Kappa Rho Chapter of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta at the University of Rhode Island

Kappa Rho Alumni and CVS CEO Tom Ryan gives $2.5 million to URI

01/26/07 - One of the University of Rhode Island's most prominent alumni recently donated $2.5 million to the university to initiate new campaigns and build its endowments. Tom Ryan, chairman, president and chief executive of CVS Corp., and his wife Cathy, pledged $500,000 of this sum to the new Making a Difference Campaign. Tom is the chair and creator of the challenge grant, where a donated fund amounting to at least $12,500 is matched, from the original pledge money. The money will go toward scholarships for pharmacy students of various academic and financial standings to continue their higher education. Go here for more information on this gift

From Paul Harpin ('68)

I'm truly sorry I missed the dedication to Brad Goff but family obligations and the fact that I live in VA prevailed. I'm semi-retired but still do contract work for the DHS out of my home. Not a bad gig!! We moved to Ruckersville, VA, to be near our two grandchildren and enjoy the country atmosphere. We still have a house in RI, where we spend the summers and as much time as I can talk Martha in to. I see Tom O'Connell and Ralph Gizzi frequently and correspond with Gary Bowen a great deal. I saw Peter Janaros at our high school reunion as Diane, his wife, is a classmate. Tom's dad just died, which, as too many of us know already, is a truly sad occasion. Hello to all from 1968 and other years who were there when I was.

From Peter Miniati ('84)

From Peter Miniati ('84)

Dorothy M. Noble Scholarship 2006
Mrs. Noble was housemother at Kappa Rho for many years and she touched many lives. On her death in the 1980s, brothers raised a scholarship fund in her honor, to be awarded to Phi Gam undergrads or children of Phi Gams. Two awards were granted this year, to Deirdre Johnson a freshman from Warwick and Lindsay Maturi, a sophomore in biomedical engineering from North Kingstown. Ms. Maturi wrote to express her gratitude to the brothers of Phi Gam for this scholarship, and she is a recipient of which we can be proud. Besides carrying a high GPA in engineering, Lindsay is a member of the URI women's hockey team that finished third in the country in 2005. She is also a highly ranked figure skater, and has been regionally and nationally recognized for her skating expertise. Her father Henry is a 1970 Kappa Rho grad.

From Peter Miniati ('84)

FIJI GOLF TOURNEY SUCCESS
The golf committee is pleased to report the tremendous success of the first annual FIJI charity golf tournament. Eighty golfers teed off at the Donald Ross-designed Metacomet Country Club under sunny skies on October 2nd. Despite concerns from Brigade Commander Charles Flynn '86, Fort Bragg, that "such a large number of Phi Gams at a fancy private club might pose a risk to Homeland Security", the only loud noises heard were the booming drives and the severe trash talking from the class of '83, eg, "you came all the way from Texas to play like that?". The '70 squad of Bullock/Ellis/McGrath/Russell displayed more appropriate golf decorum and fine-tuned golf games. The '86-'88 groups represented geographic dispersion worthy of Ryder Cup champions. Despite rumors, his classmates did NOT pay for the flight from Maryland for Tom Williams and his low handicap, and they did NOT consider paying Abizaid's gas costs from NH an equivalent bargain. The foursome led by Sam Butterfield and Rick Proulx took low net honors with a score of 50 (yes, 50). Brother Proulx, '84 CPA, who also poked his tee shot to within 11'on hole 12, confirms that the scoring methodologies used by his group complied with USGA standards, GAAP, and Sarbanes Oxley. The Doug Whyte/Rich Santello team carded a 52 and won a scorecard playoff that had nothing to do with Doug's emininent position on the golf committee. The golf committee will consider engaging our special forces brethren on a covert mission to locate golfers from the '60s, '90s and '00's, whose scarcity was of some concern. The live and silent auction produced high bidders thrilled with items that included a Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers ticket package and foursomes at Wannamoisset, Point Judith and Shelter Habor Country Clubs. This event raised over $14,000 for charity. Thanks to all participants and sponsors, and to Mike Smith' 83 for hosting this event. Mike said that the course should return to playable condition in time for next season. If you would like to participate in the planning for the next event, or if you know a golfer that we should add to the list, please email doug.whyte@anchorinsulation.com and pjminiati@washtrust.com.
For the golf committee, Peter Miniati

From Ben Tedeschi ('68)

First time on site. Very impressive. Good luck to the new colony. Any FIJI's in Dixie, give me a hollar!

