Cross & Crescent a Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity publication
INSIDE: Printing Braille
Bill Raeder runs the National Braille Press
Your Heart’s Greatest Advocate
American Heart Associations EVP for Advocacy, Mark Schoeberl
Cross & Crescent, the Early Years May 2006 . XCIII . Issue 5
Cross & Crescent a Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity publication Features Chapter News 3 Chapter and Alumni News Fraternity News 8 Online Magazine Tells Stories History 10 Cross & Crescent, the Early Years
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Printing Braille Blind and missing all but two fingers, Bill Raeder has difficulty reading braille. But as president of the National Braille Press in Boston, he strives to provide the blind with access to information and literature, printing 15 million braille pages a year. By Wes Greer
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Your Heart’s Greatest Advocate Your heart beats 100,000 times a day. Mark Schoeberl of the American Heart Association wants to keep it that way as he works to reduce your heart’s susceptibility to heart attack and stroke, two of the nation’s leading causes of death. By Chris Barrick
Credits
Contributions
Publisher: Bill Farkas Editor: Jason Pearce Assistant Editor: Chris Barrick Illustrator: Jeff Reisdorfer Podcast Voice: Fuzz Martin Photographer: Walt Moser Assignment Editor: Jon Williamson Historian: Mike Raymond Contributing Editors: Jono Hren Aaron Jones Adam Schnepp George Spasyk
Content for consideration should be submitted by the fifteenth of the month. Lambda Chi Alpha 8741 Founders Rd Indianapolis, IN 46268-1338 (317) 872-8000 editor@lambdachi.org www.lambdachi.org www.crossandcrescent.com
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Cross & Crescent MAY 2006
CHAPTER NEWS
Chapter News Chapter news, alumni news, and reports of death Arkansas State (Iota-Theta)
Central Missouri State (Lambda-Pi)
William David Simmons (1972) March 24, 2006.
The chapter won the intramurals All Sports trophy, a title Sigma Phi Epsilon has held 14 out of the last 15 years. First they defeated SigEp in the Championship Volleyball match. An hour later, they beat SigEp in softball 25–7. Following, the championship softball game was against Sigma Nu, which they won 11–10 in extra innings.
Auburn-Montgomery (Phi-Kappa)
The chapter worked diligently this semester to improve its identity and involvement on campus. The members’ efforts paid off with the chapter winning the Greek Week champion trophy.
Clark (Theta-Theta)
Bowling Green State (Phi-Mu)
Wasily Shepeluk (1955) April 19, 2006.
Thomas Hayn (2006) April 19, 2006. Hayn was the newly elected chapter president and was a lively member, active in several organizations on campus. Hayn’s mom has served as the unofficial “Chapter Mom” for several years, proudly wearing her “Mother of a Lambda Chi” sweatshirts when she would cook for the chapter or attend campus events. The 21-yearold junior died due to injuries sustained in a car accident.
Delaware (Lambda-Beta)
The chapter celebrated its 40th Anniversary on April 8. Director of Chapter Services John Holloway (High Point 1993) was the guest speaker at the event. The fraternity staff also was represented by Tim Reuter (Simpson 2003), associate director of chapter services.
Butler (Alpha-Alpha)
Denver (Alpha-Pi)
Chapter members and the women of Alpha Omicron The chapter received many honors at the Greek Excellence Awards Ceremony. The chapter received the following awards: Outstanding Fraternity Education Program, Outstanding Chapter Programming, Outstanding Member Involvement, and Five Star Outstanding Chapter of the Year. High Pi Elgan Baker (DePauw 1971) was recognized as Greek Adviser of the Year.
Van A. Horsley (1973) was appointed branch president by Matrix Capital Bank at its Denver Technological Center location. He is also chairman of the University of Denver/Lambda Chi Architectural Committee of the chapter’s house corporation.
California State-Fullerton (Phi-Epsilon) Robert Ngo (2008) April 3, 2006.
California Polytechnic (Phi-Sigma)
As part of a county-wide day of volunteer work by Cal Poly fraternities, the chapter and members of Sigma Kappa sorority repainted a Morro Bay group home operated by Options, a charity that serves people with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries. Twenty Cal Poly Greek organizations worked at various locations around the county, including the Garden House Alzheimer’s care facility, the Morro Bay National Estuary Program, and the San Luis Obispo Arts Council.
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Drexel (Epsilon-Kappa)
Phil Marino (2008) is starring in the reality show “Back on Campus”, which premiered on Saturday, April 8 on the ABC Family network. The show is based on four students sharing a dorm room with their parents for one semester
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CHAPTER NEWS
Evansville (Iota-Mu)
Kent State (Pi-Gamma)
The chapter’s Teeter-Totter-a-Thon raised more than $1,800 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.
The chapter hosted Cancer Fighters and World Record Breakers, an event organized to benefit the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center. With a crowd of willing participants and assistance from a local barber shop, the members helped break the world record for “Most Heads Shaved” when they shaved 272 heads in four hours.
