Gamma Gram News, Events, Feedback

Headquarters Staff Updates

Paige Prylinski departed staff in January after serving as Coordinator of Communications for over two and a half years. Paige joined staff in May 2018 after serving as the National Panhellenic Conference's communications and marketing intern for one year. Paige moved to Norfolk, Virginia, to be with her fiancé, and she works for OrangeTheory Fitness. In February, Tayler McCrabb joined the Fraternity staff as Coordinator of Communications. Prior to joining the staff, Tayler worked as the marketing director for The Lexington Church for over six years. She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2020 with a B.A. in integrated strategic communication. Additionally, Jake

Lueck (Kansas

2017) departed the Fraternity staff on March 17. Jake first joined staff as a Field Secretary in 2017, serving for one year. He became the Director of Expansion in 2018, serving for nearly three years and overseeing 11 expansion projects. Jake moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, to work for GrubHub.

Virtual Summer Events

Leading the Fight Against Hazing

Simply put, hazing contradicts our mission and values, and has no place in Phi Gamma Delta. Most fraternity chapters and fraternity men do not haze, but when they do it will not be tolerated. A number of chapters have been closed due to hazing, making it the number one killer of fraternity chapters. Phi Gamma Delta is committed to the elimination of hazing. We continue to work through a comprehensive Hazing Prevention Plan intended to improve our approach to new member education, engage interested constituencies and, ultimately, stop hazing in our chapters before it has a chance to start.

The primary goals of the plan are to reinforce hazing’s risks and consequences and to rally our undergraduates, graduate brothers, parents and campus partners to take a unified stand against hazing.

Rethink the Joining Process

One of the key components of the Fraternity’s comprehensive plan is to improve the new member experience. In January, the Fraternity launched Foundation of Courage, the Fraternity’s fully revised onboarding and socialization program for new members, providing participants with a Preparation for a Lifetime of Courageous Leadership. The program focuses on helping new members become acclimated to their chapter, as well as build trust and affinity to Phi Gamma Delta through safe and meaningful events and learning experiences. For more information about the program, visit www.phigam.org/ NewMemberEducation.

Recent Interfraternal Tragedies

The deaths of Stone Foltz at Bowling Green State University and Adam Oakes at Virginia Commonwealth University - following alleged hazing activities - are reminders of the urgency needed. We must be clear that hazing is a betrayal of the fraternal values that every member commits to and that it has no place in any student organization on any campus. When alcohol is added to the mix, it is a formula for tragedy.

Anti-Hazing Legislation

With 50% of college students exposed to hazing in high school, it is a critical issue facing campuses today across all student organizations, marching bands and athletics. Through the AntiHazing Coalition, the Fraternity supports two current pieces of legislation – END ALL Hazing Act (federal legislation) and Collin's Law: The Ohio Anti-Hazing Act. For more information on the two pieces of legislation and how to contact your legislators to show support, visit www.antihazingcoalition.org.

Join the Fight Against Hazing

The Fraternity continues to look to all brothers to stand with us and Join the Fight Against Hazing. We invite you to do so in any/all the following ways: 1. Share the Fraternity's #JoinTheFight posts on

Facebook, Twitter and

Instagram, or create your own posting sharing your stance against hazing using the hashtag #JoinTheFight. 2. Learn more about the

Fraternity’s efforts and make your position against hazing known to others by visiting www.phigam.org/FightHazing. 3. Sign the Pledge to Join the

Fight Against Hazing, and invite others to sign it as well, at www.phigam.org/

FightHazingPledge.

Future Rests on Ability to Raise, Recruit, Retain & Recognize Diversity Among Brothers

An Update from the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee By Josh Holly (Tennessee 1997), Chairman

As I walked into The Press Room for Kappa Tau’s Pig Dinner recently, something struck me as different. No, it wasn’t the masks. Those have become ubiquitous (particularly in the Washington, D.C. area). There was something else. After sitting down for dinner, it hit me: progress. My previously homogeneous chapter had a Black brother serving as a chapter officer, and I was sitting next to a Filipino brother from Dyersburg. This was major progress for a chapter that had not experienced a lot of (if any) racial diversity since being founded in 1890. In talking with brothers after dinner, several shared that there was a sense of relief within the undergraduate ranks after they crossed the Rubicon.

As the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee completes its work and prepares to present recommendations to the Archonate, we hope to advance ideas that will create opportunities for Phi Gamma Delta’s members to listen, speak, and raise their voices about the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts. It is common in the context of current events to think about diversity as solely about race and ethnicity. The Committee’s work has focused on the importance of stating affirmatively that Phi Gamma Delta’s efforts to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging also include diversity on the basis of sexual orientation, religion, class, physical and mental ability, and other differences that are found on our campuses and in our communities.

Our work has been rooted in a set of principles that served as the lens through which the brothers on the Committee viewed our charge. First, we want to advance systemic change within the Fraternity from the institutional to local levels. Performative, self-serving actions and words are not acceptable in 2021. Many within our brotherhood are demanding better. Change must be real and sustained. Second, we will seek to evolve what Phi Gamma Delta owns. Large-scale societal issues are playing out in real-time with the Fraternity being a microcosm of our communities. The Committee has been focused on developing implementable recommendations - recognizing that there will be some constraints and issues that the Fraternity does not control. Third, we will call for more transparency, intentionality and accountability. Basically, what gets measured gets managed; therefore, we will emphasize gathering and sharing more demographic information and metrics to gauge progress. Fourth, we will seek to generate a return on investment from the Building Courageous Leaders (BCL) initiative. Phi Gamma Delta has promoted and built educational programming around BCL, and now is the time to harvest that work.

Ultimately, we hope to provide recommendations that will allow Phi Gamma Delta to reorient its North Star to ensure the path is diverse, respects all, and provides equal opportunities for all members. The brothers on the Committee appreciate the road could be rocky. Real generational and regional challenges exist, and our members are impacted by broader societal discussions. But we have confidence in our brothers. Phi Gamma Delta is a leader on tough issues within the fraternity world — particularly when those actions are the right things to do. Our values demand nothing less. t