Jim Diller ('57) gives a gift to URI

KINGSTON, R.I. -- July 31, 2006 -- Some talented but needy Rhode Island high school students who intend to major in either physics, chemistry, computer science, math, chemical engineering, or computer engineering at the University of Rhode Island will get their full college tuition and fees paid, thanks to a couple of former Rhode Islanders.

“The United States is not graduating enough technical talent,” says Jim Diller, a 1957 URI physics alumnus and pioneer in the semiconductor field. The retired entrepreneur and business executive and his wife, June, have pledged $800,000 to establish a permanent endowed fund for the future scientists. “We’re trying to grow the base.”

See complete story at: http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=3640

From Bob Bolderson ('70)

Great site, my first visit. I hope all is well. Ask Jim Hayes when he's leaving for Nepal! I spoke with George Evans about a month ago. He's in Islesboro, Maine if anyone wishes to reach him. Bonnie (Standish) lives/charters their 50+ ft. sailboat from Isleboro with her husband Earl during the summer/ winter in Caribbean.
Best to all!
Bob Bolderson

From Kent Stepanishen (06) (outgoing colony president)

Brothers:                                                                       June 1, 2006

Since its recolonization in the Fall 2004, Kappa Rho has made some significant strides towards becoming a strong and well-respected member of the Greek system and the URI community.  We have grown to an undergraduate membership of twenty-six; more than doubling our founding fathers class of ten and continue to grow at a steady rate allowing only quality men with the highest moral standards to join our ranks. 

During my tenure as president from October 2004 through April 2006, I have watched Kappa Rho do some amazing things.  Within our first two months of living in the house, we were the overall winners of the annual Philanthropy Week at URI, with our team raising the most money and winning the most events.  Additionally in the fall, we spearheaded a very successful and highly publicized Hurricane Katrina relief fundraiser selling “Relieve, Recover, Rebuild” wristbands with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross.  For two consecutive years, Kappa Rho has placed within the top five teams school-wide in terms of overall contributions to the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.  In December, we hosted a very successful holiday reception which provided a time for many graduate brothers, University administrators, faculty, and friends to drop by the house, meet the brothers, and enjoy some good food and conversation.

 We returned to campus for the spring semester with renewed energy and recruited pledge class somewhat smaller than anticipated, but with brothers of the highest quality.  In March, Kappa Rho along with the Greek system was featured in the Spring issue of Quad Angles, the University’s alumni magazine that focused on Greek revitalization at URI and featured several pictures of the Chapter house and a paragraph on Kappa Rho’s noble history and return to URI.  An unfortunate and isolated incident during the annual Greek Week competition caused much negative publicity which spiraled somewhat out of control.  We were fortunate to have a supportive University administration and Greek affairs department who worked closely with the leadership of the Colony and recognized that the incident which occurred was a localized problem and not colossal event which much of the press and media made it out to be.  We have moved forward however with a renewed sense of purpose and drive to once again become the best Greek organization at URI.

As president of Kappa Rho, it has been a privilege to work with such a dedicated and supportive group of Graduate brothers.  Becoming part of such an incredible organization has been by far, the best decision of my life.  I have made friends who I am pleased to call not only my brothers, but also my best friends and I have formed bonds that not even the sharpest of swords could ever sever.  I look forward to joining the esteemed group of graduate brothers as the youngest member and will always look back upon my undergraduate years with a huge smile.  I was always told the Phi Gamma Delta was “not for college days alone”, but it wasn’t until recently that I truly believed that—and now I believe that more than ever.  Mighty Proud to be a FIJI.

