Fraternities Lobby for Tax Break Without Hazing Penalties - Bloomberg

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill - the Fraternity lobby is pushing for a tax break for building and restoring greek housing. Further, there is resistance to a federal anti-hazing measure.

Fraternities Lobby for Tax Break Without Hazing Penalties - Bloomberg:

About 40 percent of U.S. senators, and 25 percent of U.S. representatives, belonged to fraternities or sororities in college. On April 24, more than a dozen of these grateful alumni extolled Greek life at an annual $500-a-plate dinner in a Washington hotel ballroom for “FratPAC,” the industry’s political arm.

One by one, they took the podium and praised fraternities for teaching them loyalty, leadership, and practical skills.

A 1996 fraternity house fire at the University of North Carolina that killed five students spurred the industry’s drive for the tax break. About half of all fraternity houses lack sprinklers, according to an internal industry memorandum reviewed by Bloomberg News. Photographer: Joe Weiss/Durhan Herald-Sun via AP Photo

“We learned to tap a keg,” declared Representative Steven Palazzo, a Mississippi Republican and Sigma Chi brother, who then yelled a cheer as hundreds of FratPAC donors applauded.

Many of the legislators also pledged support for FratPAC’s pet legislation: a multi-million-dollar tax break to let fraternities and sororities use charitable donations to renovate and help build chapter houses.

“This time, we think we can get it done,” said Ohio Republican Steve Stivers, a Delta Upsilon alumnus, adding, “We need more Greeks in Congress.”

While fraternities used to limit their political activity to fending off potential threats, they’re “playing offense today” by promoting initiatives such as the tax break, FratPAC and two companion groups told fraternity leaders in a Jan. 10, 2011, memo.

Besides pushing the tax bill, FratPAC, as the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee calls itself on its Twitter page, has helped dissuade U.S. Representative Frederica Wilson from filing federal anti-hazing legislation. Wilson, a Democrat, is co-sponsoring the tax proposal with six senators and more than 50 other representatives.

Hazing Death
Debbie Smith, whose 21-year-old son died in 2005 from heart failure and seizures after a hazing ritual, is “dumbfounded” by the industry’s lobbying for a tax break and against national hazing penalties, she said.

Smith’s son, Matthew Carrington, collapsed after being forced to do pushups in raw sewage while fans blasted cold air on him in a basement at Chi Tau fraternity at California State University in Chico. After his death, her advocacy spurred the California legislature to enact “Matt’s Law,” toughening hazing penalties.

“Why do fraternities need government help?” Smith asked. “They want to build more houses for hazing? I don’t think so. They need to learn safety first.”

Fraternities’ Comeback
Attracting undergraduates with aggressive recruiting and the prospect of jobs at Wall Street firms and other fields dominated by Greek alumni, fraternities are making a comeback on college campuses.

Meanwhile the toll from hazing and binge drinking is mounting. The 101 fraternities and sororities in the industry’s trade groups had 630,052 members in 2012, up 25 percent from 503,875 in 2007. Since 2005, 59 students have died in incidents involving fraternities, about half of them alcohol-related, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Ten students died in 2012, the most fatalities in at least a decade.

A 1996 fraternity house fire at the University of North Carolina that killed five students spurred the industry’s drive for the tax break. They decided that they needed a federal law to let them tap funds in their charitable foundations to outfit chapter houses with fire sprinklers. About half of all fraternity houses lack sprinklers, according to an internal industry memorandum reviewed by Bloomberg News.

In 2003, the tax bill passed the House. Two years later, fraternities and sororities established FratPAC, which has contributed $818,000 to political campaigns, primarily to Republicans. It has made some of its largest contributions to key backers of its tax initiative, and to members of the House Ways and Means committee, where the bill is pending.

Link to full story on Bloomberg:

Greeks in the 113th Congress

(Update: fixed  a broken link.)
NIC Blog | North-American Interfraternity Conference - advocating and assisting the fraternity experience

The Fraternity Government Relations Coalition (FGRC) monitors election results each year to keep track of Greek members of Congress.

FGRC is a collaborative effort of the NIC, National Panhellenic Conference, and the Fraternity Sorority Political Action Committee. Learn more at FGRCgreek.org.

At the time of this publication, 37% of the Senate and 23.4% of the House is Greek.

Senate (13 Democrats, 1 Independant, 23 Republicans)
House of Representatives (40 Democrats, 62 Republicans)

Click for a list of Greek members in the 113th Congress.

"Capital Fraternal Caucus" on Facebook

Dan Backer sent a message to the members of the Facebook group "Capital Fraternal Caucus."

Subject: Support the 2010 Congressional advocacy day – update your status on Tuesday!

On Tuesday, 4/20, nearly 250 national fraternity and sorority leaders from across the country, including almost 100 outstanding student leaders, will be on Capitol Hill to advocate for passage of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (CHIA) (H.R.1547/S.781). With more than 180 House sponsors and nearly 30 Senate sponsors already, momentum is building to make this the year CHIA becomes law. When passed, CHIA means better, safer, and expanded not-for-profit housing for hundreds of thousands of college students nationwide, including the 250,000 students each year who call fraternity and sorority houses their home away from home.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT – on Tuesday, we’re asking all the members of this FaceBook group to change your status message to:

“I support the national fraternity and sorority leaders who are in Washington D.C. today advocating for the 2010 passage of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 1547/S.781) and I'm asking my Senators and Representative to be part of the solution for better, safer, and more affordable not-for-profit student housing. If you support our students too, please copy this message to your FaceBook profile today!”

