Spring 2016 Beta-Rho Bulletin by Rick Childs

BETA-R HO BULLETIN Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity

California State University, Northridge

Volume 44, Issue 2

Spring 2016

Actives Win First Alumni-Active Football Game

All photos by Rick Childs

Alumni and actives step away from the playing field for their post-game close-up. Front row (from left): David Burgos holding Layla, Bambi, Myke Davis, Francisco Silva, Vincent Pimentel, Brian Romero. Standing: Devin De Leon, Adrian Morales, Jeffrey Perez de Leon, Wes Cole, Matt Rice, Eric Choi, Rodrigo Valenzuela, Tim Pena, Spencer Schmerling, Zeke Esquibel, Steve Shapiro, Manny Fuentes, Eric Gonzalez, Anthony Pinkett, Rich Ohlberg, Jesse Espinosa, Joe Montez-Lampert, Bryan Gonzalez, Jesse Martinez, Marc Ninapaytan. On the cover. Quarterback Eric Gonzalez picks up the snap from center Tim Pena (out of frame) as Steve Shapiro tries to block one of the defensive players during the second half of the alumni-active football game on May 1.

Features Beta-Rho’s First Ever Alumni-Active Football Game The brothers returned to Northridge Park for some gridiron action instead of softball ... page 2

Spring, 2016 Initiation Class The chapter’s initiates total reaches 708 ... page 6

4th Annual Watermelon Bust A truckload of canned foods for Feeding America was collected before the annual games... page 10

Pacific Northwest Regional Conclave Three brothers from Beta-Rho drove to Chico State for the annual spring conference – the only one held on the West Coast in 2016 ... page 17

Graduates of 2016 Seniors join the ranks of alumni ... page 18

Alumni News Donovan Martinez talks about his tour of duty in Iraq and gets elected to be a delegate for the Democratic National Convention (sort of); birth and engagement announcements; ... Page 19

2015-16 CSUN AS President Jorge Reyes Looks Back Beta-Rho’s third student body president juggles his grad studies with a full slate of programs and travel to advocate on behalf of CSUN students ... page 20

Editor’s Journal: Midnight Confessions ... back cover 2

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Greetings from the gridiron. Eric Gonzalez kept “the old guys” team (above) within striking distance of victory as Tim Pena blocked Zeke Esquibel during the game’s first half. Brother Pena (lower right) worked with Bryan Gonzalez on the game’s arrangements. Brother Gonzalez huddled with Steve Shapiro, Anthony Pinkett (back turned), Francisco Silva, Tim Pena, Jeffrey Perez de Leon (partially obscured) and Matt Rice.

Actives Claim Victory in First Annual Alumni-Active Football Game After what seemed like years of anticipation and mentioned at quite a few corp. board meetings, the chapter finally made good on its challenge for an Alumni-Active Football Game at the Northridge Park on May 1. Twenty-eight alumni and undergrads along with about a half dozen guests noshed on hamburgers and drank lots of bottled water since the summertime heat had already started in earnest. With 19 actives and 9 alumni in attendance, the two teams ended up with a mix of players. Eric Gonzalez played quarterback for the mostly older alumni team while Mychal (Myke) Davis led a bigger pool of undergrads. The actives claimed victory with a score of 42-35, six touchdowns to five. The final score was called at around 3:50 after a game start at 2:30. The teams took a 15-minute break between halves. While the corp. board’s vice president of activities, Tim Pena, ultimately succeeded in getting the game on the event calendar, High Rho Bryan Martinez took charge of its preparations. “I didn’t have anything to do with securing the field – that was all on the actives,” Brother Pena

wrote on Facebook. In a postgame group chat on Facebook on May 5, Brother Pena opened up about the game highlights and admitted that he, as well as Spencer Schmerling, was still recuperating. Brother Schmerling sustained an ankle injury on the first play and sat out the rest of the game. “So as ranking old person [while he was the oldest player, this writer out-ranked him insofar as attendees were concerned] and all-around tackling dummy, I get carte blanche,” Brother Pena wrote. “It’s the Thursday after, and I can still barely move. “Spencer is a hero for taking one for the team. [Anthony] Pinkett is just an animal, be it offense or defense. [Steve] Shapiro is an allaround beast. Rich [Ohlberg] has lightning fast feet, and never ever let me call a play. (Okay, maybe it was the execution.) Oh, and blitzes are totally fun! “There seemed to be more actives on the field at the end of the game because I was seeing double. The ground at Northridge Park is very, very hard.

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

“I did actually get the flag football equivalent of a ‘sack’ against Mychal and caught a short pass from our awesome QB Eric to help pick up a few yards during one drive. Otherwise, I played both offense [center] and defense as did the rest of the guys because not enough alums showed up. So I guess that’s my overall message: more alums need to show up! But regardless, it was a great first effort. “Although I don’t know what it was the old guy team (with the help of the actives we borrowed) did, we kept a lead the entire first half. Then things were pretty tight and back and forth right up to the end. “Oh, and Bryan, Bryan, Bryan [Martinez]– my new best pal (and main reason I’ve dubbed myself the human tackling dummy) – him and Zeke [Esquibel]… definitely animals on the active side!” “Sorry Tim. Me and Zeke were a sick duo,” Brother Martinez quipped. “But I can’t wait for next year, and whatever is left of me will be out there. What else am I gonna do, cheer lead?”

