Any Umass Gamma Zeta's here?

[GammaZeta]

What's up! Just wondering if there are any Umass Gamma-Zeta's here. There's 1,500 alumni so I'm sure I'm not the only one that is on here. Let's here from ya, what year you are, where you live now, etc...

[Tom Earp]

GAMMAZETA,

I hope you are still lurking on GC! Sorry none of got back with you.

Dont know if you are aware of the Local that is in the old LXA Chapter House at Amherst.

Two of the Local Omega Delta members were invited to Gen. Assembly.

Several of the G C members ment them, Myself, Lifesaver, and Jono at least.

There is things in the works to try to recolonize them and return Gamma Zeta to the fold once again.

If you are close to Amherst, you may want to stop by and meet them.

Look for Iliya and Lex. Great guys.

[GammaZeta]

Great news! Thanks for the info. I heard rumors of having OD recolonize from other alumni. I was actually in Amherst just last week and drove by the house but I did not go in. Would you have any contact information for the two people you mentioned? Do they have email or a house phone maybe?

When I did drive by I also saw that ZBT had hung signs on the outside of the house. Anyone know if they are sharing it or something? I hope that once Gamma Zeta gets going again they will have the house to itself.

After talking to some of the alumni, I know some know the where abouts of some of the old LCA items that were in the house, composites, house history, etc. Maybe I should start rounding up some of the alums and getting something together to support the chapter? Anyone know if there is already an advisor assigned to the project that I can contact?

[JonoBN41]

I think the brothers would feel more at ease and be more forthcoming if they knew a little more about you. When were you there; when did you graduate?

In any event, there's a short article I wrote for our last newsletter if you'd like to take a look.

http://www.bnzeta.org/docs/newsletters/betanews(2004-10).html

Scroll down to "General Assembly, Chapter 2".

ZAX,
Jono

[JonoBN41]

Sorry that link doesn't work. Try http://alumni.bnzeta.org/ go to Communications, and "September 2004 The Beta News".

[GammaZeta]

To Jono,
One thing is seriously wrong with your newsletter which I would appreciate being fixed. Although I graduated a little over 2 1/2 years ago, many of those "disenfranchised Lambda Chi's" you're talking about are some of my best friends and brothers. They are some of the most dedicated brothers I have ever met and they poured their blood, sweat, tears and $$$ to keep a dying tradition alive as long as possible. You have no idea of the cirumstances we were under for the last 5 years of our existence and unless you were there, I wouldn't be talking about it they way you have. As I was still semi-involved in the chapter at the time, AT NO TIME did any of the Lambda Chi's "torment" anyone. I am outraged that you would even consider using such language without the facts or any proof. Also have you seen the house? It has no more roof, the siding is falling off, it looks like a garbage dump on the outside. THE HOUSE NEVER LOOKED WORSE. The brothers put their trust (and given them a $600,000 house for $0) to LCAP and they have yet to produce any results. It is not the DO's fault at all. I know they worked hard making the house better, but it is in such disrepair that unless there is a major renovation, nothing will make it look any better. I would appreciate you getting your facts straight before rediculing and telling lies about other brothers. You also might want to ask nationals and L.C.A.P exactly why those Lambda Chi's were "disenfranchised", and if they don't tell you why, you can easily obtain court records in Northampton District Court and Hampden County Housing Court. Those Lambda Chi's weren't "disenfranchised", they were used and abused.

[lenoxxx]

Give Jono a break, I just read his newsletter.

Your rant is typical of the "closed chapter" alumni, the house was stolen, everything is ruined, we have no idea what is going on....etc

The gist of Jono's article was upbeat on the future, stop whining and do something for the Gamma Chapter. Think about it YOU ARE CRYING about the "Melbourne Florida LCA newsletter" of all things based on their trip to GA, Holy Freakin Christ already.

Lenoxxx

[GammaZeta]

First of all, you and your brothers in your chapter were not just wrongly accused of "tormenting" another fraternity. I don't appreciate anyone saying something completely untrue about my friends, me and my brothers no matter where they are. The house wasn't stolen from us, but there were ALOT of empty promises that were made to us to sell the house. Over three years there has been no visible improvements to the house despite promise after promise that if we sold it they would fix it up. The house is the same and all the major problems with it, mainly the roof, etc. havent been fixed. Considering you were not there and never saw the house, you should really stop your whining. Believe it or not, everything isn't all rainbows and butterflies with our nationals. LCAP just saw $$$ in our chapter house, and my brothers fell for it. The conditions and fraud got so bad that the brothers had to take LCAP to housing court and won. If you don't believe me the records are on file, help yourself. I don't know where Jono got his information from, but someone is lying to him.

[JonoBN41]

Dear You,

I have to call you You since you haven’t given us a name to call you by, so I will just say you. It’s an inconvenience I can deal with.