Fraternally,

Kent T. Stepanishen

From Tom McGarry(74)
I have been away from RI and Phi Gamma Delta for many years. I came across this website and it is right on. What a great group of Alumni Brothers that have had a hand at making things right for Phi Gamma Delta. I left the house and moved "down the line" in 1972. Because I did not stay in the house until my senior year I was basically banished from the fraternity. This was hard, and left me quite bitter about fraternities in general and Phi Gamma Delta in particular. I love FIJI and am a Brother. I hope and pray that the new reorganizing efforts of Phi Gamma Delta will be all that it can be, ie. less emphasis on all the drinking that was so common place. I live in Washington State and cannot participate as I would like. For what it is worth I would like to be considered a full alumni brother. This would give me much peace. This may sound very corny, but I would love to be able to purchase a URI ring, as I did graduate in 1974 and have the Phi Gamma Delta Greek letters engraved across the stone. Keep up all the good work, because this fraternity was and still is the best. As we all have said " Not for college days alone".
Sincerely, Tom McGarry

From Peter Ewing (64)
Very pleased to see the memorial for Brad Goff, truly a brother in arms as I was in-country 12-65 thru 11-66 and again 03-69 thru 02-70. Thanks to Peter Janaros, a good man, for the photo. One of my fondest memories of URI was sailing in the Sailing Club "Beverly" dinghies down to Point Judith and back on the Salt Pond on a Sunday afternoon. There was an establishment down there that made the best clam fritters on this earth. Hope it is still a successful enterprise. Congratulations and thanks to the Colony and those brothers who worked toward the new colony. Perhaps the new brothers should be constantly reminded of why the chapter failed a few years ago.........enough said. My recommendtions to the new brothers are to study often and may you achieve excellent results in all your courses. - what a great opportunity to start over on a truly beautiful campus. I recently passed thru Kingston on a trip to Mystic seaport for a family affair. Hardly anyone there during the summer, but I stopped at the Student Union front desk and got directions from a former rower, quite by chance, to the URI Boathouse. Wow - very nice facility. Athletic endeavor relieves the stress of study and exams - you may want to consider crew as an option for pledges........just a thought. Teamwork, discipline, dedication to goals, endurance, work ethic, etc.

From Jim Magee (71)
I was saddened to see in the alumni magazine that Billy Blinn had passed away. It made me start to think a bit and that's how I came to find the Kappa Rho website, which by the way is terrific. It was also good to see messages posted by Bill Guerney and Ron Fielder.
My family and I will be at URI on March 25, 2006 to attend the ECAC women's gymnastics championship meet, which URI is hosting. My oldest daughter, Kate, is a co-captain on the William & Mary women's gymnastics team. She competes floor, beam and vault. My hope is that my father, a 1939 Beta Phi, who is now 90 years old, will be able to attend with us as well.

Ron Fielder(70) sends his regards and has a request

This is my first time viewing the Fiji website - impressive!  It takes some of us oldtimers longer to find our way around the internet!  I recently retired from the State of RI after 30 years.  However, I still need to work to supplement my pension and make monthly payments on 3 college loans for my kids!  If any Fijis know of any jobs for "retired - still need to work" guys like me, I would be interested. Hope to hear from some of my brothers from 1967-70.

Ron Fielder(70) also has a tip for those Myrtle Beachers:

Just a follow-up note to Mark Petiprin (92) about Myrtle Beach. I have been down there 4 times and you won't find any better "night time entertainment" then the Masters Club on 10th Avenue in central Myrtle Beach!

Henry Caniglia(58) gives a progres report on the state of the Kappa Rho Association.

Five years ago when the charter was lost and the chapter closed, a small group of alumni met and established a mission statement: 1) to perpetuate the corporation; 2) to maintain the property; 3) to reestablish a new chapter at URI.  With the establishment of the Delta Colony, we now are well on our way to completing our goals.

