Plan for Castle house draws varied reviews:

Minority leaders say Hackney's move not enough Days after President Sheldon Hackney announced that the vacant Psi Upsilon house will be filled by non-fraternity students next semester, faculty and student leaders said the move alone will not be enough to diversify Locust Walk. In a speech to a group of students at Hillel Friday night, the president said that putting a new group of students into the house - known as the Castle - is a significant step towards diversifying the Walk. Hackney said only that non-fraternity students would be placed in the house in January, but did not specify who they might be, or if minorities would be included. The president has said that diversifying Locust Walk may take several years. The prominent house, located at 36th Street and Locust Walk, was left vacant last May after the University evicted Psi Upsilon from campus as punishment for kidnapping a member of the Delta Psi fraternity. Hackney could not be reached for comment last night. Several minority student leaders said last night that they are pleased with the announcement, but that the move is not bold enough. "It would be a good show of faith if the University said minority offices could move there," Black Student League President Buzz Thomas said last night. "It would be great for the University to show its commitment to minority groups by moving them from the peripheral of campus to the center." But the College senior was quick to add that he does not think the administration is acting fast enough. "If [the administration] was truly committed [to diversifying Locust Walk] it would not take several years," Thomas said. Psi Upsilon's attorney, John Ledwith, said last night that he supports the University's intention to house students in the vacant Locust Walk house. "We prefer the house not to be vacant," he said. "We certainly want it back. In the meantime we don't want it to be in no-man's land." United Minorities Council Chairperson Nalini Samuel said last night that she thinks the University is "dragging its feet" on the issue. Samuel said she does not think the campus' main artery will ever be totally diverse. "People need to change their attitudes," the College senior said. "We could put all minorities on the Walk, but if attitudes do not change also, it would not really be diversification." But Samuel, who is a member of the committee working on the diversification of the Walk, also said that the president's plan "is a very positive step." And African-American Resource Center Director Allen Green also said yesterday that he is not convinced that the administration's plan will be successful. "If the tenor of the Walk has not changed, then putting a diverse group in the Castle may not change anything," Green said. "If a diverse group of women moves in, does it still leave it open for women to be ridiculed by the prominent group of men on Locust Walk?"

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