Our Chapter Today

This part of the alumni web site is shared with our undergraduate brothers (Actives) at our chapter. Its purpose is to inform potential members, parents, our alumni, and other friends of DSP. Reading both the undergrad and alumni contributions, mixed together below, will provide a multi-era perspective of Delta Sigma Phi at Cal Poly.

What DSP is Today - By Undergrad Brothers At Cal Poly, January 2011

We, Delta Sigma Phi, were established at Cal Poly in 1950 and are the university's oldest Social Fraternity – and one of its largest. Our long tradition is to provide our members the ultimate college experience! Our program emphasizes personal, social, and leadership growth. We excel in inter-fraternal sports events and philanthropy – because we work together. We enjoy the unique friendships that only a close brotherhood can produce. We combine a great social calendar, including socials with sororities, with our National Fraternity’s motto of “building better men for the future.” We own and take great pride in our chapter house that we built in 1972. It is located just off-campus, at 244 California Blvd. Our members have diverse majors and interests and network in campus and inter-fraternal life and government. We take pride in the success our alumni achieve and how they remain Delta Sigs for life.

We are always looking for good men who will challenge themselves to earn membership in our brotherhood of close friendships and unique experiences. If you want to learn more about a richer college experience, contact an officer from the list further down this page.

Chapter Awards and Recognition - By Active Chapter Brothers

Out of over 100 chapters across the nation, ours was one of only eight to earn Delta Sigma Phi’s top chapter award at our biannual National Convention in 2009. “The Pyramid Of Excellence Award” is only given to chapters which have demonstrated excellence in all areas of fraternity operations. The award recognizes chapters which most exemplify the true spirit of our founders, by personifying the Fraternity’s mission of building better men - and excellence in their collective contributions to the Fraternity and host university.

Through an Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) association of fraternities at Cal Poly, chapters compete with each other by providing their members an intra-mural level of team sports opportunities.

Click on DSP sports to view our many successes in team sports!

Why Alumns Provide Guidance - By Chris “Yabut” Patterson, W’73, Alumni Assn.

• To pay-the-debt for how DSP enriched our undergrad experience.

• To benefit our young men and chapter’s continuity with our experience.

• And, unlike the benefits of a club-type organization, in appreciation for the continuing, life-long, brotherhood and bond we share.

Our chapter is benefited by two alumni organizations: the Alumni Corporation Board (ACB), and the Alumni Association (AA or Assn.). The ACB owns the chapter house and property and governs the chapter, its program, and its finances. The Assn. is funded by alumni donations and is responsible for finding, connecting, informing, and providing services to our alumni – services such as this web site. The Assn.’s other responsibility is to attract alumni attention and resources to the chapter. Each organization provides scholarships. The ACB provides additional financial incentives associated with meeting program goals and objectives, such as grade point average.

Currently, between these two alumni groups, Cal Poly Delta Sigs from the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s serve in leadership roles.

Alumni Awards and Recognition

In 2009, at Delta Sigma Phi’s National Fraternity Convention, the Alumni Association of the Cal Poly DSP Chapter was presented the Hugh “Cap” Ryan Award. This prestigious award is given to the single, most outstanding, alumni association in the Fraternity.

Our National Fraternity's Mission - By Jim “Lurch” Larson, W’72, Grand Council

Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity exists to “Build Better Men.” Her members are expected to be known as scholars, leaders, and gentlemen and the Fraternity itself respected for supporting the host university’s academic mission. DSP promotes leadership development by forging bonds of friendship and brotherhood - the bedrock of social development. The Fraternity and its members seek to better themselves, and the world around them, through their search for knowledge and intelligence, and through forging lifelong friendships based on honesty and integrity and care.

Chapter Exec. Officers: 2012

Career Mentoring Help - by DSP’s Alumni Association

Delta Sig alumni of Cal Poly are developing job prep help for our graduating brothers. Three services are under development: posting internship opportunities; resume review; and industry insights. As of January 2011, we are ready to begin accepting internships to post.

Actives: To view any intern postings provided by alumni, enter the password in the field below and click on Internships. The password is our fraternal salutation, in capitals, without periods.

Alumni: To provide internship postings from your company, click on send intern email. A pre-addressed email will appear. Include your name, nickname, pledge class, and company with the intern information – and thanks for helping.

Check back soon for a job posting listing.

Alumni - help support our undergrads, and the chapter program’s competitiveness, by also offering to review resume in your field and provide industry insights! You should expect only two or three requests a year in your particular field. DSP competes with 16 other fraternities in SLO. Providing the strongest program will attract the best men to secure our chapter’s future.

Participate by emailing Alumni Association officer Chris “Yabut” Patterson at Resume / Industry Insights. This is a great way to pay-the-debt for what DSP did for you - and will improve our chapter.

Chapter President's Messages

2011 Chapter President’s Report

The chapter’s newly elected President, Stephen “Ole’” Kadash,

Fall 2007, is developing his message to alumni.

February 2010 Chapter President's Report

“Unique Changes At Our Chapter”

By Andre E. Huaman, “Tdmang”, F’07

Delta Sigma Phi Epsilon Rho, a house of 93 actives, has been going through unique changes in a short amount of time. With the support of our ACB, the six suites at the chapter house and the chapter room have received brand new hardwood floors. The staircases and railings were completely torn out during Christmas break, being replaced by newly fabricated stairs and railings. The house’s interior and exterior have received new paint jobs, while our driveway and parking lot have been entirely repaved and repainted.

