PA State: giving community a peek inside their houses

[hoosier]

Oct. 02, 2005


Fraternity houses consider giving community a peek inside

By Adam Smeltz
asmeltz@centredaily.com


STATE COLLEGE -- Fraternity houses in town and on campus may open their doors to regular, public tours early next year.

Penn State's Interfraternity Council is developing the plan, part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the fraternities' civic engagement, IFC President Brian Bertges said.

"Any fraternity that wants to be showcased will be showcased," he said. The IFC counts more than 50 member chapters, most of them in the borough.

Bertges said the tour idea, inspired by the university Lion Ambassadors program and proposed by IFC Vice President Jason Yanushonis, also could help the fraternities recruit new members.

Jackie Melander, president of the Centre County Historical Society, applauded the IFC plans.

"The fraternities are what you might call the mansions of State College," Melander said. "I think for residents as well as Penn State alumni, there's a real interest in those houses, both architecturally and in what they've represented as a college town."

Most of the fraternity houses here were built in the 1920s and '30s, she said, and many were designed by architects. They still sport lots of interior detailing that has since become rare, Melander said.

The IFC tour plans are still preliminary, though organizers are already expecting to train 15 to 20 members of the Greek community to become guides, Bertges said. He said the tours are meant to be a consistent offering, held more than once per year.

Fraternity members already put their houses on display each December, when they host the IFC's Holiday Lighting Contest. But that's an exterior-only display.

University spokesman Tysen Kendig said Penn State encourages the extra outreach.

"A lot of times, our fraternities and sororities get a bad rap," Kendig said. "Other than the dance marathon every year, the good things the Greek community does are often overlooked."

The interior tours, he said, "might help push away some of those perceptions."

Melander said past fraternity leaders have occasionally made their houses open to the public. But she said she couldn't remember any formal, consistent efforts.