Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Phi Sigma Kappa move into empty houses
Three empty Greek Village houses, formerly occupied by Lambda Chi Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega and Sigma Phi Epsilon, will have new tenants this fall.
Alpha Gamma Delta, USC’s newest sorority, will not only be colonizing on campus this semester; it will also be taking over the lease for the Sigma Phi Epsilon house.
Jill Harter, Alpha Gamma Delta’s director of communications, said that once the sorority was selected to start a chapter at USC, the university connected them with the property management company for Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Because the sorority is beginning its first year, the USC chapter hasn’t yet recruited members, and it won’t be participating in the traditional formal recruitment process. Harter said Alpha Gamma Delta will host its own events starting after university-wide recruitment ends.
Due to the current lack of members, the house will only be used for meetings and general gatherings of new members during the fall semester. After winter break, though, Harter said the sisters would be able to move in and the facility would start the full meal service.
Harter said the central location within the village would help the new sorority assimilate into the Greek community.
“Being in a housed area near other Greek organizations will help us build awareness and a sense of community with the other fraternities and sororities,” Harter said.
Sigma Phi Epsilon was closed by its national organization in mid-December after what organization officials describe as a “pattern of unacceptable behavior,” including “continued neglect of the property and a failure to self-govern.” Sigma Phi Epsilon was also one of the fraternities cited in the Fall 2011 fraternity recruitment suspension.
The Lambda Chi Alpha house was vacated in Fall 2012, and Beta Theta Pi will be moving in this fall. Beta Theta Pi President Charlie Otten said the fraternity had first submitted an extensive application to build a house for themselves in the Greek Village expansion. Because of their interest, when the Lambda Chi alumni corporation began looking for tenants, the university suggested Beta Theta Pi. Jim Tothill, president of Lambda Chi Alpha’s alumni corporation, said Beta Theta Pi stood out as a clear choice because of the organization of their chapter.
Otten said members of the fraternity were extremely excited to be moving into the Greek Village, and he thought it would have a positive effect on the chapter’s closeness and communication and lead to greater alumni involvement.
USC’s chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha was evicted from the house in November 2011 after the national organization removed 54 members from the chapter. That removal, which followed a full membership review that included drug tests and personal interviews, didn’t leave enough members to populate the Greek Village house, though it didn’t remove the entire chapter from campus. Tothill said that the alumni corporation decided not to offer the house back to Lambda Chi Alpha because it was not a financially viable option, and the corporation didn’t want to burden the fraternity with finding enough members to fill the house.
The last empty house, formerly home to Alpha Tau Omega, will be leased out to Phi Sigma Kappa. Officers approached the university after Alpha Tau Omega was shut down due to drug charges that Director of Student Conduct Alisa Cooney called “pervasive.” The chapter won’t be re-colonized until 2016.
Phi Sigma Kappa President Ross Lyon said the re-location from McBryde Quadrangle will make the fraternity more established on campus and that having a house in the Greek Village will “open up a whole new demographic” of students during recruitment.