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New GLO at LSU: Phi Beta Iota
FBI becomes newest occupants of LSU's fraternity row
9/27/2005, 8:06 a.m. CT
The Associated Press _
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A new fraternity of sorts has moved in on the Greek row at Louisiana State University: the FBI.
About 50 New Orleans agents displaced by Hurricane Katrina will be living in the red-brick home once occupied by a fraternity exiled for hazing violations.
"They've been jokingly referred to as Phi Beta Iota," Special Agent in Charge Jim Bernazzani said Monday. "We even had T-shirts made up."
The home has been empty since the Sigma Nu fraternity lost its charter in 2004 after an investigation into allegations of hazing. The fraternity has been barred from campus until the fall of 2006.
The FBI spent $90,000 renovating the house, which had been vandalized.
The federal agency's own New Orleans headquarters building was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Repairs could take as long as eight months.
"We took a direct hit," Bernazzani said. "Water damage and biohazards rendered the building uninhabitable."
With a lot of the agents suddenly homeless and housing space hard to find in Baton Rouge, the agency jumped at the offer of the fraternity house. Some of the agents are working at a building on the LSU campus, while others are in the Baton Rouge FBI field office.
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