Florida Southern (Epsilon-Xi)
On April 12, the chapter won five out of six Greek awards. The awards won were: Highest GPA, New Member of the Year Mike Mackowski (2009), Greek Man of the Year Michael Sharp IV (2006), Most Philanthropic, and Most Outstanding Fraternity. Also, Bruce Hoffman (2008) received the SGA House Member of the Year award.
Maryland-Baltimore County (Phi-Delta)
Art Hebbeler (Butler 1982) was installed as the chapter’s new High Pi. Hebbeler previously served on the chapter’s Alumni Advisory Board, and served on the house corporation/alumni association at North Dakota (EpsilonZeta) in the mid-1980s. He is currently the senior pastor and head of schools at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Beltsville, Maryland.
Gettysburg (Theta-Pi)
David S. Woodruff (1955) February 2006.
Jacksonville (Delta-Upsilon)
The chapter was awarded the campus’ Chapter of the Year award. Also, Sandro Negron (2009) received New Greek Member of the Year.
Maryland-College Park (Epsilon-Pi)
Steven Appelbaum (2006), the outgoing chapter president, was honored for his hard work, determination, courage, and success at the annual Rededication Ceremony for all of Greek Life by receiving the Greek Leader of the Year Award.
Kansas State (Gamma-Xi)
The chapter’s annual alumni Pig Roast took place on Saturday, April 1. Twenty alumni participated in the morning golf tournament and more than 45 alumni joined the chapter for dinner on Saturday afternoon. Attendees ranged from 18 to 80 years old, including Marvin Lundquist (1950) and Louis George (1948), two of the 25 founding fathers.
John Fales (1934) October 27, 2005. Martin L. Brotemarkle (1935) 2005.
Three chapter members were recently named as Kansas State Greek Ambassadors: Alex Ball (2006), Jeff Stolper (2009), Andrew Marquez (2009). Also the chapter hosted the annual “3v3 Soccer Tournament Philanthropy” with Delta Delta Delta sorority. The event attracted 33 teams and raised $2,000. Mark Schultz (1992) won his first Dove Award in the Long Form Music Video Of The Year for his live CD/DVD A Night Of Stories & Songs.
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MAY 2006
CHAPTER NEWS
Michigan State (Gamma-Omicron)
Missouri-Kansas City (Sigma-Rho)
Spring Rush was a great success when the chapter tied for recruiting the most men, initiating 12 associate members on March 31. Ritual was held in the St. John Student Parish Church where Mark Inglot (HON) is the pastor. Director of Chapter Services John Holloway (High Point 1993) attended the event. The chapter initiated two legacies: Matt Evans (2009), son of Jeff Evans (Northern Michigan 1976); and Tim Slavin (2009), grandson of Elton Blose (Syracuse 1953).
The chapter was awarded Chapter of the Year at the Greek Awards Banquet held in March. It was the first time in 10 years the chapter received this honor. Also at the banquet, Mike Hughes (2006) was awarded President of the Year while Brothers Under Christ Bible Study won Program of the Year For Easter, the chapter passed out Easter baskets to the elderly at the Carriage House Assisted Living Facility. Members felt very rewarded to see the smiles they elicited from those 50 patients. The chapter hosted two recent alumni events. The first was an Alumni Ball on January 21 at the University’s Silver Eagle Suite where 30 alumni attended a formal ceremony and presentation regarding recent chapter events and improvements in chapter operations. The second event was an Alumni Golf Tournament in March at the Twin Creeks Golf Course in Allen, Texas, where 40 alumni participated.
Roxanne “Roxy” Weaver died April 20, 2006, after a long battle with cancer. Weaver was the chapter’s cook from 1988–2001. She was referred to the chapter by another longtime Chapter Cook Eva Ryan, who was Weaver’s Aunt. Weaver served as a chapter friend, cook, and mother for more than a decade.
Northeastern State (Delta-Beta)
The chapter recently took home many awards. Three members were recognized for being top Greek males on campus. The chapter was named champions of Greek Week and was awarded recognition for excellence in academics, recruitment, public relations and campus involvement.
Millsaps (Theta-Eta)
The chapter won the Order of Omega awards for Excellence in Greek Spirit, Public Relations, and Academic Programming, as well as the overall Fraternity of Excellence Award. Individuals recognized included: James McVaugh (2006) as Greek Man of the Year, Jonathan Webb (2008) for Yearbook Photography, and Bentley Curry (2008) for Intramural Sports.
Oklahoma (Gamma-Rho)
The chapter won the following IFC awards at OU Awards Presentation: Achievement for Academic Programming, Campus Involvement, Chapter Programming, Community Service, and Volunteerism Programming.
Mississippi State (Epsilon-Chi)
Gordon K. Bryan, Ph.D. (1927) February 27, 2006.
Oklahoma City (Theta-Delta)
Alexander H. McKinnon (1952) March 19, 2006.
Oregon State (Alpha-Lambda) Dallas Banks (1949) June 27, 2003.
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MAY 2006
CHAPTER NEWS
Pittsburg State (Lambda-Chi)
With the help of the brothers from Drury (Theta-Sigma), the chapter initiated 12 members on April 8. Grand High Pi Lynn Chipperfield (Drury 1973) narrated the Steps of Our Ritual. The ceremony was followed by a barbeque, with noteworthy attendees including Chipperfield, Educational Leadership Consultant Jason Holt (South Carolina-Aiken 2005), and Alpha Gamma Delta International President Connie Yates-Brown.
