Fraternity to take over former Lambda Chi Alpha house
After about eight months of sitting empty in the Greek Village, the former Lambda Chi Alpha house will see new life in the coming weeks.
Beta Theta Pi will be moving into the house officially on Aug. 18, while the fraternity's letters have already been put up above the doors.
The house, owned by Lambda Chi Alpha's alumni corporation, was vacated in November 2011 after allegations of hazing and a subsequent membership review that included a full-chapter drug test and one-on-one interviews. The eviction came on the heels of a university-wide suspension of fraternity rush in August 2011.
According to Beta Theta Pi Recruitment Chair Andrew McKellips, the Lambda Chi Alpha alumni corporation sought out Beta Theta Pi as a possible tenant because of the chapter's "reputation as upstanding guys."
McKellips said the move is quite a change from the previous unofficial meeting place in a two-story duplex near Granby and Olympia Mills nicknamed "The Lighthouse" that housed eight of the chapter's approximately 100 members. Around 45 members will be able to live in the Greek Village house.
"Having a house is going to be awesome for us," McKellips said. "It will allows us to live and have meals together and spend more time together."
As recruitment chair, McKellips said he thinks the new house will also have a positive effect on finding new members, giving them a central location to plan events without the added cost of booking off-campus locations.
Two other fraternity houses in the Greek Village still sit empty after the USC chapters of Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Tau Omega were closed in December 2011 and March 2012, respectively.