Several Greek chapoters move into new houses

Move-in took on a new meaning for members of one sorority and three fraternities this fall, as brand-new houses greeted the returning students. The Pi Beta Phi sorority moved into its new house at 4027 Walnut Street on August 25. The sorority had rented the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house at 3916 Spruce Street since 1993. "We thought of that house as temporary," College senior and Pi Phi President Caroline Djang said. "We had always been looking for a place of our own." University alumnus Kim Dalgliesh, who serves as president of the Pi Beta Phi house corporation, assisted the sorority with its transition to the new house. "We were very lucky this property became available at the same time we were looking for a new one," she said. Dalgliesh said Campus Apartments completed extensive structural renovations on the Walnut Street house, "redoing it to our specifications." The house features a solarium built as an exercise room, brand-new furniture and a state-of-the-art security system. Security features include panic buttons in every bedroom and two cameras that offer panoramic views of the areas around the house. "Our old house was a fraternity house and wasn't suited for a sorority," Djang said. "This is so homey, and the advantages to it are overwhelming. I couldn't be happier about this place." Though 32 sisters lived in the Spruce Street house, only 19 are staying in the new Walnut Street location. Djang said sorority sisters had found mice and roaches in several rooms in the Spruce Street house and, "happily, haven't seen one rodent in the new house," she said. After re-establishing a Penn chapter last March with 52 members, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity moved back into its house this past summer, Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski said. The Theta Xi fraternity also moved this summer, to 4033 Spruce Street, former home of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, while the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity moved out of its house at 3829 Walnut Street and into non-University housing, Reikofski said. InterFraternity Council President and College senior Josh Gottheimer said the moves were very important to the Greek system as a whole. "Building and expanding is crucial to a healthy Greek system," the Alpha Epsilon Pi brother said.