Calendar May 2006 May 12-13: East Tennessee State 50th Reunion (Johnson City, TN)
Polytechnic (Theta-Upsilon)
The chapter received recognition for Chapter Management, IFC Recruitment, New Member Education, and University Relations at the 14th Annual Awards of Excellence.
June 2006 Jun 3–4: Grand High Zeta Meeting July 2006 Jul 7-12: FEA Summer Meeting (Tucson, AZ) Jul 19-23: 51st General Assembly (Orlando, FL) Jul 21-22: Foundation Board Meeting (Orlando, FL)
Purdue (Psi)
The chapter held their annual Mother’s Day event on April 8, with more than 100 people attending. The afternoon included a cookout and gift raffle in honor of the active brothers’ moms.
October Oct 21: Evansville 50th Anniversary
James Lee Pate Jr. (1965) April 14, 2006. Pate practiced law for 34 years and also served as a municipal judge. He was an active member of the Lions Club, a director for the American Heart Association, and volunteered his time for youth baseball and football.
Samford (Theta-Alpha)
William E. Prescott III (1947) April 23, 2006. William D. Riddle (1953) January 27, 2005.
Rose-Hulman (Theta-Kappa)
Roy D. Vann (1959) December 24, 2004. Vann was the owner of Norman Bridge Drug Company and active in fine arts organizations and pharmaceutical associations.
Leroy Coryea (1991) co-authored the book Champion’sPractical Six Sigma Summary. The book was released January 27, 2006. The text provides Six Sigma Manager-Champion an overview of the Six Sigma method. Included in the first part is his primary role of defining suitably sized projects for Black Belt and Green Belt team leaders, coaching guidelines, and how to avoid re-living past issues over and over again. The second part describes select tools his team leaders use to successfully conclude Six Sigma projects.
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Simpson (Theta-Lambda)
All College Sing was held for the first time in three years in Pote Theater in April, a tradition that was started in the late 1960s. Of the 105 participants and eight teams, the winning group for the men was Lambda Chi Alpha.
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CHAPTER NEWS
Southeast Missouri State (Delta-Phi)
A former chapter president and educational leadership consultant, Michael Ramig (1996), is a specialist (SPC) and a weapons squad team leader for Charlie Company 2-128th Inf. He is stationed at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. Charlie Company is the Area Response Force for the Northern part of Kuwait and Southern Iraq. Ramig’s Company patrols along the border and runs occasional missions into Iraq while also running some air missions via helicopter.
The chapter won eight awards at this year’s Greek Week. Tyler Surman (2009) was named Outstanding Greek New Member, Matt Knickman (2008) was awarded Outstanding Greek Sophomore, and James Wells (2007) was awarded Outstanding Greek Junior. The chapter also won the Outstanding Chapter Community Service Award for the 5th year in a row, Best New Member GPA with a 2.926, Best Overall GPA with a 3.009, and the first ever Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol Award.
Worcester (Pi)
The chapter hosted its annual Teeter-Totter-AThon to raise awareness and money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The teeter-totter was ridden continually for five days. The event was cosponsored by Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.
Southern Methodist (Gamma-Sigma)
Along with the women from Chi Omega, the chapter won the 2006 Sing Song competition. The pairs performance, entitled “I Love Sing Song,” opened with a tap routine led by Will Cooper (2009). The presentation continued on in a rehearsallike setting and ended with a costumed spectacle of “Hot Stuff.”
Washington (Alpha-Psi)
Douglas F. Albert (1948) April 18, 2006. Albert remained active with the fraternity his whole life, providing a place for chapter recruitment and retreat activities, and he regularly attended Founders’ Day each year. He was also one of the stalwarts and hosts of the Old Timers Reunion each year.
General Assembly The 51st General Assembly will take place July 20–23, 2006, across the street from Downtown Disney at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
Wisconsin-Whitewater (Lambda-Iota)
Major Joseph W. Adamson (1990) is the executive officer for the TF 90th PSB. His current responsibility is running the Army side of a camp known as Ali Al Salem. He is in charge of 250 soldiers who process troops in and out of Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Pictured: Ramig, Garber and Adamson Adamson earned his combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq as a company commander.
Conference participants will help determine the laws and policies of the Fraternity and learn how to improve chapter operations. Programming: • Chapter Development: workshops on ritualism, operations, recruitment, standards • Alumni Development: Advisers College and Alumni Conference • Council of Presidents • International Ritual Exemplification • Impact Leadership • Interaction: meet members from all over the country • Free time to explore and enjoy Disney and Orlando Deadlines: • Registration and Payments: June 15, 2006
Staff Sargent Gary Garber (1996) is a member of the 2-128th HHC (headquarter company). He is currently attached to ASG Kuwait 3rd army division as Kuwait’s NBC NCOIC for chemical threats in a camp called Camp Arifjan. Garber has full authority to make decisions regarding nuclear, biological, and chemical threats against Kuwait.
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This venue is the perfect complement to a family vacation at Disney and Orlando attractions. For more information, visit www.lambdachi.org/conferences/2006ga/.
