TRIAD OF ACACIA FRATERNITY SPRING 2015 Jeremy N. Davis, Iowa State ‘00 President Acacia Fraternity International Council A Tale of Today’s Fraternities President This past academic year has been filled with many exciting op- expectation of re-colonization during the 2017-18 academic portunities and significant challenges for fraternity and sorority year. Hazing has no place in Acacia, and it will not be tolerated. chapters and their respective national/international organiza- tions. As I reflect upon the opportunities and challenges which Although Acacia experienced a number of challenges this past faced Acacia this past year, I’m reminded of the opening lines of year, it was also a season of Light. Many of our chapters have in- Charles Dickens’ literary classic, A Tale of Two Cities, creased their commitment to Human Service through increased participation in Acacia Claus, Seven Days of Service, and other “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the volunteerism and unique philanthropic activities like 5cacia, age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch THON, Root beer float sales, and more. The Fraternity also met of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of its Strategic Goal of 75% Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, attendance at our 2nd Clearly Acacia it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we annual Lee Kearney Ven- had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we erable Dean Summit, and has positively were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so our goal is to have 100% of impacted the lives far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authori- Venerable Deans (or alter- ties insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the nates) attend in 2016. of our brothers! Message from the from Message superlative degree of comparison only.” Also launched as part of our updated Strategic Plan is an Alumni After a very successful Conclave in Nashville last summer, Acacia Engagement Task Force to develop an updated model for began the academic year with a feeling of hope for the future, alumni involvement and engagement at the local and interna- with a clarity of our purpose, and with the understanding that tional levels. While we often say that recruitment is the lifeblood we were ready to address the challenges ahead — growing of the fraternity, alumni engagement is the glue that holds the chapters, new colonies, an effective Headquarters operation, fraternity together — shared experiences, undergraduate men- and committed volunteers. Little did we know the challenges toring and advising, and fellowship and brotherhood. Task Force we would face over the past ten months would involve some volunteers are collaborating online and meeting via teleconfer- of the most turbulent and unsettling issues that Acacia and the ence to create and present a draft model later this summer. fraternity and sorority community have faced in many years. One success in particular needs to be recognized — Acacia From a “global” perspective, the fraternity and sorority com- Fraternity Foundation Executive Director Darold Larson was munity was negatively impacted by the now-retracted Rolling honored with the Gold Medal of the North American Interfra- Stone magazine article, A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and ternity Conference in April at the NIC Annual Meeting. Brother Struggle for Larson has truly lived his life by the values of Acacia, and I ask Justice at UVA. that you join me in congratulating Darold on this monumental Although we experienced Although achievement! challenges this past year, it Greek life re- ceived a signifi- Finally, I continue to encourage our brothers to “share your was also a season of Light. cant amount Acacia story.” A number of months ago the Fraternity promoted of negative a social media campaign in that spirit, #BecauseOfAcacia. Select publicity as a result of this article, I believe this is an opportu- comments have been published in this TRIAD, and clearly Acacia nity for Acacia to take a leadership role in addressing sexual has positively impacted the lives of our brothers! assault issues. Currently our International Headquarters staff is evaluating a number of programs we hope to deploy during the And so, just as Dickens famously wrote, the times at Acacia have Fall semester to educate our undergraduates on sexual assault seen both their highs and lows. We will continue to tell our prevention and bystander intervention. Acacia story (even when it’s not always positive), and we will meet significant challenges head-on, just as we promote the As has been a constant topic in Greek life for many years, Acacia successes of our chapters, undergraduates, and alumni. is committed to hazing prevention, as well. Unfortunately, this spring the International Fraternity learned that our Louisiana Fraternally, State Chapter failed to meet our expectations and policies regarding pledge