My information came from a face-to-face conversation with those it happened to. I can’t research it any further than that since they’re the original source. Were they lying to me? Let’s look at the situation.

When a chapter loses its charter, are the members more likely to be happy or unhappy? You have to agree that they would be very unhappy about the situation – even more so when they discover someone else occupying their house. They were understandably bitter and their actions appear consistent with their state of mind. I didn’t specify the bleach poured over clothes and into computers, or drive-by obscenities or threats of torching the place, and won’t do so here. Did ya think it was all made up for my entertainment? I don’t think I was lied to.

On the other hand, you wrote September 9 on another thread that you recently found out your chapter was closed, indicating you’ve been out of the loop. You stated that you left 2 ½ years ago and in your own words, were “semi-involved at the time”. Unless you followed every brother every minute of every day after the loss of the charter (which would be physically impossible), you can’t say “they didn’t do that”.

I posted that link to give you a bit of insight into what you missed, and what the prospects are. They are good. I agree with Lenoxxx that it was it was upbeat. That’s why I wrote it. But if all you see is the bad, then you’re not helping anyone - not me, not you, not Gamma. Don’t kill the messenger. Instead of bitching out me, Lenoxxx, IHQ and LCAP, why don’t you bitch out the fine gentlemen who let your house go to hell and got the charter yanked? It’s been said that chapters don’t die, aren’t killed: they commit suicide.

You asked me to fix the article but I can’t change the past. I can’t re-write history. In fact, your posting only brings more interest to something you’d rather sweep under the rug. Face the truth head on.

What happened, happened. It’s over. If you really do care, however, then next time you find yourself driving by the house don’t just keep on going. Stop! Get out of the car and introduce yourself. Try to help them get things going again. Think positive. Good luck.

In ZAX,
Jono

[JonoBN41]

By the way, I was initiated more than 30 years ago and my chapter has NEVER had a house - we still don't - and yet we have the largest student organization on campus and are doing very well.

You had Lambda Chi Alpha's first house, the first Subordinate Zeta, and still screwed it up. I'm pissed about that, and you should be ashamed.

[GammaZeta]

First of all you should be ashamed,
Gamma Zeta did not lose it's charter. That just goes to show you how up to date you are. The brothers left the house because LCAP had failed to make any improvements to it and it proved to be unliveable. The brothers of LCAP disbanded in winter of 2002 I believe when they all left the house. Brothers couldnt get heat in their rooms, they helped to tear up a floor that LCAP promised to replace immediately, only to find out they lied, and then had to walk on subflooring for a whole year, the list goes on. That's why they had to take LCAP to housing court.
Second of all, you obviously have never been to a Umass-Amherst fraternity. So do your sources have any names for you? Perhaps a description? Because if there is any proof, I'll personally take a ride up to Amherst and "discipline" any one of my brothers that did that.

"bleach poured over clothes and into computers, or drive-by obscenities or threats of torching the place"

Are you kidding me? For Christ's sake, that happened to us EVERY WEEKEND. My buddy had TWO laptops stolen in one year, a 100 pound house speaker was stolen, two grills were stolen, countless playstation, cd's, movies, tv, dvd players were stolen. I had a $300 leather jacket stolen, my tv smashed and my room spraypainted. Not to mention violent rampages by random people in the house causing damage because LCAP never fixed the lock outside. 2 cars were broken into outside and their radios stolen. A band member and brother's $2500 trumpet was found broken in half and smashed, preventing him from continueing with marching band for the year. You want me to go on, cause there is still alot more? And by the way, the stuff I mentioned happend in about 1 1/2 years time. So don't give me that sh#& about "disenfrachised" gamma zetas doing stuff. Any police reports? Photos? In fact, two of my brothers that were there in the end actually went to a party at OD on opening weekend. They said they had a great time. I think you better take a step back.

Gamma Zeta didn't lose their charter. In fact there are many members still at Umass today. And they did not lose their house, they chose to move out because LCAP failed to uphold their promises of making the house liveable. I know you think nationals and lcap can do no wrong, but there are some surprises for you out there.

Those Gamma Zeta's didn't let the house go to hell. When I was there my first semester, we raised over $7,000 to install new hard wood floors, IN ONE SEMESTER. There was always pride and respect for the house. The problem came several years ago when it was discovered an alumni in charge of paying taxes had not done so in many years. It crushed us being tens of thousands of dollars in debt, BUT WE STILL WENT AND AND STILL PROSPERED. We thought our only way to save the house was to sell it to LCAP. The only worry that all the brothers had was that LCAP only wanted the house and would just try to kick us out. We believed them when they said they wanted to help us out and keep the chapter there. They promised support for recruiting, incentives, fixing up the house, and on and on. You know what happend, NOTHING. And don't give me this crap about nationals and lcap not having any sort of agenda. I love LCA, but you also have to realize they are here to make money.