Cross & Crescent
MAY 2006
FRATERNITY NEWS
Online Magazine Tells Stories What we learned from moving a 90-year-old publication online FOR 90 YEARS, Lambda Chi Alpha’s Cross & Crescent magazine was distributed the traditional way; by mail. But on November 2, 2005, we broke that tradition by replacing the printed version with five electronic formats: web, RSS, podcast, and email.
By Jason Pearce (Elon 1994) Some favorable news is that the number of internet users continues to grow. Last year, 78.6 percent of Americans went online, averaging 13.3 hours per week. If you limit the audience only to those who have a college education, internet access jumps to 92 percent. Being a college-based organization, most of our members fall into this demographic. Unfortunately, only 30 percent of those aged 65 or older have internet access. This was one of the most difficult oppositions we faced when deciding to move to an entirely internet-driven distribution model. Thankfully, internet use among older Americans is the fastest and most consistent growing demographic.
Transitioning the magazine from print to electronic distribution wasn’t easy. We understood it meant members without internet access would be alienated, donors might stop giving, and busy alumni might permanently lose touch with the Fraternity.
The final challenge was addressing the emotional attachment members have in physically holding a copy of the Cross & Crescent, for there is no substitute for a tangible medium. Five Formats, Twelve Issues When the Cross & Crescent left its printed form, it transitioned to five electronic formats and increased its quantity from quarterly to monthly. The five new formats provide our readers greater flexibility in how they obtain our content while the increased frequency addresses the inherent immediacy of electronic distribution.
Given the choice, we would have preferred to complement the printed publication with the electronic formats; but finances wouldn’t allow. The extraordinary cost of printing and mailing the magazine finally forced us into moving the publication online.
The most obvious electronic format was to build a website; the world’s most universally accessible content distribution resource. By moving the magazine to the web, our content is now accessible by nearly any web-enabled device by anyone at any given time.
We learned a lot in the process. Having produced six issues — this one being the seventh — there are a few things we’d like to share. Was it the right move? It depends who you ask. Financially, we had little choice. Annual printing and postage costs were exceeding $250,000. Considering the steady increase in postage expenses and a 40 percent decrease in membership in the last 20 years, the magazine’s fate was clear.
Our January 2005 story entitled “King René, Priory of Sion, and The DaVinci Code,” for example, remains one of our most read stories. The story’s fame is driven by the general public’s hunger to learn more about The DaVinci Code and its upcoming movie, not Lambda Chi Alpha. But thanks to its content, visitors learn about our organization, its history, and its values.
For-profit newspapers are also having troubles. Two of the top 10 internet activities in 2005, reading news and entertainment news, cut directly into their market. This cultural shift has become a 20year trend in the newspaper industry as people increasingly turn to the internet and 24-hour cable news networks for information.
The RSS format, which stands for Real Simple Syndication, represents nearly half of the magazine’s bandwidth. The RSS feed summarizes the magazine’s content and allows readers to track content updates automatically. It’s an online way of subscribing to the magazine and is heavily used by some of our younger members.
Unlike traditional newspapers and magazines, however, the Cross & Crescent has neither paying subscribers nor advertising revenue. If we were going to continue to produce the magazine for free, our most viable option was to embrace online distribution.
Another form of subscription is managed via email. Members may request to receive an email reminder every month when a new issue of the Cross & Crescent is available, an option 20,000 members prefer.
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MAY 2006
FRATERNITY NEWS
The last two formats — PDF and podcast — extend the accessibility of the magazine to media that are designed to be enjoyed away from a computer. The PDF format is a finished, 16-page publication that is easily printed and read offline. Users without internet access are able to have a friend print the magazine for them each month, providing them offline access to the Cross & Crescent. Lastly, the podcast format opens up new opportunities for our mobile and visually impaired members. Users with an iPod or portable media players may relax and listen to the magazine read to them like a book on tape, while blind members may now have access to a magazine that was not previously accessible to them. Does anyone read it? Prior to moving the magazine online, I served as editor of the printed Cross & Crescent from 1995–2000. When I began, I was only 23 years old and found myself responsible for creating a 48-page magazine that was distributed quarterly to 125,000 members. Considering Forbes and Business Week have circulations of only 900,000, the magazine was a big responsibility. Or was it? At the time, we knew how many copies we mailed, but had little understanding of how many people read the magazine. Too often someone would compliment me on a nice looking issue, but admit they didn’t have time to read it. Even I, a former editor of the magazine, would often place the Cross & Crescent in a stack of other periodicals begging to be read, but never to be opened. In short, Lambda Chi Alpha was spending valuable resources producing a magazine with little understanding of how much or little it was read. With our electronic formats, however, we are able to easily track and measure its use. One of the first things we learned was our audience’s appetite for chapter news, alumni news, and reports of death. In fact, more users are interested in the Chapter News department than almost all other content combined. Upon noticing this trend after the first online issue, we increased the size of this department by two pages. On a similar note, we noticed that Feature Stories attract only five to eight percent of our traffic. As editors, we enjoy identifying and writing about the Fraternity’s most successful
Submitting Chapter News The Cross & Crescent’s Chapter News department is more popular than the Feature stories, Fraternity News, and History departments combined. Month after month, 40 percent of our readers navigate directly to this section to see if there is any news about their chapter or brothers they know; and more than half of those visitors immediately leave the site, paying no attention to the rest of the magazine’s content. This behavior is understandable. We even made it easier to find the information you are looking for by grouping all news by chapter instead of splitting the information into three departments — chapter news, alumni news, and Omegas — the way the printed edition of the magazine did for decades. Sadly, we receive news from fewer than 40 of our 300 chapters in any given month. Some readers even get so upset when the Cross & Crescent doesn’t publish anything from their chapter they call or email us their disappointment. Alas, we attempt to publish everything we receive after considering some minor editorial discretion. The problem is we barely receive enough news to fill the alloted six pages. Submitting news is easy. Visit www.crossandcrescent.org to submit news about your chapter, an alumnus you recently visited, or yourself.
