Brothers,
On Friday, January 7th, The National Fraternity of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia's chapter evaluation and discipline body, the Commission on Standards, met at our National Headquarters in Evansville, Indiana to discuss the overall health of current colonies, collegiate chapters, and alumni associations in the fraternity. The Philadelphia Area Alumni Association was one they discussed at that time. Unfortunately, given the current number of active, dues-paying members of the association as only being 2 (as of 2010's personnel report submitted last summer), the Commission has decided to place the Philadelphia Area Alumni Association on inactive status; in accordance with Section Nine (Inactive), Article XIV (Alumni Associations) of the fraternity's National Constitution ("In case the membership of an alumni association becomes fewer than four, the Comission on Standards shall have the right to place the association on inactive status"). The recommendation was made to the Commission on Standards by Brother Robb Whitmoyer, current Governor of Province 21 (which the association was recently moved to) and a part of the Commission himself; and also by Brother Daniel Krueger, Director of Alumni Engagement for the National Fraternity, after consultation with myself as outgoing President of the Philadelphia Area Alumni Association.
Speaking honestly, I am in agreement with Brothers Whitmoyer and Krueger that this was the right thing to do at this time. Unfortunately, despite efforts to recruit new members, interest in being active in the PAAA has dramatically dwindled the past few years, and the apparent overall feel of most alumni brothers in the metro Philadelphia area has been that, at this point in time, no one has enough time to dedicate to being fully active in a group like this for it to be effective. In the long run, there may be some interest in reactivating the association in the future from other alumni brothers. But, for now, maybe the association needs to be rendered inactive in order to have a little time without any alumni group present in the Philadelphia area. Hopefully, this will allow for newer alumni brothers to reactivate the association and bring new, fresh ideas for building up active membership, providing gatherings/activities to actively engage alumni in the metro Philadelphia area, and to provide any assistance to any of the regional collegiate chapters from Provinces 21 (Rho Sigma [West Chester], Rho Upsilon [Temple], and Sigma Gamma [Kutztown]), 27 (Xi Mu [Univ. of Delaware] and the Delaware Beta colony [Delaware State Univ.]), and 1 (Rho Kappa [Rider] and Zeta Alpha [Rowan]).
If sometime in the future at least 9 alumni brothers are able to find time to become fully active in an alumni association and wish to reactivate the PAAA, you will need to contact both Brother Whitmoyer (pg21@sinfonia.org) and Brother Krueger (Krueger@sinfonia.org) to inquire about it. Naturally, if in reactivating the association, someone volunteers to be the reactivated association's historian, I will be glad to give you as much archived email communications and pics as I can provide (you may contact me at lenmchast@hotmail.com). I will also direct you to some brothers who were the charter brothers for the association's initial start in 2000 to see if they can provide any other archived material.
Finally, on a personal note, I would like to extend my gratitude to all the PAAA brothers I've gotten to know in the past five years of involvement I've had in this association. All of you in one form or another had a hand in helping to make the association a great group to be involved with, and I thank you all for that. I'd like to extend a special thank you to Brother Jesse Tripp, one of the charter brothers of the association and its long-time treasurer, for all of the help he has given me in my two years as president of the PAAA. He has been the rock of this association, and did nothing less than an exemplary job in keeping the association's finances in order. I thank him for that.
Any questions you may have on reactivation or anything else related to the association, please don't hesitate to email the above addresses. Thank you all for your time.
Fraternally Yours,
William Joseph Horan, Rho Sigma '92
Former President, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Philadelphia Area Alumni Associaton
Once a Sinfonian, Always a Sinfonian, Long Live Sinfonia!