FARMHOUSE
QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK
(From recent Inside FH newsletters)
Foundation
- "Could you provide an update on how the lobbying effort in Washington, DC, went for last week for the Housing Bill?"
- "What are some of the key things judges are looking for in the scholarship applications and about how many applications do you get a year?"
QUESTION OF THE WEEK? --- "Could you provide an update on how the lobbying effort in Washington, DC, went for last week for the Housing Bill?"
RESPONSE --- Unfortunately, it appears that little significant legislation in Washington D.C. will be passed before the elections in November. Our best hope was that the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (HR 1523/S 1246) would be able to be added to the Charitable Giving Bill that had versions of it pass through the House and Senate with more than 95 percent support on each side. The problem is that versions that each chamber passed had different language, which meant the bills would have to go to conference to get ironed out and hammer out one bill that would be forwarded to the President to sign. Our lobbyists were successful in getting HR 1523 attached to the House's version of the Charitable Giving Bill, but not with the Senate bill, which had passed before the House version did. The Minority Leader of the Senate, Tom Daschle, has the power to stall bills before going to conference - and that's exactly what's happened to this bill and other significant legislation. Without taking political sides, what's happened is apparently a common type of filibuster that happens when one party controls the majority in the House, Senate and administration.
The lobbying team is looking at other means of trying to gain support for the bill. Fraternity and sorority headquarters leaders visited more than 200 Senators, Congressmen and/or their staff members on Tuesday, April 27th as part of the 3rd Annual NIC Day on the Hill and had more than 450 people in attendance at the NIC's Congressional Reception in DC.
Thanks to our lobbying efforts, HR 1523 now has 75 co-sponsors and S 1246 has 15 co-sponsors. The lobbying firm will be looking at other options for how we might be able to attach this bill to another that has a better chance of passing. Unfortunately the concern is that the HR 7 Charitable Giving Bill won't make it through conference before the November elections.
We're still optimistic that the Bill will gain additional support and eventually be passed, but it'll take a while and much more persuading to make it happen.
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK? --- "What are some of the key things judges are looking for in the scholarship applications and about how many applications do you get a year?"
RESPONSE --- With more than 1,300 undergraduates and dozens of FarmHouse men in graduate school on the campuses where we have chapters, you might expect that we'd have hundreds of applications come in for FarmHouse Foundation scholarships each year. However, we typically average between 15-20 scholarship applications and grant seven scholarships annually, so if you're a top student, your chances are better than you might think.
Some of the key things the scholarship selection committee looks for include:
- Demonstrated academic success and commitment to scholastic achievement;
- Leadership to the chapter and/or the campus;
- Commitment to community service and making those around you better;
- Financial need (as gleaned from letters of recommendation) - not necessarily a determining factor, but taken into account
- Letters of recommendation - Judges are looking for demonstrated integrity, initiative, work ethic and commitment to help others. It's imperative that you have at least 3 letters of recommendation (but no more than 5) submitted with the application (it's ideal if the letters of recommendation and application are submitted together in one packet).
Applications and letters of recommendation must be postmarked by June 1. This is a hard deadline - if it's not postmarked on time, you won't be eligible. One application qualifies you for consideration for all seven Foundation scholarships. A total of $8,300 in scholarships are open to all members from all chapters throughout the Fraternity (another $22,000 in local chapter scholarships is granted annually by the FarmHouse Foundation).
The 2004-05 scholarship applications can be downloaded at http://www.farmhouse.org/pdf/scholarship_applications.pdf
Be sure to allow yourself at least a week or so for those you ask to write letters of recommendation to complete them. It's best if you take the initiative to personally collect the letters of recommendation and put them together with the packet you will submit.
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