If you are not part of the effort, I encourage you to join, or at least post that status on your Facebook page.

Greek housing is a significant portion of on-campus/near-campus housing for students. Donors to the colleges for housing get a tax deduction for their donations, but Greek housing currently does not enjoy the same tax break. The bill being proposed would offer a break to Greek housing donors too.

Congress Approves Student Loan Overhaul

We believe this bit of news is timely for the blog since many of the undergraduate members depend on student loans to pay for at least part of their college expenses.

Congress gave final approval to a broad overhaul of federal student loan programs today, sharply cutting subsidies to lenders and increasing grants to needy students.

In quick succession, both the House and Senate approved the changes, allowing Democrats to say they had made good on one of their campaign promises last year to ease the strain of rising college costs. In the Senate, the bill passed 79 to 12, reflecting broad bipartisan support, while in the House it passed in a voice vote.

The Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, said that she was recommending that President Bush sign the bill because it “answered the president’s call to significantly increase funding” for Pell grants for low-income students. The administration had issued a veto threat against an earlier House version of the legislation.
[...]
The legislation, hammered out in a House-Senate conference committee this week, alters many of the ground rules for financing higher education, offering forgiveness on student loans to graduates who work for 10 years or more in public service professions like teaching, firefighting and the police, and limiting monthly payments on their loans to 15 percent of their discretionary income. It also raises the maximum Pell grant, the basic federal grant for middle- and low-income students, to $5,400 from its current level of $4,310 over the next four years. To pay for the changes it slashed federal subsidies to lenders by roughly $20 billion.
[...]
Representative George Miller of California, the Democratic chairman of the House education committee, said that last year, Republicans took nearly $12 billion from student Pell grants. “We took $11.39 billion and put it back into Pell grants,” Mr. Miller said. “That’s the difference that an election makes.”

Campaign trail promises aside, the changes reflect the steep and sudden decline in the fortunes of the $85 billion student loan industry, after years of generous subsidies and support in Congress. Investigations by Congress and the New York attorney general revealed a series of potential conflicts of interest as lenders had provided free travel, gifts, and financial incentives to colleges and college officials in the hope they would steer student borrowers their way.
[...]
With the law, Congress is reducing federal subsidies to lenders by roughly $20 billion and gradually halving the interest rate on student loans over the next five years. Some $11.4 billion of that money will go toward stepping up Pell grants.

For the first time, the government will now auction off the right to make federally-backed educational loans to parents in each state, instead of setting the rate from Washington. The two lowest bidders will win the right to make subsidized college loans to parents.

As always, the devil is in the details and the law of unintended consequenses is sure to apply. As a general principle however, any legislation that makes it easier to attend and pay for college is a pretty good thing.

Could it possibly be that the "Repugnicans" and "Demoncrats" are figuring out how to work together? Nah, that's way too much to hope for.

Congress Approves Student Loan Overhaul - New York Times

Legislation That Will Impact Greek Life

This article was in the latest newsletter from "Omega Financial"

Legislation That Will Impact Greek Life

Omega Financial invites your participation today in a grassroots effort to support legislation that could substantially improve the Greek experience. Omega is working with Greek organizations and the Capital Fraternal Caucus, which promotes items of concern to the Greek world on Capital Hill, to encourage our members and partners to contact Congress to urge support of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2007 (H.R. 643/S. 638). We are encouraging all Greek members, both students and alumni, to write Congress in support of this important legislation.

This Act would allow educational foundations to use tax-deductible charitable contributions to make grants to local house corporations; these grants can be used for improvements to an existing house or for building a new house. Passage of the Act would be a major benefit for fraternity and sorority housing nationwide, as it would make it easier to raise funds needed for critical safety enhancements and for other infrastructure improvements needed to sustain Greek housing.

An earlier version of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act passed the House of Representatives in 2003 as part of a larger bill, but it failed to pass the Senate for political reasons. When Congress ended its work in 2005, the bill had 151 House sponsors and 28 Senate sponsors, but we have to start all over again in 2007. As of March 7, 2007, we have 29 sponsors in the House and 9 sponsors in the Senate. A complete list of current sponsors can be found at: http://www.fraternalcaucus.org/node/156.

The more sponsors we have for this legislation, the more likely it is that the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act will pass. Senators and Representatives often sign onto legislation because their constituents contact them and ask for support - your letters, emails and phone calls are key to our efforts.

Here's How To Help

Here's all you have to do to participate in the campaign:

1. Log on to www.fraternalcaucus.org, locate the "Get Involved" tab at the top and click on "Register with the CFC". It will take about two minutes for you to provide some basic information Greek leaders can use in our grassroots program to target certain groups for additional contacts.
2. After registering, go to the tab marked "Legislation" and click on "Write Your Legislators".
3. Simply complete the steps there to a send an e-mail to members of your Congressional delegation. If you have a connection to other Members of Congress or Senators, you can write them as well.

Thanks for participating in this grassroots campaign! The more Greeks who contact Congress about this bill in 2007, the more likely we are to see this bill become law, so your participation is vital.