As the State College Borough Council makes its final arguments for and against enacting a point system property code, some community members are wondering if the proposal unfairly targets fraternity houses.

On the other hand, some fraternity officers acknowledge the need to address issues of alcohol violations, messy lawns and safety hazards on greek properties.

Property code violations are generally isolated incidents on the same nuisance properties, so a new system should not have negative implications for most fraternity chapters, said Paul Gramlich, president of Theta Delta Chi, 305 E. Prospect Ave. "It's a few fraternities that have violation after violation dragging down the greek system as a whole," he said. "Most fraternities are never going to get in trouble with this point system."

The new code would use a weighted-point system to identify nuisance properties and would allow the borough manager to revoke rental permits when a property accumulates 10 points.

Based on the severity of the offenses, property owners could receive one to three points per offense. For example, a property owner could receive one point for overgrown weeds and three points for furnishing alcohol to minors.

"It's not necessarily a bad system," Gramlich said. "I think it's relatively fair."

He added that he likes that a property cannot accumulate more than three points at any given time.

The success of the proposed code would depend on its enforcement, said Timothy Wagner, president of Pi Kappa Alpha, 417 E. Prospect Ave.

"Personally -- our fraternity -- it shouldn't affect us," he said. "It seems that it was meant for the problem fraternities that have repeat offenses."

Wagner said Pi Kappa Alpha has received noise complaints from permanent residents in the past, but community members should expect such behavior at fraternity houses.

"If you're moving into a neighborhood where fraternities are in existence, then you have to expect a certain level," he said. "You have to understand that the fraternities are going to be up late."

Provisions in the new code, such as required window screens, could be difficult for fraternity houses to comply with because many are historic buildings, Interfraternity Council President Andy Hackett, said.

"Some of these things that they're interested in seeing are very unreasonable for a lot of the chapter houses," he said.

Because property codes and ordinances are often new to students, the borough must be willing to communicate with fraternity members, Hackett added.

"Ultimately, the borough has in their best interest the safety and well-being of the community and the community members," he said.

If borough council approves the code changes, fraternity members will have to adjust to the new rules, said Shawn Mantz, vice president of Sigma Chi, 400 E. Prospect Ave.

Fraternity houses are at a disadvantage with this system because members are responsible for the upkeep of the houses, unlike apartment complexes, which have employees, he said.

"As a whole, you're not going to be able to have everything absolutely spotless all the time," Mantz said.

As far as being unfairly targeted, fraternities must comply with the same rule as other properties, Wagner said.

"If [fraternities] keep doing what they should be doing, then the new changes shouldn't really affect them too much," he said.