SPRING 2016

2016 Alumni-Active Football Game

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Joseph Montez-Lampert, Marc Ninapaytan and Zeke Esquibel 6

SPRING 2016

Spring 2016 Initiation Class Rush Chairman/High Delta: Jesse Martinez Fraternity Educator/High Kappa: Rodrigό Valenzuela Ritualist/High Phi: Mychal Davis

Actives and alumni assembled for the spring initiation at the Lindley House during the early evening of April 29. Brothers were asked to enter through the kitchen door from the back yard. However, even that door became inaccessible at times before the ritual got underway, so a few members of the audience climbed in through the bedroom window by the laundry room to gain access to the proceedings. Three newly-initiated brothers were welcomed at the close of the ceremonies. Zeke Esquibel, Joseph Montez-Lampert and Marc Ninapaytan brought the chapter’s membership total to 708 initiates. High Phi Myke Davis took special pride in overseeing the ritual. “For me, it was special because it’s my last initiation as an active member,” Brother Davis commented. “The work that the guys [who conducted the ritual] put in this semester made it so much easier on myself.”

According to Brother Davis, one of the new initiates wasted no time expressing his appreciation for the way the night turned out. “Joseph came up to me afterwards and [said], ‘I just wanted to thank you. You made my experience something that I couldn’t even imagine.’” Rodrigό Valenzuela completed the first term of what he hopes will be two semesters as High Kappa, depending on whether his grades hold up. He mentioned that his fraternity education efforts followed along the same lines as his predecessor and current High Beta, Nick Dinsmore. “There wasn’t a lot of information that I got from the ELC [Brandon Bonds] that made me [want] to go a different route,” he said. “We had a small class, so I didn’t want to implement something too different. Once we get a bigger class next fall, I’m going to try and get some tips from Brandon.”

Post-initiation gathering. Front row, from left: Zeke Esquibel, Vincent Pimentel, Joseph Montez-Lampert, Jason Fefer, Bryan Martinez, Marc Ninapaytan, Josh Bascou. Second row: Eric Choi, David Burgos, Manny Fuentes, Wes Cole, Daniel Ruelas, Francisco Silva, Jeffrey Perez de Leon (behind Francisco), Ozzy Robledo, Rodrigό Valenzuela, Jesse Espinoza, Frankie Castanon, Adrian Morales, Devin De Leon, Chris Burgos, Jesse Martinez, Alejandro Valdivia, Myke Davis. Third row: Chris Martinez, Nick Dinsmore, Angel Torres.

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

All photos by Rick Childs

Volume 44, Issue 2 Version 1.8 Editor, reporter, designer & photographer: Rick Childs The Beta-Rho Bulletin is the official publication of Beta-Rho Zeta of Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity at California State University, Northridge. Article ideas, directory revisions, weddings, anniversaries, births and career info should be snail mailed, e-mailed or sent via Facebook to the editor. His mailing address is 44044 Engle Way Apt. 65, Lancaster, CA; 93536-. Email: eaglerick@twc.com. All other correspondence to the housing corporation should be sent to P.O. Box 280311, Northridge, CA 91328-0311. Made on a Mac Mini with iWork Pages ’09 v. 4.1. Originally published on Jan. 1, 2017. Last revised on Feb. 15, 2017. Editor’s phone number/texts: (661) 313-5319

Spring 2016 House Corporation Board of Directors: President VP, Communications VP, Activities Secretary Treasurer Alumni Director Alumni Director Chapter Advisor

Spencer Schmerling Rick Childs Tim Pena Kyle Shaver Scott Press Rob Press Gilbert Lopez Kevin Mojaradi

Spring 2016 High Zeta: High High High High High High High High High High High High

Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon Iota Kappa Phi Rho Sigma Tau Theta

Jeffrey Perez de Leon Nick Dinsmore Alejandro Valdivia Jesse Martinez Chris Martinez Jesse Espinoza Rodrigó Valenzuela Mychal Davis Bryan Martinez David Burgos Jason Fefer Wes Cole

Ezekial Esquibel

Joseph Montez-Lampert

Marc Ninapaytan

Class Level: Junior Major: Kinesiology Big Brother: Wes Cole Hometown: Indio Birthday: June 8 BP 706

Class Level: Junior Major: Business Admin.- Finance Big Brother: Bryan Martinez Hometown: Diamond Bar Birthday: Nov. 1 BP 707

Class Level: Sophomore Major: Political Science Big Brother: Jeffrey Perez de Leon Hometown: Inglewood Birthday: July 17 BP 708

On the Web: Headquarters Back Issues Facebook Instagram Twitter

LambdaChi.org Issuu.com/beta-rho_83 CSUN Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha, BP Alumni CSUNLambdaChiAlpha #CSUNLambdaChi

With your big brothers. Zeke Esquibel with Wes Cole (above). Marc Ninapaytan (center) with Jesse Martinez, Chris Burgos, Big Brother Jeffrey Perez de Leon and Eric Choi.

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Before the midnight hour. Clockwise from left: Adrian Morales (far left), joins a photo opportunity with the current ritualist, Myke Davis, along with Devin De Leon and Chris Burgos. One of several impromptu group photo sessions with (front row) Vincent Pimentel, Francisco Silva, Joseph MontezLampert, Jorge Reyes and Josh Bascou. Second row: Devin De Leon, Angel Torres, Bryan Martinez, Chris Martinez, Jesse Espinoza, Shawn Showkati, Ozzy Robledo and Frankie Castanon. Joseph Montez-Lampert (right) poses for photos with his big brother, Bryan Martinez.

