Phi Kappa Tau - Cornell University

N E W S F R O M N E W S F R O M T H E K N O L L T H E K N O L L P H I K A P P A T A U | P H I D E L T A S I G M A | F A L L 2 0 24 Meet our newest members! From left: Nate Mascia, Neil Chowdhury, Lleyton Yang, Noah Pierre-Louis, and Jeremey Boubli. T his semester has brought numerous highs and lows, but through it all, brotherhood has remained strong. We started the semester with an exciting recruitment, adding five associates. The new Omegas have diverse backgrounds, including athletes and a biology major with a double minor in business and scientific communication. The associates were initiated in early November after a six-week process where they grew closer and learned our shared values and interests. One major challenge for the house has been acquiring a Certificate of Compliance from the city for 106 The Knoll. This occupancy certificate allows us to live in the house and have social functions inside. A series of city board hearings, delays in finding a contractor, and red tape caused delays in much-needed renovations of the back and front porches; however, adversity brought out the best in us, as House Manager Aaron Gordon-Vera '24 and BoD President Paul Martorano '01 coordinated with Alpha Management and local property managers to facilitate construction. With no CoC and no social events allowed inside the house, brothers have found creative ways to spend weekends with one another. In mid-October, eight brothers and an associate member took a vacation to Oneida Lake. They spent the time exploring nature, grilling burgers, and having late-night talks that will be remembered for ages. Additionally, our social chairmen, Brian Gu '24, Paul Passarelli '24, and Marcus Stamps '23, kept the tradition of Taulloween alive, renting a tent for our beautiful backyard and hosting two successful (and registered) events to keep the spirit alive all weekend long. Remaining weekends have been spent on date nights, class dinners, philanthropy events, brotherhood photoshoots, and our classic Paint Party, Wine Tour, Homecoming block party, a water balloon fight, and more! We hope to reconnect with many brothers during our New York Alumni trip on March 22 (read more on page 3). Stay tuned for more updates from The Knoll and the start of a new era in the house as we gear up for the Alpha Alpha class in the spring! In phi, Arnav Kamulkar '23 Chapter President Chapter President's Report Chapter Overcomes Challenges for a Fun Fall D elays in the building permit process between the city and the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission dragged out through the end of September, preventing the chapter from getting contractors to come until November. A contractor has begun work on the back porch, which is projected to be finished by the end of the semester. We are still looking for a contractor for the front porch, but we are hoping to get conditional approval once the back is complete. In better news, we passed our yearly fire inspection! Additionally, all but one of our showers have been fixed, we removed graffiti drawn by another fraternity last year, and we bought three new bed frames. We changed our property manager to Michigan-based Alpha Fraternity Management— now necessary repairs are happening much faster. Although it's been a tough year for the house, it's been good to see some issues getting resolved. Looking forward, we are hoping to get our Certificate of Compliance before school starts in the spring and to finish fixing the bathroom over summer break! In phi, Aaron Gordon-Vera '24 House Manager Facility Maintenance Report Keeping Up with the Chapter House Row 1: Dan Fuentes '23 (recruitment), Will Rosenthal '24 (VPAR), Chris Sawicki '23 (VP), Arnav Kamulkar '23 (president), Dylan Kabance '23 (recruitment), Marcus Stamps '23 (social), John Pierce '24 (steward). Row 2: Scott Conroe '01 (chapter advisor), Brian Gu '24 (social), Dylan Sheng '23 (secretary), Mason Rummery '24 (cleaning manager), Nate Samuels '23 (philanthropy), Luke Bourren '23 (MOO), Azam Badran '24 (brotherhood). Absent: Aaron Gordon-Vera '24 (house manager).

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