Carolyn E. Whittier, Ph.D., 2009 AFA President
May 2009

 

Last month hundreds of fraternity and sorority leaders – both inter/national and undergraduate - arrived in Washington, DC for the annual Fraternity and Sorority Congressional Visit Day. This “Day on the Hill” is an effort to lobby on behalf of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 1547 / S.781). This year, three members of the AFA Executive Board participated in the visits, including Carrie Whittier, President; Kelly Jo Karnes, President Elect; and Shelly Brown Dobek, Vice President Administration and Finance.  
 

On Tuesday, April 21, teams of fraternity and sorority leaders visited over 400 Congressional offices to try to advance key issues and get the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act passed. To date there are 128 co-sponsors from the House of Representatives and 19 co-sponsors from the Senate. Included among these co-sponsors are two key Democrats who serve on the Senate Finance Committee, Robert Menendez (D-NJ/Lambda Theta Phi) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). You will find the complete list of co-sponsors at the following link.

 

Your help is needed. We ask Association members to consider doing two things to support this initiative:

 

1. Contact your Congressman or Senator 

Please review the list below, and if you do not see your state’s Senator or your district’s Congressman on this list, please give him/her a call. Quick follow-up to the April 21st meetings is needed to ensure that there are enough co-sponsors for the bill to move forward. Please ask if the office staff met with representatives on April 21, 2009, and if so, is the Congressman or Senator planning to sign-on as a co-sponsor for the bill.

 

You can find the contact information for your Senator at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

 

You can find the contact information for your Congressman at http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.html.

 

If you need more information on the CHIA bill, please visit http://cfc.theginsystem.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=1.

 

Whether or not your campus has fraternity and sorority housing, please ask your President to write a letter of support for the CHIA legislation. A sample letter is available and can be edited to be placed on your University letterhead and sent to your specific Senators and Congressmen .

 

Thank you all for your assistance in helping to get this important piece of legislation passed.

 

Fraternally,