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Watermelon Bust 2016 Edition Watermelons had nowhere to hide as BetaRho’s 50 or so guests annihilated dozens of them on an occasionally rainy afternoon on April 9. Plans to hold the games on the campus’ East Field fell through, so it was held at the Lindley House again. This was the chapter’s third consecutive Watermelon Bust and fourth overall since 1988. In prior years the chapter also ran a similar charity event variously known as the Pumpkin Bust or Pumpkin Bash. Eleven philanthropy events involving the demolition and/or consumption of pumpkins occurred starting in 1975 before it was unofficially retired in 2013. Rick Isaac coordinated the chapter’s first Pumpkin Bust when he was the High Beta. At least thirty sorority members took part in donating canned foods to Lambda Chi Alpha’s official philanthropy, Feeding America. During the Watermelon Bust’s awards announcement, the event coordinator and High Theta, Wes Cole, said that around 3,500 cans had been brought to the house. He singled out the Tri-Delts for bringing in 426 cans. After the event and once all the cans were checked in, the total topped out at 4,298 cans. Brothers filled the media room with cans as they were brought in by the box load from the sororities and their coaches. Although coaches fanned out to work with most of the eight Panhellenic sororities, the ones who competed at the games were Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Delta Jason Fefer Zeta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi. Alpha Omicron Pi won the overall competition. Runners-up for the games were 2nd place finishers Alpha Phi and 3rd place Delta Zeta. Alpha Phi won the watermelon decorating contest for their pirate ship and watermelon shark displays. Judges were also enamored with Delta Zeta’s pair of Monsters University-inspired characters. Aside from the decorating contest, teams took part in a watermelon toss, watermelon relays, watermelon eating, destruction derby and Bust A Move: a dance competition. This final event replaced last year’s canstruction contest. Four sororities took the stage for Bust A Move performances. Alpha Phi took 1st place followed by SAEPi and Delta Zeta.

Singled out for the most spirit during the day’s competitions and the days leading up to the event was SAEPi. Several alumni pitched in to judge the events. Among the ones who helped were Jacob Holmes, Corey Davis, Tony Ball, Zareh Baboomian, Glen Probst, Jorge Reyes and Rick Childs. Many of the brothers and guests wore the light blue t-shirts that had been sold to help raise money and promote the event. Although they didn’t win an award in the decorating category, SAEPi coach Jason Fefer worked on a design for one of the most original watermelon entries in recent memory. Brother Fefer said that he was working on a watermelon look suggesting Hasidism. “I was up until 6 in the morning making my watermelon,” Brother Fefer recalled. “There were five other ones, and each one was [messed] up.” What gave the watermelon its character was its black fedora, although it was taken off before the judging got underway. Despite not having his team’s watermelon place in the decorating competition, Brother Fefer’s passion probably played a big part in helping the SAEPi sorority team earn the Spirit Award during the games. One of the Spring 2016 initiates, Zeke Esquibel, found some of Brother Fefer’s antics especially amusing. “I remember that during the clean-up process, Jason had his own little competition with himself and tried to convince himself that he could break open a watermelon with his head, and failed,” he said. “Also, I remember it was fun just watching the competition.” All Watermelon Bust photos by Rick Childs

SPRING 2016

Wes Cole BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Sorority Team Coaches

Alpha Omicron Pi Frankie Castanon Manny Fuentes Skye Lee Cisco Silva Angel Torres Alpha Phi Josh Bascou Bryan Martinez Jesse Martinez

Alpha Xi Delta Joseph Montez-Lampert Austin Smith

Delta Zeta Nick Dinsmore Chris Martinez Brian Romero

Phi Mu Jesse Espinoza Ozzy Robledo Rodrigo Valenzuela

Delta Delta Delta Chris Burgos David Burgos Alex Valdivia

Kappa Kappa Gamma Jeffrey Perez de Leon

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi Jason Fefer Vincent Pimental

Alpha Omicron Pi

Alpha Phi

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi

Delta Zeta

Chronology of All the Busts

Pumpkin Bust #1 Pumpkin Bust #2 Pumpkin Bust #3 Pumpkin Bust #4 Pumpkin Bust #5 Pumpkin Bust #6 Pumpkin Bust #7 Pumpkin Bust #8

Engineering Field Engineering Field Engineering Field Engineering Field Engineering Field Science Field Science Field Engineering Field

Oct. 29, 1975 Nov. 5, 1976 Nov. 4, 1977 Oct. 28, 1983 Nov. 2, 1984 Oct. 11, 1985 Oct. 10, 1986 Oct. 30, 1987 12

Watermelon Bust #1 Pumpkin Bust #9 Pumpkin Bust #10 Pumpkin Bust #11 Watermelon Bust #2 Watermelon Bust #3 Watermelon Bust #4

Engineering Field Lindley House Lindley House Lindley House Lindley House Lindley House Lindley House

April 4, 1988 Nov. 13, 2011 Nov. 10, 2012 Nov. 17, 2013 May 3, 2014 April 25, 2015 April 9, 2016

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BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