As we look to the future we must continue to attract younger alumni to guide this new chapter.  Our Board of Chapter Advisors must be expanded.  We have Cyrus Agarabi and Gregg Finale who have stepped forward.  We need at least 4 more. 

Our property is in excellent shape and refurbished.  The corporation is continuing to attract younger alumni and for this I am grateful. 

Our finances are strong and we continue to be the richest greek alumni corporation on campus.  Thus a long tradition is now continuing.

A future goal has to be reorganization of our finances.  1) A system of audit has to be established for the treasurer and the finance officer.  2) As our cash reserves expand, an instrument shoud be established to invest funds. 3) Scholarship models are waiting to come to us once this is done.

Mark Petiprin (92) sends news (and evidence) of another RI Fiji golfing event.

The fourth annual Fiji Cup took place in Myrtle Beach this year. We heard rumors that some other phigams are running a tournament down there too. Our trip has been to Hilton Head, Orlando, and Myrtle. We highly recommend checking out the Crazy Horse in Myrtle or Ketch Court in HH. We have a best 3 out of 5 ahead of us unless Lawrence Korndoerfer or Sweet Lou step it up this year. Chris "the kid" Kel and I have taken every other cup. Next year-who knows. I sent in a picture from one of our previous cups for all to enjoy (see it here).

Our ownTom Ryan (75) has received the Distinguished Fiji Award

Thomas Ryan (75), President and CEO of CVS Corporation was presented with the Distinguished Fiji Award on August 12, 2005 at a reception given by Directors of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity and Educational Foundation at Gerry Bay's (Archon Treasurer) house in Jamestown. The event was well attended by area Phi Gams and especially by Kappa Rho graduate brothers. See a few photos here.

Latest News from Keith White

Summer, 2005

Well, the school year has ended, and our recruiting efforts towards the re-colonization of the house are complete. On two separate occasions, we had brotherization ceremonies, and I am pleased to announce that we have 17 new brothers, who will be living in the house starting in September. I hope all will agree that with new blood, the vitality and legacy of our Chapter will be renewed and kept alive.

The brothers have recently performed a landscaping project on the front of the building, which greatly enhanced its features, and have also re-built the volleyball court, next to the parking lot. They appear to be a fine group of young men, well rounded, diverse, and the house appears to be in good hands for the future.

Work will be performed over the summer, painting and touching up the interior of the home (the female residents are just as careless as we were over the years). Like us, those female residents who abuse their rooms will be required to forfeit portions of their damage deposit. In addition to the painting and touch up items I mentioned, we will be fixing the front of the house, involving painting the columns, fixing the front steps, and finally and hopefully attending to the shutters, which have been long neglected.

We appear to have our parking lot situation straightened out, and our cash flow appears adequate to bring us into the long-term future. With all that in mind, we look forward to the opening of school in September, and hope that you will make plans to attend Homecoming this year, as we are anticipating combining not only Homecoming with an open house, but are also planning on having our annual meeting on the same day. There will be an event at the house prior to the football game and a social event at the University Club afterwards. I look forward to seeing you.

Perge!

S. Keith White, Jr. ‘75 President

William Blinn ('72) passes ad astra

We hear sad news that Bill died last weekend of a heart attack. Here is his obituary published in the ProJo:

 Published in The Providence Journal on 6/14/2005.

BLINN, WILLIAM R. JR., 54 of Pimental Dr., a prominent business man and owner of Blinn Adjusting Company for 18 years, of Seekonk, died unexpectedly Monday at home. He was the husband of Linda D. (Simmons) Blinn, to whom he had been married for the last 28 years.

He was born in Providence a son of Genevive (Hill) Blinn of Warren and the late William R. Blinn. He previously worked of Aetna Life & Casuality before starting his own business in 1987. He was a 1972 graduate of URI and a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He was a member of Crestwood Country Club in Rehoboth and PGA Country Club of Port St. Lucie, Fla. He was also a member of the Board of Governors Ins. Arbitrators Forum, a little league coach in Seekonk and a proud sponsor of many town youth organizations. His passion was golf and his family and he enjoyed vacationing at his home in Florida.

