Brothers,

Based on the email flying around this evening there is a tremendous controversy raging in the Fraternity that deals with what all the Active Chapters through their House Corporations have to pay for their Housing and Liability Insurance.

A few short years ago the Risk Management (RMF) cost for ASU was about $5,000.00 per year which for a 100+ man house like ASU was a good deal at about $50.00 per person for the School year. Last year (2001-2002) the cost was up to $17,906.00 and we just got the bill for the 2002-2003 School year and the cost has exploded to $27,887.00 which works out to about $300.00 per man for the year. The following are the rates for the three Arizona Chapters

Beta Phi- $29,528.00 up from $18,390.00. 62% increase

Epsilon Upsilon- $27,887.00 up from $17,906.00 64% increase

Zeta Omicron -$8,773.00 up from $5,390.00 61% increase

Based on what other House Corps around the US are saying it seems that the numbers are based purely on Chapter Population with no allowance given for real risk management (Fire Alarms, sprinklers, no previous claims etc - until two weeks ago ASU has not made a claim since I got back involved in 1996...)

Are there any Brothers in the area that work in liability insurance that would like to take a swing at getting us a lower rate. As much as I (and I am sure the other House Corps in the Province) might like to stay with the Fraternity's RMF plan at this pace of increase we will find our Chapter Houses begin to close based on simple economics, particularly for the smaller Chapters like ZO up at NAU where this increase seems like it will equal about $400 per man and that Chapter is housed in a dry University owned Dorm!

In hoc,

David W. Riddle (ASU '87)