The former Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house will be home to a different set of tenants next year.
Seventeen students applied and were accepted to live in the building, which will be known as the Franklin Community, starting next year. Currently serving as the Stouffer College House Annex and used in large part by transfer and exchange students, the building will now house a community service-based residential program.
All students who applied were accepted to the program. Not enough students applied to fill the building's 34-person capacity, so the remaining 17 spots will go to transfer and exchange students.
"I wish everybody were interested. I wish the whole school were," said College junior Jason Oberman, who helped organize the program. "I wasn't thinking about numbers -- I just wanted to get as many people as would be interested."
Organizers said they hoped the program would be a focus for campus activism.
"This will be a house that is the incubator for leadership on campus," Oberman said.
In order to live in the house, residents were required to fill out an application and go through an interview process. The program was open to all students except incoming freshmen.
Sean Vereen -- the associate director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center and one of the program's architects -- said he sought diverse applicants who shared a passion for community service.
"We were looking for people who could articulate why they wanted to be in the house and what they were looking to get out of the experience," Vereen said.
Vereen added that since the residents will be designing programs and activities themselves, he looked for students with established community service interests.
Oberman called the residents "driven" and "engaged" and said he was optimistic about their compatibility with one another.
They have "shown leadership on campus and ... have a passion for it," Oberman said.
In addition to planning civic activities, Franklin Community residents will also take a service-based course together next fall. Vereen and staff members from Civic House, the Center for Community Partnerships and Stouffer College House are in the process of designing its curriculum.
Vereen said he wanted the course to examine Penn's relationship with the West Philadelphia community.
"We're trying to do something very practical," Vereen said. "What kind of skills do students need to be civically engaged? We're not going to provide all of these answers.We want students to think about the question."
Vereen added that Penn students were in a unique position to contribute to the community around campus.
"Students at a privileged, elite institution like Penn, they're going to have access to things that a lot of people don't have access to," Vereen said. "How do you use that access to do good?"
College and Wharton junior Jennifer Bunn -- who will be living in the Franklin Community next fall -- said she applied in order to meet people with similar interests.
"I really wanted to be living with people who are like-minded," Bunn said. "I can feed off their energy and their passion on community issues and public service."
