The Hype

Letter from the Venerable Dean: Another semester of Texas Tradition complete

from Marcus Velasquez, Venerable Dean

I want to start all this out by saying that a great sense of pride has been instilled in me serving as your Venerable Dean this semester. I thank you all for giving the actives and myself a chance to enjoy a fine fraternal opportunity.

The highlight of my time in office has been performing the alumni ceremony which I understand hasn’t been performed here at the Texas Chapter in some time. As we said goodbye to our outgoing seniors who have now joined with you in the ranks as alumni, it brings me great pleasure to tell all of you that we have successfully initiated nine new Acacians (seven freshman, two sophomores.)  Led under the careful supervision of our Senior Dean, David Metter, they have already expressed interest in assisting the chapter in every aspect of involvement possible.

Along with training our new members, we have undertaken several philanthropic events as well. Our Philanthropy Chairman, Drew Anderson, has organized various events such as cooking for the Ronald McDonald House, participating in 40 Acres Fest and enlisting in multiple sorority functions such as Alpha Xi Delta’s 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and the Kappa Alpha Theta 5K Run.

As for 2614, we have drastically improved the appearance of the house and the lawn. With the help of Brother Z. Smith and a little elbow grease on our part, we have made living at the house a very enjoyable experience.

There are two important matters concerning the house that I must bring to your attention. The first is that West Campus has been re-zoned to allow the construction of high rise apartment structures in the neighborhood, which is significantly increasing our property taxes as a result. This re-zoning is affecting every Greek house in West Campus at the University of Texas and potentially threatens a few of them to close and prevents others from moving into one. To counteract this situation, we are joining up with all of the fraternities and sororities in a movement to try and reduce the rates of our property taxes. I will keep all of you informed on the situation as we find out more about it.

The second issue is 2614's roof. It has not started leaking in any individual rooms when it rains, but we have noticed the ceiling degrade in our kitchen, the front stairwell and in our social closet. Furthermore, we have found that the increasing rain sitting on the roof has now started to come through our social closet's ceiling, which we have thoroughly cleaned and set a trashcan underneath to periodically check. I want to ask that if any of you know a good roofing company or can get a good rate for us to improve our existing roof with a slanted roof rather than a flat one that catches all the rain that you please contact me, Brother Z Smith or Chapter Advisor Rob Mickam soon. I cannot stress enough the importance of this issue and the attention that is needed on this immediately.

On a lighter note, the Texas Chapter would like to offer up a very special thanks to Brother Walter Demond and our entire Acacia Alumni Association for the new Dura-Hide black couches in our common room. We would also like to personally thank our house manager and project manager Brother Seamus McAfee and his construction partner Brother Drew Anderson for building a new handmade washer set for the house. Brother Seamus McAfee has also completed several other projects for 2614, and each one has been a welcome improvement.

It is due to your continued devotion and efforts as alumni that I will always know that I am an Acacian, and I am proud of it!