members. But if these stories aren’t being read, we have to consider if there is a more responsible use of resources. The great contextual challenge for the Cross & Crescent is that it is a single publication designed to service nearly 200,000 living members from 300 different chapters. In any given month, we receive alumni or chapter news from fewer than 40 chapters, meaning less than 15 percent of our readers find content that interest them. The Information Technology and Communications team pays attention to these numbers as we work on the redesigning of our primary site www.lambdachi.org and increasing user-generated content. Perhaps there is a touch of irony here. For 90 years, the printed Cross & Crescent was the primary method of sharing fraternal stories and news. It wasn’t until now, after six months of online use and data, that it tells the greatest story of all — how we can better serve our members.
HISTORY
Cross & Crescent, the Early Years Early Cross & Crescent issues were considered secret, for members only I have in my possession, six issues of the Cross & Crescent magazine that I purchased from the estate of our founder Warren A. Cole (Boston 1909) a few years ago. The collection starts with Vol. II, No. 2 (August 1916) and ends with Vol. V, No. 1 (February 1919).
1916 issue. Even the Cross & Crescent magazine could be purchased for $0.10 a copy. The May 1918 issue even went as far as to scold some High Betas for not buying their chapter’s jewelry from the central office. Since Cole was the Fraternity’s jeweler, this represented lost revenue.
These early issues of the Cross & Crescent were considered secret or esoteric publications of our Fraternity intended only for initiated members in good standing. However, a close examination of these six issues reveals nothing that would be considered secret today. The magazines rarely mention anything about our Ritual or sensitive internal business. The closest thing that could have been considered unavailable to the general public would be the occasional list of expelled members. Most of these men were expelled for either their failure to pay their dues or for ungentlemanly conduct.
Not All Business A few issues of the Cross & Crescent even contain some very interesting, unusual, and sometimes fun tidbits of information and news.
It would be more accurate to label the early issues of the magazine as “private” publications. Eventually, the word “secret” was removed from the cover of the magazine.
For example, all of the issues use the terms Lam Kai or Lambda Kai in reference to our members. This seems to have been a concerted effort on the part of our national leadership to brand our members with this nickname. Obviously, this strategy did not work but the leadership persisted in its quest for Lam Kai for many years.
These early editions of the Cross & Crescent are quite small, plain, and lack all decoration, with the exception of a nicely rendered engraving of the Lambda Chi Alpha coat of arms — as designed by Jack Mason (Pennsylvania 1913) — on the cover.
Another issue of the Cross & Crescent features an early version of the Lambda Chi Alpha Grace. It is a simple, but meaningful expression that reads “Lord bless this food to our use and Lambda Kai to His service.”
Cole is also printed on the cover of most issues. At the time, he was Grand High Alpha, administrative secretary, and the sole jeweler for Lambda Chi Alpha. This combination of jobs and responsibilities would eventually contribute to a great internal leadership struggle within our young organization.
It is also fun to note that Cole makes a reference to Lambda Kai’s Official Whistle, admonishing each member to “...learn it and use it.”
Type of Content There are many interesting glimpses into the affairs of our Fraternity during this formulative period of its existence. The content of most issues of the Cross & Crescent is very similar to what was being published in the official exoteric magazine, The Purple, Green, and Gold, which was established just one year earlier in January 1914. The Cross & Crescent magazines contain short listings of chapter activities, honors and awards bestowed on individual members and Zetas, births, marriages, job opportunities, lots of statistics, committee reports, and minutes of various conferences and conventions.
Military The September 1918 issue of the Cross & Crescent is made up entirely of a directory of Lambda Chis then serving in the military. The directory is organized by chapter, zeta number, name, military rank, and mailing address of each serviceman. This comprehensive listing was arranged by R.R. Rowe (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The list includes 168 officers serving in the Army and Navy, 96 noncommissioned officers, and 763 enlisted men. A total of 1,027 brothers were in uniform in 1918 — an impressive number from a very young fraternal organization.
