvement both as widespread and as early as possible.
The chapter has a unified group of motivated members who are utilizing the organizational foundations that have been set for improved operations to their full potential. Brothers are taking on job positions with set goals and a desire to excel. Philanthropic, Social, and Internal ventures are both well executed and more numerous than in the past. We have also incorporated a number of new positions to enable brothers to contribute to our fraternity in innovative ways that suit their skills and unique visions for improvement.
If you have any advice, questions, comments, or anecdotes please contact me.
Raymond Hurst, Chapter President
From the Alumni Association President
Our Association has grown over the last 4 years and is fulfilling our goal of reconnecting alums and supporting the undergraduate members of the PIKE house at Berkeley. This past year we produced a newsletter, updated our website, installed a trophy case in the House, purchased 35 much needed chairs for chapter meetings, awarded two $850 scholarships, fixed up the weight room, brought in library/study desks (thanks to Barry Bronk and Jon Coates) and hosted two major events (Cal Homecoming tailgate & Founder’s Day).
More than 120 alums have updated their profile on the website thus adding to our membership directory with current information on 579 alums. As an Alpha Sigma alum you can access this directory to find brothers’ addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. Because of mailing costs, much of our communication is via email so update your profile.
We hope you will support our efforts again for 2018-19 by going on-line to renew your membership. Thanks also to the ASAA Board (Greg Hansen ’89, Pat Pry ’69, John Godsey ’69, Mike Lennon ’69, Chris Short ’89, Graydon Rose ’08 and Jordan John ’10) for their support and assistance.
Bill Franchini, Alumni Association President
From the Building Association President
As reported at Founder’s Day, we met our three main strategic objectives by completing a few major projects, building our reserve account, and continuing to accelerate the mortgage debt payment. In addition, we were able to help the actives out of a little cash flow issue.
The major projects completed were a privacy fence on Durant Ave. with a trash bin area enclosure (a city requirement). We also completed a slight remodel on the kitchen, to allow for residents to supplement their meal plan. There are still many things we need to update and improve upon, but there is nothing that is “mission critical”. The guys are really taking care of the house and it shows.
Our reserve is up but still short of what we need to self-sustain ongoing maintenance on the house and weather a big storm/issue. This is the first time in many years, though, that we have gone in such a positive direction!
Our board serves at your pleasure and we feel we have the people, transparency, accountability, processes, fiscal tools and skills to get us debt free, once again and for all time. Then we can really make the old lady (our undergraduate home) shine!
As always, I work for you so e-mail me if you wish to communicate about anything. As always, I need to thank Mike Abreu, Jon Coates, Paul Forbes and Steven Rich for their invaluable service on the Board.
Tom Econome, Building Association President
