Newsletters - Black & Old Gold (2010-2019)

Click on a link below to view/download that edition of Skullumni's annual print newsletter, "Black & Old Gold"

2019-20	2018-19	2017-18
2016-17	2015-16	2014-15
2013-14	2012-13	2011-12
2010-11

For other editions of Black & Old Gold, click on a link below:

• 2020-2029
• 2001-2009

Newsletters - Black & Old Gold (2001-2009)

Click on a link below to view/download that edition of Skullumni's annual print newsletter, "Black & Old Gold"

	2009-10	2008-09
2007-08	2006-07	2005-06
2004-05	2003-04	2002-03
2002 (Summer)	2001-02 (v.2)	2001-02 (v.1)

For newer editions of Black & Old Gold, click on a link below:

• 2020-2029
• 2010-2019

It's that time of year again - Skullumni's 2024-25 annual newsletter will begin arriving at mailboxes across the country in the coming weeks!

The Phi Kappa Sigma Housing Corporation is a separate legal entity from Skullumni, although both share in the goal of supporting the undergraduate chapter at the University of Maine. Reinvigorated with seven new members in October 2023, the Housing Corp's mission is to provide and maintain the chapter house at 89 College Avenue, Orono, Maine. Further, the Housing Corporation will ensure that current undergraduate Phi Kappa Sigma members have a safe, affordable, and desirable living environment to enhance the college and fraternity experience; and foster the affinity of alumni; and support the health, heritage, and future of the Alpha Delta Chapter of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. 

Current Officers

President - Chris Hopper '95 (email: [email protected])
Vice President - Ryan Demeny '01
Secretary - Jerome Graffam '03
Treasurer - Patrick Pebley '91 (acting)

Current Trustees

Patrick Penley '91
Derek Jones '11
Scott Morelli '99

Documents

• Click here to be taken to a Google Drive repository containing various Housing Corp documents such as meeting minutes, financials, etc.
• Housing Corps' Facebook page

Regular Housing Corp Meetings

The Corporation board meets the second Sunday of every month at 6 PM via Zoom. Alumni are invited to join in these discussions.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85769606522

Meeting ID: 857 6960 6522

Current Status of the Chapter/Chapter House (as of 1/22/25)

Status of Chapter

This past fall the Phi Kappa Sigma headquarters conducted a membership review of over 50 undergraduate chapter members. As a result of this review, only 12 members were invited back (six of these members were pledges at the time the chapter was suspended back in late 2023.) The other 40+ brothers have been placed on suspended status until they graduate, meaning they can no longer have any involvement with the active chapter while they are students.

This past December, working with Skullumni and local alumni, Phi Kap headquarters petitioned for the return of the chapter to UMaine with the above 12 members. This petition included an agreement with the university as to how the chapter will conduct itself, and how alumni and headquarters will assist in supporting the returning members. This agreement was accepted by the university and thus the chapter will soon return to campus. While the return of the chapter is important, it is vital to have alumni involvement with the undergraduates to: 1) help ensure they stay on track and act in a manner that represents Phi Kap values and makes us proud, and 2) can grow their numbers with quality young men committed to doing things the right way. More updates will be provided as they become available.

Status of the House

The Housing Corporation has been working for a year toward a plan to preserve the chapter house. Part of this plan was to address the short-term needs of the house, such as paying off and keeping current on past due bills like property taxes, house insurance, utilities, etc. This short-term work also included removing all chapter archives and memorabilia from the house and securing them in a storage facility pending the return of the chapter. Several work weekends were also held to make minor repairs, clean out decades of accumulated junk, and secure the vacant house from trespassing and vandalism.

The mid- and long-term goals included work to either bring back the chapter in 2025 or 2026, or lease the house to another entity in anticipation of the return of the chapter further out. The return of the chapter was something supported by 85% of alumni in a survey this past summer (as opposed to selling the house). Initial walkthroughs by Orono code enforcement and fire officials revealed numerous code violations that would need to be corrected prior to anyone being allowed to live in the house again. There are also various cosmetic issues present that should be addressed to make the house a desirable place to live. For several months, the Corporation worked to get a quote for all of the work with little success. Finally, in late 2024 a company provided such a walk through and recently provided a quote.

During this time, the house suffered two critical system failures: both boilers malfunctioned, leaving the house with no heat, and the fire suppression system also failed. These system failures rendered the house susceptible to damage or loss over winter, and also impacted the Corporation's (expensive) property insurance coverage.  As such, the Corporation issued a plea to alumni to help support the $10,000+ needed to repair these systems. Alumni answered the call - and then some! 55 alumni donated $22,700 and when combined with donations from 15 other alumni earlier in 2024, a total of $27,800 was donated last year (from 70 alumni, some who donated multiple times). THANK YOU alumni for helping the address this short-term crisis.

How Donations from December for the Crisis have been Used

The housing Corporation put the recent donations to work quickly.  We’ve got the heating system back online by replacing one of the boilers for $6,400, the long-term plan for the system if we do a full renovation is for a 3-burner system. Our current fix takes care of the immediate need & has been done in a manner to easily be upgraded without extra undue expense when expanding. We also spent $780 to mothball and winterize the house from freezing while the heating system was down. We have one estimate for the sprinkler system for $35,000 and are expecting a second estimate at any time. The intent is to just get the system back operational for now and do a full restoration later. Hopefully, we can use the unspent monies from the recent donations to get the fire suppression system back online & pay the insurance through April.