Each issue featured a page or two advertising the many products Cole sold on behalf of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Some items were published in catalogue form while other items were mentioned in paragraph form, as illustrated on page 19 of the April
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By Mike Raymond (Miami-OH 1967)
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HISTORY
It is also interesting to note that during 1918, three chapters contributed the largest contingents of men to the war effort: • 43 from Massachusetts-Amherst • 41 from Cornell • 40 from California-Berkeley Massachusetts Institute of Technology produced the most military officers with 22 members of their chapter that year. Though not mentioned by name, it was indicated that Massachusetts-Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and California-Berkeley had each lost one man to the war during 1918.
Turn the Page For 90 years, the Cross & Crescent magazine was printed and mailed to Lambda Chi Alpha members. On November 2, 2005, financial constraints led the Fraternity to discontinue the printed edition and adopt electronic distribution This wasn’t the first time the magazine experienced change.
A final report concerning Lambda Chi brothers in World War I military service was printed in a 1929 issue of the Purple, Green, and Gold magazine. The report stated that 2,303 men, or 82 percent of our membership, were in some form of military service during World War I. Of that number, 37 brothers made the ultimate sacrifice.
The first publication to bear the title Cross & Crescent was published in January 1915 , one year after The Purple, Green, and Gold magazine was established. While The Purple, Green, and Gold was our public magazine, the Cross & Crescent was dubbed “The Official Esoteric Periodical” and was reserved for brothers in good standing.
Jewelry Pressure Cole’s presumed conflict of interest between running the fraternity and a jewelry business played out in the February 1919 issue of the Cross & Crescent.
Big changes occurred in 1932 when the Cross & Crescent changed its title to The Delta Pi in January and The Purple Green, and Gold became the Cross & Crescent in February.
The issue listed a notice concerning the sale of jewelry that foreshadowed a looming crisis that would ultimately force Cole from our Fraternity until a reconciliation occurred in the 1950s.
The Delta Pi lasted only a few years. And though another esoteric periodical briefly spawned in 1940 — called The Inescutcheon — the Cross & Crescent is the only periodical to stand the test of time.
The notice explains that Cole was appointed traveling secretary and sole fraternity jeweler for a three-year term with his salary coming from the sale of Lambda Chi badges and so forth. The notice outlines the rationale for authorizing the Hub Novelty Company of Swansea, Massachusetts to process all orders for merchandise with the exception of pledge buttons, badges, and recognition buttons. Those items would continue to be sold to the membership directly by Cole.
Formats for the Cross & Crescent also varied. The early editions were about the size of a passport and used very thin paper. Other formats include tabloid, A4, and the most common Letter (8.5” x 11”) on glossy paper.
The plan was to free up Cole’s time so that he could spend more time in his role as traveling secretary. Cole was of the opinion that this new arrangement would permit him to free up about half of his available time for other administrative work.
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FEATURE
Printing Braille The National Braille Press prints 15 million pages a year under Bill Raeder’s leadership. Three times in his life, Bill Raeder (Boston 1960) attempted to learn braille, a textured-based code the blind use to read and write. Unfortunately, injuries he sustained from a TNT accident shortly after college limit his ability to easily distinguish characters from one another.
A lesser man would have given up, but Raeder returned to Boston University after months of surgery and rehabilitation. He graduated with a master’s in Government in 1964. Unfortunately for Raeder, despite hours of diligent work, his braille reading could accomplish only two to three characters per minute. This was mainly due to the fact that his two remaining fingers are the least sensitive on a human body. This made distinguishing among the different characters very difficult.
Through determination and hard work, Raeder managed to overcome his disability. Not in the traditional sense, for he can read only three to six characters a minute; but in the professional sense, where his ambition and professional drive have led to much success.
Raeder’s inability to read braille didn’t slow him down. Soon after obtaining his masters, he worked for the National Life Insurance Company of Vermont. He was so successful, he achieved President’s Club membership in his first year.
For more than 20 years, Raeder has worked to promote literacy for the blind and currently serves as president of the National Braille Press, a nonprofit braille printer and publisher located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Other accomplishments include serving as executive director and president of the Foundation for Urban Negro Development from 1969–1971, and president and general manager of Boston’s Aquarius Theater from 1971–1973.
Tragedy Struck When Raeder graduated from Boston University in 1960, he embarked into the world full of energy with a bachelor’s in Geology.
It wasn’t until 1975 that he began working for the National Braille Press, beginning as a managing director, progressing to executive director, and eventually president.
In his first research project, he was in Alaska doing a study on seismic refraction of the ocean floor. “I was up on the Arctic Ocean,” says Raeder, “near Point Barrow, the northernmost point on the North American continent.”
Printing Braille The National Braille Press provides a service to the blind that is unmatched by any other publishing house.
Raeder and his team were located on a floating ice island about 90 miles north of Barrow. He and another member of the team were out causing seismic disturbances when tragedy struck.
“About a third of the stuff we print — maybe a little more — are items we publish ourselves,” says Raeder. “The rest are items we publish for other organizations like airlines, the Library of Congress, or organizations that serve blind people.”
“We were mapping out the structure of the ocean floor,” he says. “And in seismology, we don’t always wait around for earthquakes to happen; we create our own using TNT. I was actually holding the TNT in my hand when it went off.” The seismic tests were conducted by using a radio detonator, which would simultaneously ignite the TNT and signal the seismic equipment to begin recording back at camp.