SPRING 2016

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

SPRING 2016

Pacific Northwest Conclave: Chico State Three undergraduate representatives from Beta-Rho journeyed from the San Fernando Valley to California State University, Chico over the weekend of Feb. 26-27 to attend the Pacific Northwest Conclave. Jesse Martinez and Jesse Espinoza carpooled with Jason Fefer for the event on the 26th. Two of them wrote about their experiences with Facebook chats, and one of them, Brother Martinez, answered questions on his laptop while vacationing in Mexico. “The trip took about 6-7 hours,” Brother Martinez recalled. “We left Northridge at around 7 p.m.” “The drive up there was pretty crazy,” Brother Espinoza added. “We didn’t get there until like 2 or 3 in the morning. “The three of us stayed at one of the Chico brothers’ apartments near campus and they let us stay on their couch,” he wrote. “The apartment was right down the street from campus—a twominute walk.” On Saturday morning the trio went to different programming meetings. Brother Martinez, the chapter’s High Delta, checked out the recruitment workshop at the Bell Memorial Student Union. “I attended some seminars on event planning, recruitment, Feeding America [information about Lambda Chi Alpha’s philanthropy], and some other seminars,” Brother Espinoza said. “I learned quite a lot at conclave about Lambda Chi Alpha and the nearby chapters,” Brother Martinez said. “One of the things I noticed the most was how a majority of [them] were respected chapters at their schools and even newer established chapters like Chico and Fresno were quickly becoming top level operating chapters.”

Once the sessions wound down, they spent time getting to know some of the brothers from Chico State and others “at one of the Chico chapter’s satellite houses,” according to Brother Martinez. “It was really cool meeting brothers from other chapters and seeing how their chapters are similar to ours,” he added. “The brothers of Chico State actually reminded me quite a lot of the brothers here at Beta-Rho,” Brother Martinez commented. “They are a newly [re]established chapter, but they have accomplished several milestones in their short time of existence, and they had plans to grow and become even better. I met several brothers (whom which I regret not remembering names), but lost contact shortly thereafter.” “The banquet and dinner was really good,” Brother Espinoza continued. “The guest speaker was the CEO [Bill Farkas].” “[He] spoke of the history of Lambda Chi and the future plans to grow the organization,” Brother Martinez wrote. Brother Martinez pointed out that the chapter made some unusual dining arrangements. “They had organized the food and cooked the entire banquet buffet at the apartment we were staying at,” he noted. “After the dinner we went back to the apartment where we were staying, met more brothers from other chapters and went out with them.… Meeting other brothers from chapters nearby was probably the coolest part of the trip. Seeing how successful they were gave me hope and inspiration for the heights [of success] our own chapter could reach.” Anthony Dunn Photography

Jesse Martinez, Jesse Espinoza & Jason Fefer

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Courtesy of Chris Burgos

Courtesy of Patrick Holmes

Courtesy of Rob Lange

Patrick Holmes

2016 Graduates

Courtesy of Bryan Martinez

Courtesy of Nick Volkov

Chris Burgos

Patrick Holmes

Rob Lange

Bryan Martinez

Nick Volkov

BA:CTVA/MMPT– TV Production Graduation Date: May 20 BP 644

BS: Business Administration – Management Graduation Date: May 22 BP 691

BA: Sociology – Criminal Justice Graduation Date: May 23 BP 580

BA:Political Science Graduation Date: May 23 BP 674

BS: Business Administration – Accounting Graduation Date: May 22 BP 601 Rob Lange

SPRING 2016

Rick Childs

“It was shortly after the USS Cole was bombed, between December and February in 2000-2001. I was part of Operation Southern Watch, which was to enforce the NoFly Zone in Southern Iraq after the first Gulf War. Our job there was primarily to refuel F-18s and F-14s from a local Naval detachment. That being said, we’d still get bomb threats. We went to Delta a couple of times. Obviously, I wasn’t a pilot, although I was given the opportunity to go refuel one of those planes on one trip. Generally, I spent most of my time out there by the security [zone]. It’s in front of the base... with a minefield, gun turrets and all kinds of booby traps. There was me and a couple of other guys in front of all of that. Our job was to inspect all the vehicles and interrogate the people before they went through.” He received a commendation for foiling a possible terrorist attack. “It’s not a very Rambo movie theater kind of thing. It was just me doing my job. In the last couple of weeks before I was going to leave, I was training a person that was going to replace me. He was an American, but his parents were Egyptian immigrants. I’m driving this kid around, and we had one of the foreign nationals in the back seat. I think he was going to clean up the waste in one of the bathrooms. They were chatting, and he noticed the nametag on my replacement’s shirt. He saw that he was Egyptian, and maybe spoke Farsi. I didn’t really think anything of it. I think it’s because I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and [the foreign language conversation] didn’t strike me as odd. But then the new guy was asking me as we were driving by the airstrip, ‘Hey, look at those planes over there.’ I thought, most kids that grew up with G.I. Joes just liked that sort of thing. So I didn’t really think about why he was asking me about the planes. Then he asked me, ‘What time are they coming?’ I replied that they were coming in all day long. Then he asked me, ‘What are they carrying?’ And that was the question that finally threw up a red flag. That’s when I began to realize that this guy in the back seat was asking all these questions [that sounded suspicious]. When we got to where we were going, I called OSI, which is the Air Force FBI. They came and took this guy away, and they determined that he belonged to some terrorist cell.”

