OuR PI Pi Chapter of Zeta Psi Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

FALL TROY, NEW YORK 1989

Ljunglln Receives Tribute

Approximately 35 Zetes, spouses and friends attended a special pre-banquet luncheon in honor of Jim Ljunglin '57 who had just been elected Phi Alpha of the International.

Claudio Caballero presented a class-type pledge paddle, on behalf of the actives, that reads:

JamesJ.Ljunglin '57

This class paddle is presented to show our ap­preciation for the Dedication and Inspiration you have given to Zeta Psi. It symbolizes the gratitude of all the classes of the Pi Chapter:

The brothers that preceded you are indebted to you for carrying on their great legacy.

The brothers that will follow you will be in­debted to you for the heritages that bas been made greater by your involvement.

And the brothers that are privileged enough to know you are thankful for the incomparable leadership and friendship that you have pro­vided.

In Tau Kappa Phi, The Brothers of the PI Chapter

Jim receives special tribute from the Pi Zetes.

1989 Convention Report by Marc Nozell

Last summer's 142nd annual Zeta Psi Convention in New York City hosted by the Phi (NYU), Alpha (Columbia), and Kappa Phi (Cooper Union) Chapters was certainly an excit­ing one. Friday evening was a black tie reception and ban­quet at the newly completed International Headquarters in

Pearl River, New York. The majority of the conventioneers took the opportunity to see a New York Dodges game and to experience some of the night life in the Big Apple. Early Saturday morning is the traditional time for the Grand Chapter and the Zeta Psi Educational Foundation meetings. This was a proud moment in the history of the Pi Chapter, our own Jim Ljunglin was installed as the Phi Alpha of the Grand Otapter. Thanks goes to Claudio Caballero for or­ganizing a reception luncheon for Pi Zetes who wished to celebrate a little before the evening awards ceremony.

Most Outstanding Chapter awards went to the Phi at NYU, the Iota Delta at UC-Davis, and the Psi at Cornell.

Outstanding Chapter awards went to theOmicron Epsilon at Princeton, the Kappa Phi at Cooper Union, the Gamma at Syracuse, the Delta at Rutgers, the Phi Epsilon at Maryland, and the Phi Lambda at Washington.

The Ritual Prizes were awarded to the Pi Sigma at Penn State and the Theta at Connecticut.

Most Improved Chapter awards were given to the Sigma Phi at Illinois-Chicago, the Alpha at Columbia, and the Beta at Virginia.

The Comstock Award was won by the Phi at NYU. The Duryee Scholarship Prize by Rho Alpha at MIT. And the Order of Excellence, for the third year in a row, goes to the Pi at RPI!

Other convention headline news: The International Head­quarter's budget was balanced without the need for a fee in­crease. The Delta Alpha Colony at Colorado-Boulder is working towards Chartering. And Zete Chapters are gener­ally doing well all over North America.

From The President's Desk by lvor Priess '57

The beginning of a new academic year is always a time of concern and expectation. At the Pi, our concern is, "Can we again outdo ourselves: what do you do for an encore?". Our expectation is quite simply, "We 'll find something".

At this writing, rush has already ended, and a new Pi Zete group has been initiated. The new brothers are determined to follow the tradition of excellence that has been the hall­mark of recent years. That tradition is even more meaning­ful when these new Pi Zetes have the Phi Alpha as the one whose footprints their steps will b e measured against.

Our own Jim Ljunglin was installed this past summer as the leader of the Grand Chapter. That is going to be some act to follow for the new brothers. But, if we judge from past per-

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Actives collect their third "Order of Excellence Award" from the National signifying the best of the best.

formances, they'll find some way to even top that.

Just as a note of congratulations to Brother James; for years we at the Pi have had the privilege of having this excep­tional man to ourselves. I suppose it was inevitable that, sooner or later, we would have to share his talents and dedi­cation with the rest of the world. I am positive that they will benefit no less than we at the Pi from his wisdom, compas­sion and spirit. Our very best in Tau Kappa Phi, Brother James.

