<p>I just received an email that the FMA is considering bankruptcy and both of my kids are living in Greek housing. So now what? No more meals for our kids when they get back to school on Sunday? Wow, Lehigh, now what are you going to do? You’re the one who contracted with the FMA for our kids’ meal plans, and now they are screwed.</p>
<p>Lehigh will be adding the greek students affected to a 50 meal plan that will get them one meal a day for the rest of the semester at no cost. Just an FYI, Lehigh did not contract with the FMA for the foodservice program. Each greek group pays the FMA to manage their buying and bill paying. While the future of the FMA does look bleak, I believe the alumni groups and Lehigh will work through the issues without too much pain to our students.</p>
<p>“Lehigh’s payment of the meal plan on your student’s behalf will be reflected on your student’s account with Lehigh’s Bursar’s Office” from the email from Lehigh. Doesn’t sound like “at no cost” to me. And like my daughter said - like I only eat 1 meal a day.</p>
<p>So according to LehighAlum101 “Lehigh did not contract with the FMA for the foodservice program” But the FMA website says: <a href=“http://www.fma1967.com/about.html”>http://www.fma1967.com/about.html</a> “The FMA was set up by Lehigh University as a “C” corporation. It was then incorporated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a non-profit entity.” So I question this from the Lehigh University email that I received today: “The FMA operates independently of Lehigh University, and students pay them directly for their services. The contract for these services is between FMA and the individual chapters…While the contracts between your student’s chapter and the FMA fall outside of Lehigh’s legal purview, the University understands that this may be a difficult time for chapters and recognizes this situation may create a hardship for some students.” So what is it, Lehigh? Did you set up the “C” corporation as the FMA website says? What about the thousands of dollars I pay FMA EACH SEMESTER for my kids “National dues, liability insurance, GAC dues and Panhellenic dues, composite, recruitment, philanthropy, printing and postage, convention costs, ritual, furniture purchase, cable, house equipment purchase and rental, summer storage, Spring and Winter Formal, Spring and Winter date parties, epitome (yearbook), bus and van rentals for formals and recruitment, scholarship, soda expenses, Adopt A Family, content insurance, security for social events, alumnae payment, education for its chapter members, flowers, general maintenance and repair, parents’ weekend, Lehigh/Lafayette weekend, alumnae weekend and chapter miscellaneous expenses” as well as “lunch and dinner Sunday through Friday. This also allows full access to the kitchen for anyone living in the house at any time of the day.” And last but certainly not least, what about all of the wonderful chefs working at these houses. They are family to my kids. This is unreal.</p>
<p>My son lives in a frat house at Lehigh. This is sad. Especially for chefs and staff. This is there income and health insurance etc. my sons chef wrote and said she will be there cooking Sunday! Such a great person. I am glad lehigh is at least giving them some meals. I am going to wait and see. I think alumni will help, at least only 8 weeks of school left. </p>
<p>Haileys mom. I think you misunderstood the bursur charge. It will just be reflected…we don’t pay. It is for accounting reasons:)</p>
<p>Lehigh sent out an update clarifying that FMA began operating as a totally independent organization four years ago. They also stated they would provide two meals per day for the remainder of the semester. I hope, along with the national chapters, they are also providing them with legal assistance to enforce any rights they may have against FMA. Unfortunately, any funds advanced to FMA may never be recovered since FMA will be protected under the bankruptcy laws and the officers likely have no personally liability for their gross mismanagement of someone else’s money. This is a bad situation but I do believe Lehigh is doing what they can to assist even though they have no obligation to do so.</p>
<p>I am one of the chef’s at one of the houses. Would like to remain confidential. This is a mess! Chef’s payroll checks have been bouncing, and health benefits for the chefs who had them through their respective houses, well the payments have not been made in 3 months, with the balance due this Friday! Amounts owed to vendors vary from 20,000 to 30,000. OK, you are bankrupt, then where is the money that the houses gave you??? All chefs get a report in their paycheck as to how much is left in budget. End of February report told us we had close to 35,000 dollars left? Then where is it? As of now, Lehigh is NOT bailing our the chapter houses, just providing the one meal a day plan. Whether or not the houses run normally will depend on if alumni kicks in money. As of this moment, it looks like our alumni is not stepping up. To the people who are responsible for this: how can you look at yourself in the mirror knowing what you are putting the vendors, students, parents and chefs through? Totally disgusted and mad about situation. </p>
<p>Lehigh is a school where social life (exempting engineers) is completely dominated by the fraternities. The frat members do not interact with or even acknowledge the existence of those they look down upon as GDIs. As a matter of fact, they typically spend their entire time there without even getting to know students in other fraternities. It is a place where the 'top tier" fraternities are drug infested and the absolute worst performers academically. If the administration and OFSA at Lehigh were worth a damn, they would shut down the entire Greek system in order to save the schools rapidly declining reputation. Perhaps this is the first step in that process.</p>
<p>First of all, my heart goes out to you for blaming others for your anti-social status. </p>
