Welcome Mass. Gamma alumni! We hope that you enjoy looking through our renovated website: the revamped history page and photo galleries, the biographies of our active brothers, our list of awards and philanthropy events, and our latest newsletters. We will continue to send out updates by mail and email, and we hope to see you our next alumni event. We also encourage you to take advantage of our blog by posting a memory of your experience in the fraternity. Email Jon Hyman '08 (jhyman@fas.harvard.edu) to start an account on our website.
The recent Alumni Reception and Capital Campaign meeting was a huge success. A dozen alumni met at the beautiful Boston home of Brother Richard Concannon '51 to catch up, learn about the history of Mass. Gamma and discuss plans for future alumni support. Among the attendees were Brothers Lyle Micheli '62, John Volkert '56, Nate Torinus '03, Bryan Bellmare '03, Philip Snyder '04, Leo Espindle '04 and Tyson Hubbard '04. Nicholas Horbaczewski '03 gave a presentation that detailed the history of the chapter and talked about possible approaches to a capital campaign. Nick and Lucien Smith '03 led a discussion about what steps should be taken next.
The group agreed to move forward with a capital campaign. It was generally agreed that the chapter should seek out a rental property as a stop-gap for the coming years. This would be funded through an increase in dues and/or by having a group of brothers live in the house. The group also agreed that to have the greatest chance of success, the capital campaign should be chaired by an original alumnus aided by plenty of support from recent alumni and the current undergraduate chapter.
Anyone interested in leading the capital campaign or as serving as a decade or class year chair should contact Lucien (lucien@post.harvard.edu, 601-519-8892) or Nick (nhh@mba2008.hbs.edu, 617-680-3229). We believe that all we need is a strong original alumnus to volunteer to get the campaign off to a great start!
To learn more about how you can assist the chapter, we encourage you to read our latest mailing from our Alumni Association Chairs:
Nick Horbaczewski '03 (nhh@post.harvard.edu) and Lucien Smith '03 (lucien@post.harvard.edu). They write:
Dear Brother of Massachusetts Gamma,
Over the last five years, Massachusetts Gamma has gone from a group of five interested undergraduates to a successful and healthy chapter. The chapter has recruited and initiated a large group of True Gentlemen, who in addition to being campus leaders in their own right are dedicated fraternity men. Their membership now includes leaders of Harvard's most prestigious student organizations, including Harvard Student Agencies, the Institute of Politics, and the Crimson, as well as members of the Varsity Football and Cross-Country teams. The re-founders' goal was to build a fraternity that might eventually become the most respected men's organization at Harvard. As the current roster indicates, the chapter is well on its way to doing just that.
In the last year, the chapter has begun a concerted effort to reach out to alumni, to update us on Massachusetts Gamma's activities and recruitment and to seek out our support. We believe the time is right to respond to their efforts by providing them both strategic guidance and financial support. To this end, we are establishing an alumni board and will begin a capital campaign in the coming months.
Your support is crucial to the long-term success of the chapter. It is our hope that every alumnus will contribute by providing financial or professional support in whatever way, small or large, he is able. Both the alumni board and the capital campaign will require alumni volunteers to advise the chapter and solicit donations. This letter will discuss the developments taking place and the ways you can help. Please note that there will be a meeting at the home of Richard Concannon '51 on Friday, November 17th (the day before the Harvard-Yale game) to elect alumni leaders and discuss matters further.
We hope to create a board of alumni who provide guidance to the chapter as needed and keep the alumni up to date about the chapter's health and development. The board's structure is not yet determined, but will likely include several seats dedicated to alumni from specific graduation years, with members to serve renewable one year terms. This board will be elected at the November alumni meeting. We strongly encourage you to attend and to stand for election to the board. In the meantime, if you have suggestions as to how the board should be structured, please send them to us at the addresses listed below.
As has often been said, Massachusetts Gamma's long term success requires the acquisition of a chapter house. The chapter struggles now to find locations for meetings, being effectively forced to hide in small rooms near house dining halls. Frequently, the chapter meets in public but cannot use ritual. Formal pledge and initiation present ongoing problems for the chapter. The lack of a house prevents the chapter from hosting social events for its members and the brotherhood that comes from a common meeting place. Most importantly, because the final clubs and other fraternities have houses, not having a house undermines Massachusetts Gamma's legitimacy as a men's organization.
As you are no doubt aware, real estate in Harvard Square is incredibly expensive. Our estimates range from two to ten million dollars to purchase a property in the area. We are presently aware of no rental property suitable to the chapter's needs and believe that even if it were available, the best approach is to save any money raised for a purchase rather than spending it on rent.
We are in the process of establishing a 501(c)(7) Housing Corporation that will control the money and shield it from taxes on gains. The Housing Corporation will be a permanent committee of the alumni board. All money donated to the capital campaign will be held in a fund managed by the Corporation until enough has been raised to buy a suitable property. By the charter of the Housing Corporation, no money may be spent except to purchase a house or to solicit additional donations.
We are seeking as many volunteers as possible to solicit donations of alumni from similar class years. These volunteers will be crucial to the success of the campaign. The campaign will have one or two chairmen. We prefer that an alumnus from before the chapter's closure lead this effort, but if none is willing to serve, we will serve as co-chairmen. The rest of the campaign will be divided between recent and original alumni.
For the original alumni (who were initiated before the chapter's initial closure), we need one volunteer for each decade from 1920-1980. Each of these Decade Chairs will in turn find volunteers for each of the class years in his decade and oversee their efforts to solicit donations from their classmates.
For the recent alumni (who were initiated since the 2001 re-colonization), we need one volunteer to oversee all recent alumni solicitation and one volunteer for each of the pledge classes since 2001.
Once this framework has been established, we will send out a formal solicitation letter and set the volunteers to work. This effort will only succeed if a large number of alumni are willing to volunteer their time and a larger number of alumni are willing to provide their financial generosity. We urge you to consider volunteering your time in some capacity. With your help and generosity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon will again be the most respected men's organization at Harvard College.
If you would be interested in providing your time to the chapter, or if you have questions or suggestions on how best to set up the campaign, please contact either of us.
The developments in the chapter's history are indeed exciting. With your help, and the continuing hard work of the undergraduate members, we can help achieve our goal of making Massachusetts Gamma the most respected men's organization at Harvard College.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Nicholas H. Horbaczewski '03 W. Lucien Smith '03