Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity members no longer have a place to call home this semester.

In a ruling handed down Aug. 5, the State College Zoning Hearing Board declared Sigma Alpha Epsilon's large manor on 200 E. Beaver Ave. off limits, and fraternity members were ordered to vacate the grounds immediately.

Last Tuesday, Centre County Judge David Grine denied a request for a temporary stay by Pennsylvania Alpha Zeta Association, the property's owners. The move was aimed to keep the house open to members until a judge could hear the fraternity's appeal of the board's ruling, said Alfred Jones, the lawyer representing Alpha Zeta. Instead, fraternity members were forced to find alternative housing arrangements.

"We're obviously disappointed," Jones said. "We hoped he [Grine] would've granted a stay. Part of the experience in a social fraternity is to interact with your brothers in the same living area, and they're not going to get that."

Jones added that fraternity members and their parents are in a mad "scramble" to find temporary housing.

Zoning officer Herman Slaybaugh said the borough's decision to close down Sigma Alpha Epsilon was "specifically timed" in mid-July to give fraternity members a chance to consult other housing options.

"The borough didn't cause the current timing situation with the ruling coming one week before the fall semester starts," said Slaybaugh. "That was SAE's doing."

The borough will begin periodic checks of the home and has the power to levy fines of up to $500 per day if fraternity members are found living inside, Slaybaugh said. He added that up to three caretakers would be allowed to live in and maintain the house.

"We're hoping that it won't be an issue and that Alpha Zeta instructs its members not to live there," Slaybaugh said.

The zoning board's verdict to close Sigma Alpha Epsilon followed a decision this past January by the Interfraternity Council to not recognize the Penn State chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon after the fraternity was found guilty of various violations, including possession of drugs, use of chapter funds to purchase alcohol and misallocation of IFC/Panhellenic Council Dance Marathon funds.

The zoning board ruled that because Sigma Alpha Epsilon was expelled from the IFC, the property is classified as a "rooming" house, rather than its previous standing as a "fraternity" house. According to zoning laws, rooming houses are illegal in the R-2 zoning district, resulting in the board's decision to shut the fraternity's doors.

Alpha Zeta Board of Directors President Jeffrey Miceli said the ordeal has painted Sigma Alpha Epsilon as a "bunch of rogues and criminals, and we're not."

"We're willing to take our medicine, but they're [IFC and the borough] asking us to take poison and we won't," he said.

Jones said he understands the legalities of the zoning laws but is not pleased with the IFC's involvement in the matter. He said a municipality should not be influenced by a student-run organization.

"It appears as though once the IFC made this formal communication [to not recognize Sigma Alpha Epsilon], they thought they could kick SAE out and figured out they couldn't -- so they went to the borough," Jones said.

An appeal date has yet to be scheduled, Jones said. Sigman Alpha Epsilon can apply for reinstatement into the IFC in 2003.

No one answered the phone at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house over the weekend or yesterday.