<p>This subject matter at hand does not relate to what you refer to “drug infested and poor academics.” We are talking about an organization who mishandled thousands and thousands of dollars. The people who are directly affected are local mom and pop vendors, who some are out close to 300,000 dollars and chefs like myself who get up every morning and go to work for these students. So is it OK for our payroll checks to bounce and have health benefits revoked because of FMA? Is it fair that a vendor might go out of business because of FMA? </p>
<p>Your heartless and callus post is just a reminder as to why you are a GDI…</p>
<p>This is the letter sent to parents today:</p>
<p>You received a note last Friday, March 7, 2014, regarding issues with the Fraternity Management Association (FMA) and FMA’s support of the 15 fraternities and sororities the FMA contracts with on the Lehigh campus. This note is to alert you to a change in our response to this issue.</p>
<p>To help alleviate the immediate burden of the lack of a meal plan on affected students, the University will provide those students affected (i.e., those students who are living on-campus with a meal plan at their chapter) with a 14-meal/week dining plan for the remainder of the semester, effective Monday, March 10, 2014. Students living off-campus with a meal plan or partial plan also will be provided meal assistance, equivalent to their current off-campus meal plan. Note, this is a change from the plan we had proposed on Friday, March 7, 2014. Given strong feedback on our previous plan we have modified it to allow for 14 meals/week for affected students who had a full meal plan at their chapters. These meals will be available at Rathbone and Cort Dining rooms at current dining hours.</p>
<p>We learned on Thursday that the FMA, with which 15 Lehigh fraternities and sororities have contracts to provide various services, including food and dining, is facing significant financial issues, considering bankruptcy, and no longer able to provide services to these chapters.</p>
<p>The FMA operates independently from Lehigh University and students/parents pay FMA directly for the services FMA provides. The FMA was established in 1967 by Greek alumni and Lehigh University as a non-profit corporation acting as a co-op organization in support of Lehigh fraternities. Four years ago, the nonprofit organization began operating in a wholly independent manner.</p>
<p>We will continue to keep you apprised of any significant updates as this situation continues to unfold. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we respond to support our students following this unforeseen and unfortunate situation.</p>
<p>LE Pops, You obviously don’t know anything about Greek Life. My son and the majority of his friends are all engineers and they are members of a fraternity. They are also on the Dean’s List. Your nasty post really says more about you and your intolerance of others. You will find some group to dislike and blame for your insecurities and jealously where ever you go. I feel sorry for you.</p>
<p>Streetfighter, </p>
<p>Just want you to know you my son’s first concern was taking care of his chef. I am a parent. The last thing I am worried about is our own extra expenses. I am worried about the chefs being taken care of. I am worried about your health care benefits. Please keep us posted so we can make sure you and the other chefs are taken care of. Best to all of you. And thank you for caring all year for our children. xoxo Maybe we can sent up a fund to help the chefs? I will ask.</p>
<p>Good response, streetfighter411. I have heard LEPops opinion before in other posts about the apparent drug epidemic at Lehigh known apparently only to him. Shame on him for applauding the situation. His post is completely off topic, untrue, unwarranted and unwanted.</p>
<p>I am an Alumni Board member of one of the affected fraternities. Let me assure you that many of us have been working diligently with the actives and university since we became aware of this unbelievable and unfortunate situation, and at least 10 of us (including attorneys, accountants, executives and business owners) spent over an hour on a conference call yesterday afternoon. This is in addition to the HOURS spent on separate phone calls, emails, and analyses of budgets to prepare for the conference call. The reality is none of us really knows the full extent of what happened, or who is responsible, or why. However, we must assume that all of our money entrusted to FMA has disappeared. The facts will come out over time - perhaps months or longer. Our immediate task is to assure that the brothers can continue in the house with some semblance of stability and normalcy, and to see to it that all essential, non-discretionary bills are paid. This includes meals, insurances, etc. The university announced their offer of 2 meals/day (up from 1) to the actives after our call, but we as a board had already voted to fund the additional meals and cook’s salary for the remainder of the year. We agree with streefighter411’s assessment that most house cooks are a part of these students’ “extended family”, and are very important for the continuity and stability desired so these students can finish out the school year with as little disruption as possible. After all, they are there first and foremost as students, and we recognize that they should have as few unnecessary distractions as possible.</p>
<p>However, there are many other events and activities the actives had budgeted for such as spring formals, senior dinners, etc., that unfortunately will probably not happen, since they are considered nonessential (to us, not to the students, obviously), and the only way they will likely occur now is if the students and/or their parents cough up the money again. </p>
