[lenoxxx]

Looks like the MSU chapter had to surrender.

I'd like to dedicate big F You to Joe Klimek for selling out all of our chapters by being an idiot pawning himself off as someone that knew anything about finance or greek real estate. Your pied pipers song was poison and you are a disgrace as a brother.

To all of the folks on the GHZ or any other subordinate at Lambda's national HQ that approved this or didnt speak up, you are all benedict arnolds to this great fraternity. May a pox and curse follow you all for the rest of your days. None of you are brothers. PERIOD


http://www.statenews.com/index.php/m...u_fraternities


E.L. unable to offer housing options for MSU fraternities
Published: 03/31 10:14pm
By: Zack Colman

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After a long battle with reality, members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity realized it was time to move on.

With the fraternity’s 83-year-old home at 128 Collingwood Drive likely turning into high-end apartments when a sale by the fraternity’s national housing corporation is complete, Lambda Chi Alpha signed a lease Monday to rent the former Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house, 342 N. Harrison Road, from that fraternity’s national organization.

The fact Lambda Chi Alpha will recycle a former fraternity’s home illustrates the lack of housing options for the greek community, as Lambda Chi Alpha MSU chapter president Dan Shupe said East Lansing cannot provide suitable housing for greek organizations near campus.

“You have to have a place you can call your home, have meetings and be a gathering point for all your organization’s activities,” he said. “If you don’t have that to grow and thrive I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it makes it considerably harder.”

This problem could be exacerbated in the coming years, as Phi Gamma Delta — which started in March 2009 — will have 66 brothers at semester’s end without a home and Beta Theta Pi possibly will be allowed to restart its chapter in fall 2011, said Eric Birch, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

“They’ll be looking for a house and now you’re stuck here and you’ve got all these different houses,” he said. “Where will you have a meeting? At the Union in the basement?”

East Lansing officials said there are no parcels of land near campus large enough to build a new home, and there are very few houses that can accommodate growing fraternities.

Complicating the problem further, there are few areas in the city with proper zoning for large fraternity homes. Although many universities devote space for greek homes on campus, MSU does not employ this policy.

East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton said unless greek organizations have the capital to acquire properties, demolish them and then construct a new home, they will have to change their mindset on what a fraternity home means.

“Fraternities may have to think outside the box,” he said. “It can’t be just this sort of stately, Georgian, 25-bedroom mansion.”

Mike Donnelly, Phi Gamma Delta fraternity president, said his fraternity will investigate housing options when it receives its charter in September.

He said the fraternity likely will opt for a medium-sized house because many fraternities have had difficulty filling larger homes.

“I firmly believe there’s a greek gentleman that joins a house and there’s a greek gentleman that joins a group of guys,” he said. “Even in the long term I think we can sustain ourselves (without a large house).”

Bill Zajac, Interfraternity Council president, said many fraternity homes across the country have between five and six brothers living in the house.

Considering the number of dwellings of that size in East Lansing, Zajac said a switch to that model could provide sustainability for the greek community. Staton said the appeal of living in a fraternity home likely has decreased with more available housing options. He said the condition of many fraternity homes could deter people from living in them.

“You can almost see a steady degradation of the living experience and quality of housing,” he said.

Still, Shupe says there are not enough options for fraternities to purchase their own home. He said his fraternity has looked for land to build a new home and for homes on a rent-to-purchase basis, but to no avail. Given Lambda Chi Alpha’s situation and various other fraternities who lease from local landlords, he said there is very little security for greek houses.

“Suitable housing would be something you and your organization can own,” he said. “Because when you rent there’s so much that can go wrong.”