Psi Upsilon will return to Castle

Members of the Community Service Living-Learning Program wonder what the change will mean for them. Following eight years of discussion about ownership of the Castle at 36th Street and Locust Walk, the Psi Upsilon fraternity will return to the building -- which currently houses the Community Service Living-Learning Program -- next fall. An agreement at the end of last semester granted the building to the fraternity, effectively putting an end to the debate which had continued since Psi U was suspended from campus in May 1990 for kidnapping a Delta Psi brother, Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski said. Psi U has had a "pretty iron-clad" agreement with the University since the late 1930s, which stipulates that Psi U has rights to the actual Castle building, Reikofski explained. But the University's claim to ownership of the land the Castle sits on complicated the matter. Although Provost Stanley Chodorow said yesterday he was unaware of a final arrangement with Psi U, he noted that "it was expected" the fraternity would receive use of the building. Because the transfer will displace the Castle's current residents, administrators are looking to secure alternate space for the living-learning program which has occupied the building in the fraternity's absence. Program for Student and Community Involvement Director David Grossman said students need a decision about the program's new location by November in order to make living arrangements for next year. Chodorow emphasized the University's commitment to the living-learning program. But while Chodorow said the relocation won't affect the program's operation, members of several community service organizations said it may reduce the program's effectiveness. "The program has to maintain its strength somewhere else -- it's way too important a program not to be an option for people at Penn," College senior and former Castle resident Toni Roth said. "I hope people recognize that it's not going to be the same someplace else." "The programs we have would be difficult to hold in the high rises," she added. Castle residents and other students use the building as a meeting space. The dining facilities are open to all students for dinner and often features coffeehouses. Members of community service organizations said they consider the Castle's central location symbolic of a University-wide commitment to community service. "Having this house in the middle of campus is an example and a demonstration of how important community-building is," Castle Program Director and graduate student Margaret Quern said. "It's important that this is a student-run program." A need to find alternate space for the program has figured into ongoing planning for the future of on-campus residential living, Chodorow said. "We have known that we would have to find a new location in the residences for it? and I believe that we will find a good location for the program," he said. And Residential Faculty Council Chairperson Al Filreis said the program will have "a residential home on campus," adding that other living-learning programs thrive in their high rise locations. Chodorow noted that relocating the Community Service program further to the west of campus might enhance it. "Indeed, a place on the west side of the campus -- closer to the West Philadelphia neighborhoods that the students in the program serve -- might be even better than the Castle," Chodorow said. Psi U President and College and Wharton senior Kevin Harper said brothers are "delighted" to get the Castle back. "It should help us for recruitment -- it's been difficult to build a chapter without a central meeting place," he said. Psi U -- which regained official recognition in 1995 and is currently on provisional standing -- now has 17 members, Harper said.