Printing braille is reasonably competitive. “The Library of Congress has a congressional mandate to provide reading materials for blind citizens,” says Raeder. “There are only five braille printing companies that do that kind of work.”
“Our radio had not been working very well that day,” says Raeder. “And while I was out wiring the TNT, my buddy decided to test the radio. Well...it worked.” The TNT detonated in Raeder’s hands. He was blinded in one eye, lost his right hand, and lost all but his pinky and ring finger on his left hand. His other eye was later lost due to infection from his injuries.
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By Wes Greer (Arkansas 2008)
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Many braille presses tend to be specialized, focusing only on publishing children books, religious content, or other niches. “But
Chi was the crew coach. His name was Jim Nesworthy (1947). We called ourselves the Puddle Pushers.” The chapter had a three-story row house. Early on, Raeder accepted the job of house manager and steward. “Which meant I was in charge of the kitchen,” though he admits the cook was really the one in charge of the kitchen. A natural leader, Raeder was later entrusted to serve as pledge master and eventually chapter treasurer.
for general publishing of a wide variety of materials, and marketing those materials, we’re pretty much up there on our own.”
“It was a great experience,” says Raeder. “It wasn’t my first experience handling money of course, but it was my first experience keeping the books.”
One of Raeder’s biggest successes has been the publishing of popular books such as the Harry Potter series. The amount of work to create one of these books is quite intensive. “It’s a mix of high tech and manual labor,” says Raeder.
Raeder has found that membership in the fraternity has helped him in two very crucial ways. When he first came to college he was a shy, unsocial guy. “I found it deathly hard to ask a girl for a date,” he recalls. “So for the socializing experience, Lambda Chi Alpha helped me get beyond that.”
After the publisher provides a text file, it must then be reformatted into a standard braille size. It is then run through a computer braille translator and printed out in an embossing printer. This is then checked for formatting and accuracy before being transferred to metal plates and finally to the paper product.
He has also found that his time serving as a chapter officer provided good practice and experience for learning how to organize and motivate people.
Typically, the National Braille Press is unable to release books at the same time as the print versions. However, in the latest Harry Potter release, Raeder was able to obtain the text file two weeks before release and worked night and day so that these books would be available to blind people at the same time as the regular release.
“I gained a lot of experience by having several roles as a chapter officer. You’ve got to organize people, get them motivated, and if they don’t want to get out of bed on a Saturday afternoon, you’ve got to get them to do it, to clean the house,” says Raeder. “That kind of experience, though it seems small, makes a significant difference as to whether you’re able to function when you get out in life.”
“Usually braille books come out later, sometimes years later, than the regular print edition becomes public,” says Raeder. “But the Harry Potter series had so much marketing hype around it, blind kids wanted a copy of their book at the same time.”
Brailler photo : © Courtesy nino+bunbury , All Rights Reserved. Raeder photo: © Courtesy Boston University , All Rights Reserved. Photo by Frank Curran.
Since his start in 1975, Raeder has helped the National Braille Press grow and expand. He reversed its financial losses, created new programs for establishing braille reading, oversaw the transformation of braille transcription from manual to computer based, and even expanded charitable support to the press. Puddle Pushers Raeder grew up in a suburb just outside of Boston. He enrolled at Boston University for a very practical reason, “My father was on the faculty, and there was a tuition concession,” he says. It turns out Boston University was a good fit for Raeder. His interests as an undergraduate were fairly diverse. One of those interests was to join the crew team. “There were a number of Lambda Chis on the crew at the time,” he recalls. “In fact, the faculty adviser to Lambda
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Your Heart’s Greatest Advocate Mark Schoeberl, American Heart Association’s executive vice president for advocacy, lobbies for your health. The human heart a strong, muscular pump, a little larger than a fist; beating an average 100,000 times a day. In a 70-year lifetime, it will beat more than 2.5 billion times, unless it experiences a heart attack or stroke; two of the nation’s top-three killers.
By Chris Barrick (Butler 2004)
experiences early in life and soon found that his background in politics, public health, and EMS made it a perfect fit. In 2002, the AHA named Schoeberl vice president for state advocacy and public health. In this role, he was responsible for guiding the Association’s lobbying efforts in state legislatures and developing public health relationships with the Center of Disease Control and state health departments.
The American Heart Association, a voluntary health agency whose mission is to reduce disability and death from these two ailments, is on your side. And so is Mark Schoeberl (Simpson 1984), who serves as AHA’s executive vice president for advocacy.
Schoeberl was then named executive vice president for advocacy in March 2006. He had been acting as the interim in the position since July 2005. Advocacy The American Heart Association is an organization committed to the prevention and reduction of risks associated with the number one and three killers of Americans, heart disease and stroke.
Each year, about 500,000 Americans die from a heart attack and another 150,000 from stroke. To reduce these numbers, the AHA focuses its efforts on increasing medical research, raising money to fund research, educating public and healthcare providers on medical advancements, and advocating its mission by lobbying policymakers — what Schoeberl does best.
The AHA invested approximately $415 million during fiscal year 2004-2005 on research support, public and professional education, and community programs. It employs 3,400 people nationwide, including more than 100 individuals working on advocacy at the federal, state, and local level.