Besides his wife and mother, he leaves 3 daughters, Alysia, Valerie and Ashley Blinn, and 1 son, William R. Blinn, III, all of Seekonk; one brother, Kenneth and his wife Patricia Blinn of Warren and 2 nieces Corrie-Beth and Kelsey Blinn.

The funeral will be held Thursday at 8:45 from the PERRY-McSTAY FUNERAL HOME, 2555 Pawtucket Ave., with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Taunton Ave., Seekonk. Calling hours Wednesday 4-8 P.M. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery.

More News from Keith White

Spring, 2005

As we slowly emerge from winter, and hope to soon see the spring weather, so does our pledge class blossom for the future. As I've detailed in the past, we pledged 14 men, in November of 2004, as our first pledge class. Adding to that, we have just recently pledged 5 new men, for a total of 19 pledges to date. They will occupy the old side of the house in the fall, and Phi Sigma Sigma, a national sorority, will occupy what was originally the rear, or new side of the house. We have also created 9 new suites in the new side decks, which will become housing for female students who attend the University, but are not members of Phi Sigma Sigma. In essence, the front side will be all men, while the rear have will be all female. If anything, it should make for an interesting new year. For the first time in over five years, we will control our environment, and a new Phi Gamma Delta will blossom, and hopefully endure. We have some ideas in mind for some Alumni events, so that you may meet the pledges, see all of the latest improvements to the house, and bring yourself up to date with your fellow brothers. Please stay tuned for future notices. Also, it would be of great help, if you could provide us with the names and email addresses, or ask your fellow classmates, who you still associate with, to log on to our web site, so that we may expand our Alumni Directory.

Fraternally yours,
S. Keith White, Jr.
Perge!

From Don DelMastro ('99) Special Agent, US Army Intelligence

Congratulations both on the re-colonizing of the chapter and to all of the new brothers, It's good to see the house back open again. While my duties in Iraq and throughout the middle east have kept me from attending alumni events, I would appreciate being added to the e-mail newsletter distribution list. In addition, I noticed that your webpage asks members to submit pictures. Rocco Quatrucci, class of 2000 was the chapter historian for several years, and has maintained a tremendious amount of pictures during the chapter's absense from campus. He still resides at the east providence address listed on your contact page and would most likely be overjoyed to provide whatever pictures you may desire from past years activities.
Once again, congratulations to all of the new brothers, and to all those whose hard work have ensured the survival of the chapter, thank you.

Sincerely,

Don DelMastro ('99)
Special Agent
US Army Intelligence

Perge

From Mark Levin '78

I have fond memories of my time at Kappa Rho. The knowledge and experience I received while there and as President for two years was invaluable as a background for everything I have accomplished since, personally and professionally.
Brenda and I have relocated due to a job change. We live in Elmhurst, IL since the beginning of August. Our youngest David is entering 7th grade and our middle Jessica is entering 11th grade. Our oldest Brian is in his Jr. year at Bryant University. Each of the kids as well as Brenda have accepted this change with a positive attitude and a good spirit.
I hope we are successful in bringing back the Chapter House. The website is a great idea and will help keep us updated especially those not close by.

