Beta Theta Pi - Oklahoma State University

2 Think Back. Think Big. Think Beta. The New Beta House – Consisting of a basement and three floors, the new Beta house will be impressive from the street with eight columns and red brick. The first floor will provide a foyer, dining room, library, study hall, heritage room, state-of-the-art kitchen, and rooms for upperclassmen. The basement will provide a large chapter room, ritual storage, and large open multi-use areas. The second and third floors will provide a lounge, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Overall, the new Beta house will house 100 men. Outside, we have enough property to park 102 cars and still provide for a basketball court. The new Beta house will be a house you can be proud of. The Architect for the House – Krittenbrink Architecture is under contract with our Building Corp. See the separate article in this update on the professional services his firm offers. The General Contractor and Construction Management – The Building Corp. is in draft contract discussions with Brother Ron Ward '71 of Ward Construction for both the general contractor role "GC", as well as being responsible for construction management "CM". One of our architect's services is to screen our contractor and that process has already taken place. Ron is a large donor to our project with those funds set aside from any contract work he would be doing. Ward Construction performed our approximate one million dollar renovation in the house in 2002 and the Building Corp. was favorably impressed with the construction pricing and the workmanship we received. Also, Ron served as the OSU Alumni Association chairman in 2012. The CM role is one of collecting contractor bids, making evaluations, and subsequently making decisions on who our subcontractors will be. Of course, the fee structure for the GC will be clearly stated in the contract and subject to approval by the Building Corp. It should also be noted that the role of the CM is a very transparent process for Beta and convenient to monitor as needed. Housing Our Chapter Brothers – The Building Corp. and a transition committee are exploring housing options for the year of construction. Some Greek houses reserve rooms in university housing and initial discussions have already begun with the university. Occasionally, an empty Greek house can be rented for a school year. Beta could use the option of housing 35-40 men in Little Beta (old Acacia) and then demolish that building the second summer and quickly have the civil engineers paving that area which is planned for parking. In Norman, 82 Betas rented an apartment complex well in advance of the house closing. Lead Time Requirements – Other lead time requirements include getting the architect to start detailed planning documents and that is already taking place, getting updated proposals from the structural and civil engineers, which are in progress, bringing title opinions up to date on our real properties (also in progress), soil sampling, and getting survey work performed early, which will soon be contracted. Donors – To date, 174 donors are listed on page 4 of this campaign update. All donors contributing $2,500 or more over a five-year period will be recognized on a donor wall prominently displayed in the chapter house. Have you made a pledge? If not, we would love to get your commitment on this project. Class Participation Rates – Class donations and class participation rates are disclosed on page 6 of this update. We hope each reader examines his class with the intent of contributing and will encourage some of his brothers to do the same. As participation rates go up, the funding will obviously get closer to fulfilling our needs. We sincerely encourage each brother and friends of Beta to donate at a level he/she is comfortable with. Donating something, whatever the gift is, shows that each of us cares about our fraternity experience, wants to pass it forward, and wants to help make our housing project a success. The State of Our Chapter House Performance – Since 1923, our Gamma Lambda chapter has maintained its status as one of the premier fraternities at Oklahoma State. Today, we have active rolls of over 150 men with 100-plus men living in the Beta houses. We are one of the largest and most prestigious chapters of the Beta Theta Pi General Fraternity. Our chapter brothers have excelled in grades, athletics, the arts, campus involvement, and community service. Over recent years, the Gamma Lambda chapter has maintained its position as one of the top fraternities at OSU. In the academic school year 2015-16, the chapter brothers maintained its academic excellence by achieving GPAs of 3.38 and 3.37 in the fall and spring semesters. In 2017, the young men finished the two semesters with a 3.406 and 3.41 with over 160 men for all semesters. The chapter has won the fraternity all-sports trophy for the last two years and in nine of the last 11 years. In the spring of 2016, the chapter won first place in Spring Sing. In the fall of 2016, Gamma Lambda won Freshman Follies, and in the spring semester the chapter won second place in the Varsity Revue competition. Every year, our chapter serves the community with a community service project. In 2016-2017, the house hosted an annual basketball tournament philanthropic event called the Gamma Lambda Open. Members are recognized by the university through campus involvement as Top 10 freshmen and outstanding seniors most years and recent years are no exception. The Gamma Lambda chapter's accomplishments are not limited to Stillwater and the OSU campus but include awards at our National Convention as well. The performance of the young brothers in the house is probably at an unprecedented high since the inception of our chapter in 1923. Recruitment is strong every year. In 2015- 2016, 46 men were initiated in the fall and spring semesters. In the fall of 2017, 14 men are scheduled for fall initiation. The fall pledge class for 2017 has 46 new pledges. Because of the strength of our chapter, each year the chapter receives more interest in membership than it can offer bids. As alumni, we believe that our house is one of the best, if not the best, fraternities on the campus at OSU and the active members continue to prove us right. Assumptions and Sources and Uses of Funds – As previously noted in this report, the model presented includes conservative assumptions which, of course, lean toward higher costs incurred as conservatism is always a good starting point for analysis. Ø Assumptions and variables can reduce costs. We only have $40,000 booked for one in-kind gift. We have discussed other in-kind gifts for as much as $250,000 in total. However, in-kind gifts have to be on a documented pledge before we can book them. Also, the GC and/or the architect have to accept these services that will eventually go into the construction of our house. Another benefit of in-kind gifts is that the impact is instant – there is no five- year waiting period before they can be used. A New Beta House Is Coming to OSU! (Continued from page 1)

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