October 1, 2024
ZETA RHO HOUSE CORP UPDATE ON 604 SOUTH MAIN
As president of the Zeta Rho House Corp (ZPHC), I wanted to continue with annual communication regarding our chapter house. This year, efforts were made through multiple real estate businesses, the University, and several local residents of Mount Pleasant to lease the house to any group, student organization or family. Frankly, there was no one who responded at any negotiated price. Obviously the ZPHC was a bit distressed by this reality. We also discussed at length seeking anyone to purchase the house. All agencies that we shared dialog with indicated there was a gluttony of open properties and we would likely take a bath on the house.
For those of you who were vested in 604 South Main, personally and financially for our 50th anniversary and prior, it appeared to be unconscionable considering the time and personal treasure. Personally, I felt that our situation was rather dire. One wholesome offer was put forth by Todd ‘Bubba’ Russell to have selected and generous Zeta Rho alumni float the house for a minimum of 1 year, without any preconditions. This is in keeping with our by-laws. Most of the board was on the fence about this idea, because of the endless financial well of our Main Street existence. To be clear, Zeta Rho alumni have kept us solvent with minor improvements via the 1967 Club, during the annual rentals to students. During the month of August 2024, Bubba demonstrated a list of alumni donors to the ZPHC. I was surprised that this sort of generosity was ready to go, considering our woes of the last 2 years, both with the International Fraternity and the University.
The House Corp decided to lease the home to a 52-year-old professional man from town by the name of Kevin Keating. His residency is being offset by his labors of being the onsite year-round contractor/handy man. It was also agreed by the House Corp that he would attack the poor condition of all phases of the house. He will reside on the third floor of 604 South Main with a preconditioned punch list of landmarks, while living by the amendment to his housing contract that he is fulfilling monthly. Currently our generous Alumni are keeping the rent, taxes and utilities in check. Our rain-day emergency savings fund of $25K remains in place at Isabella Bank.
Continued financial obligations to operate the property remain with our home on Main Street. We are all appreciative of the ongoing participants in our ‘67 Club’ campaign (found here) whose funds offset those brothers who remain uniquely generous. Again, I’m asking here for your continued support. This ZPHC website is truly organic, in that it assists the greater contributions of mainly a few alumni. I once believed that a specific era of brothers exclusively gave large financial support to Zeta Rho and the lions share to our Chapter’s existence. Clearly, not the only remedy. My monthly contributions are static and without condition, how about the majority of brothers place something in the ‘67 Club monthly bucket? These suggestions are not without grateful recognition of large donations from the past, but I will not let ‘George’ carry this large log alone.
To Restate:
Since the undergraduate Zeta Rho chapter was obliged to surrender the charter in May of 2022 back to the International Fraternity.
Our re-colonization efforts now reside with the Mid Michigan Alumni Association (MMAC) Board and the alumni participants, run by Brother Todd Russell CMU ’93 (312-925-9644 / trussell2005@comcast.net). With over 250 members, they have done a magnificent job engaging Sigs throughout the state and across the country from numerous chapters to support Sigma Chi in the mid-Michigan region. The process of bringing Zeta Rho back to CMU will commence hopefully in Fall of 2025 when the MMAC can lend its assistance to the Fraternity to help form a local colony.
Brothers, I hope this note finds all of you in good health. It is important that we keep our communication running through the MMAC and its Mitten Sig e-publications. The future of Zeta Rho rests in our hands if we are going to reestablish Sigma Chi at CMU.
IHSV Brothers,
Scott T. Cartwright CMU ’86