But honestly I don't even care about that stuff. I'm actually not bitter, it was the greatest time of my life and would do it all over again in a heartbeat because the good always outweighed the bad, and there was ALOT of bad.

But the thing that gets me the most is that there is somewhere on the internet telling lies about MY chapter committing illegal activity. I dont even care if it is just a sentence or not on some obscure website. Those are my BEST FRIENDS and BROTHERS you are accusing now, including me. And thats bulls&* taking some strangers word without finding out any proof or evidence.

You shouldn't be ashamed of losing that house, it was never yours, it was GAMMA ZETA's. It was me, my brothers and over 1500 alumni that made that house through their blood sweat tears and $$$. Every alumni of that house had a legal and equal share of its ownership. I'm not pissed about losing it, I just want a chapter at Umass, and neither should you be pissed. After all, LCA and Gamma Zeta arent about houses, they're about people, right???

[lenoxxx]

That's nice, I still believe Jono, at least we have a name for him- not giving a name ruins alot of credibility.

My chapter is in an LCAP owned house ( Shippensburg- Pa ), and they have been excellent to the chapter and the alumni. LCAP has worked with us to improve things at the house to make it a better facility over the last 8 months. In fact they did major renovations to Montana, Butler, URI, OSU, MSU and are doing alot at Miami-Ohio right now- this is what I know of.

So now you want me to belive that they are doing good honest work at these chapters , but making the Umass brothers live in a house without floors and a roof, and you could raise 7 grand in 5 months, and they just screwed you over.

Or maybe you are just really out of it.....heck who are you?

whatever dude

Lenoxxx

[EM1843]

Deffinately going to agree with Lenoxx and Jono. Try gainging some respect around her before you tell brothers they don't know what they are talking about.

[docroc67]

Brothers,

I have been a member of our fraternity for forty years. I have been involved in my Zeta since I graduated in 1967. I have spent an enormous amount of time working with the members of my chapter. It has been a great experience, so much so that I hope to continue my involvement with them for as long as they want me and I can do a good job of supporting them.

I have held various opinions over the years about the leadership of of International Fraternity. Three years ago, unknown to most of us, our organization was spending its self to death. New leadership has taken control, through the Grand High Zeta, that has done the hard things, like firing people and cutting budgets, that were long over due. Read the "State of the Fraternity" address on the IHQ webpage to see where we are going. I support our IHQ and its progressive leadership. As I become more involved with some of them I become more impressed with them. Yes, Lambda Chi Alpha needs to be run like a business. There is no excuse for Zetas or Brothers to not meet their sworn obligations to our fraternity. But running Lambda Chi like a business is not incompatible with Brotherhood. Brotherhood does not mean you allow members to violate house rules, not pay their bills, or treat their Brothers with disrespect. We expect more from Lambda Chis than other people because of our common bond through our fantastic ritualistic experience. My point being, that I sincerely believe that the people I know at IHQ are honorable men, men of integrity, and men I know would look out for my back....

I am currently the President of Zeta Upsilon's House Corporation at Maimi University in Oxford, Ohio. After experiencing much trouble, focused on financial and recruiting problems, the Undergaduates and our Alumni determined that we should exit gracefully, in a good relationship with the University and IHQ, and start fresh. I am extremely proud of the young men of my Zeta who struggled for years to make it work for us. I respect them, they are my friend and Brothers, and I will do anything I can to help them in the future. It is possible to go through a terrible situation like this with dignity, honor, and respect. We didn't lose our Charter either. IHQ said keep it so we can put back up in our Chapter House as soon as possible. I am looking at it right now....

Twenty-two months ago, we signed an agreement with LCAP. Unlike the experience related here, LCAP has kept every commitment and ever promise made to us. Right now about $400,000 of improvements are being finished; they got us a three year lease with another Farternity; and when "black mold" was discovered, they put an additional $30,000 into the project to make it work. We have a contract with them that will allow us to take back ownership in the future. Certain conditions need to be meet. We agreed to the terms and they are delivering on their promises. I realize conditions and situations can differ; but, in my opinion, LCAP is best thing to come along since we went to the Associate Membership program. Housing is a major problem for our fraternity and LCAP is an inovative solution. I am sure they are not perfect. But our experience really stands in stark contrast to what has been said here about Gamma Zeta. Maybe someone should invite LCAP to respond to these comments so that we can "hear the other side of the story."

With respecct to all,

Yours in ZAX,
Mike Raymond, ZUZ

[docroc67]

Brothers,

Sorry about some of the "Earpspeak" that slipped into my comments. Old Age?

Yours in ZAX,

Mike Raymond, ZUZ