Alumni News

Electioneering with Iraq Veteran Donovan Martinez

“At 12:55 p.m. [on March 24] Amante Bartolome (BP 491) and I welcomed our incredible baby boy Lakai [Thomas Bartolome] into this world. 7 lbs. 10 ounces and 18.5 inches long. We could not ask for more of a blessing. We are so excited and beyond stoked to be this little dude’s mommy and daddy. Thanks to all of our family and friends, to my mom and dad and mother-in-law for sticking it out at the hospital with us and a special shout out to my husband and baby daddy. Without you I would never have been able to get through labor and to enter this incredible journey of parenthood with you. You have been and will always be my hero. I love you beyond words.” — Ashley Bartolome/Facebook BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Courtesy of Jessie Arciniega

Courtesy of Amante Artolome

While brothers were heading out to Northridge Park on May 1 for the first-ever Alumni-Active Football Game, a caucus was just getting underway at the Albert Einstein Academy, a charter school located in northern Santa Clarita. Concurrently, Donovan Martinez (BP 657) had been campaigning to become one of the nominees to represent presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in his district at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in August. He, along with four other candidates on a slate, won the top spots for his district’s delegates to attend. Brother Martinez, a general contractor for the Encino-based Fassberg Contracting Corporation, was working in downtown Los Angeles on underground construction projects for highrise buildings. Aside from his job, he was attending classes at UCLA and said he would be completing his coursework in December. Before driving to Irvine to join a crowd of more than 20,000 supporters at one of Sanders’ swings through Orange County on May 21, he talked about his campaign and recalled one of the more memorable experiences he had during his four years in the Air Force. His interest in running to become one of the delegates started in August after soaking up hours of presidential election news while commuting three hours each day back and forth to work. “I’ve always been interested in politics. I had seen all of the debates on both sides of the aisle. I watched the live results of every primary. I started asking myself about delegates. Who are these people? After I started researching it, I found out that all you had to be [to qualify] was 18 years old and be registered to vote, and a [U.S.] citizen. I’d been in student government. Let me go out and take a shot at it. So I applied. And so did 39 other people. Then I had to campaign for it; I went knocking door to door. I blasted Facebook. I started visiting local Democratic meetings in Santa Clarita, meeting representatives and Congressmen... found some people who I could run with.” Ultimately, his slate won. “It’s a very good winning strategy. I’m a firm believer in cooperation, teamwork.” Unfortunately, the district ended up with fewer slots for their representatives. Brother Martinez ended up not attending, but he still felt pleased that he and his slate had won at the caucus. On his slate’s publicity flyer, Brother Martinez was pictured during his Air Force years. He had joined the military not long before 9/11.

Engaged. Jessie Arciniega (BP 516) and Raquel Reve on May 1. Despite the allure of that day’s Alumni-Active Football Game, the couple visited Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

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Jorge Reyes Looks Back at His AS Presidency Now we have a bigger space where we will have more resources and we’ll be able to help the students more equitably as compared to other centers that we have on campus. The second [opportunities goal] was to team up with LACI, the Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator. They help students create entrepreneurship (and plans) on campus. We helped fund the Entrepreneurship Club. Right in the beginning 30 people signed up. We have 50 people and they teamed up with the L.A. Clean Tech and they are now in communication with how to create businesses, how to create entrepreneurship. So it’s a great experience. The third one is sustainability, which [involves] the continuation of the Sustainability Center. Unfortunately, [we] didn’t break ground this year. We had problems with getting contractors at a reasonable quote. It ground breaks next year, and it will take one year to finish. The Sustainability Center is going to hub the Recycling Center. AS Recycling is probably going to be changed to AS Sustainability. It’s going to provide a safer space for them to work. At the same time it will give them more accessibility to room areas, office space. They’re going to have showers there for our students who are working on the field. It gives them more of an actual office feel, and not just a joint office with marketing. We’ll also have meeting spaces for students to go and rent out. At the same time the Sustainability Center is zero-net energy, and throughout the building there will be educational pieces for our students to learn how to be more sustainable in a small way, like water conservation, energy conservation and recycling services. All those things that students think they know but they don’t really know…. And within that sustainability [complex there] was a mobile bike shop that I wanted to create with Sevag [Alexanian, the AS vice president] and decided to approve in the fall semester: we’ll be having a soft opening this Thursday. It’s going to be a van or U-Haul that revamps itself to be a bicycle shop for repairs. That van will move from location to location to fix students’ bikes for free. The great thing about it is that we’re not using any [building] space on campus. One day it could be in the dorms, another day it could be near the bookstore lawn. For campus experience, we wanted to make sure we put emphasis on AppJam. AppJam was the contest that helps people create apps. Through AppJam we discovered a parking app that would help students find out how many parking spots are on campus. Conversations have been started on how we can implement the app. And at the same time, [we are assessing] how do we get students mobilized, and at the same time how do we create more parking on campus? Or maybe the students just want to stay with the same price for parking. The other [innovative idea] was the tram tracking app. Tram tracking started in the middle of the fall semester. Through this CSUN app students can see how long it’s going to take the tram to come to their station to pick them up. Relations with the campus’ weekly newspaper and e-publication were mostly cordial, but one incident resulted in some controversial coverage. Our relationship has been pretty neutral [with the Sundial]. We do help each other. They cover major stories like debates or other major things we’re doing. The only [conflict of interest] we had with them was with the Big Show. They definitely spun it to their own advantage by blaming the Big Show for… the sexual assault case that happened that night [off-campus]. After that we had a really rocky relationship, but [eventually they moved past the allegations and we accepted how they reported other issues]. The CSSA presented Brother Reyes with a number of meetings that required travel to the CSU Trustees Office in Long Beach, Sacramento

