Seven student members of Phi Delta Theta were selected to join hundreds of undergraduate fraternity men and sorority women to represent the Fraternity and the larger Greek movement on behalf of the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition (FGRC) in Washington, DC.

Participants included:
Richard Steiner-Otoo, Montclair State ’24 (NJ Epsilon)
Austin Lauziere, UCF ’24 (FL Iota)
Cayden Stone, Boise State ‘26 (ID Beta)
Daneel Konnar, Mississippi ‘24 (MS Alpha)
Colin Shea, Cal Poly ‘26 (CA Nu)
Zachary Mayer, Washington State ‘25 (WA Gamma)
William Bechtel, Illinois ’23 (IL Eta)

On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, these Phis joined David Almacy, Widener ‘92, Phi Delta Theta General Council President, and Sean Wagner, Widener ’02, Phi Delta Theta’s Executive Vice President and CEO, in meetings with Members of Congress and their staff.

The National Panhellenic Conference and North American Interfraternity Conference set legislative agendas that guide the FGRC’s work. The agenda includes the following priorities:

• Protect students’ freedom of association rights by ensuring they can join women’s-only and men’s-only student organizations like fraternities and sororities;
• Pass anti-hazing legislation to provide additional transparency and education about hazing on college campuses, and
• Advocate for the passage of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (CHIA), which would update the tax code to provide more access to funding for infrastructure improvements to fraternity/sorority housing.

Later that evening, the Phis met with Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC-7th), NC State ’94, to discuss how leadership roles in the fraternity helped prepare him for a career in public service.

Delegates visited the office of Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX-19th), Texas Tech ’94.

ABOUT THE FGRC
The Fraternal Government Relations Coalition (FGRC) is a collaborative effort that includes the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), which is made up of 59 men’s-only fraternity organizations, and the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), which is comprised of 26 women’s-only sorority organizations. In total, the FGRC represents 85 fraternities and sororities nationwide with more than 600,000 undergraduate members at 9,300 chapters on nearly 700 campuses.