During this time, the Corporation also received the renovation quote from One Stop Home Repair, which totaled $498,787 (includes all labor and material). This covers getting the house up to code, replacing the heating system to include changing all old registers to baseboard, replacing all windows, replacing or fixing all bedroom fire doors, a completely new furnace system with 3 boilers (we’ve just replaced 1 to keep the heat on), complete kitchen and bathroom replacements, and an advisor’s suite that is a mini apartment. This amount includes the following breakout of repairs: Electrical = $32,000.00, Plumbing = $85,000.00, Heating (in addition to the plumbing cost) = $125,000.00, other Carpentry labor and materials = $244,000.00.  All of the details can be found in the full estimate in our Google Drive. (It does not include fixing the sprinkler system, any exterior work, or other cosmetic work that should also be pursued). This work will enable the house to be reopened and begin generating rental income again.) 

The house is currently valued at $460,000 for tax and insurance purposes, with an estimated replacement cost of $681,974 (from the Orono tax assessment). The Corporation is currently working on a plan to obtain the needed funding so that repairs can be made. Options being considered include a loan (from a financial institution, the IIT chapter's housing corporation, or willing alumni), use of scholarship funds for Phi Kap held by the UM Foundation, fundraising from alumni, grants, and rent revenue from the return of the chapter. Other options include a long-term lease with an outside organization such as a fraternity or sorority or the university itself. These groups would pay for the repairs in exchange for the benefit of having a long-term use of the house (i.e., 10 or more years). More information on this plan will be presented in the near future.

Get Involved

Although the Corporation now has more active members than it has had in 10+ years, alumni support is critical to help ensure the successful return of the chapter and keeping the house in Phi Kap hands. The simple fact of the matter is that we need more brothers to get involved right now.  We’re up against the clock and we need more people to carry the load. Here is how you can help:

We could use 2-3 brothers with financial planning or project management experience to do a basic business prospectus. Derek Jones will head it up, we have most of the cost estimates and other info and now the question is how much could we borrow and actually run the house in a fiscally solvent manner?

One of the criticisms we’ve seen from alumni feedback is that we aren’t keeping alumni informed quickly or fully enough, we need 2-3 brothers who are tech & social media savvy to step up & take that on. It’s simply too much for us to do the other critical tasks and effectively keep everyone informed.

We’ll be having some work weekends starting in March and the weekends we’ve had so far have been good but max number of brothers has been 12. We’ll get the announcements out further in advance, but we’ll need more brothers to show up especially younger, stronger motivated ones. We do have undergrads who are willing to pitch in & we plan to leverage their involvement.

Other ways to get involved include:

Time: Join the Housing Corporation and help with the needed repairs, coming up with a plan for leasing the house, etc. This includes attending monthly meetings and action items in between. Alumni advisors are also needed for the returning undergraduates. If you can spare a few hours a month, you can help by serving on a Chapter Advisory Committee.

Talent: Do you have a particular talent that we can tap into? The cost of house repairs can be reduced with alumni work weekends. People with all skill levels are needed. If you own a construction company and can help get materials at cost, or have expertise in areas such as HVAC, electricity, etc., your help will be vital. Or perhaps you have connections to financial institutions to help the Corporation secure a loan for house repairs if that is the route they choose.

Tithing: Perhaps you don't have much free time or ability to attend work weekends. If so, you can still help by donating to the house repairs effort. The Corporation still has short term debt to vendors as a result of past due bills inherited when the chapter was shuttered, and bills have continued to accrue. Although alumni donations have helped with some of these bills and the failures of the heating and fire suppression systems, the Corporation is still in arrears and without a primary source of income until they are able to rent out the house. The big challenge will of course be donations to make the repairs needed in order to enable undergraduates to live in the house. Can you make a one time or monthly donation? Are you willing to loan the Corporation a larger amount and be paid back interest free over time? There are numerous ways you can help and the Corporation would be happy to further discuss with you. Donations can be sent via check payable to Skullumni, PO Box 3093, Portland, ME 04104 (note "house repairs" in the memo). Donations can also be sent via Venmo to @Skullumni (note "house repairs" in the message) or online via Skullumni's website.

Stay Updated

The Corporation will continue to provide updates throughout the year. We will do so via this webpage, email blasts, and on the Phi Kap Alumni Facebook group (click the link to join). You can always reach out if you have questions. Contact Corp President Chris Hopper '95 at [email protected] or call 207-716-6652.

It's that time of year again - Skullumni's annual newsletter will soon be arriving in alumni mailboxes.

It's that time of year again - Skullumni's annual newsletter will soon be arriving in alumni mailboxes.

Dear Skullumnus - 

It's that time of year ... time for Skullumni's annual newsletter. Starting next week, alumni should begin receiving their copy, along with a request to renew their membership dues for 2018 (or for some, a request to donate for the first time!). As you will note in the screenshot below, there are a number of entertaining articles in this year's edition of Black & Old Gold, including a recap of Homecoming 2017, observations from a wild tailgating experience, a listing of our Voting Members, an article on the Alumnus of the Year, and update on Br. Randy King's battle with cancer, and more! 

It's been a few years since we last updated the "Chapter Eternal" listing of deceased brothers from the Alpha Delta Chapter. Today we were finally able to update this list, thanks to assistance from the University of Maine Alumni Association. Alumni who are Skullumni Voting Members (i.e. those who have paid dues for 2017) have access to this content via the Chapter Room feature on our website. Contact information for alumni is also exclusively available to our Voting Members. Click here for more info on how to become a Voting Member.