Theta Xi frat vacates house

With the eviction of Theta Xi members from their Locust Walk house, the eyes of the University are once again turned to the issue of how best to fill a vacancy on the Walk, the University's prime piece of real estate. In recent years, the residential make-up of the center of campus -- consisting almost entirely of fraternities -- has also been the center of campus-wide controversy. Throughout the debate, many students and faculty have contended that Locust Walk's principally white male population does not reflect the composition of the entire student body and have demanded that the University "diversify the Walk." Several student groups -- including the Progressive Student Alliance and the Women's Alliance -- called for the removal of all fraternities from the Walk, claiming that the greek organizations were bastions of white privilege. After months of review and recommendations, the administration began planning ways to open up space on the Walk for non-fraternity residences, starting with the then-vacant Castle, which became the Community Service Living Learning Program. While not agreeing to force the current residents off the Walk, President Sheldon Hackney did say that fraternities which violate University behavioral standards may lose the "privilege" of living in the center of campus. Now, with Theta Xi's eviction, it is unclear what changes the Walk will undergo in the near future. Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson said yesterday that the University has not determined who will inhabit the house after Theta Xi vacates the premises. "It's a little premature right now," Morrisson said. "[The house] still has people in it." InterFraternity Council President Jeff Blount said he hopes a sorority or a Bicultural InterGreek Council group becomes the house's new residents. "I'm sure [the University will] do a fine job of figuring out who's going to move in," he said. "Personally, I hope a [PanHellenic Council] or Big-C group moves into the house." And members of the Coalition to Diversify Locust Walk said they hope a program or organization with members of all ethnic backgrounds and both genders will move in. "I like the idea of a mixed population," Emeritus Biochemistry Professor Adelaide Delluva said. "Men, women, minorities, non-minorities." "That, to me, is a good illustration of diversity," she added. She also said that while she favors a program analogous to the Castle's program for the Theta Xi house, she would also like to see sororities moving on to the campus. Currently, no sorority has a house on campus. And Coalition member Nicole Bloom, a College senior, said she definitely does not want to see another fraternity move into the house. "I certainly think [Theta Xi] should not be able to come back on to the campus," she said. "[Fraternities] get many opportunities to come back, when others don't get the opportunity to be there in the first place." She also said she thinks the University needs to create a system which would determine who gets to live on the Walk, and would remove fraternites that "misbehave." "It's a privilege to live there, and it needs to be treated as such," she said. "There has to be a formal process within the University . . . to remove fraternities that misbehave."