Paramedic Beginnings A graduate from Simpson College, Schoeberl earned a bachelor’s in political science. While a student and after graduation, he worked as a paramedic to help finance his education. He described it as a bohemian lifestyle, “I worked in political campaigns in the fall, in the legislature in the spring, and full-time as a paramedic — allowing me to go back to graduate school.”
“Volunteer voices are essential to our success,” says Schoeberl. The AHA has more than 130,000 volunteer advocates nationwide, representing all 50 states. These volunteers contact their elected officials on behalf of the AHA to, as Schoeberl says, “Change the environment in which Americans live.”
He graduated from Iowa State in 1988, with a master’s in public administration, which led him to work for the state of Iowa in the Department of Public Health. With his paramedic background, he began his career in emergency medical services inspecting ambulance services. Eventually, he became deputy director for the Iowa Department of Public Health and served as the agency’s lobbyist in the Iowa General Assembly. Schoeberl considers the chance to lobby “a great opportunity for me to put my political skills, public administration, knowledge of public health, and EMS together.” Schoeberl decided he didn’t want to spend the rest of his public service career in government and started looking toward the non-for-profit world. He searched out the American Heart Association because of some personal family
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The organization doesn’t make campaign contributions to elected officials. Instead, it relies on the voices of volunteers who are “passionate about heart disease and stroke, and want to reach out to their public officials to demand a change that can be made to reduce the toll these diseases have in our community,” he says.
Schoeberl points out that this whole process has evolved over the last 20-30 years. “Advances in science and the ability of the AHA and others to apply what we’ve learned,” he says, “ensures a rapid response to medical emergencies — emergencies that would have been fatal.” As society moves to a system of more computer-driven medical records, the AHA will continue to work to ensure that guidelines are incorporated into electronic clinical records. “For instance, when someone is discharged from the hospital after a bypass, the physician can be prompted to ensure that their patient has the appropriate medicine prescribed and a proper follow-up scheduled.”
An area in which the AHA is very active is the reduction of death associated with tobacco. In conjunction with the American Cancer Society and other groups, the AHA helped lead advocacy efforts for smoke-free indoor air ordinances. Their grassroots effort of targeting local elected officials has been the key to AHA’s success. Political efforts to adopt stronger public health laws and ordinances at the city, county, and state levels are more difficult for big tobacco to derail.
“Our organization has a health impact goal to reduce the instance the coronary heart disease and stroke by 25 percent by 2010,” Schoeberl says. “By working with hospitals to ensure that they are treating to the latest guidelines, we can significantly reduce death and disability associated with heart attacks and stroke.”
Today, approximately 42 percent of the U.S. population lives in a community that bans tobacco use in restaurants, bars, and other public places. Schoeberl attributes this to, “Community after community saying no to secondhand smoke; no to risking their health and the lives of their loved ones.”
Simpson Experience An Iowa native, Schoeberl chose to attend Simpson College in part to continue his football career, and because the school had a strong political science department.
Another area of advocacy in which Schoeberl and the AHA focus much attention is obesity. Some studies suggest that the next generation of Americans could be the first not to outlive their parents. Contributing to this is a sedentary lifestyle which has become a societal norm.
The Lambda Chi chapter house was located in the center of campus, a location he passed everyday on the way to football practice. “Walking by and seeing the enthusiasm, excitement, and activity generated around the house made me think that this was a group of guys I would like to get to know better,” he says. A few Lambda Chis were also on the football team, and often shared fun stories about the fraternity. When rush week came around, Schoeberl joined.
“What the American Heart © Courtesy geishaboy500, Some Rights Reserved. Association is doing in the arena of advocacy is to ensure schools across the country have meaningful, quality, physical education placed back in curriculum,” says Schoeberl. “With the No Child Left Behind Act and a growing emphasis on academic performance, sometimes physical education is the first thing removed.”
Within a couple of years, Schoeberl’s focus switched from football to academics and his involvement in the fraternity began to grow. As a sophomore, he served as the chapter’s High Rho. “The responsibility early on built my confidence in my emerging leadership skills and abilities,” he says. “I don’t think that would have been possible as a sophomore in the broader campus community.”
Educating Providers The American Heart Association is probably best known for translating the latest science into guidelines for healthcare providers so they can bring life saving techniques and drugs.
He went on to serve as the chapter’s treasurer and president in his senior year. “The increasing leadership roles in the fraternity really developed the political skills that I continue to benefit from today,” Schoeberl says.
When someone suffers cardiac arrest, 911 is called. First responders arrive with a defibrillator, the ambulance arrives with drugs on board capable of sustaining a heart beat, and trained professionals provide additional life-saving measures at an emergency facility; all so the person in need has a better chance to not only survive, but to return to a productive life.
Schoeberl’s fondest memory from his college days was the chapter’s Celebration of Life tradition, typically held at the end of every school year. “Individuals would share their thoughts, aspirations, and memories of each other. Every one of those moments would be truly inspiring,” he remembers. “Every brother would share very heartfelt comments. The sentiment you would hear from one brother to another was simply amazing.” Schoeberl Photos courtesy of AHA.
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