GRADUATION: Acacia fails to attract new brothers; house

Four Acacia fraternity members will try to keep the fraternity alive next year as its only brothers, after alumni failed to attract any new members last semester. And the fraternity is also giving up its Walnut Street house for at least one year, said Matt Bixler, Acacia's alumni vice president in charge of on-campus activities. Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Tricia Phaup said the house -- with a capacity for 16 to 18 people -- will be occupied by a combination of BiCultural Inter-Greek Council fraternity and sorority members. The common areas of the house will be used for Big-C activities and functions, she added. Phaup said brothers will not be living in Acacia's house next year because of financial constraints. Since the University owns the property, she said, it cannot afford to let just four people occupy the entire house. "They will be vacating the property for at least next year," she said. "What will happen after that I can't determine at this point." Acacia tried to rebuild itself this year. Bixler said in January that all current Acacia brothers would be given alumni status in favor of a completely new set of members. He then said he was "pleased" when over 30 men showed interest in joining the fraternity by attending an introductory meeting. But none of the 30 men decided to join the fraternity. "We do have four people who are continuing to be members of the house next year," Bixler said. "Everybody else has lost interest." The four people are current brothers of Acacia who will now not be placed on alumni status. The brothers -- John Avedian, Andrew Hooper, Jeff Ott and Brian Pellham -- will all be seniors next year. "Basically most of us had the same feelings -- we've put so much into it, and . . . we really didn't want to give up on it," said Avedian, an Engineering junior. "We're still here and in theory the fraternity should outlast us by many many years, [so] for us to outlast the fraternity wouldn't make any sense." Avedian said the four brothers have all signed off-campus leases for next semester, but they will not all be living together. Acacia is currently "not on probation" but "being monitored," according to Bixler. The fraternity was on probation as a result of a nude photo incident in 1991. Judy Schlossberg, a December 1992 College graduate, filed sexual harassment charges against members of Acacia after they photocopied and distributed a nude photo of her which belonged to her boyfriend, then an Acacia brother. In November 1991, the Judicial Inquiry Office and OFSA ruled that Acacia was collectively responsible for the incident. Bixler has said many times that he wants to shed the fraternity's negative image as a result of that incident. Avedian said his "ideal goal" would be for Acacia to rebound and win the coveted Mediera Cup, an award symbolizing the overall best fraternity of the year. Acacia held the Cup during the 1990-1991 school year. But Phaup said the fraternity "couldn't go much longer than next year" without new members, because all four brothers will be graduating.

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