Beta Theta Pi - University of Minnesota

A PublicAtion of the betA thetA Pi Society of MinneSotA And the betA Pi chAPter the betA Piper SPRING 2021 PATCHING THINGS UP IN 2021 New Roof Is Set for Installation A fter months of evaluating next steps with our chapter house roof, alumni leaders of the Housing Corporation approved work in March to install a new roof system after the school year. Work is planned to begin in late May. Once installed, the roof system on the chapter house will be new from top to bottom. The existing roof, as well as legacy sub-surfaces of old roofing materials underneath it, will be removed. Then, the new reinforced EPDM fully adhered roofing system will be installed. Made Possible by Alumni Support The project will cost approximately $68,000. It will be partially paid for by the generous gifts of alumni in recent months. The remaining amount will be paid for with the society's cash reserves and loan financing, provided by the University of Minnesota Foundation. The roof issue arose last summer, when a variety of leaks in the house occurred. Several roofing problems were found, including many membrane tears, and bad joints and seams. Several experts inspected the roof, and consistently shared a recommendation to start over with a new system. Going forward, we expect to only access the roof for annual inspections. The chapter will not have access, and new locks and hatches are being installed, as well. Correcting Pipe Issues Housing Corporation leaders have also addressed leak- ing pipes in the chapter house foyer and chapter room in recent months. Between the foyer and Greiner (living) room on the main floor, a broken water pipe was found in December, after chapter members discovered water damage showing in the ornate plaster along the wall and ceiling. To fix the issue, the ceiling needed to be opened up, the pipe needed to be fixed, and the space needed to be dried out. The finishing touches are still in progress. Water has also impacted the chapter room ceiling, caused by asbestos-insulated steam pipes. This is the third occurrence of this issue, so the Housing Corporation elected to mitigate all remaining asbestos- wrapped pipes in the space for a cost of $3,200. Lastly, snaps are owed to by Cian Chase '07 for his many efforts to resolve the water-related issues at the house during the past year. Yours in _kai_, Branden Peterson '05 Beta Theta Pi Society of Minnesota branden@betathetapisocietymn.org The chapter house roof will be fully removed and replaced in May 2021. O n February 6, 2021, the 2,000th member of the Beta Pi Chapter of Beta Theta Pi was initiated into our brotherhood. The individual to receive this honor was none other than Sean Farrell '23, an industrial and systems engineering major from Kohler, Wisconsin. Brother Farrell started his pledging journey at Beta Theta Pi in the fall of 2019. Like many who came before him, he joined to find a community on campus to call home. Unfortunately, due to the rigor of the chemical engineering major and not finding passion for his education in the fall of 2019, he did not make the GPA requirement to be initiated into the fraternity. However, this did not deter our competitive-spirited Brother Farrell from finding his passion and continuing with Beta Theta Pi. With aid from brothers, Brother Farrell decided to change his major to industrial and systems engineering and continue pledging Beta Theta Pi, which set him on a trajectory of success. Since then, he has increased his cumulative GPA by 0.4, accepted a cooperative education opportunity as a quality engineer at the Kohler Company, and has never felt better. Brother Farrell attributes his recent success to the Welcoming Our 2,000th Member in 2021 Meet Our Milestone Initiate! (Continued on page 4)

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