education. Through coordination with University administration, LSU Acacia alumni and International Headquarters, the Louisiana State Chapter was closed with an Jeremy N. Davis 1 Page 13: Chapter News & Updates International Council On the cover: The Fraternity’s archive of Acacia Journals and TRIAD magazines was recently sent to digital of Acacia Fraternity archiving company Enivation for scanning & digital preservation. We look forward to publishing a fully 2014-2016 searchable online archive in the coming months. President Jeremy N. Davis Iowa State ’00 Inside this issue: First Vice President Scott H. Meyer St. Cloud State ‘89 Page 5: Colony and Expansion updates Second Vice President Justin M.M. Kaplan Carleton ’07 International Counselor Page 7: #BecauseOfAcacia showcases the George A. “Chip” Ray value of the Acacia experience Penn State ’10 International Treasurer Robert W. Mickam Page 9: Texas ‘85 Brother Charles Blanke climbs Kilimanjaro for a cause Judge Advocate Maximillian J.B. Hopkins California ’80 Page 12: Undergraduate Counselors Brother Darold Larson receives Drew K. Sherman Jonathan C. Veres Interfraternity recognition Iowa State ‘11 California (PA) ’10 Page 13: Acacia Fraternity Foundation Chapter News & Updates Board of Directors 2014-2015 President Page 20: Donald W. Solanas, Jr. Carleton Acacians play cards Louisiana State ’68 for brotherhood and charity Vice President Executive Director Amos D. Meyers, Jr. Darold W. Larson Shippensburg ‘66 Washington State ‘81 Secretary Treasurer James Katsaounis William A. Utic Ohio ‘95 Cornell ‘74 Directors Dr. John C. Barber Scott J. Houston Purdue ’58, Emeritus Indiana ‘80 Find Acacia online: John F. Beering Dr. John B. Lane Purdue ’88, Emeritus Vermont ‘57, Emeritus John “Chip” Brueckman John B. Pugh Cornell ‘76 Iowa State ’50, Emeritus Christopher J. Caywood Richard S. Rasmussen Michigan ’80 California ‘80 Gerald C. Cook William M. Riley Shippensburg ’66 Kansas State ‘60 Bryan W. Dowd Larry E. Schroeder Morningside ‘02 Georgia ’77 Brian R. Durst L. Dennis Smith Wisconsin ‘87 Indiana ‘56, Emeritus Scott C. Graham Robert G. Travnicek, M.D. Penn State ‘98 Kansas ‘59 www.acacia.org Mark R. Guidry, Jr. Michael C. Tu facebook.com/acaciafraternity Louisiana State ‘57 California ‘91 linkedin.com/groups?gid=43995 David L. Ferguson Dewayne E. Ullsperger Indiana ‘74 Nebraska ‘82 @AcaciaHQ Andrew Jee John W. Wedgwood Oregon State ‘87 Purdue ’60, Emeritus (ACACIA ON FACEBOOK) Ronald T. Hopkins R. Daniel Wilkes Syracuse ‘69 Iowa ‘89 The TRIAD, Spring 2015 issue, is published by Acacia Fraternity, Inc. Patrick W. McGovern, Editor Michael Pastko, Co-editor and Design Harold D. Zarr, Jr. Iowa State ‘73 Address changes, correspondence and material for publication may be mailed to: TRIAD Editor, Acacia Fraternity, 8777 Purdue Road, Suite 225, Indianapolis, IN 46268; or emailed to: [email protected]. All submissions are subject to editing for space and clarity. Standard postage paid in Indianapolis, IN. 2 Patrick W. McGovern, Indiana ‘99 Executive Director Acacia Fraternity Remaining Calm Through Rough and Boisterous Seas The past academic year has left its mark on those of us closely However, I wonder if a trigger-happy response - and a tendency to involved with the fraternity and sorority community. It was a year suspend or remove whole chapters or even entire Greek commu- in which a confluence of factors contributed to the most scrutiny nities for the actions of a few - is taking away the leadership and and criticism that we as a community have faced in many years, learning opportunity for our undergraduates to take corrective perhaps ever. action in partnership with other stakeholders. I am confident that Acacia has the necessary alumni leadership in place Internationally Truthfully, at the end of this academic year, I am feeling a bit and in our chapters to help guide our undergraduates in the right weary, though steadfast. Weary from managing an increase in direction. At the same time, we can always improve our practices Executive Director the number of instances that resulted in “interim chapter suspen- and our responses. sions” from host institutions - often before formal investigations occurred, and from bracing myself each time I open up my email No matter an individual’s philosophical thoughts on the matter, or check Facebook, wondering what the next “Greeks Gone Wild” the fact is that the scrutiny is not going to stop. Critical voices story will be today. It was a challenging semester in the fraternity are not going to quiet down. Nor should they - we have work to world, and, sadly, Acacia did not escape unscathed. However, there do and gaps remain between “where we are now” and “where are a number of factors outside of actual chapter behavior that are we would like to be.” Acacia is working actively to fill these gaps contributing to a changing environment: through our Strategic Plan, and through new educational pro- grams and more public conversations like this one.