AI Editor Gary R. Welsh Honored By Phi Delta Phi; Fraternity Adopts Broad Non-Discrimination Policy

Advance Indiana's Editor and founder, Gary R. Welsh, received the Outstanding Province President Award from the International Legal Fraternity of Phi Delta Phi, of which he has been a member since 1990, at its 57th General Convention, August 17-20, 2005, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The A. Frank Vick Award is given in recognition of the Province President of the fraternity whose diligence, dedication and integrity during the past biennium best emulates the character of A. Frank Vick, a former now-deceased Province President in whose name the award is presented. Welsh is a 1993 graduate of Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis where he was a member and magister of Willkie Inn. Welsh has served as Province President for Province 12 since 1994, which includes IU Bloomington's Foster Inn, IU Indy's Willkie Inn, Notre Dame's More Inn (currently inactive) and Valparaiso's Norris Inn.

Phi Delta Phi is the oldest legal fraternity in the United States. It has initiated more than 200,000 persons since its founding in 1869, including several American presidents, many Supreme Court justices and a countless number of prominent members of the bar. Its purpose is to establish a higher standard of professional ethics within the legal profession. The fraternity has more than a hundred active inns at laws schools across Canada, Mexico and the United States, as well as one active inn in Poland.

Advance Indiana is also pleased to report that the student delegates of the 57th General Convention adopted a very broad non-discrimination clause for membership in the organization as part of its constitution, including language covering sexual orientation and gender identity. The constitutional amendment, which received near-unanimous approval of the student delegates, is intended to demonstrate to law schools and students the organization's commitment to diversity and non-discrimination.

The fraternity has come a long way on this point. Once an organization for white males only, the student delegates in attendance at this year's convention reflected the broad diversity of today's Phi Delta Phi, which includes many minorities and nearly one-half female. Judge James F. Holderman, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District Court of Illinois, who participated on an ethics panel during the convention, remarked on how impressed he was by the group's diversity. He noted that, while attending the 1969 convention as a student delegate, he took to the floor to fight for a constitutional amendment to allow women to join the fraternity. While he lost that battle, delegates at the following convention in 1971 openned membership for the first time to women.

Welsh attributes his success in the organization to a fellow fraternity mentor, Karl Mulvaney. Mulvaney, who is a distinguished appellate attorney and partner at the Indianapolis law firm of Bingham McHale, is a past international president of Phi Delta Phi. Mulvaney encouraged and assisted Welsh in attaining greater participation in the fraternity. Welsh and Mulvaney are in company with many prominent Hoosiers who also joined the fraternity. Those include former Republican presidential candidate and accomplished attorney and author, Wendell Willkie, former Senator Birch Bayh, Indiana Supreme Court Justice Randall Shepard and noted businessman and philanthropist Lloyd Balfour among many others.