Disbanded Frat Chapter Fighting Eviction
(Article in CDT on Friday, February 27, 2009 as written by Lauren Boyer)
Brothers of the disbanded Penn State chapter of Beta Theta Pi will not be forced to move out of their house by March 7, said attorney Kathleen Yurchak.
"An e-mail is not an eviction notice," said Yurchak, who is representing 20 of the 33 fraternity house residents.
On Feb. 18, Beta Theta Pi Alumni Board Member Daniel Wilhelm sent an e-mail to the disbanded fraternity's president Alex Egan, instructing the brothers to vacate the premises at 220 N. Burrowes Road by March 7 and seek university housing.
In response, Yurchak sent a letter to Wilhelm on Monday, which said the alumni board's threat to close the house and terminate the lease of the occupants through e-mail is "unconscionable, illegal and unenforceable" under the Landlord Tenant Act and Pennsylvania Consumer Protection laws.
The alumni board's lawyer, Julia Cronin, responded to Yurchak's letter Wednesday. "While we hope that all tenants abide by the landlord's request that they vacate by March 7, 2009, self help evication will not occur," Cronin wrote in an e-mail.
The lease signed by each brother specifies that the landlord "does not have the right to throw tenant out of the leased premises (self-help eviction). The landlord can only evict by court action."
No eviction notices have been filed with any court, Yurchak said. She argues that, in order to evict the brothers, the alumni board would have to prove that each person violated his individual lease.
"I don't think there's enough evidence," Yurchak said. "They haven't done enough to get thrown out of their home."
The chapter was put on probation by its national organization in mid-January and received an interim suspension on Feb. 11 due to allegations of alcohol violations and hazing.
After an investigation was completed, the Alpha Upsilon chapter, which has existed at Penn State since 1888, was disbanded.
The organization will keep its charter and return to Penn State when the national fraternity deeds appropriate, said Macgregor Hill, director of operations and eduation for Beta's national chapter.
The fraternity has been cited three times in the past year with furnishing alcohol to a minor, according to court documents.
Lloyd Richless, of Pittsburgh, father of disbanded Beta brothers Andrew and Kyle Richless, spearheaded the legal response to the eviction e-mail.
"My kids aren't responsible for the behavior of others," Lloyd Richless said. "Why are they being evicted?"
He added that he felt the fraternity brothers were being "bullied" by the alumni board, citing the presence of a security guard and installation of 26 in-house security cameras last fall.
Yurchak's letter also cited intimidation by representatives of the alumni board, who warned that a "team of lawyers" would retaliate against students who didn't abide by the March 7 eviction deadline.
"It has been difficult, if not impossible, for (the brothers) to concentrate on their academic life with the threats they currently face," Yurchak wrote in the letter.
The 38-room house was built in 1929 and is considered one of the finest fraternity houses in the nation, said chapter adviser Ken Rawley.
Wilhelm said the alumni board declines to comment on the situation.