Sad News:

From Rick Sceery '82 we hear that brother Mark Nisbet '81 passed on during the first week in September. Here is his obituary from the Providence Journal 9/4/04:

MARK BARBER NISBET, 45, of Suffield, Conn., and formerly of Warwick, a manager, died yesterday at Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass.
He was the husband of Diane (Davis) Nisbet. Born and raised in Warwick, a son of Dr. J. Douglas Nisbet and Lois Nisbet, both of Warwick, he had lived and sailed in the Caribbean before settling in Suffield 10 years ago.
A graduate of Moses Brown High School, he attended the University of Rhode Island.
Mr. Nisbet had been a manager at Sno-Search for 20 years.
A sailing enthusiast and a licensed captain, Mr. Nisbet was a member of the East Greenwich Yacht Club.
He enjoyed skiing and golfing, and was a ski instructor and soccer coach. He was a gourmet cook.
Besides his wife and his parents, he leaves two daughters, Briana and Samantha Nisbet, both at home; three brothers, Dr. J. Douglas Nisbet and Matthew Nisbet, both of Warwick, and Steven Nisbet of Tampa, Fla.; a sister, Deborah Sadak of Glastonbury, Conn.; and several aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
The funeral will be held Friday at 1 p.m. in the Calvary Episcopal Church, 145 Bridge St., Suffield.

From Keith White (President of the Association)

Greetings again Brothers. I have posted some prior articles and news items on the web site, but am now updating that with the latest information. Considerable work continues at the fraternity house, with the following items recently being completed: Rick Roda (Hines), '73, operating as Ocean State Tree Service, brought a crew down and cleared the parking lot back to its original size by removing the brush to the west end of the property. He also cut down and thinned several trees. I came down with my future son-in-law (he's a lucky guy), and assisted Rick's guys a little bit in trimming some shrubbery. For that effort, I got hot, sweaty, dirty, and tired, and also got poison ivy.

The roof on the new side has been completed, so we now are nearly 100% completely re-roofed, and the exterior of the building looks much better. We still have plans to fix the columns and the masonry in front, and that we hope will be completed within the next 30 days or so. The new side decks are also in the midst of a major renovation project, with nine new rooms and two new bathrooms. This work will be complete by the end of August. In this communication there is information about the homecoming event this fall, and we hope you will be able to come and see all of the work that has been done.

On a more somber note, we are concerned about plans the University has to expand nearby. The University intends to construct a new, multi-story dormitory in the vacant lot between our chapter house and Heathman Hall. We are at the mercy of the University, because they own that land, and the land our building is on. They have given us preliminary indications that they will take as much as half, if not more, of our parking lot, which would leave us with only 27 parking spaces. We are in the midst of some negotiations, and if any of you knows anybody at the University, it would be helpful if you would speak with either me or Henry Caniglia, or contact the University and provide us with some assistance in this matter.

Also, another update: I was happy to recently sign a new $500,000 mortgage on the house, which will enable us to complete the proposed renovations, will refinance our existing debt, and will provide us with working capital as we make way for our re-colonization this year. We are hopeful that new pledges will move into the house in the fall of 2005.

More from Keith White:

As is commonly typical at many universities around the country, things move rather slowly. At my last writing, I informed you that we were in the process of refinancing the house, so that we could continue the necessary improvements to the physical structure. Unfortunately, we still do not have all of the documents that we need from the University, thus our closing is now not scheduled until sometime in May. However, the construction is planning to proceed during the summer, and we hope that everyone will take the opportunity in the future to view some of the photographs that I intend to post on our web page.

While I don’t have the date yet, please put into your long range planning the possibility of attending Homecoming, since we are intending to have our annual meeting at that time. This will allow you not only the opportunity to attend the annual meeting and learn of everything that is going on, but also to visit the house and see the actual physical improvements that have been made. Lastly, it gives you a great chance to see our Fighting Ram football team. (I put that plug in for Jon Freedman, Class of ‘74). I would also like to, again, acknowledge the contribution of Jon Russell, (Class of ’70), who has spent over $1,000 in refurbishing our clock, which was formerly located in the ballroom. I have now learned that the clock is apparently a 1903 vintage, and may be worth more that $20,000! Thank goodness we didn’t know the value of the clock back when we were there, or we probably all would have sold. Lastly, there continues to be signs that the vacant lot/briar patch, next to the parking lot, is going to be an 800-bed dormitory. As was mentioned at one of our recent meetings, this certainly provides us with an opportunity for last minute dates, should there be any social functions.