When Jorge Reyes [BP 618] took office as the Associated Students president on June 8, he did what his predecessors had done: he went to a leadership bootcamp. The rest of the year went by quickly as he gave voice to under-represented students, voted on issues affecting CSUN students as the campus’ California State Student Association (CSSA) rep and lobbied on its behalf at the state capitol and in Washington D.C. After overseeing one of the final AS senate meetings of the semester in the University Student Union’s Grand Salon, he sat down for an interview with the editor in his office on April 18. While Brother Reyes had a pretty good idea on how to run the meetings as AS president, it took some time to grow into the position. It took me a while to comprehend. During the first month, I didn’t really know what was going on. Everything was going by so fast. I was advocating for students in different meetings. Then you go to CSSA for your first time, and you’re voting on behalf of 41,500 students. Then, of course, you go to Panetta, which is basically a leadership boot camp for every AS president with the former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. That week definitely helped me understand the value of leadership and the power of the student voice. I serve as the CEO. It didn’t really hit me about how much power I had until David Crandall, the [AS] general manager, emailed me. “As the AS president, you are supposed to supervise me. Can I have these days off?” [He wanted to attend his daughter’s graduation.] Following that month, I was ready to go out there and focus on everything I wanted to do. There were a lot of times that mistakes happened. You get up and you learn. As I finish this term, I can honestly say that I completed everything I ran on [that he said he would do during his election campaign]. And that was my main goal as AS president. I wanted to make sure that everything I said, either I started working on it this year for future boards to get done, or I accomplished it myself.” Brother Reyes described the platform he followed during his term of office. We have four pillars: communication, opportunity, sustainability and campus experience. In communication, the main goal was the 100-day initiative, which was [for AS representatives] to go into 100 classrooms in the first hundred days. And we did over 120 classrooms that fall semester. That was around 3,000-4,000 students that we presented to. During those presentations we would talk about our open positions that we had on the board. The classroom outreach resulted in maintaining a full slate of student volunteers seated on the board for practically the entire year. We’d never had a full board. When I mean full board, I don’t only refer to the senate. It’s the senate, the cabinet and every single standing committee or super-committee. So our judicial court was full, our sustainability committee was full, our elections committee and our finance committee [had full membership], which has never happened at the same time. For opportunity, [the goal was to move the AB 540/Undocumented [student] Center [aka the DREAM Project] from a really small location on the other side of campus to the USU. And with collaboration from the USU, we were able to move that. So now they’re able to serve all the thousand or more undocumented students who are on campus that have declared to be documented. Of course there are still some that are in the shadows. BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

“Being able to help students who don’t have a voice: it’s my biggest thing.” — Jorge Reyes and the nation’s capitol. I was a student-at-large; I wasn’t a voting member. Now with the presidency I was a voting member. The CSSA itself is an experience. There’s lobbying on your campus, there’s lobbying within your boards. But you all have a mutual understanding of what you want for your campus; it’s easier to reach a consensus. At CSSA you’re dealing with 23 AS presidents… or their chairs of legislative affairs who will all have different perspectives, and have different demographics they have to abide by. That creates a bigger challenge for someone to pass legislation within the CSSA. But I think that’s the great thing about the CSSA. You’re getting understanding and compromise from different parties. And that’s what the real world is about in my opinion, especially in politics: you’re not always going to get what you want or what you propose. But that’s what the CSSA teaches you: that compromise is fine; consensus is even better. Within the CSSA, the main thing we worked on was the CFA (California Faculty Association) strike. They asked for a five percent increase. The CSSA always wants to make sure that the students are aware of their rights, their right to cross a picket line…. The CSSA didn’t take a stand, but we did have open discussions with the chancellor, the CFA president, the union. My job is to not advocate for the faculty, nor any CSU administrator. My job is to advocate for the student body, and that’s what I made very clear to my board. Other things the CSSA worked on was legislation advocacy. So [I went] to CHESS XXI [in] Sacramento (the 21st California Higher Education Student Summit) for that one day when all the CSUs lobby [at the state capitol]. Every school takes delegates and we meet with our assembly members from our districts as well as our senators. We took ten people from CSUN including myself and Sevag. That was a great experience. It’s my third CHESS. I was taking the role of being the lead during our lobby visits. We split into three groups so that we didn’t bombard one office at a time. Then there was Hill Day, which is in Washington for a lobbying day. It’s a Federal Advocacy Day. That was [with CSUN President Dianne Harrison], Francesca Vega, government relations officer on campus. I am the one student who President Harrison shows who has benefited from federal grants. So the reason why we went to Hill Day was to advocate for all your Pell grants. Right now the CSU only has a fall and spring Pell grant. That actually got taken out during 2011 or 2010. When that got taken out it actually reduced the chance for students to complete [their degree programs] in four years. Without the Pell grants, many students could no longer graduate in eight semesters. This not only affected four-year graduation rates, but also affected those who were working students. So, if they wanted to take more units in the summer, there wouldn’t be funding from the federal or the state [government]. For Sacramento it was a different story. We advocated for more funding from the state to the CSU. Right now there is $101 million that is not being funded to the CSU. That means that we have more issues for maintenance and fixing our buildings. And there is the issue of advisors, so there is a lack of resources to student success programs. And then lastly there is the issue of access and enrollment. We obviously don’t want to increase our tuition. Every year we are underfunded we close our access to students who are more than capable of being CSU students. About 6,000 students are denied from the CSU because we don’t have adequate funding to bring them here. Last year Governor Brown was able to give us $100 million extra which helped us bring 4,500 more students to our system and add more, if not keep the same, resources that we have for student success. What we’re trying to do was make sure that people knew that the CSU is an investment. And one out of ten employees of California are CSU graduates. We have over 400,000 students who [are enrolled] in the CSU. We are not only the largest system in the state, but also in the country. It’s kind of embarrassing that our own state is not [adequately] funding the [most populous college system] in the nation. With the end of his term looming after the previous week’s elections, Brother Reyes recounted some of the lessons he learned while in office. I’ve matured as a graduate student. I feel way more confident on how I present myself and how I handle pressure. And I hope that I don’t have to deal with this much pressure again! Especially going to school and working more than thirty hours a week and traveling so much. But it was a really

