News > Campus > Greeks

August 13, 2010 at 10:32 AM

Former frat house demolished

By Micah Wintner
Collegian Staff Writer
Demolition of the former Phi Delta Theta house, 243 N. Burrowes Rd., began Thursday despite the heavy rains. The house is being demolished because it is in a significant state of disrepair and repairing or renovating it would cost millions of dollars, Penn State spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz wrote in an e-mail. "[Rain] actually helps demolition," Office of Physical Plant (OPP) spokesman Paul Ruskin said. "It minimizes airborne dust." OPP is contracting the demolition and will then convert the property into a green space in two stages during the upcoming fall and spring, Ruskin said. But not everyone is happy about the new green space. Sandy Deveney, a member of the Phi Delta Theta alumni board of directors, said nobody he has spoken with is pleased with the demolition. Deveney said the fraternity's lawyers never had a fair shot in court. "We never got to a point in the case where the judge could review what was called attorney-client privilege," he said. Fundraising from alumni to try to restore the house was "limited" and "curtailed," Deveney said. The fraternity is one of more than 30 chapters of Phi Delta Theta to lose its charter since the national fraternity adopted a no-alcohol policy, Deveney said. "That was a coffin nail to many chapters," he said. Marble from the fraternity house will be saved from the demolition and used in the construction of the green space, serving as a memento to the old property, Deveney said.

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