More from Keith White:

Continuing on with our quest to improve physical conditions at the house, preliminary plans were formulated with our builder for the following items.

We have recently entered into a contract for replacement of certain roofing on the new side. This should make us water tight into the foreseeable future. (Unless there are any man made lakes or artificial ponds in the basement that I am unaware of.) The major effort will be to create eight or nine additional rooms, in what were formerly the new side decks. As you will recall, that should make fine living quarters, and additional housing. We also plan to make some cosmetic improvements in the new side basement, including floor covering, plastered walls, and in all likelihood, suspended ceilings. Some other small items that we hope to attend to will include replacement of certain windows, and perhaps most importantly of all, based upon the need for curb appeal, the columns and front entrance should receive some improvement. We hope to complete many, if not all of these projects over the summer, and with that in mind, please consider some long range planning since it is a good bet, that we might have an event linked with Homecoming. We had such an event last year, and it turned out to be reasonably successful. Also, of additional interest, is the possibility of a new 800 bed dormitory, rumored to be built very close to Phi Gam, (it may be located between us and Heathman, in the vacant lot next to our parking lot.)

Don’t forget to thank Brother Bob Hamilton for the donation of the new, “Liberty Elm” trees on the front lawn. Jon Russell also wishes to report that he has fixed the clock! He is doing a wonderful service in storing it for us, until we re-emerge on campus.

Lastly, Jon Freedman, is hoping that his son will be part of the first new pledge class at Kappa Rho. Unfortunately, I already have the black ball in my hand, because I did not get invited to the golf outing with the URI Football Alumni.

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Keith White:

Welcome,
We may not have brothers living in our fraternity yet, but we are belatedly entering the 21st century, electronically. We think that the addition of a web site will provide you with meaningful and useful informaition about our efforts to re-colonize the Chapter. Most of the brotherhood is presumably proficient in accessing this data. We will try to provide you with timely updates, current and future events, and will attempt to provide links, so that brothers can communicate with one another. I understand that there ar many opinions from the alumni as to how to proceed into the future with the chapter house. I am asking that all of you pitch in, either with your time, finances, or support, in reviving our chapter and providing all of us with a physical and tangible link to our past. I believe that all of us can recall the wonderful days we had at the house, and those days can return with new blood and fresh membership, and can also serve as a meeting place for all of us in the future. I hope all is well with you, and look forward to either seeing you or hearing from you in the near future.
Perge!

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Richard Kingsley

Believe it or not, the Greek system is on a rebound at URI.  After years of decline, Greek organizations are becoming more popular with the undergraduate students.  It would be a terrible shame to squander the rich heritage and the excellent facilities of the Phi Gam chapter at URI by letting our chapter die.  This is the reason I am investing a portion of my time into the project of resurrecting the FIJI undergraduate chapter at URI.  Re-establishing our chapter will ensure that our memories, contacts, and friendships will survive.  More importantly, the track we are now following will provide an incredible opportunity for new brothers to be helped along the way with a great environment for academic achievement,  and for building the long-lasting relationships that we have experienced in the 50 years of the existence of the Kappa Rho chapter.

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Jim Malachowski:

Since the banishment of the fraternity from the URI campus a little more than two handsfull of dedicated alumni brothers have sucessfully worked to keep the Kappa Rho chapter alive. The goal of the Board of Chapter Advisors is to re-colonize the chapter and again bring a prominent FIJI chapter back to the URI campus. The initial focus of the advisors was to save and maintain the chapter house. Many other fraternities in a similar situation have failed at this task as a number of houses have disappeared, been converted to other uses or occupied by competing fraternities or sororities. These outcomes virually guarantee the death of their respective Greek organization at URI. Ownership of real estate on campus in the form of a chapter house is a critical component to the existence of the fraternity. This small band of FIJI alumni has been successful. This past sumer in a historic moment the Board voted to re-colonize the Kappa Rho chapter at URI in the fall of 2005.