Big Red Freakout- January 27

Once again the Big Red Freakout hockey game will be an RPI type of winter homecoming and Zeta Psi will join in the festivities . The Saturday night game draws the largest and noisiest crowd of the year and everyone wears red. Some e ven paint them­selves red!

The House has 30 tickets for alumni and they are available on a first paid basis at $4 each. Send checks to Adam Drucker c/o Zeta Psi, 25 Belle Ave, Troy, NY 12180.

RPI will be hosting a pre-game social at the new alumni house, where easy food, like chili and sand­wiches, and a bar will be available on a cash basis . And, there will also be a post-games social. Let's all stop in at our new alumni house that night before heading to the party at the Pi that night.

New Furniture Arrives

By mid-October all of the new living r oom furniture had arrived and it does make a big difference. No longer d()es anyone have to sink out of sight when seated, to prop a book under a missi ng leg or lean the back of a sofa against a wall .

Four long sofas, three stuffed chairs, and several end and coffee tables were purchased, as well as, back seat for the hall. The material is a brown leather-feel vinyl. Tables are oak which coordinates with the dining room oak finish. There is probably no other campus residence that is better in terms of living facilities, comfort and warmth than ours.

We would like the thank Brothers Gaetano, Etess, Ljunglin, and Leonard who made significant dona­tions to make the furnishings possible. Several oth­ers also contributed.

Zetes Key To Phonathon.

The Pi Zetes were certainly a key to the October 25 Greater Hartford club RPI phonathon. That effort resulted in over $78,800 in Rensselaer fund pledges which set a new school record and appears to be the year high at the time of this writing.

While chaired by another club member, the key re­cruiting was due by co-chair Jim Peta '64, club president Jay Stolzenthaler '65, and former presi­dent Jay Webb '61.

Helping out that night were Jim Ferland '89, Tony Gaetano '66, Mark Morse '89, Mike O'Neil '89, Jeff Tumpowsky '88, Mike Carey '88, and even two actives came down from Troy to help. They were John Calderbank '92 and Jason Loring '92. A total of 11 Zetes out of the 34 volunteer callers!

Tony Gaetano is also the area's city chairman for special gifts, while Jay Webb chairs the patroon gift committee assisted by Jay Stolzenthaler.

Greek-RPI Relationship

The Greek campus situation is receiving much at­tention nationwide, as well as, at RPI. Fortunately, our problems are not great and is considered mostly preventative as opposed to corrective. It is generally acknowledged that most houses are operated re­sponsibly but the problem that any one house re­flects upon the entire system. We cannot afford to risk our future on the improper actions of a few.

Last year, the Board of Trustees of the Rensselaer Alumni Association established a committee to work on the issue with the Dean of Students office. Jim Ljunglin chairs the group and Jay Webb is the co-chair. Two others from the board are included, as well, as representatives from the IFC, Panhel and Greek advisors.

There is an aggressive set of objectives for the year. So far, the Greek alumni have spoken at all student orientations, (for the first time) and a new pledge reception is scheduled for November 10 at the alumni house.

This allows us to show alumni presence and give us an opportunity to express our hopes for their Greek experience, as well as, share our expectations of ex­cellent performance from them. Another key ele­ment of the plan is the development of a Greek­Institute relationship statement which will formal­ize the expectations of each other . In very simple terms, the Greeks want assurances of independence and acceptance at RPI, while RPI expects responsi­ble behavior supportive of the institute's education objectives.

Rensselaer has always had a very strong Greek sys­tem which often wins awards, and the administra­tion has always supported the system. A substantial majority of RPI's active alumni are Greek and sup­port the school's programs. We need each other and the goal is to preserve that relationship and guaran­tee it's long term success.

1988-89 Contributions

Last year was another good one for the Pi. We have an extremely active group of alumni and a very high percentage contribute each year which is vital

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to house up-keep. The following Brothers contrib-uted last year.