rewarding experience. I’ve learned so much from not only what I do every day but from students who come and have the power to speak up. I learned more from speaking to other students than what I do just sitting here in my office. When students come and speak to me about their concerns, or they’re yelling at me, it’s something that taught me a lot about patience, but also listening and being open-minded. As president I don’t vote on my board, so really it’s up to the senate as to how they want to vote. This experience has taught me how to supervise and inspire other people. Hopefully, that helps me in my future career opportunities, whether it’s working for politics or working for higher education. It’s something that I really value and I am more than excited to share that with others. What were some of the tools that our fraternity provided you going in to Associated Students that enabled you to get to where you are today? Lambda Chi: I rushed Fall 2010. It definitely taught me a lot [about] the importance of our core values. In particular I would say loyalty, personal courage. And integrity was definitely one of the ones that I think Lambda Chi [instilled in me] the most. Giving me those core values at such a young age and having a great big brother [Yesai Fstkchyan] taught me the value of those core values. And [he] made me live up to them every day as I was going through my AM process. [That] really helped me develop myself as a leader. I joined New Student Orientation first [before] Lambda Chi. Through Lambda Chi Neil Sanchez was the vice president of Associated Students. So I told him I was going to join productions. I would see him in the office. I would see Vahan [Khodanian] in the office. So it made me feel comfortable that we had Lambda Chis in the office, that we had those connections with them. Then of course [staff] Kevin Majaradi is a Lambda Chi, Christopher Aston is a Lambda Chi. At the same time being treasurer definitely helped me a lot with discipline. That helped me [develop] a stern voice with the chapter. Lambda Chi also helped me gather votes. As treasurer I was completely transparent in everything that I did, and I followed that through my presidency. That transparency really makes people believe in what you are saying and listen to your perspective. And doing the right thing is so much harder than doing the wrong thing. The Greek system is so close, and there’s so many of us. Those are the people that vote and like getting involved. Lambda Chi really helped me develop those connections with other chapters, to bring them into my slate. I brought Jeffrey [Perez de Leon] into my slate because I knew he was going to be a really great senator. Also Kyle Shaver. When he became our chair of technology last year I encouraged him to apply to AS. What’s next after being AS president? There’s a couple of things going on that I hope I will get. Fingers crossed. The first thing is I applied for student trustee, which represents all the CSU students on the board of trustees. I just submitted my application. If I do get an interview, then all the other 22 AS presidents will interview me. And then out of [all the applicants] they only choose two people to send the name to the governor. Then the governor interviews you in the third stage of the interview process. I am also planning to run for CSSA as the vice president of university affairs. I’m submitting my application at the end of this week and running in May. Aside from that, I’m seeing if I could get a position either here in AS or in the [University Student] Union for alumni relations where I can help out the campus as well as try something new like Foundation. And currently I’m interning for [State] Senator [Bob] Hertzberg. Was there some particular accomplishment as AS president that you will still be thinking about five years from now that stands out? There’s two. The first one would be moving the DREAM Center to a bigger location. Being able to help students who don’t have a voice: it’s my biggest thing. I helped create that with the USU. Giving those students a safer space and provide those resources for them. The second thing is I really listened to what our students wanted. One example is the Student Color Coalition that we have on campus. They created themselves because of what happened in other universities with Missouri, and the lack of resources that ethnic or minority students had. My job was to gather the trust of those students. Obviously, I care about all of our students on campus and I am a minority student that always wanted the best for the people I represent. But at the same time I didn’t want people to think that way about AS. I tried really hard for AS to be accessible to every student. 22

SPRING 2016

Rick Childs

Ben Weissman

Rick Childs

Courtesy of Jorge Reyes

Phoebe Dye

AS Senate, CSSA and beyond. The AS Senate held one of its last meetings of the spring semester on April 18 in the USU Grand Salon (Clockwise, top and upper right. High Alpha and AS Senator Jeffrey Perez de Leon is shown seated at the right). Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is surrounded by AS presidents during his leadership conference in Monterey on June 25. With L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti on March 6. CSUN President Dianne Harrison stands between Jorge Reyes and AS Vice President Sevag Alexanian and other campus leaders on Oct. 18. BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY

