CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, June 25, 1997
3
Fraternity brings old house back to life
Phi Kappa Tau gets new home in fall
By Graham Johnson Kansan staff writer
The old Acacia house will come alive with the sounds of fraternity life again this August when the men of Phi Kappa Tau move in after completely renovating the empty structure.
"Everyone was glad to see it get fixed up. It was sitting there derelict for quite some time," said Phil Harrison, Phi Kappa Tau's Housing Coordinator. The house at 1100 Indiana St., has been empty since the Acacia chapter closed in 1993.
Phi Kappa Tau will get a new house that finally meets their needs. Members said they were looking forward to the move.
"It's so exciting. I don't know how else to put it. Moving from such a small place to such a big place gives us so much more potential to be a huge force on campus," said Chad King, house manager and member.
Size will be the biggest improvement over the fraternity's previous home at 1232 Ohio St. The old house accommodated only 24 people. The new house will hold 55 members this year and the fraternity hopes to grow to a maximum of 70 men.
"It gives us a chance to have all of our members live together and have a larger membership." King said.
"A major difference will be having stairs on the inside. Stairs at the Ohio location were on the outside, which made things
interesting in the winter and when it rained," Miller said.
Damon Miller, Overland Park junior, said the biggest improvement would be the location of the stairway.
Such difficulties with the old house made the move necessary.
"We just needed a bigger, nicer house. It was just time to move," Harrison said.
Other major improvements will include:
change, renew and adjust meetings Central air conditioning
- Bigger, separate rooms for studying, eating, leisure and chapter meetings.
On site laundry facilities
Gale Garber / KANSAN
— A choice between communal sleeping or private rooms with beds.
Their previous house was meant to be a temporary residence, King said. The housing committee implemented a 10-year project to find a bigger permanent residence.
When the Acacia property became available, the committee bought it and began a renovation project at a cost of more than $1 million.
The Acacia fraternity decided to close the KU chapter after the 1992-1993 school year because of declining membership and other problems.
Construction on the new Phi KappaTau house is near a close.The house would be ready for fraternity members to move into in July.
Harrison said that the members of the fraternity chose to renovate this house rather than build a new one mainly because Indiana Street was an ideal location.
"It looks completely new on the inside," Harrison said.
Members are looking at the move as an opportunity to give the chapter a higher profile on campus.
The Phi Kappa Tau project is one of many fraternity house renovations going on this summer and in the near future.
"We know that we have a good thing, and we're going to be in a position to share that with the rest of the community," said Juan Heath, Osawatomie senior. "It's really like a clean slate for us."
The most notable project is the construction of a new house for Sigma Alpha
Epsilon.
The house on West Campus Road was razed last fall. Fraternity officials said they expected construction on the new one to begin in a few weeks and be finished by the fall of 1998.
Other renovations scheduled are at Phi
Gamma Delta this summer, Kappa Sigma this fall and spring and Chi Chi next year.
Bill Nelson, Organizations & Activities Center advisor for greek affairs, said all of the renovation did not mean the fraternity housing situation was in crisis but rather reflected the strength of alumni support for
fraternities at the University.
"There are chapter houses at the University of Kansas that are being torn down and renovated that would be some of the most superior housing on other campuses. Many people are amazed that some of our chapter houses are being torn down," Nelson said.
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