After a year of fighting to keep former Phi Delta Theta members in their house, the fraternity's local chapter board of directors is now considering the possibility of selling the property.

More than a thousand alumni of the former Phi Delta Theta Chapter at Penn State were sent a letter asking what to do with the property, said board member Sandy Deveney.

The alumni have until mid-July to vote, and so far the overwhelming response has been to sell it to the highest bidder, he said.

If the house is sold, the students currently living there will be able to stay there until the end of the next school year, Deveney said.

Kevin Haslam, former active chapter president, said those in the house have a "very good working relationship" with the chapter alumni.

Haslam (senior-sports broadcasting) said the current students are OK with the prospect of having to move out of the house at the end of next year.

"To be honest, the property is something that was always special to me," Haslam said. "But if we do have to move out, it's time to move on."

The vote comes after a nearly two-and-half-year saga involving the university and the Phi Delta Theta national fraternity.

Penn State's Phi Delta Theta chapter was suspended in December 2007 after violating a national dry-house policy in October. The fraternity chapter was unable to settle it's differences with its national headquarters and re-emerged as the Phi Society until becoming a colony of the national Tau Delta Phi fraternity this spring.

However, before joining with Tau Delta Phi, the students lacked university recognition as a fraternity, leading Penn State to attempt to purchase the 240 N. Burrowes Road house through a clause in the property's deed from 1905.

The clause gives Penn State a purchasing option if the property is no longer used as a fraternity or chapter house for the Pennsylvania Theta Chapter of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, and the university filed a lawsuit in November 2008 asking the court to transfer ownership of the property to Penn State.

The national Phi Delta Theta fraternity requested and was granted permission to also participate in the lawsuit, as it has staked its own claim on the house.

Deveney and the other board members have been fighting both lawsuits, but feel confident they will win and hope to sell the property.

"They can sell it to whoever bids highest," said one of the local fraternity chapter's attorneys, James Bryant. "Whether it's the Hyatt or Hooters," he joked.

Penn State's attorney James Horne did not respond to requests for comment, and Penn State spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said she was unaware of the letter and vote and therefore did not have comment regarding it.

She did note the university's support of the current students living in the house and trying to gain affiliation with Tau Delta Phi.

"We're pleased that the students have affiliated with a national fraternity," Mountz said. "We look forward to their chapter's success and the positive contributions they will make through the [Interfraternity Council] and the rest of the fraternity community at Penn State."

Haslam said he is glad the saga appears to be ending.

"We finally found a light at the end of the tunnel," he said.