Editor’s Journal Late night TV was ruled by Johnny Carson while I was an undergrad in the 1970s. Nowadays I follow several shows after the 11 o’clock news using my DVR. I tend to prefer Stephen Colbert’s Late Show when I do watch these types of programs. One of his best recurring sketches is one where he speaks to his audience behind the privacy screen of a fake confessional known as Midnight Confessions. After growing up Catholic, I became a free agent in college and eventually gravitated to the Presbyterian faith after I met my wife Debbie. But I still reveal some of my confessions to my friends and family from time to time. And while I don’t have a nice prop confessional like Colbert’s, you as my audience can play along and forgive me of some of my sins and transgressions. [Sound of an imaginary confessional window screen slides open, and I look pensive while I sip water from my red CSUN Camelbak bottle.] After publishing dozens of Beta-Rho Bulletins, brothers have assumed I command an impressive career background in journalism. Well, yes and no. While I did graduate from CSUN in December of 1979 with a BA in theatre arts, my 2nd bachelor’s degree program in journalism ended prematurely. I spent eight semesters pursuing courses at night to bolster my public relations pedigree while I was working for the Associated Students office doing things like publishing yearbooks and newspapers. But right before I got married in 1987, I was academically disqualified. I got better after a change of venue. In 1997 my coursework resumed; however, this time I attended Chapman University at a satellite campus in Palmdale and earned a secondary education teaching credential while maintaining a B+ average. Shortly after the chapter moved from its rental house in Reseda to what we commonly referred to as Halsted 1 near White Oak in July of 1977, a few of us returned to the Cantara house and sneaked onto the roof after nightfall once the last furnishings were trucked across town. We purloined a 16-penny nail and etched our first names and initiation numbers onto a few of the chimney bricks. It’s the only time I have ever tagged something. Almost any brother who has sat down for a meal with me knows that I chew my food at a glacial pace. This habit was noticed when I traveled around the country in a motorhome with ten cohorts who were attending the 39th General Assembly in August of 1982. During that 16-day road trip, some of us played practical jokes on each other. Eventually, my slothful dining pace became the subject of one of the more elaborately staged pranks. There was a multi-day stretch of driving after we left Nashville. We were headed to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota [pictured at right courtesy of Jeff Friedman]. Along the way we pulled over for dinner somewhere in Missouri at a Wendy’s. I was the last one to exit the RV on that occasion, and I took my place at the end of the line. Once I paid for my meal and found a table to start working on my half-pound Dave’s Hot ‘n Juicy with cheese, everyone seemed to have already wolfed down most of their dinners. One by one, each of them cleared their tables and walked off, and my tablemate said he needed to use the restroom. I looked out the window, and suddenly the RV rolled by and turned back onto the interstate. About five or ten minutes later, it returned and several of them burst back in through the front door to see if I had gone berserk in their absence. Nah. I confess: I made them all wait until I had finished nibbling on my last few fries. While I have managed to navigate almost effortlessly around the Valley since my teens, just ask Wesley Lamphere or Adrian Morales about my driving skills and they will probably laugh out loud with gusto. A little over a year ago I was driving them back to the Lindley House after a chapter meeting, and it’s probably the only time (so far) that I have played Uber driver for any undergrads in this century. As we were heading eastbound on Lassen Street, I inexplicably turned right instead of left at the light on Lindley. I quickly found a spot to make a U-turn by the dorms, but whatever credibility I had as a driver who knew how to get brothers back to the Lindley House went out the window.

BETA-RHO ZETA OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA FRATERNITY P.O. BOX 280311 NORTHRIDGE, CA 91328-0311

Regrettably, I never lived at either the Cantara House or Halsted 1 while I was an undergrad. After the March 2015 housing corporation meeting, one of the live-ins at the time, Christian Anderson, invited me back to his bedroom for a friendly game of Risk. His best friend and roommate, Patrick Holmes; Wes Cole and a couple of guests were sitting on one of the beds fussing with an Xbox controller. This was the first time I had encountered a computer game version of Risk. I had played the board game quite a few times in my pre-teens with some of the most wily neighborhood kids imaginable. The most accomplished of them was my own brother, Lee. In hindsight, he taught me valuable lessons in Risk management. Christian patiently explained to me how to use the controller to distribute my game pieces on the TV screen layout, move them around, and set up combat situations. Since I had picked up a lot of strategy tips from Lee, I assessed the game board and concentrated my firepower among my cluster of European possessions that I had been assigned at the beginning of play. Within an hour, my pieces stretched from the Balkans to Iceland and south to North Africa. By the time we called it a night, Christian and Patrick were escorting me across the driveway arm in arm. Considering that I had just obliterated some of their armies and spread mine like an amoeba across Europe and parts of Northern Africa, it was the most fun I had had at the Lindley House in years. As an alumnus who has spent most of his time attending meetings in the living room, it was a rare opportunity for me to hang out with some live-ins in an unofficial capacity. Anyone who has attended one of our Annual Meetings or any of this year’s corp. board meetings knows that we start off by reciting Lambda Chi Alpha’s Creed. If you have never memorized it, that’s not a problem at the Annual Meeting: it’s printed on the back of every report handout. If you look around the room, some of us can recite it from memory without skipping a beat. I have to admit: I don’t have every line memorized, and there are times when I garble some parts because I am trying to recite it a split second after others who know it. But I do know enough of the first section to lead brothers in the recital if called upon, and Spencer Schmerling has asked me to do exactly that on several occasions. Now, before you ask me to recite the entire Creed by myself the next time I see you, brush up on the secret handshake; I have that down cold. This is where I ask you, the reader, to grant me absolution for my prior attempts at anecdotal mischievousness. [Imaginary electric sign flashes like a thought bubble so that you say: “I/we forgive you!] Thanks!