Dan Bald '90 Pau I Bennett '77 Henry Bonapace '66 Tony Boura•sa '71 Stephen Brotman '67 Kevin Brown '86 Jim Burkhard '88 Rick Case '70

Dick Childs '60 Joe DeLuca '67 Carl Defibaugh '57 John Dower '57 Mark Drucker '87 Michael Dubois '80 Stephen Durfee '62 John D'Addieco '82 Henry Elliot '45 John Erickson '84 Rich Fairlamb '87 Tony Gaetano ' 66 Art Gajarsa '62 JimGetten ' 57 Marc Goldfarb '83 Seth Goodman '84 Bill Grossman '70 Rick Kasold '70 George Kastrinakis '87 Tom Kelly '66 Bill King '88 Greg Kirby '87 Dave Lagone '74 Gene Lauritano '83 Bob Leonard '61 Dave Lewson '86 Jim Lj:mglin '57 AI Lofquist ' 54 Joe Lucchesi '67 Rob Mac Michael '6 1 Bob Manger '53 Don Martin '53 Jim Meade '84 Tom Moberg ' 71 Pete Mudar '58 Dick Murray '61 Jim Newell '86 Marc Nozell '86 Gus Ostner '53 Doug Peloquin '86 Jon Pendasulo '68 Jim Peta '64 Bill Pettus '86 Harvy Poppe! '58 Bob Rainey '57 Robin Rapport '59 Rick Renninger '58 Bob Renza '55 Steve Schnell '53 Dan Schueler '86 Bob Sendall '59 Stan Seto '61 Bob Silvera '63 George Smith '53 Ed Smolinski '65 Dick Spezzano '53 Jay Stolzenther '65 Steve Strungis '65 Art Telech '56 Tom Gregory '76 Jeff Tumpowsky '88 Mike Turkovic '55 Bob Violante '61 Lauck Walton '84 Jay Webb '6 1 Kevin Welch ' 84 Pat Welch '86 Gary Wendt '55 Bob Weston '53 Walt Weihler ' 55 Tom Williams '66 Jeff Zeitlin '72

It is interesting to note that since we reactivated in J 980, Pi alumni have contributed $97,300. We started that time with addresses for 300 brothers and now have over 400. Growth is strong now with a larger brotherhood.

Overhead. Observed And Remembered By Jay Webb '61

At the National Convention we talked to Dick Wong and Art Gajarsa of who both are practicing law these days. Art does tax and mergers wbile Dick specialized in immigration law ...

Dick Childs '60, owner of a 1.800001 graduating average, has expressed some concern over the Zetes' recent all frater­nity bigh cum acbievement. Dick must be worried about be-

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ing able to converse with them ...

Ivor Priess '55, was quoted at length in the August 8 New York Times. The article discussed the shortage of nuclear "-" chemists, a field in wbich Ivor has expertise ...

TK and Connie may had a baby girl, Victoria Anne on Oc­tober 2nd ...

Barbara and Bob Violante '61 had a baby girl , Chistine, in early September. Bob is going on the record; 28 years be­tween bis oldest and youngest children!. ..

Debbie and Andy Cohn bad a baby girl also, Samantha, born on April 27th ...

Among all these little girls, Kevin and Sandy Brown had a baby boy, Andrew, born Friday October 13th under a full moon ...

At a spring phonathon., I pulled Joe Zablotney's '64, name. He is doing well, has 3 kids and is living in Virginia. Joe bas a Ph.D. and I believe be teaches ...

"Ace" Gages '75, attended a cocktail party for Philadelphia area Zetes (from all chapters) and will be on the organizing committee for the 1991 National Convention.

James B. Rogers '53

We were saddened to hear of the death of Brother Rogers who died on May 20, 1989. Our thoughts are with him and his family always in Tau Kappa Phi.

New Layout System For OurPI

It's time for the Our_Pi to move into the technology for the '90s! Beginning with tbis issue, the layup, editing and cam­era ready copy will be produced with help from Marc Nozell and Digital Equipment Corporation's new WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor; DECwrite. Technical writing help from Ms. Wendy Thomas.

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