Our campus was recently struck by a new bylaw that prohibits freshman from joining any fraternity on campus during fall quarter, which essentially eliminates the recruitment period that has constantly been our most important. This decision was made by top campus officials, without consulting any of the fraternity presidents or members of the Interfraternity Council. Due to the fact that a large majority of our house comes from Fall classes, our new rush chair, Eric “Euro” Jaso, and his recruitment team are already brainstorming new, innovative methods for recruitment so that we can grab large freshman based pledge classes in the spring. We are projecting a pinning of 25-35 new members.

Rush chair Eric “Euro” Jaso and I both attended the summit at Indianapolis. We were praised by all chapters and national officials for our strong ACB and alumni support, status on campus, and organization as a chapter. We were identified as a chapter that can be used as a model for all Delta Sigs nationwide, thus proving that we were worthy of our Pyramid of Excellence award received this past summer. The weekend of February 7, we sent 9 active members, most of who are on our executive board, to the San Francisco Bay Area for the Regional Leadership Academy hosted by our National Fraternity. There, they learned new methods to continue our success as a chapter and growth as a brotherhood. Topics such as community involvement, financial management, and academic success will be covered.

Our house is the best represented fraternity on campus. The last two years, our campus has seen Delta Sigs on the Interfraternal Executive Board, ASI Board of Directors, University Union Advisory Board, S.A.F.E.R. Board, club soccer team, and Cal Poly football team. We also were able to have over 10% of our house last year become W.O.W. leaders. We are the defending fraternity champions in soccer, football, softball, and billiards. We also are defending our title as Greek Week champions.

Our executive board this year is focusing on making sure our active members are receiving what they deserve; an optimal and fulfilling experience. Campus recognizes our executive board as a successful one and uses its structure to aid other houses on campus.

We appreciate all support from alumni and welcome any questions or concerns. I invite you all to attend our open house and Carnation Ball, taking place on the evening of April 17, 2010.

Our Chapter Program

ACB President’s Message of September 2010 (abridged)

By Jonathan “Peabody” Monfort, F’81

Brothers:

Your ACB would like to encourage more participation of alumni brothers from all eras. We intend to accomplish this by returning the vote to alumni-in-good-standing - so that they may partner with ACB in guiding our fraternity into the future.

Over the decades, ACB has adapted to changing times to remain an effective and viable organization. Prior to the 1990’s, alumni-at-large, who attended at least one ACB meeting in the previous 12 months, qualified to vote on motions and in elections. During the 1990’s however, Cal Poly terminated Poly Royal, alumni-at-large stopped returning to DSP, and ACB changed its practice so that only officers could vote. Now that our alumni have demonstrated their continuing interest once again, it is time to discuss returning to our prior practice that encouraged a large alumni involvement.

My message about leading our chapter is that guiding our young men of today is like walking a very fine line. We can’t be too heavy-handed. As with Cal Poly’s motto of “Learn By Doing,” we must let them experience for themselves planning, problem-identification, and problem-solving. Our guiding principle is to suggest a direction but allow them as young adults to learn from their failures - without the cost of these failures being too dear.

Delta Sigma Phi at Cal Poly is, in one sense, a finishing school for young men expecting to enter the corporate and professional worlds. By providing them with opportunities to learn, grow, and mature, to live and self-govern with a diverse group of their peers, we help make them better men for the future of our country.

Our Chapter House

Recently Completed Projects:

During summer of 2004 construction was completed on the kitchen remodel and renovation of two suites: Butcher and Deadwood. New kitchen equipment installed included stainless steel work-tops and sinks and a commercial dishwasher.

As our 2005 Newsletter reported, this work used scarce capital at that time and was helped by alumni donations:

“Since many alumni were not comfortable taking on new debt, ACB has phased the Renovation in segments to follow cash flow. This has caused us to deplete our normal cash reserves to unusually low balances, but we now have a small line-of-credit as an emergency back up.

Our alumni donations vary from $25 to $2,500 (to ACB for capital projects) but please know that every donation counts and we document each donation and project it funded, or will fund. If you ever have a question concerning your donation, please feel free to contact me (Rick “Bozo” Rengel) at rick@rengelarch.com or 805-541-7115.”

Note: you can make a donation with the help of information in the “Alumni Association” section of this web site.

ACB voted to use $50,000 to renovate the four remaining suites in the summer of 2005. The four suites renovated were Zoo, Zone, Midnight, and Come Inn.

Each suite received major component replacements. A heavy duty, commercial grade, fiberglass door was installed, along with Milgard vinyl double pane windows, new carpets and pads, and new wall switches and electrical outlets. Wall and ceiling drywall was patched, retextured, and repainted. Ceiling fan-lights were added to suite living rooms.

Many alumni made a capital contribution to our building and renovation fund during this period of great need and scarce resources. Thanks to each of you, and especially to Ric “Ranger” Heinzen, S’69, and Noel “Bull” Shutt, F’69, for your outstanding gifts. They made a difference.