<p>This will be a true test of the Greek system at Lehigh, as well as the commitment of Lehigh’s administration. I’m not sure that all affected fraternities/sororities have quite as strong an alumni support system as our house. Lehigh’s stepping in to assure 2 meals/day is a start, but time will tell whether they will assist in other ways, such as by providing loans to affected houses. They are under no obligation to provide funds lost to a completely separate entity, any more than we are as alumni. However, we view this as our responsibility to assure the continued existence of our house at Lehigh. I hope Lehigh feels the same way about the Greek system as a whole. I hope for the sake of the parents, students, alumni, vendors and chefs, that they do.</p>
<p>There is a meeting at 5pm today for all affected undergraduates in Perella Auditorium in Rauch. The Offices of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and Residential life will be on hand to answer questions. Encourage your students to attend.</p>
<p>Yocco1, Glad to hear you are working on this. Thank you to everyone involved with helping fix this situation. I would be happy to help out. We are waiting to know how we can help. </p>
<p>We have found the Lehigh family to be wonderful. The commitment to Lehigh from the alumni is one thing that makes Lehigh so special. I was at an event my son’s freshman year and everyone was so kind, welcoming, handing me business cards and offering to help us in any way they could. I would be honored to help the Greek community in their time of need as I know they would do for any of us. Best Regards, Kikkydee</p>
<p>Those running FMA, Betty Fisher and family have been skimming for years but older alums didn’t see it out of blind allegiance to her. that’s part of the reason only half of the chapters still worked with her. Some saw the books and saw the reality.</p>
<p>I am not entirely sure how Lehigh administration can wash their hands of responsibility. Based on Lehigh’s Directory of Services on LU website, Betty Fisher and the OFSA appear to be housed in the same Warren Square address with phone numbers just a few digits apart. As a parent and business person, the Lehigh administration once again fails to impress me with its focus on basic leadership and management. </p>
<p>As parents, we are well aware of Lehigh’s culture of drinking and drugs. While its convenient to blame Greeks, I have seen numerous independents in a similarly deplorable state in places other than the Hill. Why are stereotypes okay when they are directed at “rich, white kids?” I am delighted in and supporting Lehigh’s initiative to improve inclusion, but strongly resent the implication that the students living on the Hill are root of all campus evil. I am disappointed that LEPops is gloating and the administration is washing their hands over the financial hardship faced by students and their families who work hard to pay expenses, may receive financial aid and now face a limited food supply, not to mention employees and vendors who have outstanding invoices that will go unpaid. Is it deemed “okay” because of the perception of wealth? IF LEPops and others looking to improve Lehigh stepped out to join Chapters to help raise money for the chapter chefs who are loosing jobs/benefits or hosted Sunday pancake brunch to feed students who will not be without meals over the weekends then I would consider them leaders who are part of the solution.</p>
<p>Over the past three years, I have frequently - and rhetorically - asked “where were the adults” when ____(fill in the blank) was happening on campus. I am asking the question out loud this time - where were the adults at LU OFSA, Finance, Food Service, etc. when these students and parents entrusted their funds to an approved vendor that was directly associated and apparently literally sitting within the University walls. </p>
<p>Why is it okay that 800 STUDENTS have been ripped off. Why is the entire Lehigh Administration and community not demanding these students be supported appropriately. </p>
<p>LEPops has written exaggerated poop before. The bitterness is deep–and pitiful and shameful–in anyone that would jump for joy at the current awful situation being faced by chefs, vendors. businesses, and a huge amount of great kids and their families. I’m one of many parents of intelligent, drug-free, sociable, and conscientious Lehigh students that handed over OUR hard-earned money to FMA to manage soundly for our sons’ and daughters’ expenses. Where is all of the money I paid FMA? I paid in full, in advance, for all of my son’s expenses. I’m not asking for anything I haven’t paid for. Where is all of the money I paid FMA?</p>
<p>Me thinks someone is very misguided in spewing his hatred since my son spent his sober spring break with great kids that have been his close friends since they met on their freshmen dorm floor. None of them are in fraternities, but then again, he’s mature, intelligent, sociable, drug-free, responsible, and doesn’t view anyone through anti-social lenses. He has friends, and is a good friend to others inside and outside of his house. </p>
<p>I’m hoping we hear more about FMA and everyone–every single person–involved in the management of funds at FMA. That money was for the sole purpose of paying chefs, feeding Lehigh students in the affected houses, and all of the related expenses. There are real people affected by this, and they’re being affected now. </p>
<p>It is frustrating for everyone effected. Chefs, vendors, parents and students. How can a non-profit organization go under? They got a huge chunk of change to manage the accounts. So where is the money that is left over? They were giving out reports that showed large amount of money was still available to us? Is that not fraud/deception? They have not paid health insurance premiums for the chefs in months. But yet, they can take SEVERAL trips to the Bahamas and take an Alaskan cruise? And not paying the 13,000 bill owed for Federal Taxes? Give it time. The alumni are smart and powerful people. Everyone is hoping a criminal investigation is opened, and charges should be filed against all involved. The truth always comes out…</p>