As fall semester comes to a close, the brotherhood and I wanted to provide an update as we head into 2019. First, on December 3rd, the active brothers of the Xi chapter of Chi Phi elected a new executive board. On the Chi Phi Leadership page, you can find a list of our newly elected officers. If you would like to work with any of these brothers on any philanthropy, scholarship, or alumni-related projects, please do not hesitate to reach out. In the meantime, we will do our best to keep the Alumni base in the loop.

Second, I wanted to provide a brief summary of some of the key objectives I wish to focus on during my year as Alpha. Again, if you or anyone else believes that they would be of help on any of these projects, please let me know!

1. Improve Relationship with the University’s Administration
Our goal is to foster a more productive and personal relationships with key University officials. This begins with our faculty adviser, Professor Dexter Kozen, father of Brother Tim Kozen ’11. Professor Kozen has already helped to organize a meeting with Kathy Zoner (Cornell’s Chief of Police) and her colleagues. During this meeting, we extensively discussed risk and event management protocols, how to best communicate with and seek help from CUPD, and educating the general student population on proper event behavior. We will be organizing Spring meetings with Kara Miller (Director of Sorority & Fraternity Life), Ryan Lombardi (Vice President for Student and Campus Life), and Justin Goldsman (IFC Advisor).

2. Work With Board of Directors to Address President Martha Pollack’s Greek Life Reforms
Last Spring, President Pollack released an email detailing a variety of reforms for our Greek Life community. This executive board will work with the Board of Directors to determine how to best address these upcoming changes, most importantly the live-in-advisor requirement for Spring 2021.

3. Continue Budgetary Improvements
This past year, our outgoing Delta, Emmett Tabor, focused on rebuilding our chapter’s “rainy day” fund. In one year alone, Chi Phi Xi has set aside more money than most Cornell Greek houses have saved in total. For me, this returns to the concept of “Non-Sibi”. It is our priority to foster an understanding that, though our time in Craigielea is limited, we must take a long-term approach to how we financially position our chapter.

This will involve: (1) reducing our current expenditures, partly by re-evaluating a number of contracts that we have continued to renew without exploring alternative  options, (2) conducting a study on the Ithaca housing market (both private and University-owned) against which we will compare our current room & board rates, and (3) encouraging as many brothers as possible to live in (more on this below) during their time at Cornell.

4. Increase Undergraduate Fundraising
This spring, I plan to work heavily with our alumni chairs to lead an undergraduate fundraising effort for a small house improvement project. I will be sending more details on exactly what we would like to accomplish at a later date, but we have already begun planning and acquiring contractor estimates. We firmly believe that small expenditures addressing deferred maintenance now will result in a far more competitive future when it comes to recruiting new members and retaining them as residents. Your small contribution is an investment that will have far-reaching effects for our chapter’s financial future.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am looking forward to giving back to an organization that has given me so much.

– Constantin Miranda ’20